Princess Diana was such an inspiration to musicians that rocker Bryan Adams even wrote a song about her.
Now, her niece is hoping to become a pop star herself.
I can disclose that Lady Lara Spencer, the 19-year-old daughter of Earl Spencer and his second wife Caroline Freud, took to the stage in New York last week to sing with her rock band.
‘Lara was great,’ a fan tells me. ‘You’d never guess that she was a member of the British aristocracy.’
Lady Lara Spencer, the 19-year-old daughter of Earl Spencer and his second wife Caroline Freud, took to the stage in New York last week to sing with her rock band
On her 18th birthday last year, the Old Etonian praised his ‘darling daughter’ for joining him at the launch of his memoir, A Very Private School
In a message online, the band says: ‘Thank you for having us and to everyone who came along to hear us play.’ Among those showing support for Grapefruit online was Lady Lara’s half-brother, Louis, Viscount Althorp, who’s trying to make his own way in showbusiness.
Last month, I revealed that the 31-year-old heir to Althorp, the Northamptonshire estate where Diana grew up, had made his first on-screen appearance, starring in a short film called Pinch & Ouch under the stage name Louis Lyons.
Their father, the historian Charles Spencer, 61, spoke enthusiastically in 2023 about Lady Lara’s hopes of studying in America, saying: ‘I just did a tour of the East Coast universities for my teenage daughter.’
The earl and Lady Lara appear to be close. On her 18th birthday last year, the Old Etonian praised his ‘darling daughter’ for joining him at the launch of his memoir, A Very Private School.
He’s dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the universe, but television physicist Brian Cox complains that his forebears have proved less adventurous. ‘Not only am I from Oldham, but I happen to know my whole family are the most boring family in the world, in the sense my ancestry is Oldham,’ Cox, 57, mischievously remarks, laughing: ‘It goes all the way back to the Domesday Book or something… nobody went anywhere.’
How Dame Judi keeps tabs on the Traitors
She is Britain’s greatest living actress of stage and screen, but Dame Judi Dench can no longer watch a performance by anyone else. ‘I can’t see any more,’ despairs the double Oscar winner, 90, who suffers from macular degeneration.
‘When I go to the theatre, I can’t see. Hopeless.’ Dame Judi was speaking at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, of which she is patron.
She was, however, able to keep up with the antics of her friend and fellow thespian dame, Celia Imrie, on The Celebrity Traitors. ‘Somebody told me what was happening,’ Dame Judi says. ‘I want to hear the dirt that went on.’
Author Merlin Holland says his grandfather Oscar Wilde came back to haunt him. ‘It freaked me out,’ he says at The Oldie magazine literary lunch in London. Merlin, 74, recounts an eerie episode in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he directed a theatrical recreation of Wilde’s gross indecency court case. ‘There was a tremendous thunderstorm that night and it blew all the lights out. The next day I rang my wife up and told her. She said, “We also had a storm. And the only lights it blew in our village were in our house.”’
‘Stupid woman’: Dinosaur reaction of TV bigwig to Jessica’s happy news
Actress Jessica Oyelowo revealed that when she told a producer she was pregnant he replied: ‘You women! You’re so annoying. You always ruin my projects with having babies. So stupid’
Hollywood actress Jessica Oyelowo has revealed that a TV producer branded her ‘stupid’ and ‘annoying’ after she told him she was pregnant with her first child.
The wife of actor David Oyelowo says the incident happened in 2001, but claims attitudes towards women in the industry have barely changed. ‘I didn’t know I was pregnant yet, but I got a job and I found out after I’d signed my contracts and started doing costume fittings,’ explains Jessica, 47. Declining to name the show, she adds: ‘It was a job for TV – a few episodes on this TV show in 2001.
‘The first person I told was the main producer, “Look, I want to let you know, I’m pregnant. I’m very well, I’m very young, I’m very healthy. I just wanted to let you know so you could be prepared.” He said, “You women! You’re so annoying. You always ruin my projects with having babies. So stupid.” Things haven’t changed that much [since].’
Bridgerton star’s sex scenes chat with Bill Nighy…
Genevieve Chenneour found herself sitting next to film star Bill Nighy at a west London cafe
Having made headlines earlier this year when she fought off a violent phone thief in west London, Genevieve Chenneour was delighted to have a more civilised encounter recently.
The Bridgerton actress, 27, found herself sitting next to film star Bill Nighy at a west London cafe. ‘Bill stood up and my dog just went crazy over him,’ Genevieve tells me. ‘So he came over to say, “Hi”, and then asked if I wanted to join him for coffee.’
She adds: ‘We talked for about an hour about acting and sex scenes. He was giving me lots of career advice. It was one of those moments where I was thinking, “We’re both in the same industry, but also, what the actual f***? I’m having coffee with Bill Nighy.”’
