EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Baronet to 'petition' King Charles

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Baronet to ‘petition’ King Charles in his fight the Jockey Club after being turfed out of Epsom

Fact always being stranger than fiction, don’t be surprised if, just four weeks after the Coronation, King Charles sees his much fancied horse, Slipofthepen, thunder home to victory in the Epsom Derby – the only classic race in which Queen Elizabeth never had a winner.

But things, I can reveal, could get stranger still – thanks to Old Harrovian sporting baronet Sir Rupert Mackeson, 81. After two and a half decades at the course, selling books and prints – many of them signed by his late friend, the legendary Lester Piggott, a Derby winner a record nine times – Mackeson has been given his marching orders by its owners, the Jockey Club.

‘Lo and behold, out of the blue, I’ve had an email telling me I can’t go anymore,’ Mackeson tells me, adding that he has ‘a very nice stand’, close to the paddock and backing onto the Queen’s Stand.

Mackeson is not in the mood to go quietly. Indeed, he’s mounting a rearguard action which will see him appeal directly to the new monarch. His intention, he explains, is to ‘petition the King’.

He takes heart from a previous petition which he learned of during his time in the Household Cavalry. ‘The last time that happened, that I know of, [was when] a chap in my regiment petitioned the then King [George VI] in 1946 to be allowed to marry a German when non-fraternisation regulations [were in place]. It certainly worked for him. King George gave permission.’

Sir Rupert Mackeson, 81, is mounting a rearguard action which will see him appeal directly to the new monarch

After two and a half decades at the course, selling books and prints, Mackeson has been given his marching orders by its owners, the Jockey Club 

The Jockey Club declines to comment, though its email to Sir Rupert explains that impending building work means that his stand will be unavailable

Were that not enough, Sir Rupert may find favour with Queen Camilla. ‘I probably danced with her – and her sister – when I was a Deb’s Delight,’ he tells me.

The Jockey Club declines to comment, though its email to Sir Rupert explains that impending building work means that his stand will be unavailable, and adds that there may be a place for him on the area known as ‘The Hill’.

That, says Mackeson, is out of the question, thanks to serious injuries sustained in the Army. ‘I broke my back – a horse came down on me when I was wearing state uniform. They said, ‘If you live long enough, you’ll end up in a wheelchair’ – and that’s where I’m going.’

The Jockey Club, he adds, is now ‘so aggressive’.

Alas, I’m told that the authorities feel much the same about Mackeson. Time for a monarchical intervention to restore the peace?

Lady Bakewell puts her 90th party on hold

Joan Bakewell turns 90 this weekend, but is putting the celebrations on hold until after she’s completed her treatment for colon cancer

Joan Bakewell turns 90 this weekend, but is putting the celebrations on hold until after she’s completed her treatment for colon cancer.

‘Having the chemotherapy isn’t really comfortable and it’s intruding in my life in way that would spoil a party,’ the celebrated broadcaster tells me.

‘So I thought I’d wait until it’s over in June and do a party in the autumn. The chemo has been going OK but it does cut across my life, rather, and it means I’m not my normal self.’

Baroness Bakewell, who underwent an operation before Christmas after her cancer was detected during a routine examination, adds: ‘I’ll have it in September when people come back from their holidays.’

Russell Crowe’s Roman general in Sir Ridley Scott’s blockbuster Gladiator would address his soldiers with the words ‘Strength and Honour’. 

Now Crowe has revealed that the inspiration for them comes from his school days. 

‘I went to Ridley and said: ‘I want something original that Maximus says when he’s greeting one of his soldiers’.’ 

Crowe wondered if the Sydney Boys High School motto ‘Veritate et Virtute’ could be used: ‘The idea would be to say ‘forza e l’onore’. 

And Ridley goes: ‘What the f*** does that mean?’ 

I said, ‘Well, it actually means strength and honour’, and he goes, ‘Ooh, say that.’ 

Moving behind the camera to direct Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? was not the bag of laughs Hugh Laurie reckoned it would be.

‘I thought it would be a bit of fun,’ says the House star, 63.

‘But that’s not quite the word. Imagine trying to do something like a Rubik’s Cube, while others are pelting you in the face with handfuls of hot gravel.

‘I have some retrospective guilt at not appreciating the directors I’ve worked with before. I now realise what they were going through and my hat is off to them.’

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