EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Diana secrets from treasure trove of private tapes set to be released in documentaries
He’s the man who, 20 years after her death, brought Princess Diana’s voice to life once more, in his documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words, which used extracts from conversations tape-recorded by one of the Princess’s oldest friends, Old Etonian Dr James Colthurst.
Now, I can disclose, Emmy-winning American filmmaker Tom Jennings is ready to go one better, with a brace of documentaries — one about Diana and another about her former husband, King Charles, who, Jennings predicts, is going to ‘radically change the monarchy’.
His Diana project will, he says, cover her relationships with members of her family — including a latecomer to the Spencer clan, her father’s second wife, Raine, daughter of romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.
‘We have six more hours of tapes,’ Jennings, 61, tells me at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, referring to the conversations which Colthurst, now 66, had with Diana, at her behest, at Kensington Palace in 1991, as her marriage to the then Prince of Wales unravelled.
Now, I can disclose, Emmy-winning American filmmaker Tom Jennings is ready to go one better, with a brace of documentaries — one about Diana and another about her former husband, King Charles, who, Jennings predicts, is going to ‘radically change the monarchy’
The tapes — passed, with Diana’s blessing, to author Andrew Morton by Colthurst, who first met Diana when she was 17 — cover ‘all kinds of stuff’, says Jennings, including her reflections on her stepmother.
Though rather cruelly known by the soubriquet ‘Acid Raine’, Raine ultimately became one of Diana’s most trusted confidantes.
Yet for once, it seems, Diana may be eclipsed by Charles. ‘We found amazing footage of him,’ explains Jennings, who has spent months trawling through what he describes as ‘miles’ of film.
‘I can do a whole hour on Charles the comedian,’ he says, mentioning in particular a scene in which the future King ‘wrestles with bagpipes and has a conversation with them. It’s like Monty Python. It’s off the charts.’
His professional interest in the King has persuaded him that Charles is capable of ‘radically’ changing the monarchy. ‘I see him seeing himself as the hinge between the past, with his mother, and the future, with William.
‘He’s going to re-write [the monarch’s role] so, by the time William comes around, he can carry on the vision Charles has had for decades.
‘He’s only going to have a few years to put that through.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if in five years you see the King of England giving a political speech.’
Leonardo DiCaprio’s rumoured love interest Neelam Gill has been forced to deny she’s dating the Hollywood star.
‘I am not Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘new flame’,’ she insists. ‘In fact, I am in a committed relationship with one of his good friends, and have been for many months now,’ the model from Coventry says.
She adds: ‘The only reason we have been pictured in the same vicinity is because I have been there with my partner.’
Well that clears that up then.
Ascot TV presenter Rosie Tapner placed her bets right when she decided to court rugged adventurer Ross Turner, for the pair are now engaged.
‘My bestest friend in the world asked me to marry him, and of course (through so many happy tears) I said yes,’ says Rosie. The Burberry model, 27, showed off the sparkler that Ross, 34, proposed with on a beach under Cornwall’s Brea Hill.
‘I’m feeling like the luckiest girl in the world,’ says Rosie, who was the first person to zip-wire across the River Thames, hurtling at 40mph while 170ft in the air.
Meanwhile, Ross and his identical twin brother Hugo hold world records for being part of the youngest four-man crew to row the Atlantic.
Ascot TV presenter Rosie Tapner placed her bets right when she decided to court rugged adventurer Ross Turner, for the pair are now engaged
The smart set’s talking about… Turnip toffs holidaying at TV’s Succession villa
Though known as ‘Turnip Toffs’ — because they live on his 3,800-acre Houghton estate in Norfolk — the Marquess of Cholmondeley and his wife Rose are, of course, infinitely more sophisticated than that.
Rose (pictured, far right, with friends) and David are staying at the irresistible Villa Cetinale, featured in hit U.S. TV drama Succession
Their neighbours are the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the couple also have aesthetic tastes which they’re currently indulging in Tuscany.
Rose and David are staying at the irresistible Villa Cetinale, featured in hit U.S. TV drama Succession.
No setting could be more apposite. Bought by the late Lord Lambton following his resignation as a government minister back in 1973, after he’d been caught in bed with two prostitutes by a Sunday paper, Cetinale and the rest of his fortune were inherited in 2007 by his only son, Ned Durham — more formally, the 7th Earl of Durham — whose wife is Rose’s sister, Marina.
His inheritance sparked three of his five sisters to launch a legal claim against him, arguing that they were entitled to ‘millions of pounds’ under Italian law.
Nearly a decade later, an out-of-court settlement was reached, granting them up to £1.5 million each.
Fran’s still in with the In Crowd
Fran Cutler was dubbed the Primrose Hill Set’s ‘party Rottweiler’ in the 1990s for her refusal to let those she deemed not cool enough join the hedonistic gatherings she organised for Kate Moss and Sadie Frost.
And despite falling out with Moss in 2018, the PR supremo still parties with the best of them and has attracted a new group of fashionable pals to go clubbing with.
Cutler, 60, shared this picture of herself with supermodel Cara Delevingne, 30, along with her musician girlfriend Leah Mason, 31, who performs under the name Minke, and actress Sienna Miller, 41, at a club in St Tropez.
‘I have had the most amazing two weeks away,’ gloats Fran. ‘Starting in Turkey to end off in the beautiful St Tropez with the best people.’
Cutler (right), 60, shared this picture of herself with supermodel Cara Delevingne, 30, along with her musician girlfriend Leah Mason, 31, who performs under the name Minke, and actress Sienna Miller, 41, at a club in St Tropez
Trinny laments the price of talking posh
Is there a price to pay for having a posh accent? I only ask as Trinny Woodall says she is often overlooked as a self-made businesswoman due to her elegant intonation.
‘People will always make assumptions about you,’ admits the What Not To Wear presenter.
‘When I was younger they thought that, because of the sound of my voice, my life has been entitled or, more recently, because of who you go out with, that you have access to things,’ says Trinny, 59, who recently split from super-rich art collector Charles Saatchi.
The mother-of-one, whose make-up brand Trinny London is worth an estimated £180 million, says its success is down to her own business acumen. ‘I self-funded it to an extent as well as attracting investors,’ she wails.
One would not have been amused by a royal blunder Jools Holland made aboard Queen Victoria’s train at the National Railway Museum in York.
One would not have been amused by a royal blunder Jools Holland made aboard Queen Victoria’s train at the National Railway Museum in York
The pianist — and train enthusiast — was allowed to inspect the monarch’s private carriage. He says: ‘I got to know them (the staff) a little, and as a special treat they showed me on to Queen Victoria’s carriage.
‘I sat down on the sofa, looked round at the director who was showing me, and his face had gone bright red, his cheeks were twitching and his eyes were bulging… the assistant was gesturing me to get up.’
The director’s assistant, then informed Jools that the sofa is upholstered in the original material and the last person to sit there was Queen Victoria — and it’s very fragile.
‘The poor director had to be helped off… I was never asked back again,’ adds Jools wistfully.
Wham star’s ex: ‘I don’t need a man’
Super-rich divorcee Amanda Cronin was the subject of the Channel 4 programme The Millionairess And Me last year, but she appears to be calling time on her short-lived TV career.
‘I’ve been approached twice in the last few weeks for two shows, but the trouble with reality TV is it becomes all-encompassing,’ she tells me at a summer soiree at photographer Richard Young’s gallery.
Ms Cronin, 54, who is said to have ‘the longest legs in Belgravia’, says: ‘The producers want to suck you in. Even when you’re not filming, they still want to have access to your life.’
The skincare entrepreneur, who until recently was dating Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley, adds: ‘I don’t know how beneficial that would be to my business. I wouldn’t want anything to distract me from that, including a man.’
Super-rich divorcee Amanda Cronin was the subject of the Channel 4 programme The Millionairess And Me last year, but she appears to be calling time on her short-lived tv career
Keep it to yourself, but…
My man at the races tells me the horse racing world is agog at a photo of one of its most patrician figures which shows him stark naked — having been snapped by a prostitute whose favours he was enjoying before, alas, he had a severe disagreement with her about her fee…
She partied into the early hours with her Rolling Stone father Ronnie Wood at Sir Mick Jagger’s 80th birthday bash earlier this week — yet artist Leah Wood, 44, still managed to showcase her new eco-conscious clothing collection the following day.
On hand to help at the launch was model-turned-publican Jodie Kidd, 44, who is an investor in the Leah Wood x Manava x Junior Rags collaboration. The pair were spotted celebrating at Upstairs At Langan’s in London’s Mayfair.
Meanwhile, Leah admits to enlisting Ronnie to model one of her designs. ‘My dad obviously is who he is and he offered his services to me. I said, ‘Can you put a T-shirt on?’ and he said, ‘Of course!’ ‘ she tells me.
She partied into the early hours with her Rolling Stone father Ronnie Wood at Sir Mick Jagger’s 80th birthday bash earlier this week — yet artist Leah Wood, 44, still managed to showcase her new eco-conscious clothing collection the following day. On hand to help at the launch was model-turned-publican Jodie Kidd, 44, who is an investor in the Leah Wood x Manava x Junior Rags collaboration. The pair were spotted celebrating at Upstairs At Langan’s in London’s Mayfair (pictured here)
(Very) modern manners
The potential pitfalls of a themed party are too numerous to mention. But there are ways to minimise disaster.
The hostess of what promises to be a splendidly uninhibited party in Northamptonshire tonight — innocuously entitled ‘North Meets South’ — has included gentle hints on her invitations, hoping to ensure that guests are in a playful mood.
She suggests to those struggling for inspiration to think along the lines of ‘Nordic Viking Meets Bondi Beach Surfer’. In case that fails to have them rootling through their wardrobes, she offers a further tip: ‘Braveheart Meets Poldark’.
So who is this spirited hostess who possibly swoons at the thought of a bare-chested Aidan Turner? None other than former Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom, 60. Happily married to business manager Ben Leadsom for 30 years, I hasten to add.
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