Princess Annes Ex: A True Friend Always

Engulfed by unprecedented ­crisis, the monarchy is fast discovering how its devotees divide into two camps: fair weather friends... and foul weather friends.

And no one better embodies the steadfastness of the second camp than the self- effacing figure who represented at Tuesday's memorial service for Field Marshal Lord Guthrie at the Guards' Chapel in London.

While some focused on the likes of Lords Heseltine, Palumbo, Soames and Spencer, others remarked on the presence of the ever unassuming Brigadier , first husband of – but also one of the first intense loves of the Princess Royal.

APB, as he's invariably known in Household Cavalry circles, has occasionally represented Anne before. But it's a role from which he could reasonably now be asked to be excused, given that he's 86.

Yet the bond between them means, I'm told, that he'll soldier on for as long as he's able.

The couple's romance is generally thought to have begun in week in June 1970 – as might have been scripted, given that the Parker Bowleses were as ardent about horse flesh as the Windsors, to whom they were linked by the friendship between APB's father, Derek, and Queen Elizabeth the .

There was no prospect, though, that romance would ever lead to marriage. Parker Bowles was a Catholic, meaning that Anne, then fourth in line to the throne – and thereby bound to the Church of England, of which she would become titular head if ever crowned – could not even consider marrying him.

As it was, within three years, Andrew was married to Camilla and Anne to her first husband, Mark Phillips.

When, in 1981, Anne gave birth to her second child, Zara, she made APB her daughter's godfather – a very public declaration of a friendship which endures to this day.

Spoiled for choice: Skyla raids her mum's wardrobe treasures 

As the daughter of society model Liberty Ross, Skyla Sanders was never going to be short of style inspiration. Now, the 21-year-old has revealed just how spoiled she is.

Skyla, whose father, the film director Rupert Sanders, 54, separated from aristocratic Liberty, 47, in 2014 after he was spotted canoodling with Kristen Stewart, 35, has shared a peep into her mum's walk-in wardrobe in Los Angeles that she regularly swipes from.

'I go to school in New York, so I steal all of this, and I bring it back with me,' admits Skyla in a video online. 'I'm a chronic over-dresser. I love to be the most 'extra' person wherever I go.'

The model showed off a glut of shoes, bags and clothes from Agent Provocateur, Dolce & Gabbana, Jimmy Choo and Prada.

'I thank God we're the same shoe size and dress size,' she adds. 'A make-up product I can't live without is lip liner. I lose them every time I leave the house. I've probably spent, like, $2,000 on Charlotte Tilbury lip liners.'

Tory turncoat Nadhim Zahawi will come to regret his decision to defect to Nigel Farage's Reform UK, predicts his close friend Ibrahim Dogus.

The entrepreneur, who founded the annual British Kebab Awards with Zahawi's help in 2013, tells me: 'I think these Tories defecting made a mistake, the [Conservative] Party will start getting better, and they will regret leaving it for Reform.'

Speaking at the awards ceremony at London's Park Plaza Westminster Hotel, which was attended by Labour Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Ibrahim refers to today's by-election in Gorton and Denton: 'If Reform doesn't win... people will lose their hope for Reform.'

Heston's £1.7m tax 'oversight' 

His meals may set diners back as much as £350 each, but Heston Blumenthal's restaurant group

I can disclose that HMRC filed a winding-up petition at the High Court this week for monies it believes are owed by SL6 Ltd, the parent company behind restaurants

The Fat Duck, The Hinds Head, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, as well as media company Snail Porridge and small kitchen appliance maker SL6 Appliances, among others.

No hearing date has been set yet, but latest available accounts disclose £1.67million owed in 'other taxation and social security'.

A spokesman tells me: 'This was an administrative oversight during our transition to a new accounting system.'

Queen of Jeans' tribute to fan Kate

Donna Ida is grateful that her most prominent customer, the Princess of Wales, insists on paying for her jeans.

'It's more beneficial for designers when the royals buy clothes and not receive freebies,' the Australian-born 'Queen of Jeans' tells me at her pop-up shop at Chandos House in London, in collaboration with Dr Sebagh. 'It shows that they want it and support your brand and it's not just product being chucked around.'

Donna adds: 'The royals are very conscious like that, and they would always want to pay for things and support brands. The royals are great.'

Due to play at the Brits on Saturday, Harry Styles hopes to leave a sweet smell of success. I hear a bottle of his £135 Pleasing eau de parfum will be in goody bags at the Sony Music after-party at Soho House Manchester. Other treats in the bag, worth a total of £2,000, are Sony wireless headphones and skincare from 111Skin.