Wills Shoots Off Without Kate To Chum The Duke Of Westminster s Estate
Here's a clear sign the Princess of Wales really is better now: I hear Prince William felt able to leave her for a shooting weekend in Spain.
According to my tapas-eating sources, last weekend the heir to the throne stayed at La Garganta, the 37,000-acre estate in Castile-La Mancha owned by the billionaire Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, 33, who's godfather to Prince George.
Said to be the largest privately owned hunting estate in Europe, it's known for wild boar, deer and partridge. William, 42, previously visited in 2014 with Prince Harry.
Our future king was an usher at Hugh's wedding last year to Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral.
Kensington Palace and a spokesman for the duke decline to comment.
According to my tapas-eating sources, Prince William spent last weekend at the Duke of Westminster's 37,000 acre estate in Castilla-La Mancha
The Prince of Wales was an usher at Hugh's wedding last year to Olivia Henson at Chester Cathedral
The Crown's new royal killer drama
ITV's plans to screen a drama about Jane Andrews, the Duchess of York's former aide who was convicted of murder, have provoked horror in royal circles.
Basia Briggs, a friend of Prince Michael of Kent, tells me: ‘I am appalled, as it's inappropriate to use this dreadful tragedy for people's entertainment.'
Andrews, who killed her boyfriend Thomas Cressman, stayed at Basia's Chelsea home during her Old Bailey trial, at her lawyer's request.
Basia says: ‘Everyone concerned suffered dreadfully and, as for Jane, she was always a very calm person, but on this occasion she obviously did her nut. It was a crime of passion while the balance of her mind was disturbed.'
Jane Andrews and the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson in Knightsbridge, west London in 1995
The Lady, a four-part drama, will be filmed next year. It's being produced by Left Bank Pictures, makers of Netflix hit The Crown.
Producer Sian McWilliams says: ‘The Lady deftly explores the tragic series of events and poses the question - who is the real Jane Andrews?' Andrews beat Cressman with a cricket bat and stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife at their home in Fulham, west London, in 2000 after he refused to marry her.
She was released from prison in 2015.
Outnumbered star's nearly a tattooist!
Outnumbered child star Ramona Marquez, who starred as relentlessly inquisitive schoolgirl Karen in the hit BBC comedy, will return to screens with her TV family for a Christmas special. She's also forging a new career - as a tattoo artist.
The actress, 23, says: ‘I am so grateful for everyone letting me practise on them. I never imagined I could do this as I'm not the best drawer, and it's making me so happy. Soon I should be able to start taking bookings.'
Ramona Marquez pictured wearing a dragon tattoo. She's now practising drawing them on other people, she says
Marquez starred as relentlessly inquisitive schoolgirl Karen in hit BBC comedy Outnumbered
Comic Katherine's reality jawdropper
Let's hope that father-of-six Jacob Rees-Mogg, now appearing in a reality show Meet The Rees-Moggs, doesn't follow the example of Katherine Ryan.
The comedienne, Celebrity Deep Fake 41, tells me that her own series, At Home With Katherine Ryan, will be so revealing that an intimacy coach has been hired for scenes with her civil partner, Bobby Kootstra.
'We had a Kama Sutra expert who helps a lot of couples with intimacy,' she tells me at the Women in Film and TV Awards at the London Hilton. ‘But I found it scary. I was, like, "Please get out of my room".'
The Canadian star says the expert has, though, helped bring the pair closer: ‘We now have sex, like, twice a week. It used to be once a week.' Crumbs!
Katherine Ryan attends the Sky Women In Film And Television Awards 2024 on December 6
(Very) modern manners
She put up with a lot as the wife of hard-living football legend George, but Alex Best has discovered the dating game can be challenging, too.
‘I went on a date - and he took me to Go Ape!' Alex, 52, says, referring to the outdoor adventure centre which has treetop rope courses.
‘I'm terrified of heights, and I got stuck. I couldn't move from this net. Somebody had to come and get me down.'
Alex Best at Lorraine's High Street Fashion Awards at Grand Connaught Rooms in May 2015
Chris de Burgh goes on tour next February to celebrate 50 years in the music business, but it's safe to say Andy Richards, his keyboardist on hits including The Lady In Red and Missing You, won't be accompanying him.
‘The last thing I want to do is listen to a Chris [de Burgh] album,' Richards declares. ‘We definitely fell out and I found it a very, very unhappy experience working with him. He thought he was probably better than he was.'
Of The Lady In Red, he remarks: ‘I'm very pleased that Princess Diana liked it so much, but we [the production team] didn't really like the song that much really. We used to call it Lady In Bed. I'll leave it to your imagination and stop there. He was smooth, let's put it like that.'
Chris de Burgh is touring from next February to celebrate 50 years in music, but it's fair to say his star keyboardist Andy Richards won't be joining him
He made millions from a DIY empire before reinventing himself as the film producer responsible for 9½ Weeks, the 1986 erotic classic in which a young Kim Basinger was treated to jalapeno peppers and ice cubes - and much more - by Mickey Rourke.
And Richard Northcott was evidently intent on doing things his way right to the end. His will, published 11 months after his death aged 77, leaves most of his £39.5million fortune to his three sons. But there is also a £3 million bequest to Joanna Kurpiers, a Polish former fashion student more than 30 years his junior.
Carole Middleton and her husband, Michael, have decided to reconfigure the entrances to the grounds at the splendid Grade II Berkshire manor house they snapped up for £4.7million.
The Princess of Wales's parents are seeking permission to install new electric gates on both the front and back drives. Traditionalists like King Charles need have no qualms: the gates will be hewn from prime English oak.