EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Will Camilla wear the Koh-i-Noor diamond?

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Will Camilla upset Indian PM Modi by wearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond to Charles’ Coronation?

With St Edward’s Crown undergoing an MOT by the Crown Jewellers for Charles to wear at his Coronation, an announcement on a final decision on Camilla’s head adornment awaits. Will the Queen Consort upset Indian PM Narendra Modi by wearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond? One alternative being considered is for her to wear Queen Mary’s crown, made for the 1911 Coronation and at the time adorned with the diamond. Since then the controversial gem has been removed and replaced by an ornate crystal replica, one of two copies in the Crown Jewels. This might be the compromise that prevents Modi throwing his gilt-edged Coronation invitation out of his pram.

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Will the Queen Consort upset Indian PM Narendra Modi by wearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond?

King Charles’s appearance at the annual diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace in knee breeches indicates that he has yet to finally make up his mind between traditional or military attire for his Coronation. And although the hereditary principle is considered an anachronism, it remains essential to royalty. The nine train-bearers for George VI, the last king to be crowned, included three earls, a viscount, a baron plus two sons and two grandsons of peers. At the Queen’s Coronation the regalia was carried into the Abbey by three dukes, a marquis, three earls, two viscounts and a baron. Expect Charles to follow suit.

Former BBC director-general Greg Dyke is sent to the Tower in Channel 5’s Secrets of the Royal Palaces for his decision to transmit Neighbours instead of the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday bash in 2000. It attracted 7million viewers on ITV, twice the number watching the Australian soap. ‘When I talked to Greg Dyke sometime afterwards,’ says organiser Major Sir Michael Parker, ‘he said that it was almost the worst decision he ever made in his life!’

The United Nations’ goodwill ambassador Cate Blanchett, pictured, brought her 14-year-old son Ignatius to play football in a refugee camp in Jordan, telling Radio Times: ‘This one boy wouldn’t get up to play with him, and he said, “Does he not want to play?” and I said, “No, darling, he got shot and he still has shrapnel in his foot from when he was crossing from Syria to Jordan.”‘ Cate adds: ‘You could see him going, “That is so outside my experience.”

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: The United Nations’ goodwill ambassador Cate Blanchett, pictured

Posh BBC presenter Ed Stourton’s early career in Washington was not without its unexpected excitements. ‘I had this kind of fantasy that would enter my mind,’ he recalls, ‘that instead of describing Ronald Reagan’s latest budget or whatever it was, I would simply whip down my trousers and say “Forget about that, have a look at this!” Fortuitously Ed was confined to steam radio at the time.

Not everyone was enamoured of celebrated Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson, who has died aged 86. Screenwriter Robert Towne fell out with him so monumentally that he had his name removed from the credits of Hudson’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. Towne had it replaced with that of his dog.

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