EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Inglorious Twelfth gives Royals plenty to grouse about

Prince William and Prince George often have a father-and-son day out on the Glorious Twelfth, as they hike around the moors of Balmoral and try to shoot some grouse.

However, I hear the day may not be so glorious this year, as the August 12 festivities are likely to be called off following a frosty spring which killed many of the young birds.

This means there is a shortage of grouse, one of the most popular game birds. Gamekeepers across the country have therefore suggested that estates call off their shoots or postpone them until later in the year.

This may include Balmoral. A spokesman for the Royal Family tells me they are ‘leaving it to the experts’ when it comes to deciding if they should open next week for the shoot, and will not be drawn on whether a decision has yet been made.

Prince George’s godfather, the Duke of Westminster, has one of the biggest grouse-shooting estates, at Abbeystead in Lancashire. He often welcomes groups for the Twelfth, and could be affected by the lack of birds.

The August 12 festivities at Balmoral (pictured) are likely to be called off following a frosty spring which killed many of the young birds [Stock image]

Pictured: Kate Middleton on a grouse shoot in Scotland in 2009

The Bolton Abbey estate in North Yorkshire, owned by the Duke of Devonshire, is considering cancelling festivities after a ‘grim’ year.

Happily for the field sports-loving royals, other game, including deer, are still plentiful. 

The Queen has traditionally enjoyed deer-stalking around her Scottish estate, so some fun will be had by the aristocracy and royals this shooting season.

The prestigious date earned the royal approval of Queen Victoria when she took on Balmoral, and this significance meant anyone who was anyone needed to be out on the moors in the late 1800s. The tradition carries on today.

Happily for the field sports-loving royals, other game, including deer, are still plentiful. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II driving Kate Middleton on the Balmoral Estate in 2016

It’s the ultimate perk for posh child carers: the snooty Hurlingham Club, where Prince George and Princess Charlotte have their tennis lessons, has introduced a Nanny Pass for £450 a year.

‘It’s not just tennis balls being thwacked — we are too,’ moans one disgruntled mother of three. 

Members at the London club already fork out £1,200 a year in fees at the country’s most exclusive sports centre, which has a Georgian clubhouse set in 42 acres next to the Thames in Fulham — and now they must pay if they want to take Nanny along.

Did yoga fan Lily and her doggy pal find fur-vana?

 Lily Cole has always been keen on yoga, but fans are now wondering if she’s gone barking mad as the model reveals her latest method of relaxing.

The Cambridge graduate, 33, is meditating with dogs in a new fad called SUCO — short for Sunshine Collective — which uses music and ‘immersive visualisation techniques’.

Lily Cole is meditating with dogs in a new fad called SUCO — short for Sunshine Collective — which uses music and ‘immersive visualisation techniques’

Lily shared a snap of herself in action alongside a pooch called Ikkoy, whose owner, technologist Gerardo Trevino, is on holiday with her in Ibiza.

‘It’s the perfect mix of music, movement and controlled breathing to achieve a state of wellbeing and inner liberation,’ explains its founder Jamie Beron.

Wills and Kate’s charity booms following Megxit 

When Prince Harry and Meghan quit the Royal Foundation they led with Prince William and Catherine, their cheerleaders predicted it would have a dramatic effect on the charity’s finances. And it has — they’ve soared!

I can reveal that the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed a surge in income last year, to a staggering £11.78 million. 

That’s almost double the £6.68 million raised in 2019, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were still involved. ‘It’s the Meghan effect,’ one courtier jokes, somewhat unkindly.

Newly published documents disclose that the 2020 total includes a £2.59 million grant from American Friends of the Royal Foundation. 

Clearly, the California-based Sussexes haven’t won over all Americans.

Ashley makes an exhibition of herself

The first rule of visiting an art gallery must be: don’ t upstage the exhibits. But try telling that to former Strictly star Ashley Roberts.

The American pop singer, who was once linked to Prince Harry after he was spotted flirting with her at a Kensington nightclub, turned up to a Van Gogh show in London’s East End wearing a lurid outfit that left gallery-goers goggleeyed.

Ashley Roberts, 39, sported a ‘Princess of the Sea’ Pop Art-style top by the Italian designer label Fiorucci at a Van Gough exhibition in London

The Pussycat Dolls singer, 39, sported a ‘Princess of the Sea’ Pop Art-style top by the Italian designer label Fiorucci.

‘She seemed to think she was a work of art herself,’ a fellow guest at the private viewing tells me. 

Roberts has admitted she would have struggled to fit in with Harry, explaining: ‘I thought, ‘Could you even imagine my latex wardrobe being all around the Royal Family?’ ‘

Is the woke crowd gunning for Sir Mick Jagger next?

‘If you want to hear a song that’s actually pretty indefensible, it’s the Rolling Stones’ Stupid Girl,’ claims Elvis Costello, who says his song This Year’s Girl was an attempt to ‘flip’ the sentiments of the 1966 Jagger/Richards composition. 

‘Read the lyric to that one (Stupid Girl) and tell me which one is the misogynist, me or Mick?’

Stupid Girl certainly isn’t pretty. Jagger sang: ‘The way she powders her nose/ Her vanity shows and it shows/ She’s the worst thing in this world/ Well, look at that stupid girl.’

Why Babs isn’t a woman in love with her own story

Despite winning two Oscars, eight Grammys, five Emmys and eight Golden Globes, Barbra Streisand insists her life is actually rather dull.

The twice-married Woman In Love singer, 79, has been working on her autobiography for the past eight years, and says: ‘I bore myself — that’s why I have a researcher who looks up all the facts about my life. I’ve also kept journals over many years, and I don’t even want to look at them.

‘I never was somebody to look back. So it was hard for me to ever write a book in the first place. But I’m almost done. I’ve done the first 824 pages.

‘Now I just have to catch up on the next 23 years . . .’ 

Barbra Streisand says she has ‘done the first 824 pages’ of her biography but finds the process of looking back boring [File photo]