Prince George’s godmother Julia Samuel is used to dealing with the emotional hurt of the rich and famous.
But now the distinguished psychotherapist is having to nurse her own physical pain after being seriously injured in a ski accident in the French Alps.
I hear that Julia, 64, who was a close friend of Princess Diana, broke her shoulder in a devastating fall while on holiday with her extended family in Courchevel last week.
‘The first morning of my holiday, I fell over nothing and busted my shoulder,’ says Julia, a scion of the Guinness banking family. ‘I’ve got ten pins in it and I can’t really move.’
Julia, whose shoulder and arm is now encased in a brace, has been a tower of strength to the Royal Family over the years.
Prince William is the Royal Patron of Child Bereavement UK, the charity she founded.
Prince George’s godmother Julia Samuel was a close friend of Princess Diana and Prince William is the Royal Patron of Child Bereavement UK, the charity she founded
Prince George at the Christmas Morning Service at Sandringham Church on December 25 2023
But stoical Julia, whose son, Ben, was the godchild of Princess Diana, is not going to let her injury get her down.
She has already distanced herself emotionally from the trauma – using a psychological technique.
‘My broken shoulder is called ‘Trudy’, explains Julia, who’s married to Michael, of the Hill Samuel banking family. ‘All the family give our injuries alter egos so we can talk about them freely.’
News of a friend’s accident on the slopes will alarm members of the Royal Family, who know all too well how dangerous skiing can be.
One of King Charles’s closest friends was killed in an avalanche in the Alps in 1988.
Major Hugh Lindsay, a former equerry to Queen Elizabeth, died after being hit by a wall of snow and ice in Klosters, the Swiss resort.
Patti Palmer-Tomkinson, another member of the royal ski party, suffered serious leg injuries, but the King and other members of the group were able to ski to safety before being airlifted off the mountain.
Anger as theatre backed by Diana pulls Palestine play
A theatre group supported by Princess Diana has come under fire for cancelling a Palestine-themed play.
Conversations With My Father, written by Gemilla Shamruk, was due to have its final performance last Saturday at the Chickenshed Theatre in North London, where trustees include Dame Judi Dench.
However, it was called off with little notice, having been performed only twice. The play centres on the difficulties of a woman in Britain trying to speak with her father in Israel. The British Theatre Guide says: ‘It’s a pity Chickenshed decided to bury this glimpse of an important story about Palestine.’
A spokesman for Chickenshed tells me: ‘We felt the format did not provide the necessary opportunity for an open conversation or nuanced discussion to take place between Chickenshed and audiences.’
Here come the brides! Royal Ellen weds in Oz
When her grandparents, the Earl and Countess of Harewood, were married, the reception was held at St James’s Palace and attended by George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth.
Ellen Lascelles, however, chose a rather different wedding, outdoors in New South Wales, Australia, when she exchanged vows with Channtel McPherson, known as ‘Chan’.
‘Channtel and I surrounded ourselves with almost all of our favourite people in the world and had the funniest, hottest, most love-filled day I could ever imagine,’ says Ellen, 39, the niece of David Lascelles, 8th and current Earl of Harewood, and elder daughter of David’s youngest brother, Jeremy Lascelles.
The newlyweds, who live Down Under, sealed their union with a kiss in front of a sign saying ‘Here Come The Brides’.
They will become a blended family of five as Ellen, has a son, Jack, and daughter, Penny, with her Australian ex-boyfriend, while Chan, the owner of a design company, has a daughter, Raff.
Ellen Lascelles exchanged vows with Channtel McPherson, known as ‘Chan’ in new South Wales
The Earl and Countess of Harewood held their reception at St James’s Palace and it was attended by George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth but Ellen (right) went for something a bit different
The ceremony was held in Byron Bay Hinterland. ‘Jack wrote an amazing Acknowledgement of Country which he read before the ceremony, expressing gratitude and respect to the Arakwal people whose Bundjalung land we were lucky enough to be married on,’ says Ellen. ‘And Penny and Raff were just a couple of little dream girls dressed in white.’
Theirs is not the first same -sex marriage within the wider Royal Family. That milestone was notched up by Lord Ivar Mount batten – great-nephew of Lord (‘Dickie’) Mountbatten.
In 2018, seven years after divorcing Penny Thompson, with whom he has three daughters, Ivar married James Coyle, a Glaswegian airline cabin services director.
Edo’s ex gets fired up at Chinese New Year
While Princess Beatrice marked the 64th birthday of her father, Prince Andrew, quietly yesterday, her stepson’s mother has been enjoying more fiery festivities of her own.
Architect and television presenter Dara Huang — who has a son, Christopher, known as Wolfie, aged seven, with Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi — celebrated the Year of the Dragon at a Chinese New Year party in Belgravia at the weekend.
Dara, 40 (right), wore a red cheongsam — traditional Chinese dress — to Canton Blue, The Peninsula London hotel’s Cantonese restaurant.
‘Wishing everyone the best 2024,’ she told friends on social media.
Florida-born Dara still enjoys a friendly relationship with Edo, to whom she was once engaged.
Architect and television presenter Dara Huang — who has a son, Christopher with Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi — celebrated Chinese New Year in style
Primrose Hill set party girl turned wellness ‘guru’ Sadie Frost has spoken out against restrictive-eating diet regimes.
‘What I don’t like is that everybody’s telling everybody what they should and shouldn’t eat,’ she thunders.
‘As a vegetarian, I’ve never projected on to people, ‘You shouldn’t eat meat or fish’, because I’d feel uncomfortable about that. But now there’s this aggressive attitude coming from people about what you should or shouldn’t eat, and a lot of them are doing it to create a brand or sell something.’
Frost, 58, adds: ‘Sometimes I look at social media and I’m hyperventilating. They’re spreading anger and fear to people that, in the end, will be more damaging to the body than eating something that isn’t actually that bad for you.’
The party girl turned wellness ‘guru’ has spoken out against restrictive-eating diet regimes
Sadie Frost with her daughter Iris Law in Venice The party girl turned wellness ‘guru’ has spoken out against restrictive-eating diet regimes
Clare Balding has revealed her grandmother insisted on having a different surname to her husband as she refused to be connected to the ‘common brewery’ name Bass.
‘He was called Captain Peter Hastings, so she was Mrs Hastings,’ the broadcaster, 53, says.
‘And then a distant relative of his, Sir William Bass, of the beer family, had no direct descendants, so said to my grandfather, ‘Will you take my name? If you do, you get the dosh.’ My grandmother said, ‘I won’t have that common brewery name attached to mine’, so she stayed Mrs Hastings. Her kids were Hastings-Bass.’
Clare Balding has revealed her grandmother insisted on having a different surname to her husband as she refused to be connected to the ‘common brewery’ name Bass
