7 days ago
The devastating mystery gripping the heir of Blenheim Palace and his desperate family - and the film star battling abuse trauma: RICHARD EDEN'S DIARY
Mystery at Blenheim Palace: Heir's dog vanishes
He's blessed with a glamorous wife, two wonderful young daughters – and will, one day, inherit Blenheim Palace, arguably the most sumptuous family seat in Britain, plus its 12,000-acre estate.
But never assume that the Marquess of Blandford, the 12th Duke of Marlborough's son and heir, is immune to the trials and tribulations that can afflict us all.
George Spencer-Churchill's young labrador, Gecko, went missing at the weekend. Perhaps even more disquietingly, she remains unaccounted for, even though there was a tracker in her distinctive pink collar.
This allowed Gecko's movements to be traced to the northernmost part of Woodstock, the Oxfordshire town near Blenheim. That was shortly before 2pm on Sunday.
But thereafter the trail ran cold – prompting George, 32, and his wife Camilla, 38, both pictured, to seek assistance from the police, who have issued a public appeal in a bid to find Gecko.
There is another element which adds to their heartache. I understand that, at the time Gecko disappeared, she was in the care of a trusted third party.
Friends and family have been putting up posters alerting locals. 'If someone has stolen her, then people will have read about her,' one tells me.
George certainly won't be daunted by the challenge. In 2019, he and two of his wife's cousins rowed across the Atlantic in 35 days, securing themselves a Guinness World Record for the 'fastest time for a related team of four to row the Atlantic east to west'.
I profoundly hope that the Spencer-Churchill motto – 'faithful but unfortunate' – does not hold true for Gecko.
George and Camilla Blandford attending the Blenheim by Starlight charity ball in 2019
Blandford's post appealing for help finding his missing golden labrador
Fry's latest field of study? Wrestling...
SIR Stephen Fry has a surprising new passion.
The Cambridge-educated polymath, 67, and former Marylebone Cricket Club president has become obsessed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
'I am now a fan of WWE and I bought a couple of tickets for Wrestlemania in Las Vegas,' reveals Fry, a friend of King Charles.
'I said that to some people and they've said, 'Doesn't he know it's fake?' and I go, 'Oh, for heaven's sake!' It isn't fake in the sense that they are banging on and doing things to their bodies which are astonishing for entertainment. They are bloody talented.'
Konnichiwa! Lily takes Tokyo trip
A previous trip to Japan didn't run smoothly for Lily James after she was wrongly accused of mocking the local accent. Happily, this hasn't deterred the former Downton Abbey star from embracing the country's culture.
The Surrey-born actress, 36, took part in a Japanese tea ceremony in the capital, which involves preparing, serving and drinking tea to promote wellbeing, mindfulness and harmony.
She wore a traditional kimono with a floral print. 'I love Tokyo,' she said next to photographs shared online.
Lily James in Tokyo
A rare sighting in ermine of former prime minister David Cameron, who was one of two official 'supporters' as former attorney general Victoria Prentis became a member of the Lords on Monday.
One onlooker reports that Lord Cameron, who has yet to make a speech in the house this year, is now sporting an increasingly obvious bald patch.
Don't expect to catch a glimpse of Michel Roux Jr at your local drive-through. 'I don't do takeaways,' the chef tells me. 'My last McDonald's was in October 1989 and my first and last KFC in 1976.' Clearly the dates stuck in the memory of Roux,
65, whose two Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant Le Gavroche closed last year.
Film helped Jaime deal with trauma
Jaime Winstone has revealed that starring in a film about childhood trauma has dredged up memories of abuse she suffered in the past.
The daughter of Hollywood hardman Ray Winstone, 68, appears in the psychological horror Everyone Is Going To Die.
'The film gave me the opportunity to creatively purge from a trauma,' says the actress, 40, who played the young Peggy Mitchell in TV soap EastEnders and Dame Barbara Windsor in biopic Babs.
'I was triggered from a trauma. There was a lot of stuff happening to do with a certain person that I have dealt with, with abuse.'
Fans can't tell who's Hugh
Griff Rhys Jones has a problem. The television personality can't go anywhere without being mistaken for Hugh Grant – who is seven years his junior.
'I've just come back from the States,' Griff, 71, says. 'Nearly every day somebody would come, because there was a camera around, and ask for an autograph, assuming I was Hugh.'
Griff says of the Four Weddings And A Funeral star: 'I haven't told him directly. I've only met him once in the last five years, and he very sweetly said, 'And what do you do these days?'
'I said, 'Well, I'm still in television, Hugh, what about you?' ' Touche.
The television personality can't go anywhere without being mistaken for the Four Weddings and a Funeral star – who is seven years his junior.
