EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Why Prince William in Kyiv would be fitting
Buckingham Palace courtiers, bemused by reports that Boris is keen on a state visit by Volodymyr Zelensky, believe Ukraine’s president would not want to leave his war-torn country.
They float the alternative possibility of a royal visit to Kyiv.
When Zelensky and his wife Olena visited London in 2020, he met William and Kate at Buckingham Palace.
William in Kyiv would thus be fitting. He and Kate were the first royals to lend public support to Ukraine after the Russian invasion, prompting Zelensky to tweet: ‘Olena and I are grateful to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that at this crucial time, when Ukraine is courageously opposing Russia’s invasion, they stand by our country and support our brave citizens. Good will triumph.’
Currently in Scotland, Prince Charles is described in the Court Circular as the Duke of Rothesay. Why not also as the Duke of Edinburgh, the title he inherited on the death of his father? Camilla is now Duchess of Edinburgh and since Philip’s death the Queen is technically the Dowager Duchess of Edinburgh. On taking the throne Charles’s claim to the title will lapse, and at the request of Philip he pledged to create a new Dukedom of Edinburgh for his brother Edward.
Starring as a crime-solving literature professor in new Dublin-based TV series Harry Wild, Jane Seymour, pictured below, foolishly attempts an Irish brogue. ‘Jane attempting an Irish accent is a jolt of existential horror we could all do without,’ writes one Hibernian reviewer. Jane’s scalp joins those of other foreign stars such as Tom Cruise, Christopher Walken and Robert Mitchum who were comically incapable of telling their erse from their elbow.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s eyebrows surely ascend ceilingwards at Labour MP Chris Bryant receiving the Civility in Politics Award. At PMQs 18 months ago, Bryant alias ‘Captain Underpants’ told the Speaker to ‘f*** off’. After Bryant promptly left the chamber, a shocked Hoyle announced: ‘I suggest the whip goes and has a word with him, we’re not having that disgraceful behaviour.’
Dominic Raab’s mischievous Commons wink reprised Anne Robinson’s signature gesture, which began on BBC’s Points Of View. She took it to Watchdog but was told by the BBC’s managing director at the time not to do it. In defiance, she’s done it ever since, and even jokingly told Channel 4 bosses when negotiating her Countdown gig, ‘I get paid £100 per wink’ – and that it should be in her contract.
Apropos of late Dad’s Army vicar Frank Williams, an active Church of England member, his participation in various diocesan elections prompted the then Bishop of London, Graham Leonard, to offer to ordain him without condition. ‘The Church of England’s most trusted clerics are you and Derek Nimmo,’ lamented Leonard. ‘Oh no, my lord,’ replied Williams. ‘I fear nowadays you will need to ordain a blonde with big knockers to get the newspapers interested.’
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