EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Can Selina Scott help ex-King of Spain in his legal woes with former mistress?

Sometime  BBC ‘golden girl’ Selina Scott could be about to embark on a dramatic royal rescue mission.

I can disclose that The Real Marigold Hotel star has been asked by King Juan Carlos of Spain to help save his honour — and fortune.

The king wants the broadcaster, 71, to give a character reference for him to the High Court in London, where he’s being sued for damages by his former mistress, the German socialite Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, 58.

Juan Carlos, 84, hopes that Selina, who was a newsreader on ITV’s News At Ten before she was poached by the BBC to launch Breakfast Time, will do the same for him as Kate Moss did for Johnny Depp when she defended the Hollywood star during his highly acrimonious court battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

The king wants the broadcaster, 71, to give a character reference for him to the High Court in London, where he’s being sued for damages

‘It’s tragic what has happened to him,’ Selina tells me of Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 in favour of his son, King Felipe, 54. Juan Carlos has been dogged by a series of scandals since he abdicated.

Prosecutors in Switzerland and Spain investigated him for suspected money laundering and tax evasion over a separate $100 million payment from the Saudi Arabian government.

Those cases were dropped last year for lack of evidence.

Juan Carlos, who returned to Spain for a brief visit this year but has spent the past two years living in exile in Abu Dhabi, denies the accusations. ‘I found Juan Carlos a passionate man, handsome and lots of fun, with a refreshing world view,’ she adds.

‘He introduced me to Fidel Castro and gave me a ride on his high-powered motor cycle, which was exhilarating.’

The king is being taken to court by Corinna over claims that he caused her ‘great mental pain and distress’ when he tried to recover more than £50 million that he claims he lent her, but she says was a gift.

She will also claim damages for the pain she alleges was caused by agents spying on her in London and her home in the country. She will tell the court of mysterious break-ins at her Knightsbridge flat.

The king’s request to Selina follows an article she wrote for Spanish newspaper El Pais in which she recalled interviewing him for a landmark ITV programme. It caused a sensation in Madrid because it portrayed him as a hard-living, hard-loving hedonist with popular appeal.

Yorkshire-based Selina, who has had a holiday home on the Spanish island of Majorca for 30 years, has yet to decide if she wishes to be drawn into the court battle.

Patsy says yes to future husband Number FIVE

Actress Patsy Kensit declared just last month that she ‘can’t be bothered’ with men, so imagine my surprise to learn that she’s got engaged . . . again.

The ex-model, 54, is said to have accepted a proposal from property tycoon Patric Cassidy, 58.

Her spokesman will say only: ‘Patsy is very happy.’

Cassidy would be in line to become her fifth husband.

Actress Patsy Kensit declared just last month that she ‘can’t be bothered’ with men, so imagine my surprise to learn that she’s got engaged . . . again. He has reportedly agreed to marry property developer Patric Cassidy

She was first married to Big Audio Dynamite singer Dan Donovan, pictured at a party for the film Batman in 1989

Later she married Simple Minds front man Jim Kerr, pictured here in Dublin in 1995

Her third husband was Liam Gallagher from Oasis, pictured here at the Vogue Party in London in 1998

She then had a three year marriage with DJ Jeremy Healy, pictured, which ended in divorce in 2010

She divorced DJ Jeremy Healy, 60, in 2010 following a three-year marriage. At the time, Kensit said their split had taken its toll on her mental health and caused her to gain weight. ‘I lost my confidence and ballooned from 8st to 11,’ she said.

She was previously married to Oasis star Liam Gallagher, 49, with whom she has a son, Lennon.

She has another son, James, with her second husband, Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr, 63, whom she divorced in 1996. Her first husband was Dan Donovan, 60, lead singer with Big Audio Dynamite.

Booker Prize-winner Douglas Stuart was looking forward to watching something on the small screen when he settled down for a long-haul flight.

Unfortunately, BA had other ideas and put him in a seat without a working television. ‘Thanks British Airways, seven-hour flight and no working telly,’ rages the Glasgow-born author of Shuggie Bain, who’s lived in New York for more than 20 years. ‘When I told the hostess, she smiled and said, “Oh, so you got the booby seat. Sorry.” Couldn’t give a f***. Nice One.’

He’s since deleted the comment on Twitter.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Labour MP Rupa Huq settled a long-term score when she made her first appearance on the Commons Culture Select Committee. Grilling BBC boss Tim Davie, she asked why ‘at the turn of the century the Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq was paid less than the male presenters’. Invited to declare any personal interests at the start of the hearing, Rupa declined to disclose that Konnie is her younger sister.

William’s songbird sweetheart to marry 

She captivated a young Prince William, with whom she enjoyed a carefree romance in the months after he left Eton.

Since then, Rose Farquhar has melted hearts at numerous weddings, singing everything from Ave Maria to Elvis’s Can’t Help Falling In Love, as well as making it on to TV talent contest The Voice.

Now, though, is the time for her most exultant aria — in celebration of her engagement to George Gemmell, who, her father, Captain Ian Farquhar, tells me, ‘could not be a more charming son-in-law for the future’.

Rose Farquhar has melted hearts at numerous weddings, singing everything from Ave Maria to Elvis’s Can’t Help Falling In Love, as well as making it on to TV talent contest The Voice

Rose is set to marry George Gemmell, who is the stepson of Barbadian construction tycoon Sir Charles ‘Cow’ Williams, who died last year

Adds Farquhar, for 34 years a renowned Master of the Beaufort Hunt: ‘The Gemmells have been friends of ours for years. We’re absolutely delighted.’

George, currently completing veterinary studies, is the stepson of Barbadian construction tycoon Sir Charles ‘Cow’ Williams, who died last year. It’s a link which might suggest a Caribbean wedding — but not, seemingly, for George and Rose, 42, who is head of ‘special projects’ for the Duchess of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire.

The wedding, says Captain Farquhar, will be close to Christmas and — ‘hopefully’ — at the family home in Gloucestershire. But will William be in attendance? He and Rose were once allegedly caught ‘canoodling’ by a farmer who stumbled across them in his Cotswolds field — which, some claim, is why he was absent from his friend Charlie van Straubenzee’s wedding four years ago . . . at which Rose sang as the register was signed.

Mystery of golden girl’ Cara’s ‘unexpected’ bank action

She has seemingly had the world at her feet ever since her runway debut in London Fashion Week as a willowy 18-year-old — the prelude to a dazzling career as supermodel and budding actress during which Cara Delevingne, now 30, has seen her earnings spiral to £30,000 a day.

But I can reveal that some of those with the most detailed knowledge of her commercial activities have taken unexpected action to protect their interests, lest her business, Cara & Co, should suffer a sudden reversal of fortune.

Her bankers, HSBC, registered a charge against the company in April this year — despite the fact that it has assets of £41.4 million.

‘It’s unexpected for a company with that much money in it to have charges of this kind against it,’ my financial mole tells me.

She has seemingly had the world at her feet ever since her runway debut in London Fashion Week as a willowy 18-year-old — the prelude to a dazzling career as supermodel and budding actress during which Cara Delevingne, now 30, has seen her earnings spiral to £30,000 a day

But I can reveal that some of those with the most detailed knowledge of her commercial activities have taken unexpected action to protect their interests, lest her business, Cara & Co, should suffer a sudden reversal of fortune

‘It’s very unlikely to go bust, but if you have a secured charge you become the first one in the queue to be repaid what you’re owed.’

Last week, the property developer’s daughter was seen sitting alone in a parked car in Los Angeles, where she took drops of liquid from a pipette and smoked from what appeared to be a pipe. Her legs appeared to be bruised.

Cara was still more dishevelled this week after attending the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. She arrived at an airport looking jittery. Cara’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Why all the world’s a stage for Princess Diana’s nephew

He has, to date, fathered seven children by three different wives, but Earl Spencer had eyes only for his elder son, Louis, Viscount Althorp, earlier this week.

Announcing that Louis had graduated from London’s ArtsEd drama school ‘with a First class degree’, Spencer posted this snap on social media and added: ‘A final farewell hug to his brilliant principal [Julie Spencer, no relation]. I couldn’t be prouder of him.’

Louis, 28, has coyly registered his stage name as Louis John Lyons, as I disclosed this summer.

But, as Princess Diana’s nephew and the man who will one day inherit the family’s 13,000-acre Althorp estate in Northamptonshire, he was surely born for a role in The Crown — as his own father, perhaps?

He has, to date, fathered seven children by three different wives, but Earl Spencer had eyes only for his elder son, Louis, Viscount Althorp, earlier this week.

When it comes to making a spectacular entrance, Jodie Turner-Smith has got it licked.

Peterborough-born Jodie, who played Anne Boleyn in a racy television drama about Henry VIII’s second wife, turned up to the amFAR Gala in Venice wearing a multi-coloured corset and skirt designed by Christopher John Rogers.

‘It looks like she’s wearing a Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles ice lolly,’ one fashion watcher remarks. How sweet.

Jodie’s latest role, a lollipop lady!

When  it comes to making a spectacular entrance, Jodie Turner-Smith has got it licked.

Peterborough-born Jodie, who played Anne Boleyn in a racy television drama about Henry VIII’s second wife, turned up to the amFAR Gala in Venice wearing a multi-coloured corset and skirt designed by Christopher John Rogers.

‘It looks like she’s wearing a Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles ice lolly,’ one fashion watcher remarks. How sweet.

When it comes to making a spectacular entrance, Jodie Turner-Smith has got it licked

‘It looks like she’s wearing a Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles ice lolly,’ one fashion watcher remarks. How sweet

Georgia May puts a smile back on mum Jerry’s face 

Heartbroken Jerry Hall is said to have blamed Rupert Murdoch’s children for the abrupt end of her marriage after they allegedly drove a wedge between between her and the media mogul, 91.

However, relations with her own offspring couldn’t be closer.

Here, the Texan, 66, is posing for a selfie with her daughter, and fellow blonde model Georgia May Jagger.

They were launching a new shampoo at the Los Angeles branch of Bleach London, the hair salon Georgia, 30, co-owns with stylist pal Alex Brownsell. Clearly, blondes do have more fun.

Texan model Jerry Hall poses for a selfie with her daughter Georgia May Jagger, left