He lost both his sons in almost unbearable circumstances, and was recently diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
Now, I can disclose, Lord Monson is steeling himself to bid farewell to the canal-side, Stratford-upon-Avon house which he and his Brazilian third wife, Silvana, hoped would be their home for good when they bought it nine years ago.
That dream has become a collateral casualty of Monson’s profound medical challenges, which prompted a doctor to warn him last summer that he had between four months and four years left to live.
‘I sometimes have two or three appointments at different London hospitals in a week,’ Monson, 69, tells me, adding that making the trip from Warwickshire is now beyond him.
The couple had run the six-bedroom property – originally opened by Queen Victoria as a spa hotel – as a much-acclaimed guest house. ‘I’m a natural Basil Fawlty,’ explains the peer.
But he’s also a fighter, and it was while at the house, on the market for more than £1million, that he plotted the concluding years of an impassioned campaign
to secure justice for his elder son. Alexander was 28 when, in 2012, he was arrested in Kenya and beaten to death by local police, who then repeatedly lied in a bid to evade conviction.
Thereafter, Monson, in tandem with his first wife, Hilary, took on the Kenyan authorities.
Lord Monson is saying farewell to his much loved canal-side guest home in Stratford-upon-Avon
The couple had run the six-bedroom property – originally opened by Queen Victoria as a spa hotel – as a guest house
It was a cause of grim satisfaction when, in 2021, the four defendants received sentences ranging from nine to 15 years for manslaughter. However, 18 months later, all were released.
Monson had by then also had to contend with the death of his younger son, Rupert, who took his own life, aged 21.
It has helped Monson put his current travails in perspective. ‘My diabetes pill set off problems with my pancreas,’ he reflects. ‘My heart pills set off problems with my kidneys. You’ve just got to laugh about it.’
New man for Crown actress Meg Bellamy
As Kate Middleton in Netflix hit The Crown, she caught the eye of fellow St Andrews student Prince William.
In real life, Meg Bellamy seems to have men queuing up for her affections.
I can disclose that the 22-year-old actress has split up with her long-term boyfriend, Connor Dutton, 27, and is already enjoying a passionate romance with a new man.
Introducing himself simply as ‘Max’, he joined her at the Vanity Fair EE Rising Star Party at Pavyllon London this week. ‘We’re having a wonderful night,’ is all Meg would say.
I can disclose that 22-year-old actress Meg Bellamy has split his long-term boyfriend Conor Dutton and has found a new man
Meg with new boyfriend ‘Max’ at the Vanity Fair EE Rising Star Party at Pavyllon London this week
She is understood to have split up with Connor before Christmas.
An acrobat and film crew member, who, like her, once worked at Legoland Windsor in Meg’s home county, Connor praised his ‘gorgeously talented girlfriend’ when it was confirmed in 2022 that Meg would play our future queen in The Crown.
He added, ‘I’m so proud of you baby,’ to which she replied: ‘I love you so much.’
Hogan pitches for dizzy heights
Jeremy Clarkson’s girlfriend, Lisa Hogan, is hoping to make it big with her own Goop-style lifestyle firm.
She’s keeping her fingers crossed it will be a towering success after naming it The Tall Irish.
It’s a nod to her nickname and 6ft 2in stature.
The former actress and model has just sent papers to the Intellectual Property Office to trademark the moniker across a range of goods.
These include cosmetics, perfume, candles, food and drink, alcoholic beverages, clothes, fashion accessories and footwear.
Jeremy Clarkson and his girlfriend Lisa Hogan at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards at the Tate Modern in September 2017
Lisa, 51, runs the Diddly Squat Farm Shop in Oxfordshire with the former Top Gear host and the papers have been sent by Curdle Hill Farm Ltd, the firm behind the concern.
The papers were filed this week and trademarks stay in place for ten years once passed by government lawyers.
Lisa met Clarkson, 64, at a party through mutual friends. They became a couple in 2017.
They haven’t spoken much about their relationship, although Lisa said they didn’t rush their romance.
‘It was quite a long courtship as I didn’t know where he was in his life,’ she once said. ‘And I wasn’t ready to start dating again; didn’t want to go out with anyone. He had to court me for three months.’
Python exclusion ‘unforgiveable’
More than five years since the sudden death of musician-comedian Neil Innes, long hailed as the ‘seventh Python’, his widow Yvonne slams the comedy troupe for failing to invite him to their lucrative reunion shows at London’s O2 arena.
With Innes having clashed with Eric Idle over what he claimed were unpaid songwriting royalties, Yvonne says of his exclusion from Monty Python’s 2014 comeback performances: ‘Neil was part of them . . . there’s nothing worse than meanness, especially with someone as generous as Neil. That was mean. I don’t forgive them for that.’
Yet another ‘sesh’ for Vernon and Phoebe
Some daughters wouldn’t be seen dead partying with their father, but Phoebe Kay is not among them.
The 20-year-old joined TV presenter Vernon Kay, 50, at the Vanity Fair EE Rising Star party at Pavyllon London.
‘My dad and I are more like best mates – that’s how we get on,’ she tells me. ‘We go out all the time on the sesh together.’
Phoebe Kay, 20, joined her father Vernon, 50 at the Vanity Fair EE Rising Star party at Pavyllon London
Phoebe’s mother is Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly. And Vernon, who was celebrating reaching 7.2million listeners to his BBC Radio 2 show in the latest quarterly figures, wonders if this was becoming a ‘sesh’ too far.
‘The barman just added tequila to my drink,’ he informs me.
Tess sent her husband as a chaperone when Phoebe attended Reading Festival in 2021.
Princess Diana’s divorce barrister Sir Nicholas Mostyn, who has Parkinson’s disease, is moving with a pronounced limp – but not because of his condition.
The former High Court judge, 67, has been indulging his taste for hazardous sports, heli-skiing in Canada.
‘It was magical and unforgettable,’ he tells the Movers and Shakers podcast.
‘We skied every day in perfect snow, but I’m now laid up with a very sore back which I fear was the consequence of overdoing it. It was well worth it, however.’
Liam Gallagher (pictured) has admitted he is too scared to voice his views on the state of Britain for fear of being either cancelled or abused in the street
Despite his rebellious image, Liam Gallagher admits he’s too scared to voice his true feelings on the state of Britain for fear of being cancelled and abused in the street.
A fan tells the Oasis singer online: ‘Would love to know your views on the current state of Britain and its leadership.’
Gallagher, 52, replies: ‘I bet you would, so people would boo me and try to cancel me and shout at me in the street if my opinion wasn’t the same as there’s [sic].’
