Until the late Queen defenestrated Prince Andrew in 2022, he was regularly attending meetings and receiving written briefings from top brass at the Ministry of Defence because of his Falklands role and interest in naval matters.
Officials became concerned and a senior MOD officer raised the matter with Buckingham Palace.
He was told that Her Majesty wanted Andrew to continue to be ‘indulged’. Military eyebrows were raised about his links to some ‘suspect’ states as well as ‘unsavoury’ individuals.
There was no suggestion that Andrew was up to no good. But MoD staff began to edit the briefings until they ceased after his disastrous encounter with Emily Maitlis.
The death of BBC Play School presenter Julie Stevens prompts recollection of her meeting with fan Prince Andrew when he was aged six.
‘Aren’t you becoming a bit old for Play School?’, she asked.
‘You’ll be watching other programmes soon.’
Andrew demurred: ‘I am going to watch it for ever and ever and ever.’ My abacus suggests Andrew stopped watching when he was 28 and Play School was axed.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew, Duke of York watch a flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour, the Queen’s annual birthday parade, on June 8, 2019 in London
Duke of York , speaking for the first time about his links to Jeffrey Epstein in an interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis
There was no suggestion that Andrew was up to no good. But MoD staff began to edit the briefings until they ceased after his disastrous encounter with Emily Maitlis
The knives are out for Elon Musk at the Royal Society, the country’s most distinguished scientific body.
Elected a Fellow in 2018 for his groundbreaking work on electric cars and space travel, his ownership of X and association with Donald Trump have upset some of the membership. Officers are looking at ways to remove Musk, something rarely done.
Five years before Musk, the Royal Society elected Prince Andrew as a Fellow. After his 2019 Newsnight interview, when organisations rushed to ditch Andrew, the Royal Society did nothing.
Indeed, he would still be a Fellow if he hadn’t quietly ‘relinquished’ the honour himself in 2022.
While the axe came down on Sir Mark Rylance’s Thomas Cromwell after he fell fatally out of favour with the King, the Wolf Hall actor enjoys more cordial relations with the current monarch.
Considered Charles’s ‘favourite Shakespearean’, the pair have bonded over their mutual fascination for crop circles. Rylance enthuses: ‘I send him my crop circle calendars and magazines that I buy and keep him informed. I’m his crop circle counsellor.’
Julia Roberts owes her stellar career to Richard Gere. He was asked to spend an hour chatting in a room with the unknown actress to see if she fitted the bill for Pretty Woman.
Julia Roberts (pictured) owes her stellar career to Richard Gere. He was asked to spend an hour chatting in a room with the unknown actress to see if she fitted the bill for Pretty Woman
After 40 minutes, he broke off to take a call from director Garry Marshall. Julia stuck a Post-it in front of Gere, saying ‘Please Say Yes.’ Gere told Marshall: ‘She’s adorable. How could you say no?’
With 007 film maker Barbara Broccoli looking for a director, Empire magazine asks kitchen-sink dramatist Mike Leigh if he would be interested.
‘The entire film would be James Bond going to visit his elderly mother in a suburban house, spending a bit of time with her, and then leaving. That would be it.’
