EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Will Harry and Meghan boost the Invictus Games coffers?

Let’s hope that Meghan gives Prince Harry’s charity a boost when she flies to Dusseldorf with him next week for a launch event for the Invictus Games in Germany.

For newly released figures disclose that the Invictus Games Foundation’s income fell last year.

According to the accounts filed at Companies House, income dipped by almost a third, from £1.77 million in 2020 to £1.24 million in 2021.

And that fall came despite the charity receiving 40 per cent of its fee from Netflix for Heart Of Invictus, the Duke of Sussex’s forthcoming documentary about the Invictus Games, which he established in 2014 to help wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women.

‘It’s a very worthy cause, and its income is still impressive, but Invictus could have done better,’ a charity expert claims.

Income at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation soared last year.

Recently released figures reported that the foundation, which Harry and Meghan quit in 2019, increased its income by 73 per cent over 2020, to a record £20.4 million last year.

An Invictus Games spokesman declines to say how much it received from Netflix but the fee is part of the £450,000 it declares as ‘sponsorship and programme rights’ in its accounts.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reported to have signed a deal worth as much as £75 million with the U.S. streaming giant in 2020.

The Invictus spokesman says last year’s income is down on 2020 because the charity benefited that year from a transfer of £561,000 after Harry and Meghan left the Royal Foundation.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are reported to have signed a deal worth as much as £75 million with the U.S. streaming giant in 2020

‘The difference in the income figures is caused by the transfer in 2020 of the Endeavour Fund, which included restricted funds and any grants attached to the Endeavour Fund, from the Royal Foundation across to the Invictus Games Foundation in 2020,’ the spokesman says.

‘So, whilst the actual income remains level across the years from a fundraising perspective, that transfer caused a spike in the 2020 figures.

‘The fundraising income for the charity, in which part of the Netflix fee is included, is consistent across the years.’

Wifelet of Bath’s new abode is a long way from Longleat 

She once lorded it over the eccentric 7th Marquess of Bath’s numerous other mistresses, or ‘wifelets’ as they became known, at bibulous Sunday lunches at the magnificent Longleat House in Wiltshire.

But now Trudi Juggernauth-Sharma’s surroundings are more basic.

Trudie Juggernauth-Sharma (right), 62, has lived for 22 years in a ramshackle cottage adjacent to the Longleat estate where Lord Bath (left), who died of Covid in 2020 aged 87, had asked her to stay so he could see her when his wife wasn’t at home

I hear the former model has been seen at the Barmy Badger backpackers’ hostel in London’s Earl’s Court, home to the itinerant and global travellers who pay £50 a night (shared dormitories are also available).

‘I am often in Earl’s Court, but not in one particular venue,’ she tells me. ‘I sometimes stay at friends’ places, too.’

Trudie, 62, has lived for 22 years in a ramshackle cottage adjacent to the Longleat estate where Lord Bath, who died of Covid in 2020 aged 87, had asked her to stay so he could see her when his wife wasn’t at home.

However, last year she and the 73 other wifelets he accumulated during his life discovered that they had been left with nothing in his will.

Comic Rob Brydon was delighted to be invited to a pool party by Sir Kenneth Branagh, but less thrilled when he discovered Hollywood hunk Chris Hemsworth — Thor in the Marvel movies — was also there in his Speedos. ‘Ken said, “Come to our house for lunch and bring your families and your swimming trunks”,’ says Brydon. ‘It was a big mistake because, not long after lunch, I found myself standing in the shallow end, alarmingly close to the great Chris Hemsworth. My kids were in the pool, his kids were in the pool, and I’ll never forget the look of confusion on my kids’ faces as they looked at me, and then they looked at Chris, and thought, “What’s wrong with our dad?” ’

I’ll still dare to bare at 50, says Gwynnie   

Gwyneth Paltrow has declared that she’s going to keep showing off her legs after she turns 50 this month.

‘I don’t think there are rules around when you stop wearing certain kinds of clothes at a particular age,’ she says.

Gwyneth Paltrow (pictured) suggests that she wants to avoid going under the knife like so many Tinseltown big names

‘I wore the shortest skirt I’d worn in ten years just the other day: it was this old Chanel dress I found in the basement, and it worked. People should wear what they feel good in.’

The Hollywood star, who’s pictured in a different outfit, suggests that she wants to avoid going under the knife like so many Tinseltown big names.

‘I love when you see women who have not touched their face at all, who are embracing every inch of their ageing,’ says the actress, who’s married to TV producer Brad Falchuk.

Mark Phillips inseparable from ‘new girlfriend’ 

Zara Tindall may have to get used to her father going out with a woman a similar age to herself … again.

Yesterday, the Queen’s 41-year-old granddaughter was cheered on as she competed at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials by her father, Captain Mark Phillips, who turns 74 this month, and Florence Standaert, a Belgian equestrian thought to be in her 40s.

Captain Mark Phillips (right) cheered on his daughter Zara Tindall as she competed at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials with Belgian equestrian Florence Standaert (left)

‘She’s his new girlfriend,’ a source at the event in Lincolnshire tells me. The pair were inseparable at the trials on Thursday and Friday.

Florence’s long-term boyfriend, Thomas Ryckewaert, ran the Waregem horse trials in Belgium until his death in 2019. A year later, Phillips designed a cross country-course at Waregem, run by Florence.

He divorced Princess Anne, 72, in 1992 after 19 years of marriage.

The Olympic gold medal winner married American dressage rider Sandy Pflueger, 67, in 1997, but it was confirmed in 2012 that they had separated.

Phillips, who has a reputed fortune of up to £20 million, had already become involved with another woman, Lauren Hough, 45, an American showjumper.

Friends speculated in 2015 that he and Hough would soon get engaged, but the announcement never came. Has she now been replaced by a younger woman?

Daley travels light as Ellie’s backless dress turns heads  

What on earth can you fit in a handbag this tiny?

Olympic champion Tom Daley arrived at the inaugural Soho House Awards carrying a £195 Aspinal ‘Nano’ bag on just one finger.

The 28-year-old diver, who presented two prizes at 180 House in London, was unaccompanied by his husband, the American Oscar-winning film maker Dustin Lance Black, 20 years his senior.

Olympic champion Tom Daley arrived at the inaugural Soho House Awards carrying a £195 Aspinal ‘Nano’ bag on just one finger

Meanwhile, Ellie Bamber, who starred opposite Dominic West in the BBC’s acclaimed adaptation of Les Miserables, left fellow partygoers thinking she had turned up topless.

When the 25-year-old actress faced the cameras on the red carpet, it became clear that she was, in fact, wearing a backless dress, designed by JW Anderson.

Bamber, who won the Actress of the Year award, made light of her trophy, which was in the shape of a Soho House Picante cocktail.

Ellie Bamber, who starred opposite Dominic West in the BBC’s acclaimed adaptation of Les Miserables, left fellow partygoers thinking she had turned up topless

The 25-year-old actress wore a dress designed by JW Anderson

‘I don’t know how many Picantes I’ve had at Soho House,’ she tells me.

‘I feel like this award will be a constant reminder in my house. Here’s to more Picantes.’

(Very) modern manners   

He might be heir to the £176 million Fitzwilliam fortune, but Tom Naylor-Leyland is keen to make clear who wears the trousers in their household.

Tom Naylor-Leyland (right), whose wife Alice (left) creates themed dining sets for posh events, is seen wearing a top emblazoned with the words ‘Mr Alice’

The 40-year-old, whose wife Alice, 36, creates themed dining sets for posh events, is seen wearing a top emblazoned with the words ‘Mr Alice’.

His wife jokes: ‘T-shirt chosen by Tom.’

Alice has three children with Tom, whom she first met when she was 17.

Revealing the secret to their long-lasting relationship, she says: ‘I’m now a working mum seven days a week, and he accepts and supports that. He might have been a man who is like, “I just want you making granola with the kids.” Yet he doesn’t want that.’