EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Did Beatrice get up-close view of Andrew TV chat?
EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Did Beatrice get up-close view of Andrew TV chat?
On the third anniversary of Prince Andrew’s calamitous Newsnight interview, daughter Beatrice’s failure to prevent her father from self-destruction has been questioned by former BBC producer Sam McAlister.
Beatrice, she says, witnessed Emily Maitlis’s annihilation of her father and failed to intervene.
‘She had a clipboard and questions,’ says McAlister. ‘But, oh my God, what a nightmare. Andrew was the big deal in the room but my attention went to her.’
Afterwards Sam asked Andrew’s female equerry how she thought he’d done.
‘Wonderful. Wasn’t he wonderful?’ she replied, offering Sam a martini.
Did Prince Harry note the prominence of the late Queen’s EIIR cypher during Remembrance weekend, the insignia that was removed from his uniform when he stood vigil over his grandmother’s coffin? It was retained on Andrew’s uniform. Harry was very upset. Rather than some royal conspiracy, the finger of blame now points to a temporary valet assigned to Harry for his brief visit. Whispers a mole: ‘In his haste he failed to read the guidelines issued by the Royal Household and Harry didn’t notice the omission until later.’
King Charles’s security protocol is set to be reviewed following last week’s assault by egg in York. Just before the attack he shed his overcoat and handed it to a protection officer. It was a failure of security that the yob managed to stage the assault, but a detective carrying the King’s overcoat would have been hampered in responding. Hence the review and, surely, a nostalgic look back at his mother’s example. The Queen never took off her coat or hat. One carried on regardless.
Sir Michael Palin suffered a dizzy spell embarking on his Iraq travel TV series, recalling: ‘The room was spinning, I had to grab hold of the back of a seat. I thought, ‘I’ve had a heart operation, I’m almost 79 years old… I’ll have to tell them before I even get on the plane that I’m not the presenter. You’ll have to send for Joanna Lumley!’
But before Joanna, pictured, could pack her bespoke compass the ex-Python was revived with a bottle of water. He was merely dehydrated.
Professional Taffy Michael Sheen describes as ‘entirely inappropriate’ Prince William’s holding of the title Prince of Wales. Might gabby Hollywood actor Sheen consider ranting only in Welsh to bring his message to a smaller audience?
Tory MP Bob Stewart was told off in a Westminster debate by mirthless Europhile Caroline Nokes. His sin? To have described the Bosnian constitution as ‘non-existent and frankly a cockshy’. Nokes, aghast: ‘Mr Stewart! Please can you think about the language you use in this chamber?’ Stewart apologised. Cockshy is an old-fashioned word for a target. Did Nokes think it meant something else?
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