There’s no stopping Viscount Newport, the Earl of Bradford’s 43-year-old eldest son and heir, and his wife, Latvian-born Eliza Liepina, 33.
Barely have I revealed that Eliza has daringly disrobed for a portrait — painted in the late stages of her pregnancy — than I can disclose that, a week today, the couple are embracing the American custom of holding a ‘baby shower’ — a party at which friends ‘shower’ gifts on the soon-to-be born child.
But are the dashing couple in peril of becoming the aristocracy’s version of the Kardashians? Family friends fear so.
‘They’ve put out a list of presents they would like. It’s too awful,’ one tells me, adding that the list largely comprises things that ‘any normal parent would be buying for their baby anyway: plastic mats for changing nappies on, all sorts of cuddly toys and things to dangle over cribs. Plus a breast pump.’
‘They’ve also listed a £450 voucher for the Beaverbrook Club in Surrey and another £100 voucher for somewhere else. The family are just appalled.’
The couple’s spokesman declines to comment — perhaps struggling to pinpoint Alexander and Eliza Newport on the sprawling 12,000-acre family estate, which straddles the Shropshire-Staffordshire border.
Latvian-born Eliza Liepina, 33 snaps a selfie at Royal Ascot in 2023
The couple are embracing the American custom of holding a ‘baby shower’
But are the dashing couple in peril of becoming the aristocracy’s version of the Kardashians? Family friends fear so
Will Jazmin’s jokes be on dad Prince Albert?
Think Netflix’s up-coming dramatisation of Prince Andrew’s ‘car-crash’ interview with Emily Maitlis is the end in ‘royal’ entertainment? Think again.
Jazmin Grimaldi, 31, eldest of Prince Albert of Monaco’s four offspring, is performing a ‘comedy show’ tonight in Los Angeles.
Jazmin, 31, was born after Albert became entranced by her mother, Tamara Rotolo, then a waitress.
He later became enamoured of Nicole Coste, an Air France flight attendant, with whom he had a son, Alexandre, 20, before marrying Charlene Wittstock, with whom he has twins Jacques and Gabriella.
Princess Charlene has lately been accused of burning through nearly £13 million in the first eight years of her marriage, while Jazmin’s aunt, Princess Stephanie, has married three times so far, first to her bodyguard, then to an elephant trainer and most recently a Portuguese acrobat. Should be enough for Jazmin to work with . . .
Donald Trump gets Lady Victoria’s vote
Lady Victoria Hervey fled California for Blighty last year, after her support for her friend Prince Andrew and her campaign to prove the innocence of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell left her fearing for her safety.
But this selfie out of Florida, showing Lady Victoria, 47, with a dinner suit-wearing Donald Trump, suggests she at least feels at ease at the former American President’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where she attended a gala.
‘He said I looked like I had come from central casting,’ the Marquess of Bristol’s sister tells me, explaining: ‘He said he meant he thought I looked like a movie star.’
‘Trump was in good spirits,’ the socialite says. ‘He will win the next election.’
If he does, will he issue a presidential pardon for Maxwell, whom he met on several occasions? He issued 143 pardons last time he was in the White House.
Lady Victoria, 47, with a dinner suit-wearing Donald Trump
Kids’ homework a headache for Petra
Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone caused a stir in 2021 when I revealed that she and her husband, Essex businessman Sam Palmer, had chosen to educate their children at home — because the curriculum at some schools included too much ‘woke stupidity’.
Now, however, billionaire Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter admits she has begrudgingly done a U-turn and enrolled her children at a private school in Los Angeles.
‘Sam wanted them to go back to school,’ explains Petra, 34, an alumna of £24,600-per-year Francis Holland School in London.
She moans: ‘They have loads of homework, project after project. It just doesn’t stop. I don’t remember the amount of homework and projects that parents have to do.
‘It feels like a full-time job — having to manage the emails, the messages, the different uniforms, the different things to bring to school. It’s never-ending.’
Yummy mummies up in arms as club closes
Tears and tantrums at Maggie & Rose, the Kensington club dubbed ‘Soho House for yummy mummies’ by its co-founder, Rose Astor, wife of Prince William’s pal Hugh van Cutsem.
Yet the wailing isn’t coming from the toddlers in the soft play area, but from the yummy mummies themselves, distraught to find the clubhouse, in a ‘cosy mews in West London’, closed — seemingly for good.
‘It’s quite clear they will not be re-opening,’ writes one of those who, having forked out membership fees starting at £2,500, are now letting off steam on social media. ‘We’re taking it to court,’ says another, alleging she is owed ‘over £1,300’.
A third claims the company ‘didn’t pay their staff’ and adds: ‘The whole chain has closed down.’
So it appears: my calls and emails go unanswered by the company, whose latest accounts are months overdue and which, when it did last file any, had debts of £1.5 million.
Its fate grieves Rose, whose daughter Grace (left, with her mum) was the Princess of Wales’s bridesmaid.
Her co-founder, Maggie Bolger, sold up a few years ago. Van Cutsem tells me: ‘Maggie and I are very sad to hear of its closure.’
Its fate grieves Rose, whose daughter Grace (left, with her mum) was the Princess of Wales’s bridesmaid.
Claudia Schiffer’s cat, Chip, stole the show when the supermodel paraded the pet at the London premiere of Argylle, the spy film directed by her husband, Matthew Vaughn.
However Vaughn admits that Chip’s appearance in a custom-made Versace pet carrier required some family negotiation.
‘It’s technically my daughter’s cat, but you get better headlines saying it’s my wife’s cat,’ the director admits.
‘I went up to my daughter’s bedroom and said, ‘I’m going to borrow Chip for the next three months’.’
Critics said Chip, who plays the role of Alfie, the feline belonging to a spy novelist in the movie, was a rare highlight in the widely panned caper.
Sir Ringo Starr has followed Sir Paul McCartney’s example by displaying his own candid snaps of The Beatles at the peak of their fame.
‘We always had a professional photographer to take photos of us, but I just loved taking pictures and I still do,’ the drummer says. Ringo is known for refusing to sign autographs over concerns that the items are being sold for profit.
But he has personally inscribed the limited edition prints from his Photograph Collection, which are being sold for £1,900 each. Money (That’s What I Want), as the Fab Four once sang…
How will Jack Dee maintain his irritable comic persona when he receives such cheery news?
I hear the comedian, 62, has raked in a staggering £25 million in earnings in the last two years through his business, Open Mike Productions.
Accounts were published this week for the company, which produces his projects as well as BBC stand-up series Live At The Apollo.
He co-founded the firm with his agent, Addison Cresswell, who died in 2013 aged 53.
Dee shared dividends totalling £2.9 million with Cresswell’s widow, Shelley, over the same period.
Jack Dee has raked in a staggering £25 million in earnings in the last two years through his business, Open Mike Productions
Davinia and a passport to leave Becks’ best pal
When the actress Davinia Taylor married Dave Gardner, his close friend David Beckham served as best man.
However, their marriage broke down in 2010 and she admits to despising Gardner, with whom she has a teenage son.
‘I really hated my ex-husband, but I still had my old surname because I couldn’t be bothered to go to the passport office,’ says Davinia, 46, known as the ‘loo roll heiress’ because her father, Alan Murphy, ran the AM Paper factory.
Asked if she really loathed Gardner, a sports agent, that much, she tells me: ‘Yes, but I hated the passport office more. I thought, ‘I can’t deal with the queue, and getting it wrong, and all the paperwork’.’
Actress Davinia Taylor admits to despising her ex-husband David Gardner
Has America tired of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?
I ask only because Hollywood screenwriter Bob Gale, who co-wrote the 1980s classic Back To The Future, wishes there was an escape from the California-based couple.
‘I don’t want to talk about Meghan,’ he declares. ‘I think we’re all tired of talking about Meghan. Aren’t you? Even in the States, we’re tired of it.’
Gale tells me: ‘God bless. May she live her life; may she find whatever she’s looking for. That’s what I wish for everyone.’
Asked if he thinks Meghan has any chance of emulating the popularity of Princess Diana, who attended the premiere of the Back To The Future Part III, Gale responds: ‘No. Diana broke the mould.
‘She was one of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen.’
(Very) modern manners
Everyone is part of a special interest group these days, but who’s standing up for middle-aged men losing their hair? Step forward, BBC DJ Sara Cox.
‘I’m a proud WOAB (wife of a baldy) and know the daily battles a bald man faces,’ she says. ‘These range from sourcing stylish beanies in winter to the weekly maintenance of head-shaving.’ Cox, 49, who’s married to musician Jon Carter, 53, adds: ‘There’s also the constant name-calling.
‘Not from strangers in the street or work colleagues — but from our teenage children.’
