EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Will Diana Award heal the toxic rift between warring Princes William and Harry when the brothers are reunited at a prize-giving ceremony in December?
The last time Prince William came face to face with his brother, he could scarcely bear to look the Duke of Sussex in the eye.
Now, however, they’re putting their differences aside to honour their late mother.
The boss of the scheme set up to celebrate the life of Princess Diana has revealed that the warring brothers will be reunited at a prize-giving ceremony in December.
Prince Harry could even bring Meghan and their baby daughter, Lilibet, who has still not met any other members of the Royal Family.
William put on a brave face as he unveiled the statue of their mother at Kensington Palace earlier this year, but he hardly spoke to Harry, who had given that explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey with Meghan
‘We’re delighted that we still have the support of the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex,’ Tessy Ojo, chief executive of the Diana Award, tells me.
The 2021 Legacy Award will be held at Althorp, the Northamptonshire stately home where Diana grew up, and her brother, Earl Spencer, will act as host.
Ojo, who attended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding, has a key role in helping reunite the Princes, as the Diana Award (to foster and develop positive change in the lives of young people) is one of the few things they still have in common.
‘Right now we’re the only charity that has both of them involved,’ Ojo says. ‘It really is a privilege.’
William put on a brave face as he unveiled the statue of their mother at Kensington Palace earlier this year, but he hardly spoke to Harry, who had given that explosive interview to Oprah Winfrey with Meghan.
Now, however, they’re putting their differences aside to honour their late mother with a scheme set up to celebrate the life of Princess Diana and will be reunited at a prize-giving ceremony in December. Pictured: Harry with his uncle Earl Spencer
A furious Duke of Cambridge was forced to deny publicly that the Royal Family was racist, and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, was accused by Meghan during the TV interview of making her cry.
Speaking at the Dress for Success launch in Notting Hill, Ojo tells me the brothers are determined to honour Diana. ‘To us, it doesn’t matter where in the world they are,’ she says. ‘They are jointly committed to the awards. The Dukes will be heavily involved as it will be a whole week of events, so they are eager to take part.’
They’ve agreed a new five-year plan for the charity, Ojo adds: ‘It was a strategy that was put forward by the Duke of Cambridge, and we had the Duke of Sussex support that.’
Fergie bounces back to Balmoral
Balmoral is turning into a second home for Sarah, Duchess of York. I can reveal that Fergie returned to the Queen’s Scottish retreat on Thursday for her third visit this summer.
It’s an extraordinary change from previous years when she had to leave before the arrival of Prince Philip, who had studiously avoided her since she separated from Prince Andrew.
Balmoral is turning into a second home for Sarah, Duchess of York. I can reveal that Fergie (pictured) returned to the Queen’s Scottish retreat on Thursday for her third visit this summer
Fergie had been in London bonding with her daughter Princess Beatrice’s new-born baby. The beleaguered Duke of York stayed in Aberdeenshire, so has not yet met his granddaughter.
Bea’s sister, Princess Eugenie, is also waiting to see the tot. She works for a gallery and has been at an art fair in Switzerland this week.
Speaking at the launch of Percy’s bar in Kensington, West London, her husband, Jack Brooksbank, tells me: ‘Eugenie has been in Basel, so I am hoping we can go as a pair.’
La dolce vita beckons for Anthea and fiance
Anthea Turner, 60, never lived down posing for a cheesy picture for a magazine while biting into a Cadbury’s Snowflake bar at her wedding to businessman Grant Bovey so is fleeing overseas for her forthcoming wedding to socialite Mark Armstrong (pictured together)
Anthea Turner never lived down posing for a cheesy picture for a magazine while biting into a Cadbury’s Snowflake bar at her wedding to businessman Grant Bovey.
‘You’d have thought I had single-handedly manufactured Covid-19 in the laboratory and released it to the masses,’ the TV presenter recently remarked.
So she can be forgiven for fleeing overseas for her forthcoming wedding to socialite Mark Armstrong. ‘It is going to be in the north of Italy,’ the former Blue Peter host tells me. ‘We are checking it all out at the moment.’
Armstrong is her first serious boyfriend since she split from cheating Bovey in 2012.
Turner turned 60 during lockdown last year, but considers herself to be a few years younger: ‘Lockdown birthdays don’t count, so I am 58, really.’
Biker’s dream off menu
Prince Philip loved watching the Hairy Bikers in his twilight years, but one of the hirsute cooks tells me his own retirement plans have been ruined.
Dave Myers, 64, had looked forward to spending his old age at his French property in the Loire Valley with his wife, Liliana Orzac.
‘When I bought the house in the Loire it was going to be our “for ever” home, but now that dream is over,’ he tells me. ‘I was spending more and more time there, but now, after Brexit, I can stay only 90 days.’
He adds of the house, which has a large vegetable garden with 113 varieties of Russian beetroot: ‘It’s now up for sale — what a shame.’
Kidd’s ex moves in with new girlfriend
Has Jemma Kidd’s ex-husband, Arthur Wellesley, found his future Duchess of Wellington?
I hear that Arthur, who as the Marquess of Douro is heir to the dukedom, is now living with his new girlfriend, Hayley Whitehead.
I hear that Jemma Kidd’s ex-husband Arthur Wellesley, 43, is now living with his new girlfriend, Hayley Whitehead after a sizzling holiday together in Ibiza earlier this year (pictured)
The pair, who work together at his £2.5billion investment firm Oakley Capital, are sharing a home in West London after a sizzling holiday together in Ibiza earlier this year.
Arthur, 43, has three children with Jemma. The pair separated amicably last year.
His estranged wife, sister of former model Jodie Kidd, will hopefully not be too upset — she seems to be enjoying a glittering social life and has been spotted dining with billionaire Arpad ‘Arki’ Busson.
Queen drummer Roger Taylor appears to have given up hope of ever sitting down for a drink again with his former bandmate John Deacon.
‘It’s a lovely fairy tale — but I don’t think so,’ Taylor says.
Bassist Deacon retired from the band in 1997, six years after singer Freddie Mercury died. ‘
John’s like a hermit,’ Taylor adds. ‘He can’t deal with company so far as I know. I guess he just sits there counting his money.’
The dough is still rising for Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay’s television quiz show Bank Balance was a flop, but the potty-mouthed chef is, however, crying all the way to the bank
Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance was a flop, with critics calling the television quiz show ‘nonsensical’ and ‘chaotic’, then the BBC cancelled it after just one series.
The potty-mouthed chef is, however, crying all the way to the bank.
Newly filed accounts for his TV company disclose that Humble Pie Productions had £5.1million in cash in its reserves, up from £2.4million in 2019. With costs taken off, the outfit is worth £5million — a jump of £3.2 million on the previous year.
Ramsay, 54, is also reportedly in talks with Fox to take the failed show to the U.S. What a boost after his restaurant empire haemorrhaged millions of pounds due to the pandemic.
Crime pattern is a blow for thief and top designer
A very stylish thief is on the loose in Chelsea.
Aristocratic interior decorator Jane Churchill was shocked to find her car windows smashed and pretty fabric samples stolen after she left them in a canvas bag on the back seat of her vehicle.
But she takes comfort from the fact that the robber may not have bagged his dream haul.
‘I would have loved to see his face when he went through it,’ she tells me. ‘There is nothing very valuable in it, but he will have a very pretty house.’
Jane, 73, who was married to Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill, the late son of the 10th Duke of Marlborough, says the theft has, nevertheless, robbed her of valuable time on a personal family project.
‘The samples were very upmarket but weren’t worth a huge amount. I had just done the whole scheme for my son’s new house and they bloody took the lot.’
Jane, who is the sister of former Sotheby’s boss Henry Wyndham, is known for the quintessentially English style of her eponymous interior designer business.
She warns: ‘Never leave anything in your car.
‘It’s the time element really — time is money.’
Olympic star Adam Peaty’s daring plunge on to the Strictly dancefloor has failed to excite his fellow swimming champs.
Asked if he will be cheering on Peaty as he competes for the glitterball trophy, David Wilkie tells me: ‘I won’t be watching.’
The Berkshire-based Scotsman, 67, says: ‘I wouldn’t watch something like that if you paid me. I absolutely hate programmes like that. They’re nonsense: having people who can’t dance do something that they’re not good at.
‘It’s just an age of celebrity we live in, where you get people to do things that can either make them look stupid or look good.’
Wilkie adds: ‘If I was his agent I would definitely say: “Do it.” As a fellow swimmer, I’d probably say: “Do you really wanna do something like that?” ’
(Very) modern manners
Cross-dressing potter Grayson Perry, 61, turned up at an art exhibition dressed remarkably like one of the paintings of the 17th‑century Dutch cloth merchant Tieleman Roosterman (pictured)
Cross-dressing potter Grayson Perry could set a new trend. The Turner Prize-winning ceramicist and broadcaster turned up at an art exhibition dressed remarkably like one of the paintings.
He jokes it was a ‘sheer coincidence’ that he wore a black satin dress with an oversized white collar that made him look like Frans Hals’s portrait of the 17th‑century Dutch cloth merchant Tieleman Roosterman (above).
Grayson, 61, who’s married to psychotherapist Philippa Perry, says of his choice of attire at the Wallace Collection in London: ‘I had worn the right dress.’
Clearly, a case of life imitating art.
Keep it to yourself, but..
Which ageing rock star left a young reporter shocked when he slapped her bottom while they posed for a photograph next to each other at a charity event last weekend?
The singer was sailing very close to the wind because his model wife was at the same dinner.
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