SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Darcey Bussell’s daughter Phoebe welcomes guests at £2,500-a-ticket ball

Former prima ballerina Dame Darcey Bussell is used to being in the spotlight — but now her daughter, Phoebe Forbes, is taking centre stage.

The 17-year-old dazzled in an elegant white gown as she was introduced with her fellow debutantes at the 240th anniversary of Queen Charlotte’s Ball this weekend.

The event, held at Dartmouth House, Mayfair, sees young women from aristocratic, wealthy or famous families enjoy a sumptuous feast, champagne, and dancing — with tables starting at £2,500 — before curtseying to a giant cake.

Elegant: Phoebe Forbes dazzled in an elegant white gown as she was introduced with her fellow debutantes at the 240th anniversary of Queen Charlotte’s Ball this weekend

Taking the spotlight: Former prima ballerina Dame Darcey Bussell is used to being in the spotlight — but now her daughter, Phoebe, is taking centre stage (pictured in 2005)

The tradition started in the late 18th century when the London Season — culminating in the ball — was seen as a ‘marriage market’.

On the same night, Darcey, 49, who also has a daughter Zoe, 14, with her Australian businessman husband Angus Forbes, returned as a judge to the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

 Viscountess goes all gushy over star Idris

Food blogger Emma Thynn, aka Viscountess Weymouth, doesn’t miss a trick when it comes to promoting her posh cake-making business.

So when Luther star Idris Elba, 46, arrived at a charity bash this weekend at her Longleat estate in Wiltshire, she was only too keen to share the stage with him — as well as this picture online of herself in a floral headband and leonine top next to the actor.

Food blogger Emma Thynn was only too keen to share the stage with Idris Elba when he visited her Longleat estate in Wiltshire

Emma, 32, added the gushing words: ‘Love you Idris for coming on stage with me. The icing on the cake!’ Who says charity doesn’t begins at home?

Mendes bats off Bond quiz 

Oscar-winning Sam Mendes strapped on his cricket kit at the weekend to captain Soho Farmhouse XI in a match in aid of the churches at Great Tew, Little Tew and Heythrop in Oxfordshire.

The 53-year-old director of Bond films Skyfall and Spectre (Mendes has said it would be his last outing with HM Secret Service), strode to the crease cheered on by his wife, trumpeter Alison Balsom, 39, while their one-year-old daughter, Phoebe, gave her dad some expert tips from the boundary on how to play a googly (pictured).

Oscar-winning Sam Mendes strapped on his cricket kit at the weekend to captain Soho Farmhouse XI in a match in aid of the churches at Great Tew, Little Tew and Heythrop in Oxfordshire

‘I got married at Great Tew Church, so it’s a cause close to my heart,’ said Mendes.

Asked by a spectator who the next James Bond should be, Mendes played a straight bat. ‘I’m as in the dark as you are,’ he shrugged.

Gordon Ramsay confesses to more spying on his girls 

Gordon Ramsay once admitted he used a hidden camera to snoop on his eldest daughter, Megan (then 15), in her bedroom, to check that she was doing her revision.

And now the celebrity chef confesses to spying on his youngest daughter Matilda, 16, while she was on an evening out with friends.

‘I went to pick up Tilly from a nightclub a couple of weeks ago. I went two hours early, sneaked in and hid behind the DJ booth,’ says Ramsay, 51. ‘She spotted me and she was not impressed, especially when I started hitting the moves. She said: “Dad, you look like you’re having a fit.” ’

Ramsay, who has four children with wife Tana, 43, is at loggerheads with Megan’s boyfriend. ‘She’s 20, she’s in her prime and she has a boyfriend who I’d like to drown right now.

‘I’d rather stick him at the top of the bridge and dangle him by the ankles — this is what every father would like to do to their daughter’s boyfriends.’ What a charmer.

 Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden is not only tough talking on TV — she has banned mobile phones in the bedroom she shares with husband Paul. ‘I will not allow mobiles in bed,’ she declares. ‘Although I love social media, I turn it off at 9pm and there is is no way I allow us to have mobile phones switched on in the bedroom after that time. ‘I know people think I’m as hard as nails but I sometimes need a cuddle, too.’

Theresa May revealed her enthusiasm for Strictly Come Dancing when she joked that the contestants could get in touch with her ‘for tips’ following her own performance during a recent trip to Africa.

Now one of the show’s professional dancers Katya Jones — who was memorably paired with Ed Balls in 2016 — claims the PM would make a great contestant. ‘Theresa should come on — when she has more time. I saw the videos of her dancing and I’d love to teach her a few moves,’ Katya, 29, tells me at the Philips Many Faces exhibition launch in Mayfair.

‘There’s room for improvement, but she has enthusiasm and that’s promising.’

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