Here’s some news that would have delighted his grandmother, the ‘Queen of Romance’ Dame Barbara Cartland.
I hear that the Earl of Dartmouth, who celebrates his 76th birthday today, has refused to give up on love.
Friends say the earl, William Legge, has got married to the ex-wife of Michael Douglas, who starred in Hollywood blockbusters including Fatal Attraction, Wall Street and Romancing The Stone.
Diandra Douglas, 69, is said to have exchanged vows in Gibraltar last week with William, making her the new Countess of Dartmouth.
‘It was a tiny, private ceremony at the Gibraltar register office with only one or two guests,’ claims a friend of the couple.
William Legge, who turns 76 today, is said to have married Diandra Douglas in Gibraltar last week
Diandra was married to Hollywood star Michael Douglas from 1977 to 1995
William was stepbrother to Princess Diana after his mother, ‘Acid’ Raine Spencer, married her father, John, the 8th Earl Spencer.
Diandra divorced double Oscar winner Douglas, who is now married to Catherine Zeta-Jones, in 2000 after 23 years of marriage. The couple have a son together, the actor Cameron Douglas, who served a prison sentence for drug dealing. Diandra also has twin sons with ex-fiance Zach Bacon III, having used a surrogate mother, as well as an adoptive daughter, Imara.
The earl, a former UKIP member of the European Parliament, was previously married to model Fiona Campbell. He has a son, Gerald, from his relationship with television producer Claire Kavanagh.
Chartered accountant William has strong links to Gibraltar, having represented the territory in the EU parliament, while American film producer Diandra loves Spain and kept their home in Majorca when she divorced Douglas, 80. She was reported to have been awarded around £30million in their divorce, one of the biggest settlements in Hollywood history.
Diandra was later accused of greed after taking Douglas to court, seeking more money, after he appeared in a sequel to Wall Street, which he had made during their marriage.
As Bridget Jones’s sweary pal Shazza in the hit films, Sally Phillips was fiercely loyal.
The actress appears similarly protective of her co-star Leo Woodall, 29, the heart-throb who played Renee Zellweger’s much younger lover in the latest film, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
‘I felt sorry for Leo because I went to the premiere in Australia, and they [fans] were animals, [screaming] “Leo! Leo!”‘ she recalls at a Chelsea Arts Festival talk in west London.
‘It wasn’t healthy – you could see him retreating from himself – it’s cannibalistic.’
Bros heart-throb Matt Goss to marry
The Bros pop singer, who turns 57 next week, has proposed to his girlfriend, the jewellery designer Chantal Brown
Single since his days as a heart-throb to millions of teenage girls in the 1980s, Matt Goss is finally to enter matrimony.
The Bros pop singer, who turns 57 next week, has proposed to his girlfriend, the jewellery designer Chantal Brown. ‘We haven’t officially put it out there yet, but we’re engaged and looking forward to getting married,’ the former Strictly Come Dancing star tells me at the Barrus X Art De Huile LFW show at the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London. ‘She’s going to make an honest man out of me.’
Chantal was previously married to actor Paul Nicholls, 46, who played Joe Wicks in EastEnders.
Jamie’s Bafta rude awakening
Made In Chelsea star Jamie Laing has admitted he felt like a fraud when the ‘scripted reality TV’ show won a Bafta in 2013.
‘Up on stage, it was an exciting moment, but I remember looking out at the audience, at all these incredible talents – Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch – and suddenly realised we’d sort of snuck in the back door,’ says the podcast star and Radio 1 DJ, 36. ‘We weren’t quite as cool as we maybe thought.’
Most fashionistas feel the pressure ahead of catwalk shows, but King Charles’s favourite eco designers Vin + Omi faced an even more worrying challenge. Omi has revealed that he suffered two heart attacks in the run-up to their Dysphoriana London Fashion Week show. ‘In the last three weeks, I’ve had two heart attacks,’ he tells me. Omi, 49, insisted the show must go on, however. ‘My cardiologist thinks I’m mad, but I couldn’t let down all the people involved.’
Jodie and dragon take on pub bullies
Jodie Kidd, who made a triumphant return to the catwalk at the weekend, was suffering heartache away from London Fashion Week.
The model, 46, felt the need to close the pub she owns in West Sussex for three days after her staff were treated appallingly.
Jodie Kidd wearing a gown emblazoned with a dragon at the Ginny Litscher show last week
The Half Moon at Kirdford, where Jodie says staff have been subjected to verbal and physical abuse
‘It saddens us that in recent weeks we as a team have faced abuse both verbal and physical,’ explains a spokesman for The Half Moon at Kirdford. ‘We’d like to remind everyone that behind the Half Moon is a team of people who care deeply about what we do. We are only human.’
Model and TV personality Jodie, who wore a gown emblazoned with a dragon at the Ginny Litscher show, has been running the pub with two partners since 2017.
Fearne Cotton in a kitchen sink drama
Spare a thought for Fearne Cotton.
First, she split up with her husband, musician Jesse Wood. Now, she doesn’t even have a sink to wash her plates in.
‘I’ve been having my kitchen redecorated – I’ve realised that not having a sink for the last month has been an absolute nightmare,’ wails the broadcaster, 44.
‘Every time I go to wash my hands, there’s no tap. I’m washing up in the bath.’
She’s even been forced to go begging at the checkouts: ‘I borrowed a crate from the supermarket to put my dirty plates in.’
