RICHARD EDEN: Unholy row as Archbishop's man in Rome 'bullied staff'

made history when he prayed with Pope Leo in the Vatican last year, becoming the first head of the Church of England to worship with a pontiff since Henry VIII broke from Rome 500 years ago.

Efforts by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, to do her own bit for Anglican relations with the Vatican have, however, been hit by scandal.

I can disclose that her personal representative to the Holy See, Bishop Anthony Ball, has taken a voluntary leave of absence, amid claims of bullying, just weeks after Dame Sarah appointed him.

Bishop Ball, 58, was commissioned by the Archbishop in Rome on the same day she met Pope Leo during her visit to the Eternal City in April. He has been the director of the Anglican Centre there since 2025.

Now, he is on leave from the centre following the resignation of a long-serving member of staff who wrote an open letter to its governors and to the Archbishop, making allegations about the bishop’s behaviour. 

‘The centre was run on a shoestring,’ a well-placed source tells me. ‘Poorly paid staff were b******ed for not knowing what side to pour the wine from at a diplomatic dinner. Ball was alleged to have been heavy-handed with the domestics.’

A spokesman for the Anglican Centre confirms: ‘As a result of concerns received by the governors, an investigation is being carried out. The director remains on a leave of absence at this time. We cannot comment further while this process runs its course.’

This is not the first time the Anglican Centre, established in 1966 to foster unity between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, has been mired in controversy. In 2018, Burundian bishop Bernard Ntahoturi stepped down as director following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Actress's Greek tryst... with a twist

Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour has opened up about a sizzling holiday romance – with another woman.

The 28-year-old, who played Clara Livingston in the hit Netflix drama, says the encounter took place during a recent work trip to Mykonos.

‘It wasn’t planned, but it was something I’d thought about for most of my life,’ Genevieve admits. ‘I’d kissed girls before. This time was different.’

Describing her experience in a post online, the former Team GB artistic swimmer – who made headlines last year after CCTV footage of her fighting off a phone thief in a London cafe was shared online – adds: ‘What happened changed my understanding of sex. It was sex with kindness.

‘For the first time, I understood why there can be such joy in bringing another person pleasure. To make a woman feel that way made me feel unexpectedly powerful.’

Despite her experience on the Greek island, Genevieve says she feels ‘no need to define my sexuality’.

Will Hockney's royal spot go to nude-painting peer?

Even though David Hockney rejected a knighthood, Queen Elizabeth appointed the celebrated artist as a member of the Order of Merit, an honour reserved for 24 distinguished individuals.

Following Hockney’s death last month aged 88, actor Steven Berkoff proposes a controversial replacement: Peter Howson, the Scottish realist painter who was criticised in 2002 after he unveiled nude portraits of Madonna without permission from the Queen of Pop. 

Howson, 68, said at the time: ‘The interesting thing is why people are so interested in Madonna in the nude when I haven’t even seen her. It’s only my imagination, my seedy mind.’

Berkoff, 88, who played a villain in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy, argues: ‘[Howson] has created a furious collection of the most dynamic images seen in recent years.

‘Lamentably I feel his work has been disgracefully neglected.’

Stewart Copeland thinks pop musicians’ days might be numbered, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).

The 73-year-old The Police drummer tells me that a ‘non-musician’ friend has used AI to compose songs. 

‘He said: “I don’t know anything about music,” then he’s sending me these tracks,’ says Stewart, who’s currently promoting a documentary, Copeland, about his life and career. ‘It sounded like The Eagles on a good day. It has a great rhythm, great guitar solo. My concern is that there will be less work for a lot of musicians.’

Garner's Strictly ambitious return

Former Made in Chelsea star Kimberley Garner wants to waltz her way back on to our screens.

‘I would like to do Strictly Come Dancing – I think I’d be quite good at it,’ she tells me at the Grand Prix Ball at London’s Peninsula Hotel. ‘I’m always the first person on the floor.’

If Kimberley, 35, competed she would be following in the footsteps of co-stars Jamie Laing and Zara McDermott.

After leaving Made in Chelsea in 2012, Kimberley reveals she ‘turned down I’m a Celebrity’. 

Of the show’s bushtucker trials, she adds: ‘The other day I ate something disgusting and thought: “I could never be in the jungle”. ’

You really got money! Kinks singer up £1.3m

The Kinks singer Ray Davies once bemoaned that ‘the taxman’s taken all my dough’.

Sara Cox isn’t worried about the 5am starts when she takes over from Scott Mills as host of BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show next week – because she and husband Ben Cyzer are already well practised at quiet nights in. 

‘I go to bed at 9pm. We’ve got zero social life,’ admits the former ‘ladette’, 51. ‘There’s no feeling like it when people cancel on you for a social engagement, and you still get the points because you’ve not cancelled. 

'It’s like cancel-chicken, isn’t it? Who’s going to go first? “Ha, ha, they’ve cancelled!” We’re real homebodies, to the point where I’m like, “We need to start doing stuff more.” ’