EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Boris making Geidt’s disciple the keeper of his conscience would be a very brave decision
Christopher Geidt’s theatrical departure will have upset his disciple Samantha ‘The Panther’ Cohen. Australian-born Samantha worked at the Palace for 17 years, departing royal service shortly after her mentor Lord Geidt. She had been asked by the Queen to look after Meghan Markle before taking up her current job as Boris’s Director of Government Relations in February. Should the PM toy with the idea of making The Panther the keeper of his conscience, it would be a very brave decision to make. John McDonnell told Geidt at the public administration committee hearing that his role was to be ‘a tin of whitewash’. That could never be said of Samantha.
Lord Geidt is not to be trifled with. In 1991 he sued John Pilger and Central TV after they accused him of training the Khmer Rouge to lay landmines in Vietnam. They issued Geidt, a veteran of the Scots Guards and the Intelligence Corps, with an unreserved apology and costs. As the Queen’s private secretary he upset Charles for allegedly not awarding him enough prominence and Andrew for not showing sufficient deference. They eventually forced him out with the Queen lavishing sufficient honours to soften the blow.
Christopher Geidt’s theatrical departure will have upset his disciple Samantha ‘The Panther’ Cohen. Australian-born Samantha worked at the Palace for 17 years, departing royal service shortly after her mentor Lord Geidt
Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, waving from the Ascot lead carriage normally occupied by the Queen yesterday, provides further evidence that his role as a working royal has been elevated. Last week he deputised for Princess Anne at Chelsea Hospital’s annual Founder’s Day Parade where he engaged in distinctly un-regal banter, quipping: ‘Asking me to stand in for my wife at an event like this is a bit like asking Mrs Harry Kane to lead the England football team out. Or, possibly, to take a penalty for England.’ Might the Queen dispatch Tim to the Edinburgh Fringe?
Competition for seats in the four royal procession carriages is discreetly intense. Asking for a seat, or even assuming you are too grand not to get one, usually sees you put to the back of the queue. But until yesterday the lead carriage had only had three occupants instead of four this week, something which has never happened before as a silent tribute to the absent Queen who can no longer take part in a tradition begun by George IV in 1825.
Ewan McGregor reveals that he receives ‘homoerotic fan art’ from admirers of his Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi. ‘I don’t know how it finds me,’ he says. ‘It’s always a bit of an eye-opener. You open the envelope, you think you’re going to have to sign something, and you’re like, “F****** hell!”’
Is there no end to the talents of Dame Sheila Hancock? Award-winning actress, author, unhesitating Just a Minute veteran and Bunny girl. Que? A young Sheila abandoned her training as a scantily clad baby Playboy rabbit because of the discomfort of the costume. ‘I still have the ears,’ she says.
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