Criticised for her overbearing behaviour and caustic put-downs when she competed on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Lady Colin Campbell is, nevertheless, the recipient of an ‘extraordinarily generous’ gift.
I hear that the royal biographer, 74, is the new owner of a penthouse apartment in the Moroccan city of Tangier.
The former Georgie Ziadie — who has her title thanks to a year-long marriage to the Duke of Argyll’s younger son, Lord Colin Campbell, in 1974 — says the flat was a gift from a godparent of her adopted sons, Michael and Dimitri.
‘My sons’ godfather has turned over the lease of his flat in Tangier to me,’ Lady Colin tells me.
Richard Eden: Criticised for her overbearing behaviour and caustic put downs when she competed on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Lady Colin Campbell is, nevertheless, the recipient of an ‘extraordinarily generous’ gift.
Lady Colin Campbell ‘I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’ TV show, – 02 Dec 2015
‘The original idea was going to be that my sons would have it. But then, logistically, it was decided that it would be easier to hand it over to me. It was extraordinarily generous of him.’
The author, who declines to name the godfather, has yet to visit the flat. ‘You can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am not sure I’ll have the time to go down there,’ she says. ‘I will let my friends use the property instead.
‘It’s located near the harbour and has wonderful views of the sea. It’s got three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three roof terraces.’
Lady Colin already owns Castle Goring, a sprawling 18th-century estate in West Sussex.
She bought it for more than £700,000 in 2013 and has since spent several million on renovations. She lets it out for corporate events and weddings.
Olivia helps Bea join A-list of fashion
Princess Beatrice has been cruelly mocked for some of her style choices, but since joining forces with society stylist Olivia Buckingham she has become one of the best-dressed royals.
King Charles’s niece, 35, and the fashionista, 40, who has also styled actress Poppy Delevingne and Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern, have now been pictured together for the first time.
They were at a dinner to celebrate the opening of fashion designer Monique Lhuillier’s flagship store in Mayfair, hosted by Game Of Thrones actress Jazzy de Lisser.
Bea wore a gold sequinned dress while Olivia chose a crop top and maxi-skirt.
Pictured: Princess Beatrice with society stylist Olivia Buckingham
Poldark Eleanor’s brr-racy outfit
I do hope Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson didn’t catch a chill as she left the Royal Opera House wearing this racy number as the mercury plunged to about 5c.
The actress, who initially had to wear drab frocks as Demelza in the hit BBC TV drama, wore a black, cutout and see-through gown designed by Nensi Dojaka, which features mesh collared detailing.
Tomlinson, 31, married rugby star Will Owen last summer. He was her first serious boyfriend after she split from Poldark co-star Harry Richardson.
Eleanor Tomlinson attends the British GQ Men Of The Year afterparty at the Royal Opera House
Next week’s by-election for a Conservative hereditary peer sounds fascinating. Candidates include Lord Annaly, who is keen to highlight his experience as a ‘logistics driver, on remuneration close to minimum wage’.
As the House of Lords attendance allowance is £342 a day, that would make quite a difference to him.
Lord Ashbourne, meanwhile, says he wants to be ‘a part of the solution that finally arrests 80 years of relative British decline’.
Perhaps the most intriguing of them is Lord Hazlerigg, who founded the Noisily Festival of Music and Arts. Its website says: ‘Guided by our environment and grounded in nature, we celebrate the individual and cultivate understanding in the collective. But make no mistake, this is a proper f***ing party.’
Is the Upper House ready for Hazlerigg?
Simon Gaul, who owned The Travel Bookshop, featured in the film Notting Hill, claims he worked for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
‘His agent wanted a library for his new 370ft yacht,’ Gaul tells me at the launch of his book, White Suicide.
‘In heavy Russian tones, our brief was simple: ‘I have 28 linear metres of bookshelf. Fill them.’ We did, late into the night in a cold Southampton dockyard.’
Turning over a new leaf is paying off for Pete Doherty, the once-dishevelled, drug-addled boyfriend of model Kate Moss.
Now sober and drug-free, the rock singer, 44, has bagged an impressive £1.3 million in earnings, across two of the six firms he uses to manage his finances, new figures filed at Companies House reveal.
Pictued: Pete Doherty makes a cameo appearance on the Other Stage at Glastonbury Festival
Designer defends royals’ style
Waspish criticism of the Prince and Princess of Wales by Queen Camilla’s old friend Nicky Haslam will make them more popular, claims flamboyant interiors expert Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.
Haslam told me Prince William and Catherine ‘couldn’t be less sophisticated’ and called their dress sense ‘common’.
But Changing Rooms star Llewelyn-Bowen, who has designed floors at Buckingham Palace, says: ‘The Prince and Princess of Wales have such a connection with absolutely everyone in the country, so the fact that he’s condemned them will increase their popularity.’
Speaking to me at the Shooting Star Ball in London, he adds: I don’t think the world is like the Nicky Haslam world any more.’
Richard Eden: Waspish criticism of the Prince and Princess of Wales by Queen Camilla’s (right) old friend Nicky Haslam (left) will make them more popular, claims flamboyant interiors expert Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen