Latest news with #TomBower
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Queen Mum and a very chilly view of the Mitford Girls: EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE
The unsubstantiated claim by Elon Musk that Donald Trump is named in the 'Epstein Files' is not good news for Prince Andrew. The notorious paedophile's ghost continues to haunt him. He has gradually rehabilitated himself within the family – William and Kate excepted. As we have noted, the King is inclined to believe that Andrew is innocent of the more lurid allegations laid against him. But if there are further revelations regarding Andrew-Epstein it would jeopardise the fragile peace he has built with the Royal Family. If Andrew could sweat would he be perspiring now? David Beckham 's biographer Tom Bower fails to send congrats on his expected knighthood. He still nurses a grievance after Becks failed to express gratitude when Bower unearthed a windfall. 'I discovered that Beckham was owed £9million by the German tax authorities because his accountant had forgotten to claim it,' Bower claims. 'So I told his PR woman and he got £9million thanks to me. But he hasn't said thank you!' UKTV's Mitford sisters saga, Outrageous, which starts next week and stars Joanna Vanderham as jack-booted Diana M, would not have appealed to the late Queen Mother. She declined an invitation in 1981 to a musical about the six Mitford girls at London 's Globe theatre, telling its author, Ned Sherrin: 'Oh no, I've met them all in real life. I don't think I need to see them on stage.' Gordon Ramsay's mother, Helen, remains unimpressed with her son's trappings of success after being flown to Los Angeles to stay at his luxury hilltop mansion. 'I'm just wondering... the neighbours?' she asked Gordon. 'I said, 'What's wrong with them?' She said, 'No one's got their washing out'.' Thirty years after starring in Mike Leigh's Secrets And Lies, Phyllis Logan takes a dig at the filmmaker. 'With Mike you don't have a script whatsoever,' she tells Radio Times. 'You make it up yourself, which would imply that you are one of the writers. But, of course, nobody ever gets a credit for that in any of his films!' Heartthrob (rtd) Paul Nicholas recalls an odd meeting with the Princess Royal when playing Claude in the original West End production of the nude review Hair. 'Part of the show includes a scene where the audience was invited to join the cast onstage,' he says. 'One night, I noticed Princess Anne was standing right next to me. She came a few times actually.' Much smirking in Paris after Donald Trump, who mocked the Macrons for their plane bust-up last month('Better make sure the door's closed next time'), was filmed almost falling down his own plane's stairs. 'Make sure you grip the handrail properly next time,' chuckles one French radio commentator.
The Guardian
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
David Beckham's knighthood shows the unique - and utterly absurd - power of the British class system
When the unauthorised, warts-and-all biography of the Beckhams, The House of Beckham, came out last year, it was in the distinctive style of its author, Tom Bower, which is to say, incredibly mean. But it was quite short of warts, to be honest: of course, there were youthful indiscretions – David Beckham's Madrid years featured an alleged affair and an insufficient tip in a restaurant, and Posh once made a TV show that people didn't like. But the Beckhams of today were guilty of nothing greater than that they wanted a knighthood, and had done for a really long time. That was why, according to Bower, David volunteered to help in the Philippines after the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, and why Victoria gave all her castoffs to the Chelsea Red Cross which raised some eyebrows at the time, just because the last imaginable thing you would need after being hit by a typhoon would be 78 pairs of cerise stilettos. That was why David had reportedly 'unleashed his foul-mouthed tirade' (to use the proper tabloid phrase) by email once his honour was rejected, calling the honours committee a 'bunch of cunts' and lambasting Katherine Jenkins because she got an OBE 'for what? Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops plus taking coke. F—ing joke.' Becks had a point. In the 2010s – if the highest honour is reserved for those who are nationally significant, inspirational, and have demonstrated commitment at the highest level - it was hard to think of anyone who did more football, in a more committed fashion and noticeable way, than he. If there's a tacit clause about charitable works, he had definitely done some of that, and if he hadn't done enough, they should have just produced some time sheets and minimum spend numbers, and he could have done more. If the real block on the honour was that Posh and Becks had thrones made of gold at their wedding in 1999, which apparently annoyed Prince Philip so much that he declined to sit on a throne at the subsequent Jubilee, well, it was surely time that everyone with a throne of any kind just got over themselves. As is almost always the case with anything connected to the British aristocracy, it was impossible to pick a side. The honours committee has a conception of seemly public behaviour, and generally speaking, they go the opposite way to any normal member of the British public, who don't mind 'foul-mouthed tirades' but do mind sycophancy and incompetence, and consequently would much prefer to see Danny Dyer knighted than almost any name on the honours list of the past five departing prime ministers. Yet at the same time, it is tragic to want an honour in the first place, given that it pretends access to the nobility yet is completely ersatz; a fake VIP room where the champagne is fizzy apple juice and the really important people are in a different building. The culture of class deference is sustained on ideas that cannot be said out loud or even directly beheld, because they are too stupid: such as, 'Some people are born better than others, because they have a lineage going back to William the Conqueror'; such as, 'Great wealth connotes some endogenous personal merit, but only if you came by it the right way, several centuries ago and with violence'. By definition, you can't enter that system late, and in the very act of trying, you reveal how little you understand it. Which is fine, because to understand it and still want it would make you ridiculous, yet to want it uncomprehendingly still looks pretty foolish. As the Beckhams finally get what they've always wanted, apparently, what does it say about the institutions that put so much energy into blocking them? Have they finally run out of the energy it takes to make their minute distinctions? Or have they decided that it somehow works for the preservation of the system, to dignify a person only after they have waited an undignified amount of time? This might be the final, unique power of the British class system – the ability to make everyone who goes anywhere near it, in any capacity, look absurd, and at the same time, everyone who objects to it, at whatever volume, sound wholemeal and worthy. It's the last act of national unification, in which we all look as bad as one another. Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Prince Harry wanted Princess Diana's sisters to see similarities between Meghan Markle and his mother - but they didn't think she fit in with Royal Family, according to royal expert
Heartbreakingly, Prince Harry never had the chance to introduce the woman he fell in love with to his mother, the late Princess Diana. Harry was just 12 years old when Diana died in a car accident and the prince has spoken openly about the pain of losing his mother at such a young age. He said that he had only begun to address this grief when, at the age of 28, he had felt himself to be 'on the verge of punching someone' while also facing anxiety when carrying out official engagements. Diana had three siblings, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes and Charles Spencer, and was particularly close to her brother, who was the closest in age to the late princess. Not able to go to his mother for approval, Harry went to his aunts to introduce his girlfriend, Meghan Markle, in late 2017 before the couple married the following year. He told the BBC that he thought Diana would have been 'over the moon' about his relationship with Meghan. But the sisters were not in agreement. Royal biographer Tom Bower wrote about this meeting in his explosive tell-all book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors. He wrote: 'Harry assumed that Diana's family and friends would see a similarity between Diana and his fiancée. 'Both, he said, shared the same problems. He was so disappointed. 'No one agreed that his vulnerable mother had anything in common with his girlfriend. 'More discomforting for him, they thought Meghan would not fit in with the Royal Family.' But instead of the sisters voicing their concern, it was Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, who weighed in. The Earl, who had been married three times, cautioned his nephew not to marry in a rush. 'His advice provoked a bitter reaction,' Bower wrote. '"This was going to be really hard," Harry would later reflect on establishing Meghan's place in the family.' Earl Spencer, who had been married three times, cautioned his nephew not to marry in a rush. Meghan and Harry are pictured on their wedding day in May 2018 The royal biographer wrote: 'Harry assumed that Diana's family and friends would see a similarity between Diana and his fiancée . Both, he said, shared the same problems. He was so disappointed' Despite his family not being convinced, Harry continues to draw parallels between his late mother and wife. In the 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the prince said: 'So much of what Meghan is and how she is, is so similar to my mum. 'She has the same compassion, the same empathy, the same confidence. She has this warmth about her.' Since Diana's death in 1997, her siblings have remained involved in William and Harry's lives and all three attended both of their weddings. The two aunts, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, as well as their brother Charles, Earl Spencer, were on Archie's small christening guest list in 2019. Earl Spencer has publicly defended Harry in the media and on social media, showing his support for the prince during his legal battles and other challenges. Despite Harry and William no longer on speaking terms, their aunts consistently show up for both of Diana's sons. The year 2007 was a particularly big one for the two princes as it marked a decade since their mother's death. Fortunately they seemed to be well supported. On what would have been Diana's 46th birthday, the princes held a concert in memory of the late Princess of Wales. Jane was seen in the crowd just a row behind William and Harry. It was certainly a night to remember and honoured Diana in the way the young princes wanted. At the time Prince William said: 'We wanted to have this big concert on her birthday, full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness which I know she would have wanted. It's got to be the best birthday present she ever had.' Later that year, the Spencers joined the two princes for a memorial service at the Guards' Chapel in London, marking ten years since Diana's death. In the Sussexes' engagement interview in November 2017 Meghan said: 'I think in being able to meet his aunts, I'm able to, in some way, know a part of her through them and of course through him. And it's - it's incredibly special.' Harry spoke about his late mother, saying: ' I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, so excited for me, but then, as I said, she would have probably been best friends – best friends with Meghan.' In 2019 Lady Jane was one of the first to drop in to meet baby Archie ahead of senior royals including Prince Charles, Camilla, William and Kate. On what would have been the late Princess of Wales's 60th birthday, William and Harry's aunts and uncle came together in 2021 for the unveiling of Diana's statue at Kensington Palace. He stayed with his uncle at his mother's ancestral home, Althorp estate, after going to the funeral of Diana's brother-in-law Lord Robert Fellowes last month, according to People magazine. Sarah, Jane and Charles Spencer all attended the touching ceremony. The aunts looked thrilled to see their warring nephews and greeted them with an affectionate kiss on the cheek and a hug. Sarah beamed as she held onto Harry's shoulder and appeared to whisper something into his ear. Last August, Harry made a secret visit to Britain to attend the f uneral of his uncle Robert Fellowes, Jane's husband. Also last year, Harry's aunt and uncle - Jane and Charles Spencer - supported him during the tenth anniversary service for the Invictus Games. The Duke of Sussex had left his wife and children in California and entered St Paul's Cathedral alone. However, once inside he was seen smiling as he embraced his aunt and uncle before taking his seat next to them. The Spencer family tree shows how Diana's family relates to Harry and William Harry's father, King Charles, was invited to attend the service in Central London but did not do so - nor did he meet with his youngest son at all during his flying visit. The Prince's closeness to his mother's side of the family has been maintained despite his move to America. Like Harry and William who sought comfort in one another after the death of their mother, the death of Princess Diana deeply bonded her sisters, Sarah and Jane, in grief. Sarah and Jane were present in Paris when Diana died and accompanied her body back to the UK.
