The Duchess of Cornwall has intervened to help thwart a bid by her next-door neighbour at her Wiltshire retreat to build a ‘granny flat’ for his mother
With at least four stately homes at her disposal, the Duchess of Cornwall always has somewhere lovely to stay.
But I can reveal that Camilla has nevertheless intervened to help thwart a bid by her next-door neighbour at her Wiltshire retreat to build a ‘granny flat’ for his mother.
The Duchess, 71, who has five grandchildren, held on to her old home, the Grade II-listed Rey Mill House in Reybridge, after she married Prince Charles in 2005.
Her neighbour applied in March to demolish an outbuilding at his property 70 yards away and replace it with a flat for his mother.
However, Camilla instructed Charlie Craven, head of Charles’s Highgrove estate 18 miles away and in a different county, to send a letter of objection to Wiltshire council on headed paper complete with the Prince’s heraldic badge.
‘It’s very unfair,’ another local tells me. ‘All he wanted to do was build a home for his mother and Camilla has used her influence to sway the council. Some would see it as bullying.’
Under the warning ‘Private and Confidential’, Craven expressed what he described as ‘concern’ with the neighbour’s proposal, which involved the outbuilding’s replacement with a new, timber-clad, slate-roofed structure for ‘ancillary accommodation’.
The Duchess, 71, held on to her old home, the Grade II-listed Rey Mill House (pictured) in Reybridge, after she married Prince Charles in 2005
Explaining that he was ‘acting on behalf of Rey Mill House’, which overlooks the River Avon, Craven claimed: ‘I believe it will have a negative effect on the flow of water from the river during periods of flooding.’
Although conceding that this would ‘not directly affect Rey Mill House’, Craven said: ‘The river has flooded numerous times. Anything that hinders or alters the natural flow of the river to the detriment of other properties is clearly unacceptable.’
Craven followed up with a second letter in which he asserted that the proposed design ‘appears to be larger and higher than the existing building which clearly goes against the Design Statement’.
Wiltshire council has now rejected the proposal — a grievous disappointment to Camilla’s neighbour who, when making the application, explained that his mother would live ‘in the replacement building’ but would be dependent on the family for care and meals.
Perhaps Camilla will come to sympathise: she likes to use Rey Mill House as somewhere to meet her grandchildren — or simply as a retreat from palace life.
Her Wiltshire neighbour applied in March to demolish an outbuilding at his property 70 yards away and replace it with a flat for his mother
Downton Cora’s oh so trendy makeover
As Cora, the Countess of Grantham in costume drama Downton Abbey, Elizabeth McGovern was restricted to demure full-length dresses.
For the premiere of her film The Wife, the 57-year-old actress could wear something distinctly more racy.
Miss McGovern showed off her slender legs in a thigh-skimming floral-print mini dress at the event at London’s Somerset House on Thursday. She completed the look with a pair of black suede boots.
Later this month, it will be back to floor-length gowns as she is heading back to Highclere Castle to shoot a big-screen adaptation of Downton.
Miss McGovern showed off her slender legs in a thigh-skimming floral-print mini dress at the event at London’s Somerset House on Thursday. She completed the look with a pair of black suede boots
Dismissed as an air-headed former It girl, Lady Victoria Hervey is seeking support from the Intellectual Property Office.
The Marquess of Bristol’s 41-year-old sister wants to trademark her own name and the title ‘Ladyship’. Hervey, who is launching a swimwear label, wants to prevent others from using her monikers on a wide range of goods, from perfumes to padded bras, cosmetics and clothing. In June, she told me she didn’t want curvy women to wear her two-pieces. ‘Whether a woman can wear a bikini depends on how toned her tummy is,’ she said. ‘If you have a big belly, you shouldn’t wear a bikini — you should wear a swimsuit. Tuck it in!’
Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh died in 1966, but his descendants continue to make a name for themselves.
Panda La Terriere, his great-granddaughter, has become the talk of the Edinburgh Fringe festival with a play she’s written about someone addicted to the internet.
Panda La Terriere, Evelyn Waugh’s great-granddaughter, has become the talk of the Edinburgh Fringe festival with a play she’s written about someone addicted to the internet
Still only 20, Panda, right, is the daughter of film producer Peter La Terriere and author Daisy Waugh. Her brother Zebedee, 17, and sister, Bashe, 12, were given similarly colourful names.
A student at Bristol University, Panda says her play, Isle of Muck, set on a remote Scottish island, is a reflection on the influence of social media on young people.
‘It’s a comedy, it’s a love story, it’s whimsical and goofy,’ says Panda, an alumna of £19,890-a-year Harrodian School in London. ‘It’s set in a rehabilitation centre for internet addicts.’
It’s a shame that her grandfather, newspaper columnist Auberon Waugh, is no longer with us to watch it. Bron, whose writing was a haven of political incorrectness, had an acute sense of the absurd.
She tells me: ‘I’d like to think he’d be proud of me.’