Latest news with #ColinTennant
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: £4million mansion on a Caribbean island, favoured by Princess Margaret for hosting lavish parties, is set to be transformed
He was surely the only man who could have transformed an insect-plagued island of two square miles into a Caribbean playpen favoured by Princess Margaret. Alas, for Colin Tennant, 3rd Lord Glenconner, he not only let Mustique slip from his grasp but died before he could repeat his magic on St Lucia, to where he moved in 1992 – accompanied by his pet elephant, Bupa. But I can disclose that now, at last, the showman's vision is materialising some 15 years after his death aged 83, courtesy of discreet British brothers who already own 'a collection of luxurious properties around the world'. They're acquiring the peer's final property, Beau House, and have released an image showing how it will look after redevelopment. In his later years, Glenconner lived far more modestly than he had on Mustique where, at his 50th birthday party, local youths, resplendent in gold-painted codpieces, formed an honour guard as Princess Margaret crowned him 'King of Mustique'. In St Lucia he lorded it over not much more than a rum hut, a chicken restaurant and about 200 acres of mostly undeveloped land. But he managed to create another 'Great House', just as he had in Mustique, with the bonus that Beau is breathtakingly sited between the Pitons, twin 2,500ft volcanic hills on St Lucia's coast. After his death, the property remained empty during a seven-year legal tussle between his grandson, Cody, and estate manager and carer, Kent Adonai, to whom Glenconner had bequeathed his entire estate – to his family's bewilderment. A settlement awarded half the land and Beau House to Cody who, in 2023, put the lot up for sale at £18million, before deciding to sell the land in smaller plots in 2024, when the house and two acres were marketed for £4.35million. Diana's niece and her fiance on a high Lady Eliza Spencer, the niece of Princess Diana, is enjoying the high life with her fiance. The model, 33, announced her engagement to businessman Channing Millerd last week, and I spotted the couple (right) celebrating at Mayfair's highest restaurant, Shanghai Me. Earl Spencer's daughter was also joined by her identical twin sister, Lady Amelia, who was with her husband, Greg Mallett. The eatery is on the 28th floor of the London Hilton on Park Lane, where guests and diners can see directly into the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Pin-up Porter: I prefer cuddly men No need to take Ozempic or Mounjaro for a man who fancies romance with Gail Porter. The TV presenter, whose naked image was once projected on to the Houses of Parliament, is dating again and says she would prefer to be wined and dined by a plus-sized gentleman. Divorced from musician Dan Hipgrave, and now sporting a wig due to her alopecia, Gail, 54, says: 'I like fat people because they are cuddly. I'd like someone to take me out for tea, or dinner. And not call me a lot.' Gail, who works with charities including Prince William's homelessness awareness initiative, Homewards, says: 'I've been single for ten years and I'm comfortable on my own. I've been married once – and once is enough.' Nepo Nico is set to net a million Often labelled a 'nepo baby' due to being the child of Bafta award-winning actress Thandiwe Newton and film director Ol Parker, Nico Parker (left) is amassing a fortune of her own. I can disclose that the How To Train Your Dragon star, 20, is well on the way to making her first million. The actress channels her earnings into a private firm, Maggie Productions, and its first trading accounts reveal that it has £871,000 in assets. It made a profit of £172,000 after bills in the year to July 2024. Nico, who played a nanny in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, is an ambassador for French cosmetics giant Lancome. While Prince William has reportedly enjoyed a getaway aboard a superyacht off a Greek island, he's giving travellers the chance to live like a king back home. The heir to the throne is letting a holiday home on his Duchy of Cornwall estate for a staggering £5,475 a week. Clement Barn, at Tresemple, sleeps up to 12 people and that price is for a week at Christmas. Seven days in August will set you back £5,016. 'This spectacular barn conversion has been stylishly decorated and furnished,' the Duchy says. Dame Joanna Lumley has discovered a silver lining to the ageing process. 'It's nice now that I'm granny age, as I can smile at anybody,' the Absolutely Fabulous actress, 79, says. 'In the olden days, if you smiled at everybody, you'd get into a few scrapes.' The former Bond girl admits to having a 'resting b**** face'. She says: 'Sometimes I catch myself in a shop window and think, "Holy smoke, you look dreadful", but if you smile, you don't.' Some famous figures enjoy meeting their fans. Pink Floyd star David Gilmour does not appear to be among them. Talking about being on tour, the guitarist, 79, says: 'When we're in these beautiful cities, we socialise, have a meal together and go out into parks or something, depending on who's around. 'Frankly, it's not easy. It doesn't take long before you're picking up a little trail of followers. It starts getting a little tiresome. I'm quite private. I love to play music for my fans. The rest of it I consider to be my private time.'
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Princess Margaret's wild Monty Python night at the aristocrats' party revealed by BBC presenter
A 'very drunk' Princess Margaret once played a Monty Python song at an aristocratic gathering in the Scottish Borders, a former BBC presenter has revealed. The Queen's sister was described as being 'incredibly sloshed' as musicians danced around, according to former BBC presenter Steve Blacknell. The event was hosted by Colin Tennant, later 3rd Baron Glenconner, at his family's Glen House estate. His wife Lady Anne Coke was Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting. At the time Blacknell was living with Scottish psychedelic folk band The Incredible String Band who were invited to the dinner. Speaking on the Time Capsule podcast, the 72 year old said: 'So there I am living with my heroes, one day the door opens in my little cabin and the drummer Jack [Ingram] comes in and he says 'we're off to have tea with some people so put your shoes on we're leaving in 10 minutes'. 'The row where they lived was in a place called Innerleithen in Peeblesshire, beautiful rolling hills and stuff, so about three quarters of a mile away was a castle which was owned by Colin Tennant. 'Now Colin Tennant was the guy who bought Mustique, the island, and was just an incredibly rich guy and he had this huge mansion thing. 'So we all traipse up there, we walk in and I can't believe I'm doing this with these people I adore so much and we can hear a piano playing so we get nearer and nearer and there plinking away on the piano, cigarette hanging out of her gob, is a very very very drunk Princess Margaret. 'So there she is with Roddy Llewellyn and they're all completely drunk... you're thinking what the hell is going on, I was only 21 or something. 'She starts playing on the piano, rather badly, 'I've got a ferret sticking up my nose' which is the Monty Python song and she said 'well come on then dance'. 'So just like dancing around a maypole me and these heroes of mine are dancing around an incredibly sloshed Princess Margret, to this day I still can't believe it.' Blacknell is best known for being an MTV Video Jockey as well as working in PR for several record labels, he is currently the CEO of the Central London School of TV and Media Training.
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Lady Glenconner's Picnic Papers - Butlers and avocado soup: how the posh picnic
Lady Glenconner's Picnic Papers by Anne Glenconner (Bedford Square £10.99, 304pp) You might expect a picnic with a princess to be a glittering affair where you wash down caviar sandwiches with glass after glass of champagne, all in the shade of some great palace. However, if your royal hostess was Princess Margaret, you were more likely to find yourself wincing as you politely tried to swallow her picnic favourite: avocado soup. Lady Glenconner, former lady in waiting to the princess and self-described 'dedicated picnicker', has compiled this delightful book celebrating the very British obsession with picnicking. The contributors, all friends stretching from royalty to TV stars, each share a picnic tale, and the occasional recipe to add to Lady Glenconner's hamper. Lady Glenconner's life, as revealed in her fabulous memoir Lady In Waiting, has been stuffed with enough glamour, grandeur and tragedy to rival even the most dramatic episode of Downton Abbey. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that she has collected such an extraordinary list of friends in her 92 years. Most of the picnicdotes are a far cry from the rest of us eating pork pies and drinking warm prosecco in one's local park. Colin Tennant, husband of Lady Glenconner, also shared his wife's fanaticism for al fresco dining. Once at Glen (their Scottish country estate) he arranged a picnic at the loch for his eccentric uncle, Stephan Tennant, who thought the colour of heather vulgar. The only solution for such a problem was, of course, to organise hundreds of blue paper flowers to be stuck on the hill to mask the offending purple. 'So much better, darling boy' was the thanks from his uncle. Princess Margaret wouldn't picnic without her butler and, even then, thought that a proper picnic should be eaten indoors while seated at a chair. I would have thought this was called 'eating a meal' but who am I to question her royal highness? Peculiar tastes are rife in the upper echelons and Lady Glenconner shows that the greatest way to understand the eccentricities of the upper class is by glimpsing into their hampers. A staple feature of picnics provided by Princess Margaret's friend Angela Huth? Strawberry and chicken soup. No thanks! However, it's not just titled folk who share their picnic secrets with us. Graham Norton reveals that he too remembers picnics as an indoors affair, albeit sat in a car in Ireland rather than the Banqueting House of Hampton Court. His father would say all that was needed was a patch of blue sky 'big enough for a pair of sailor's trousers' and if you could see at least one tree, your meal would be transformed into a picnic. There are tips on picnicking while airborne, what to do when eating with a maharajah and how to wash up your dishes (all good picnics are served on china plates) if you find yourself stuck in the Sahara. From Hampton Court to the Himalayas and from Mick Jagger to Winston Churchill, this book is a movable feast of delightful anecdotes. If you want to discover what the great and the good are like at their most relaxed, then look no further than the Picnic Papers. Essential for every picnic hamper this summer.
Edinburgh Reporter
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Edinburgh Reporter
Delayed start to coastal rowing event
Skiffieworlds, the world championships of St Ayles class of coastal rowing, was due to get underway in Stranraer on Tuesday after strong winds caused the beginning of the international event to be delayed by 24 hours. Some 200 rowers from 79 clubs had signed up for the event including the likes of Eskmuthe from Fisherrow and Portobello's Eastern Rowing Club. Others travelled from much further afield, notably Australia. However, organisers had little alternative but to call a halt as a northerly wind blew directly down the eight miles of Loch Ryan making it difficult for the St Ayles coastal rowing boats to launch off the beach. Topher Dawson of Scottish Coastal Rowing, one of the Chief Umpires of SkiffieWorlds 2025, said: 'We are obviously very disappointed to miss scheduled racing, but safety comes first and we are rescheduling all the categories of racing across the rest of the week when the weather forecast is excellent. 'This is the biggest ever skiff event, and due to the size of it, rearranging the schedule is like a gigantic three dimensional jigsaw puzzle so that people don't have to race too many times in one day. 'Accepting that the weather is unpredictable is part of coastal rowing, and you just have to take it as it comes.' Stranraer is hosting the largest gathering of St Ayles coastal rowing boats in history, with a record-breaking 79 clubs competing. The coastal rowing event takes place from 6-12 July with 2,000 rowers competing with teams travelling from as far as Australia, USA, Canada, and South Africa, alongside several teams from the Netherlands and a strong contingent from across the UK and Ireland. Follow the action as and when it happens here on the Facebook page. Photo Colin Tennant Photo Colin Tennant Like this: Like Related
