The school where Prince Harry was educated considering admitting girls

A royal princess at Eton? The Prestigious school where Princes William and Harry were educated is considering admitting girls

Eton College has turned out 20 prime ministers and innumerable Cabinet ministers — as well as Princes William and Harry.

Soon, it could educate Princess Charlotte or Harry and Meghan’s daughter, Lilibet.

For I hear that the Berkshire boarding school is actively considering the most radical change in its 600-year history, by admitting girls.

‘I’ll let you into a secret,’ says Eton’s Provost Lord (William) Waldegrave, the former Tory Cabinet minister. ‘Every year, the governors of Eton consider whether Eton should go co-ed.

‘And we don’t quite decide. But, of course, we will go co-ed in due course.’

Eton College has turned out 20 prime ministers and innumerable Cabinet ministers — as well as Princes William and Harry

For I hear that the Berkshire boarding school is actively considering the most radical change in its 600-year history, by admitting girls

Lord Waldegrave, 76, the brother of Queen Elizabeth’s right-hand woman Lady Susan Hussey, has been Provost, or chairman of Eton’s governing body, since 2009.

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL:

NADHIM ZAHAWI, who was sacked as Conservative Party chairman in January over his tax affairs, attended the British Kebab Awards at the Park Plaza Westminster Hotel this week.

He remarks: ‘Four weeks ago, I was dealing with the donors. Now I’m dealing with the doners.’

He made the comments at a reunion dinner at Eton for those who left in 1983.

Intriguingly, this included a small band of ‘Old Etoniennes’ — about 16 women who were at the school for just one term, during which they prepared for the exam then taken by all those hoping to go to Oxford or Cambridge universities.

As I reported last month, these women had initially not been invited to the reunion. However, the Etoniennes of 1983, who include High Court judge Dame Philippa Whipple, did not take their exclusion lying down. ‘They kicked up a stink and mounted a campaign,’ I was told. ‘Now they’ve been asked [to attend].’

Eton, which charges fees of £46,000 a year, sometimes appears to struggle when women come into the equation.

In 2020, it sacked an immensely popular English master, Will Knowland, after he posted a lecture online, and refused to remove it, which cited a Marie Claire magazine article, containing one woman’s observation that she yearned to be overwhelmed by the ‘sheer power of her husband’s masculinity in the bedroom’.

Eton, which charges fees of £46,000 a year, sometimes appears to struggle when women come into the equation. Pictured: Prince William and Prince Harry outside Manor House, with House Master Dr Andrew Gailey (centre), on Prince William’s first day at Eton in 1995.

Princess Charlotte, Prince George, the Prince of Wales, Prince Louis and the Princess of Wales attending the Christmas Day morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk in 2022

As far as we know, Prince Harry and Meghan’s California-born daughter, Lilibet, has still not been christened, even though she’s almost two.

The Princess of Wales’s sister, Pippa Middleton, however, is not prepared to wait so long for the baptism of her own daughter. I hear that seven-month-old Rose, Pippa’s third child with her husband, financier James Matthews, was christened this week at their local village church in Berkshire.

I’m told: ‘Prince William and Catherine both attended the service.’

It’s a jungle in there, Alice

Many women like to match their shoes with their handbag, but society model Alice Dellal is taking style co-ordination to another dimension altogether.

The granddaughter of late property tycoon ‘Black Jack’ Dellal is apparently trying to usher in a new fashion for matching shoes with home furnishings.

Here, Alice (right) is wearing a pair of £895 ‘Malice’ leopard-print platform heels by her sister’s label, Charlotte Olympia. She’s paired them with an £845 De Winter bag while posing on a tiger-print sofa.

Many women like to match their shoes with their handbag, but society model Alice Dellal is taking style co-ordination to another dimension altogether

How To Look Good Naked star Gok Wan is hoping King Charles will avoid a fashion faux pas at his Coronation.

Aides are said to have advised the monarch to ditch traditional silk stockings and breeches in favour of modern attire.

‘I love all the regalia that comes with the royals,’ Wan, 48, tells me at the Urban Music Awards. ‘I like all the traditional stuff because you don’t see it any more. I love a moment when you can see that robe, or accessory, or a crown jewel that has been around for hundreds of years. He should make a style statement and really go for it.’

The stars get bigger and closer to Hockney

How about this for a line-up! Britain’s greatest living artist, David Hockney, 85, was joined by two of our most celebrated pop knights, Paul McCartney and Elton John, plus Hollywood legend Tom Hanks at his latest exhibition, called Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away).

‘Great art accompanied by life’s great artists,’ says musician and TV presenter Jools Holland, who joined the illustrious quartet. ‘Couldn’t be better.’

The show, at the Lightroom gallery in King’s Cross, Central London, features some of Hockney’s best-known works projected onto screens around the visitors.

Given that it costs £90 for a family of four to attend the show, it helps to have the stars’ millions.

Britain’s greatest living artist, David Hockney, 85, was joined by two of our most celebrated pop knights, Paul McCartney and Elton John, plus Hollywood legend Tom Hanks at his latest exhibition, called Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away)

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla could be bopping to the beat of My Generation (‘I hope I die before I get old’) when The Who play a special August bank holiday gig at the Royal Family’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. 

Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will perform hits including Won’t Get Fooled Again, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the show, which will act as the band’s finale to their 2023 UK tour. 

If Prince Harry joins the VIPs, he will surely appreciate support act Richard Ashcroft, whose set includes his chart-topper with The Verve, The Drugs Don’t Work.

 Farewell to Dame Barbara’s son Ian    

So Devoted was Ian McCorquodale to his mother, the Queen of Romance Dame Barbara Cartland, that he moved back in with her after his divorce.

Now, McCorquodale, who handled the prolific novelist’s publishing business, has died aged 85.

First married to war hero’s daughter Anna Chisholm, with whom he has two daughters, McCorquodale later wed the former Royal Ballet principal dancer Bryony Brind, 22 years his junior.

Brind, who was previously romantically linked to Prince Michael of Kent and Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis, cared for former Debrett’s chairman McCorquodale after he suffered a series of strokes.

‘I’ve been so lucky with Bryony, who looks after me beautifully,’ he said.

‘She went from being a newlywed to a carer.’

Brind predeceased him in 2015.

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