This would have pleased our late queen: her head groom will be installed as a military knight at Windsor Castle, meaning he can spend the rest of his days at his old boss’s house in Berkshire.
Terry Pendry, 72, could always be seen by Queen Elizabeth’s (pictured) side as she drove through the estate.
He took part in one of the most moving aspects of her funeral, taking her favorite horse, Emma, to say a final goodbye to her. Pendry is today made a military knight of St George’s Chapel.
The position is unpaid, but belongs to a house in the Lower Ward of the castle, which will be his for as long as he can perform his duties. For most knights, this brings them to the end of their days.
A source says: ‘Her Majesty’s late would find this fitting and would be comforted.’
Honour: Terry Pendry (pictured), the late Queen’s head groom, is installed as a military knight at Windsor Castle
Lord calls out hackles about plan to charge walkies
Lord Ivar Mountbatten has proved so adroit at handling his eventful private life that his ex-wife, Penny, agreed to give him away when he married the director of airline cabin services, James Coyle.
His business affairs are more challenging. I hear the aristocratic TV personality, who became the first member of the extended royal family to hold a same-sex marriage, has upset locals by announcing that he intends to charge them with letting out their dogs on his 100 acre estate in Devon. Rumor has it that an annual fee of £60 is paid.
“The increase in living costs and operating costs over the past 12 months means that our maintenance, management and operational obligations have become much higher than the proceeds from coffee, cake and community events can cover,” he writes in the parish magazine.
James and I face some tough decisions for the year ahead.
Pressure on the cost of living: Ivar and James
‘I want to continue to provide access to the Oranjerie and Parkland seven days a week.
“But if we want to stay open, we need our guests and visitors to support us a little more if they can.”
However, one dog walker tells me, “As you can imagine, people aren’t very happy. It’s one thing to charge non-locals a daily rate to visit, but quite another to take advantage of what is truly a captive audience. I don’t think people will pay for it.
“It’s a nice park, but you have to keep your dog on a leash because of all the deer roaming around and all the waterfowl on the lake.”
Lord Ivar, who was a cousin, once removed, of Prince Philip and a third cousin, once removed, of Queen Elizabeth, opened Bridwell Park, in Culm Valley, to the public during the pandemic.
He and Coyle launched the Orangery cafe to supplement their income after their lucrative wedding business was hit by Covid restrictions.
It was featured on the ITV program Keeping Up With The Aristocrats.
Lunch can be a fairly simple affair for Dame Prue Leith.
When asked if she can imagine banana and cheese as a tasty combination on toast, the Great British Bake Off judge says: ‘Oh, I can. Sometimes when I’m in a hurry for lunch, I’ll have a banana in one hand and a piece of cheddar in the other, and I’ll eat one bite, then another.’
I hope they don’t teach that at Leiths School of Food and Wine!
In a bold flash, Gigi bows
While Liz Hurley made a name for herself in a dress held together by safety pins, Gigi Hadid relies on three bows to protect her modesty.
The model, 27, wore a gray Valentino pencil skirt, with a bold thigh-high split, for a New York media appearance.
Hadid – who has a daughter with her ex-boyfriend, former One Direction singer Zayn Malik – also wore Princess of Wales-style long gloves.
Daring: Gigi Hadid is seen arriving at the ‘Good Morning America’ Show in New York
King Charles must create the greenest gardens – with climate change at the heart.
The transformation of an area in the formal gardens of Sandringham, Norfolk will begin in the coming weeks.
The area to the west of Sandringham House, now a large lawn, is to be converted into a climate-friendly topiary garden.
It will bring naturalistic planting to the area to improve biodiversity.
Mick and Diane ‘Still Pedaling’
Sir Mick Jagger rarely gets the satisfaction of women his own age, but he seems to have a soft spot for Diane von Furstenberg.
The Belgian fashion designer, 76, known for inventing the wrap dress, shared this selfie of herself with the Stones singer, who turns 80 in July. Von Furstenberg says: ‘Two old friends, many decades later, still kicking and above all grateful.’
Von Furstenberg is married to American businessman Barry Diller, 81, while Jagger has a six-year-old son, Deveraux, with girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, 36.
Even ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton, the seasoned DJ who picked up former Radio 2 listeners at new rival Boom Radio, is afraid of the wake-cancell culture.
“I used to be known as the ‘cheeky dude’ on Radio 1, but I’m careful about what I say on air now,” Hamilton, 84, tells me.
“I don’t mean to be lame, but people are very easily offended these days.”
He adds: “I was canceled – it was during the pandemic and I was booked on Pointless Celebrities, but they said I couldn’t continue at my age because of health insurance.
I said to my wife, “I think it’s all over for me.” Two weeks later Boom Radio went over. . .’
Buy Cushing’s House of Horrors
Would you dare live in a house once owned by Peter Cushing, the Hammer Horror star who played Baron Frankenstein in six films and Doctor Van Helsing in five Dracula films?
The two-bedroom property in Whitstable, Kent, where the actor lived for 25 years until his death in 1994, aged 81, has come on the market for £1.4 million.
The house bears a blue plaque dedicated to Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars. He was so popular in the town, there’s even a local pub named after him.
I reported last year that fans were spitting blood because of the increasingly dilapidated state of the house by the sea. But now it has been completely renovated.