When Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, Mica Paris was among those who thought that the beautiful, mixed-race American actress would give the Royal Family a boost.
The soul singer, TV presenter and actress, who was named as one of the ‘Great Black Britons’, is, however, now appalled by the Duchess of Sussex’s behaviour. She’s particularly saddened by Meghan’s accusations of racism against unnamed senior members of the Royal Family in her explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
‘I met Harry many times at the polo back in the day,’ Mica tells me at a London party. ‘Lovely guy. I’ve never met Meghan, but I don’t agree with her that the Royal Family is racist – not from what I have experienced.’
She adds: ‘I don’t know if it’s helpful to call out people that you think are racist. You’re perpetuating that hate. Let it go.’
Meghan has complained on multiple occasions about her treatment in the Royal Household.
Mica, 56, who had pop hits before going on to act in EastEnders and present What Not To Wear, says: ‘We have to get to a point where we stop moaning. Don’t moan. I wake up every morning, and I’m so grateful to be here.’
The star’s brother was shot dead while at work, prompting her to become an ambassador of the Met Police’s Operation Trident.
‘I’ve had a lot of people I’ve lost over the years, a lot of death,’ she says. ‘And, when you lose people, you appreciate life. And what we’ve got now with a lot of these millennials, they are just whingeing all the time.
‘It’s a bit like famous people when they start whingeing about being famous. What the f*** are you doing that for?
‘People are going through hell. You’ve got a limo outside, a nice house, and you’re whingeing? No, mate.
‘But if, like Meghan, you sit there and you keep saying, “Woe is me, woe is me!”, where’s the healing? You’re just picking at the wound.’
Paris is saddened by Meghan’s accusations of racism against unnamed senior members of the Royal Family in her explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021
Ramsay’s ex-mistress reveals cancer battle
Sarah Symonds, who claimed in 2008 that she had been involved in a seven-year affair with married television chef Gordon Ramsay, is battling breast cancer.
‘I am determined not to die,’ she tells me. ‘It would make too many people happy, including Ramsay, if he thought I was taking his secrets to the grave.’
Symonds, 55, says she’s ‘responding well’ to chemotherapy, but adds: ‘Sadly, that has given me Addison’s disease now, too.’ That’s a rare disorder of the adrenal glands that can leave sufferers with symptoms similar to those of flu. She’s trying to write a ‘no-holds-barred’ memoir, explaining: ‘I’m a woman with nothing to lose.’
Sarah Symonds, 55, says she’s ‘responding well’ to chemotherapy, but adds: ‘Sadly, that has given me Addison’s disease now, too.’
Brucie’s widow Lady Forsyth stung by Du Beke comment
Sir Bruce Forsyth’s widow has been left shocked and saddened by Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke’s claim earlier this year that her late husband would be ‘furious’ about his final resting place.
After Strictly host Sir Bruce, 89, died in 2017 following a 73-year entertainment career, his ashes were placed beneath the stage at the London Palladium, in a tribute to his association with the theatre.
He shares a spot with comedian Des O’Connor, who died three years later.
Du Beke claimed: ‘I know that Bruce would have been furious about this because he was never a double act.’
Lady (Wilnelia) Forsyth tells me of his resting place: ‘It’s a place that we thought would be appropriate. The whole family thought that it would be the best place for him to be – and we still feel that way.’
Bruce and Lady (Wilnelia) Forsyth
Callum’s diamond display of devotion to fiancee Dua
Pop princess Dua Lipa recently confirmed her engagement to Callum Turner, and the actor has wasted little time in getting it in writing. Or, more accurately, spelled out in diamonds.
I can disclose that a bracelet was presented to the singer, 29, yesterday in Dublin, where she’s performing.
The silver bracelet was created by Irish jewellery designer Melissa Curry’s firm, POG. It features lab-grown diamonds and carries the initials D X C. The D and C are from the couple’s names while the ‘X’ stands for ‘pog’, the Irish word for ‘kiss’.
‘It was tuning in with [Dua’s lyric], One Kiss Is All It Takes,’ Ms Curry
tells me. ‘I’m delighted to have made a very special piece for a very special lady.’
Sweetly, the jeweller and her team were treated to a VIP box at the concert as a thank-you.
Dua Lipa with Callum Turner
The smart set’s talking about… Will Johnny’s girl be a Boden bride?
With its jolly floral prints and bright colours, Boden is a label worn by everyone from the Princess of Wales to Sienna Miller and Millie Mackintosh.
Its founder, the middle-class tastemaker Johnnie Boden, has never made wedding dresses, but could that be about to change?
I ask only because the eldest of the Old Etonian’s three daughters has got engaged.
Schoolteacher Anna Boden, 30, is to wed Oliver Hext, a wealth manager, also 30.
‘We are so pleased,’ Johnnie tells me. ‘We all love Ollie.
‘He is very good at washing up too – a critical son-in-law test.’
Anna, 30, is a head of year at Holland Park School in Kensington, west London, a tough comprehensive nicknamed the ‘socialist Eton’ because it’s been attended by the children of many Left-wing politicians.
It’s barely more than a year since she lost the love of her life in desperate circumstances. But Teresa Marshall de Paoli, constant companion of the late Marquess of Ailesbury for nearly 40 years till he plunged to his death, aged 98, after falling through a window at their west London flat, remains admirably stoical. Eschewing even a trace of reticence as she turned 90 this week, she enjoyed a two-hour lunch at the Ritz as the guest of a friend. ‘It was absolutely fantastic – magical,’ says Teresa.
She has everything a lady of the manor could wish for at her 15th century Oxfordshire pile.
But I can disclose that Geri Halliwell has resigned herself to a future without balls – the two, that is, that were to have embellished the stone gate posts from which 6.5ft solid oak gates will soon hang at the entrance to the property she shares with her husband, Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner.
Permission for the gates and posts has been granted under a heading involving ‘erection’ and ‘improvement’. But proposed ball finials – atop the 7.5ft posts – would have made it an excessive erection, in terms of height. So they got the snip from the local council.
Geri Halliwell has resigned herself to a future without balls
The conductor who launched the campaign that saved the BBC Singers from closure two years ago is now protesting that his own choir and several others have been snubbed at this year’s BBC Proms.
Sam Evans, whose video campaign prompted a petition of 140,000 persuading the Corporation to reverse its decision to axe the BBC Singers, sang at the King’s Coronation and is a baritone with the Monteverdi choir.
‘It is very disappointing that there is not a single professional British choir, apart from the in-house BBC Singers, performing at the BBC Proms this year,’ he laments. ‘This is the first time I can remember this happening since I turned professional in 2001.’
The BBC Radio 3 boss and Proms controller Sam Jackson responds: ‘The Proms programme changes every year. Next year’s line-up will be different, and will once again include a range of British choirs.’ So perhaps harmony will return.
(Very) modern manners
Signed ‘from Charles R and Camilla R’, it was, surely, among the most treasured Christmas cards of 2024. But its magic has evidently faded, at least for one anonymous recipient.
Resisting the temptation to preserve the card for posterity, he (or she) is flogging it barely six months later. With a ‘gilt embossed crowned cypher’ on its cover and a ‘relaxed colour photograph of the Royal Couple’ opposite a traditional greeting – ‘Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year’ – it’s up for grabs on Tuesday, with a £200-£300 estimate.
Auctioneers Reeman Dansie are based in Essex – a clue to who the seller might be?
Mrs Cracknell has a pop at chart stardom
The American-born finance boss Jordan Connell, 40, reveals she’s been quietly working on a surprise debut pop single, Gordon Gekko
She’s married to Olympic double gold medallist and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant James Cracknell – and now Jordan Connell is planning to make a name for herself.
The American-born finance boss, 40, reveals she’s been quietly working on a surprise debut pop single, Gordon Gekko – a high-octane, 1980s-inspired dance track co-written with Love Island music producer Tom Marlow.
‘Last year, we had that viral song, I’m Looking For a Man In Finance. I kept thinking, “Why is it always a man in finance?” I wanted to flip the script – to show women can be powerful and ambitious too. A boss b****.’
In the music video, Jordan, left, is styled in bodycon dresses, satin blouses and skyscraper heels, playing a female version of Michael Douglas’s infamous Wall Street banker. ‘James likes the song very much and he’s really excited for it to come out,’ she adds.
The couple wed in 2021 following the collapse of his 17-year marriage to GB News presenter Beverley Turner, with whom he has three children.