EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: David Dimbleby might heave sigh of relief after being excluded from Coronation

Royal broadcaster David Dimbleby might heave a sigh of relief at being excluded from Coronation coverage as the BBC frets about being kept out of the planning loop. 

Having been assured of involvement, official dithering means final decisions on the processional route are still to be made, with the precise details of the Westminster Abbey ceremony still largely unknown. 

BBC insiders are worried that full rehearsals at the Abbey aren’t due to begin until just over a week before the Coronation itself, leaving little time to finalise sites for dozens of cameras and microphones. 

Says one BBC source: ‘This was meant to be a ‘made for television’ event but technical staff are relying on hunches and guesswork.’ 

Will it be all right on the night?

The dithering could strengthen the BBC’s hand over rights to Coronation coverage, thwarting palace control over the amount it can show in highlights, documentary and news broadcasts without asking permission. 

For the Queen’s funeral, broadcasters including the BBC were allowed to retain just 60 minutes of footage agreed with the palace. 

This time round, outlets including ITN and Sky are putting up a united front to challenge palace censorship.

The King has been named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, calling him an ‘icon’. 

It’s a debut entry for His Majesty but there’s no recognition for Harry and Meghan this time. 

Despite their attempts to steal headlines and set narratives, the garrulous couple have clearly failed to impress Time’s magnates.

Actress Jane Seymour at the Lincoln Center in New York

With actress Jane Seymour, pictured, finally admitting to breast enhancement and facial surgery, a penny for the thoughts of Dame Joan Collins. 

She was unimpressed last year when Jane, 72, claimed she had never gone under the knife, declaring: ‘I am another actress in Hollywood who hasn’t had any ‘work’ done, Jane Seymour – there’s many of us!’ 

Evergreen Joan should save her breath. She has to blow out 90 birthday candles next month.

A Channel 5 documentary airs tonight, chronicling 34-year-old Heather Mills’ doubts about marrying the then 59-year-old Sir Paul McCartney who, according to her friend Pam Cockerill, ‘did all the chasing’. 

She added: ‘Her sister Fiona said: ‘Heather, you have got to, you have got to! Because at least you can say that you slept with a Beatle!’

Prue Leith, who was wowed after tasting the Coronation quiche at a Big Lunch event at Westminster Abbey, admits to cringing at the distant memory of her crab and mussel salad, bizarrely prepared in the bathtub of her London bedsit for a City lunch. 

Watching a senior partner rummage through the salad, she recalls: ‘He dug deeper and pulled out a piece of string, the string turned into a metal chain and out popped my bath plug.’