Even then, she was fiercely ambitious. Today, her PM4PM slogan is witty, but to think she could become our Prime Minister fills me with horror. She lived in Reading and walked to get the 4am bus, then a 5am train, to be in the London office by six for her early shift.<\/p>\n
At the Palace, she was wheeled right up to the balcony doors, then helped to her feet so that she could stand – with the aid of a walking stick – alongside Charles and Camilla, plus William and his family.<\/p>\n
San Francisco mental health company BetterUp must be wondering why they employed Prince Harry as \u2018Chief Impact Officer’, when he told us to \u2018flex’ rather than \u2018fix’ our minds to unlock the greatness within. Who wants lectures on greatness from such a whinger?\u00a0<\/p>\n
But a member of Charles’s close circle of friends told me: ‘The idea that the two men spent a lifetime at loggerheads, and that the Princess Royal was the son he wished he’d had, is out of date and wrong.<\/p>\n
‘A much more accurate picture over the past ten years is of two very strong-willed people who came to understand each other’s point of view – a father and son who loved each other and enjoyed a relationship of mutual respect and affection. Over the last year of Philip’s life, they were the closest that they had ever been.’<\/p>\n
In third place is Liz Truss, a woman who has served in Cabinet as Foreign Secretary and has, as even her detractors admit, rather distinguished herself. Then we have Mordaunt, a trade minister who was briefly a secretary of state, untried in the heat of battle, and so woke she’s still obfuscating about what it is to be a woman.<\/p>\n
Divine irony for Hugh How disappointing that Hugh Grant says he won’t take the role of Prince Andrew in the forthcoming movie about that BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis \u2014 which led to the Queen’s son’s removal from public life over allegations he bedded one of Jeffrey Epstein’s girls.<\/p>\n
There were raised eyebrows, say informed sources, when the Master of the King’s Household, math help 2nd grade Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt – who runs below-stairs operations – produced a ‘mission statement’ for staff.<\/p>\n
However, such carping doesn’t matter to him.<\/p>\n
At moments of great stress, he always finds respite in the natural world – and the day that his mother died was no exception. King Charles has become accustomed to being mocked for talking to plants or otherwise communing with nature.<\/p>\n
My vet told me to put sunscreen on my ginger cat Ted, mostly white with splodges, to avoid skin cancer.<\/p>\n
I put Factor 50 on his nose, ears and tummy as recommended. Clearly distressed, he spent the next two hours licking it all off, then threw up on the sofa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While understanding, Charles felt it imperative that his mother should be there to acknowledge the crowds, so he implored her to make a massive effort. By then, however, she wasn’t feeling strong enough.<\/p>\n
Since becoming King, he has also brought Prince Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson – whom Prince Philip couldn’t abide – back into the fold by inviting her to the family’s traditional Christmas lunch at Sandringham and to the Boxing Day pheasant shoot.<\/p>\n
Yet that underestimates the real story of the Czech refugee who landed in America as a model, became a successful businesswoman in her own right, helped design Trump Tower (for which we can just about forgive her), married four times and supported her ex Donald in his bid for presidency.<\/p>\n
When Harry insisted that she should accompany him, it was his father who told him she couldn’t come. Close sources said he had decided not to fly up to Scotland with his brother and uncles after a disagreement over his wife, Meghan.<\/p>\n
The sinner takes it all\u00a0 After leaving his second wife of 41 years, Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, 77, appears with his new girlfriend Christina Sas, almost three decades younger than him, saying they’d been dating \u2018for a while’ and she had nothing to do with his marriage ending.<\/p>\n
The contest has become like that game women play after a few too many glasses of wine selecting someone they’d sleep with: \u2018Which one if you had to?’ Who could go for a back-stabber like Sunak, or an ingenue like Mordaunt?<\/p>\n
Each TV interview to promote his autobiography has made the chances of healing the rift with his father seem less likely. Whether this spirit of reconciliation will ever be extended to Harry and Meghan remains to be seen. Without doubt, Harry’s stream of complaints have threatened to upset the harmony of the new reign. The fact is that Charles is deeply saddened by the widening gulf between him and his youngest son, and wishes he could see more of the Sussexes’ two children.<\/p>\n
Weeks ago when it was becoming clear that Boris Johnson, the most successful PM we Tories have had for decades, was about to be dethroned, I called former Cabinet ministers who had worked with Penny Mordaunt.<\/p>\n