William’s ‘warm’ 40-minute meeting with Donald Trump in Paris focused on the UK/US special relationship and the incoming president’s ‘fond memories’ of the late Queen.
No mention of Donald’s enthusiasm for the prince’s late mother. Recalling his ‘bombardment’ of Diana with flowers, her pal Selina Scott remarked: ‘Trump clearly saw Diana as the ultimate trophy wife. As the roses and orchids piled up at her apartment she became increasingly concerned.’
Selina remembers Diana asking: ‘What am I going to do? He gives me the creeps.’ She advised: ‘Throw the flowers in the bin.’
William’s ‘warm’ 40-minute meeting with Donald Trump in Paris focused on the UK/US special relationship and the president-elect’s fond memories of the Queen
Mr Trump with Queen Elizabeth II at an event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Portsmouth on June 5, 2019
Trump’s enthusiasm for the late Princess Diana extended to bombarding her with flowers
The King and Queen are hoping to visit Italy next spring, partly to make up for William and Kate pulling out of a trip planned for earlier this year.
A source at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office whispers that there is a sense of frustration at the lack of ‘limelight royals’ – those who will attract crowds and headlines – available for the Government to deploy.
There is some annoyance that Wills consistently declares himself unavailable. Difficult family circumstances were perfectly understandable, says the source, and the FCO were suggesting only short-haul, short-duration trips for William sans Kate.
So they were somewhat surprised that he was able to head to South Africa last month to support his Earthshot Prize. He also made three trips to Germany to watch the Euros and turned up at the recent Notre-Dame reopening to glad-hand Donald Trump.
The King and Queen are hoping to visit Italy next spring, partly to compensate for the Prince and Princess of Wales’s cancelled trip earlier this year
Does Peter Mandelson still retain fond memories of deposed Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad?
Meeting him in Damascus in 2001, when he was Northern Ireland Secretary, Mandelson described Assad as ‘an intelligent and cultured individual’ who wanted to show off his perfect English.
Of his three-hour meeting, he wrote in The Independent: ‘I can only describe it as the most relaxed and honest exchange I am ever likely to have with a foreign head of state.’
And his final verdict? ‘A decent man doing a difficult job.’ Specsavers, Mandy?
Peter Mandelson once described overthrown Syrian president Bashar al-Assad ‘an intelligent and cultured individual’
Wishing Dame Judi Dench a happy 90th birthday, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6 – a role also known as ‘C’ – recalls giving her a 61st birthday present when she first got the job as ‘M’ in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye.
‘She arranged to come and see me,’ he tells LBC’s Nick Ferrari. ‘We heard it was her birthday – so as she left, I gave her a special gift. It was a spy camera with an engraving on the back, “To M, from C.”’
Actor Brian Cox famously declared that the secret of his happy relationship with wife Nicole Ansari-Cox is separate bedrooms. But now, as they co-star in the Bach play The Score, has his romantic theory hit the buffers?
‘It’s very hard at the moment because we’re having to share a room, as I’ve got such a small flat in London. It’s weird,’ he wails. Let’s hope Brian’s alias, Succession’s Logan Roy, doesn’t inflict his infamous catchphrase – ‘F*** off!’ – on fragrant Nicole.
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