She was a love rival in the Swinging Sixties who became a firm friend of Queen Camilla.
Lady Amabel Lindsay, daughter of the 9th Earl of Hardwicke, has died at the age of 90.
She was one of several women competing for the affections of Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles before he and Camilla Shand were married in 1973
in a wedding at the Guards Chapel and a reception at St James’s Palace for 750 guests, including the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.
The battle for the dashing brigadier became fraught at times, as a friend told my esteemed predecessor Nigel Dempster.
Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill and Lady Amabel Lindsay attend a party in London in 1997. Lady Amabel was known for her elegant garden parties
‘Andrew was living in a flat in Portobello Road, NottingHill, to which Camilla had a key,’ the pal said. ‘One day she let herself in when he was not expecting her, and she found him flustered.
‘She knew someone else was in the flat and looking around found Lady Amabel, somewhat disarrayed, crouched behind the sofa.’
At the time, Lady Amabel was married to Patrick Lindsay, head of the Old Masters Department at Christie’s auctioneers. He died of cancer in 1986. Another of Brigadier Parker Bowles’s relationships after he started going out with Camilla in 1967 was with Lady Caroline Percy, sister of the 11th Duke of Northumberland.
‘Camilla was always coming up to me at parties and asking what I was doing with her boyfriend,’ Lady Caroline told Dempster. ‘She was always doing this to girls at parties. But I got fed up with it and said to her, “You can have him back when I’ve finished with him.”’
Lady Amabel, who was known for her elegant garden parties, remained a lifelong friend of Brigadier Parker Bowles and he would stay at her home in Notting Hill when visiting London from Wiltshire.
She had four children in her marriage to Patrick Lindsay, including the film-maker Ludovic and motor-racing driver Valentine.
Dougray marks 23 years sober
Dougray Scott turns 60 today but he’s far more preoccupied with another major milestone.
The Scottish actor, who is married to actress Claire Forlani, reveals he has been sober for 23 years.
‘I used to drink a lot when I was younger – and other things. And now I don’t,’ he says.
‘It’s been a long time where I haven’t done any of that stuff – 23 years.’ The Mission Impossible II star has a ten-year-old son, Milo, with Claire, and twins, Gabriel and Eden, 27, with ex-wife Sarah Trevis, a casting director.
‘I don’t miss it for a second,’ adds Scott, who was tipped to be the new James Bond before Daniel Craig replaced Pierce Brosnan as 007.
‘My life is immeasurably better. I’ve got so many things to occupy me now. I’m so much happier.’
Marquess’ girl shows off her latest sparkler
Lady Caroline Crichton-Stuart is the daughter of Le Mans winner Johnny Dumfries
Lady Caroline is engaged to music producer Biba Thomas
As the daughter of Le Mans winner Johnny Dumfries, Lady Caroline Crichton-Stuart knows all about the need for speed.
And she doesn’t waste any time when it comes to her love life either.
I can disclose that Lady Caroline – whose racing driver father the 7th Marquess of Bute, died in 2021 aged 62 – has got engaged just eight months after she split up with her previous fiancee.
Her new betrothed is producer Biba Thomas, who has made music videos for global stars such as Calvin Harris and Sam Fender. Lady Caroline – whose mother is the marquess’s first wife, Carolyn Waddell – proudly showed off her sparkler online.
Her previous engagement was in 2022 to artist and model Hetty Douglas, who declared: ‘Get ready for a big gay wedding.’ Hetty proposed on the Spanish party island of Ibiza while they were on holiday with pals including model Cara Delevingne.
Why Jack thinks we’ve a funny idea about comics
As a comic, Jack Whitehall is perfectly cast for his sinister role in new Prime Video drama Malice.
‘People have this assumption with comedians that we’re all sad clowns, and that there is an inner darkness, and that we’re trying to make people laugh because our core is rotten,’ he reflects.
Jack adds that he became a comedian because his father, retired talent agent Michael Whitehall, ‘just didn’t laugh at anything’ and that he was always ‘trying to get him to crack a smile’.
Rishi’s secret nights in the nets to beat stress as PM
Rishi Sunak has revealed that he used to sneak out of 10 Downing Street to smash balls in late-night sessions at the Oval Cricket Ground in south London.
‘It was my great stress relief when I was in Downing Street,’ the former prime minister says.
‘I would nip across the river to the indoor cricket school for a late-night nets session with my cousin. It was a lot of fun. They very kindly would keep it open late.’ He adds: ‘I used to net next to some incredible kids from an outreach programme.
‘They were incredibly talented. I would be just doing a bit of batting and they would be bowling at a gazillion miles an hour.’
No boarding school for Benedict’s boys
Drama was elementary to Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, who learned acting at £64,000-a-year Harrow School.
However, he and his wife, theatre director Sophie Hunter, don’t want to send their three sons to boarding school. ‘Not unless they really want to, but no way,’ the actor says. ‘And Sophie [feels] the same. Selfishly, I want them around – I still want to be there, in case the call comes, [when] the fall happens, I wanna be there.’
He does, however, praise his alma mater, whose alumni include Winston Churchill and pop star James Blunt, for its ‘amazing facilities and very structured timetable’.
Joel’s wife bans socks in sun
Joel Dommett is in Australia to host I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked. His wife Hannah is also there, but she complains his habit of sunbathing with socks is giving her the ick
The Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett is in Australia to host I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked and is accompanied by his wife, the model Hannah Cooper, but he’s already put his foot in it.
‘She said, “You keep sunbathing with socks on, and it is absolutely giving me the ick. We went upstairs to go on to the sun lounger and you literally put socks on to go outside in the sun.” ’
Dommett explains: ‘I can’t be bothered to put suncream on my feet. Last time I was in Australia, I burned the bottom of my feet and it was awful.’
