The Duke of Beaufort lit up yesterday’s Oldie literary lunch with anecdotes about the aristo party life. Of Prince Harry, he recalled: “He came to Badminton about 20 years ago for the 18th birthday of my niece and this was held around a large circular swimming pool which my father had just built.
“It was a gathering of rather awkward teenagers… and they were not really comfortable talking to each other. But then suddenly Harry picked up one of the girls without any explanation and hurled her into the pool. Initially everyone was a bit shocked, but then there were roars of laughter. Perhaps he wasn’t particularly accustomed with such success from his jokes.
“He then proceeded to pick up another one, and then another girl, and then another girl, and he was rather like a truck driver heaving bags of coal onto the back of a lorry before solemnly going back to pick up another one.
“Luckily my father’s butler was there and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and took him away.” Guests agreed the “spare” should never reach the throne. His Grace’s book, The Accidental Duke, is packed with similar tales.
Globe-trotting Stuart angers Goulding
Climate minister Graham Stuart has lost fans after he hot-footed it from COP28 in Dubai to Westminster in order to vote for the Safety of Rwanda bill. Among the dismayed is singer Ellie Goulding, who is also at the conference. She had a meet-up with Stuart in Dubai, pictured, but was incensed by the news that he had left. “So Graham Stuart left COP early, meaning he will not be part of the final, crucial negotiations to determine the future of our planet,” she wrote on Twitter/X. “He told me UK was a climate leader. We really are not.” Fear not Ellie, he’s back already! After showing his face in parliament, Stuart skipped back to the Middle East on a 6,824-mile round trip that will have emitted nearly three tonnes of CO2. “He was recalled by No 10 so wasn’t necessarily his decision,” Goulding went on, “but it does show just how low climate change is on the Government’s list of priorities.”
Pop-ups and popcorn
The fashion crowd raised a glass to Stella McCartney last night. The designer was joined by model Iris Law and socialite Mary Charteris as she opened a new pop-up at the Selfridges Corner Shop.
Meanwhile, everyone else seemed to be at the movies. At the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, Cate Blanchett hosted a special screening and Q&A of Killers of the Flower Moon. The cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone, were there, as well as actor couple Stephen Graham and Hannah Walters.
Over at the BFI, comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost went to a 10th anniversary screening of The World’s End, their sci-fi film about a pub crawl which is disrupted by an alien invasion.
