Here’s a rare piece of welcome news for the Royal Family from Montecito.
I hear that the Duke of Sussex is not planning to give any interviews to publicise the paperback edition of his tawdry memoirs, Spare.
His publisher, Penguin Random House, announced on Monday that the cheaper edition of the explosive book would come out in October.
‘Harry doesn’t plan to give any interviews to promote the paperback edition,’ a friend of his tells me.
‘The paperback was a part of the book deal he signed, but he is not contractually obliged to promote this edition. The reason it has taken longer than usual for the paperback to be published is that the more expensive hardback was still selling well.’
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Pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan during their tour of Columbia this month
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Pictured: The Prince Harry Memoir Spare for sale in a book shop in Windsor, Berkshire
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Prince William and the Princess of Wales attend a ceremonial welcome for The President and the First Lady of the Republic of Korea at Horse Guards Parade on November 21 last year
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King Charles attends Sunday Church service at Sandringham Church on July 28
Lauryn Goodman warns Kyle Walker she’ll tell kids ‘what he’s done’
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My news will come as a relief to the Royal Family, who were subjected to a series of tell-all interviews with Prince Harry when he was promoting the publication of the hardback edition in January last year.
He told Tom Bradby, for example, in an ITV News interview, that his family had ‘gone to bed with the devil’ by collaborating with the Press and suggested his father was ‘not ready’ for the responsibilities of parenthood.
The hardback edition of Spare broke records at bookshops. It was Britain’s best-selling book last year, with more than 700,000 copies sold.
A spokesman for the Duke of Sussex declines to comment.
Poppy blooms in Venice sun
Ciao, Poppy Delevingne! The model and socialite joined some of London’s beau monde, swapping Ubers for gondoliers as their mode of transport at the Venice Film Festival, which started last night.
Poppy, 38, wore an all-white ensemble, including a lace floral top and high-waisted trousers, as she docked at the canal city’s five-star Hotel Excelsior.
The Chelsea property developer’s daughter is currently off the market as she enjoys a passionate romance with Archie Keswick, scion of the multi-billion-pound Jardine Matheson empire and Sienna Miller’s ex.
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Poppy, 38, wore an all-white ensemble, including a lace floral top and high-waisted trousers at the Venice Film Festival
Sharon Stone’s movie career in Hollywood took a dive when she suffered a stroke and brain haemorrhage in 2001 – but she remains grateful for her lengthy health battle.
‘I really believe that recovery is a great deal about who you choose to become,’ she tells me. ‘I learned a lot about being grateful to be here, but I also learned a lot about time and making the time that you have count.’
The Olympic spirit may soon be with Sarah, Duchess of York, who has spoken of her dream to win ‘a gold medal in Equestrian’.
I can disclose that her chum, the philanthropist Milutin Gatsby, is bringing to life his own version of the Olympics.
‘It’s called 100 C and it stands for the 100 Celebrities Championship for Charity and it will feature 100 of the biggest celebrities in the world taking part in different games,’ he tells me.
Eton head ‘Trendy Hendy’ takes break for his health
He became the youngest ever Head Master of £52,749-a-year Eton aged just 39 in 2015.
But is the reign of Simon Henderson, derided by critics as ‘Trendy Hendy’ for his ‘woke’ views, juddering to a close even before the arrival of new Provost – the equivalent of chairman of governors at other schools – the ever dexterous Sir Nicholas Coleridge?
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Pictured: Eton College which charges £52,749-a-year per pupil
I ask because yesterday parents received a letter from Henderson saying he’d been ‘medically advised to take a period away from work’.
Henderson, who provoked anger by sacking popular master Will Knowland four years ago, added: ‘It has been agreed that I will be on sabbatical this half [Eton parlance for term].’
Phoebe’s firm has fleabags of money!
Phoebe Waller-Bridge took nearly five years to hand in her first script after reaching a £45.4 million deal with Amazon. But the long simmering of her creative juices is paying off.
Aside from delighting Vernon Sanders, the big cheese at Amazon, who says her vision for a Tomb Raider blockbuster is ‘great material’, the Fleabag creator has been ringing the cash register.
I can disclose her company, PMWB, generated £18.7 million in turnover in the last financial year and made a pre-tax profit of £12.4 million, from which Waller-Bridge, 39, paid herself a £1.7 million dividend.
Better not tell new chancellor Rachel Reeves . . .
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Phoebe Waller-Bridge attends the UK Premiere of ‘IF’ at Cineworld Leicester Square on May 7
Alicia’s corset crisis
Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander suffers for her art. The Swedish-born actress, who plays Henry VIII’s sixth wife Catherine Parr in new historical drama Firebrand, suffered back pain due to the stiff corsets she wore.
‘Between me and the other ladies who played ladies-in-waiting, we did have an osteopath who would come and hang out with us on set because we all had the same pain,’ she tells me at the film’s screening at Picturehouse Central in London.
‘It did definitely get you into character,’ adds Alicia.
British royal family news divulges that Prince William inherits the UK throne when his father, King Charles, passes away. Such was the case for Charles when his mother Queen Elizabeth passed, and this has been the royal tradition for hundreds of years. William has one thorn in his crown, his brother Prince Harry and Harry’s first wife Meghan Markle. They defected from the monarchy in 2020, since launching a non-stop campaign of vindictiveness against his family.
