When Buckingham Palace announced the King had invited Raymond Blanc to join the royal chefs as they prepared for Tuesday’s state banquet in honour of French president Emmanuel Macron, a spokesman claimed it was an example of ‘L’Entente Cordiale in the Kitchens’.
One horrified former royal cook has, however, declared, ‘Sacre bleu!’
Darren McGrady, personal chef to the late Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry, claims that the King has grievously insulted his long-serving and loyal cooks by summoning Blanc, 75, who runs Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire.
McGrady says: ‘I get that Raymond Blanc is one of the best chefs in the world, and I get that he is a King’s Foundation ambassador, and I get that ‘the collaboration is in the spirit of Entente Cordiale’ but it’s a huge slap in the face to the palace royal chefs.’
He adds: ‘For sure, Macron will not be bringing in British chefs for a King Charles state visit to France.’
When the Palace announced Blanc’s involvement in the state banquet, a spokesman said he was invited to help ‘create the first course and dessert’.
Darren McGrady, personal chef to the late Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry, is steaming over Raymond Blanc’s summoning
However, Blanc tells me he was asked to work on the main course, too. But he chose to leave that to Mark Flanagan, the Royal Household’s head chef. ‘I wanted to include Mark,’ says Blanc. ‘He’s a royal chef who’s cooked for the King for many years, plus he’s a great friend – it’s all part of respect.’
‘I could have done everything if I’d insisted, but Mark did a beautiful course – Rhug Estate chicken with British produce, with a beautiful tarragon sauce, a French way. It was a splendid occasion.’
Of McGrady’s gripes, Blanc says: ‘We all have an opinion – and I’ve got a different one. I like to bring people together.’
Princess of Soho and her King party with pals
Once playfully described by herself as the ‘Princess of Soho’, heiress India Rose James brought the spirit of Las Vegas to London for her engagement party.
The granddaughter of porn and property baron Paul Raymond, who is engaged to Mexican-American musician Daniel Vildosola, invited an Elvis impersonator to perform at the Clifton Nurseries bash.
Wearing a white off-the-shoulder mini-dress and cream platform Crocs, India, 33, and Daniel, in a matching cream suit and snakeskin boots, were joined by pals including rock singer Tom Odell and artist Nettie Wakefield.
The couple got engaged in a New York tattoo parlour in May.
India Rose James enjoys her Vegas-style engagement party with husband-to-be Daniel Vildosola
Disgraced duke’s feisty mother dies
As the daughter of a second-hand car dealer from Geelong, Australia, she was not an obvious candidate for marriage into the aristocracy. But in 1961, Mary McClure, whose death at 87 has just been announced, became the first of the four wives of Lord Angus Montagu, later 12th Duke of Manchester.
Deserted by him in 1965 when their third child, Emma, was a week old, Mary once flung her elder son, Alexander, then a toddler, at her father-in-law, ‘Mandy’, 10th Duke of Manchester, saying: ‘You keep the bugger.’
But by 1996 she was fighting Alexander’s corner. He had, by then, not only been twice jailed but had been abandoned by his wife, Marion, who walked out months into their 1984 marriage after he fired a spear-gun at her.
Twelve years later, Mary, on Alexander’s behalf, asked Marion to sign divorce papers. Marion gladly did – later learning that, in 1993, Alexander had bigamously married Wendy Buford in America…
Ex-England cricketer Kevin Pietersen and his wife Jessica Taylor at the YouWeCan gala in Mayfair, London
Don’t test me on cricket, says Kevin
He reached 2,000 runs in One Day Internationals quicker than any England player, but Kevin Pietersen struggles to keep up with the game these days.
‘I wouldn’t be able to answer a cricket question because I haven’t watched any cricket,’ he tells me at Yuvraj Singh’s YouWeCan gala at Grosvenor House hotel in Mayfair.
‘I’ve just been out in South Africa doing conservation work for rhinos,’ explains the retired batsman, 45, who attended with his wife Jessica Taylor, 45, the Liberty X singer.
More than £758,000 was raised at the gala for cancer care in India.
Dame Emma turns stuntwoman – at 66
Stripping off for her role in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande has inspired Dame Emma Thompson to take on other extreme challenges.
The Oscar winner reveals she’s been doing her own stunt work for a new TV series, Down Cemetery Road. ‘I’ve started making, for some reason or other, thrillers in which I do my own stunts,’ she said at a Q&A at the Kiln Theatre in London. ‘I’ve hurt myself. It’s a stupid thing to do. Don’t start your action career at the age of 66.’
Let’s hope Dame Emma ends the filming in one piece. ‘I’ve gone from exposure to bodily harm,’ she joked.
Serena Williams is a powerhouse on court, but when it comes to British roads, she’s more cautious.
Her older sister, Venus, has revealed that the tennis star refuses to drive in this country because they once suffered a mishap en route to a match. ‘We were driving in Wimbledon when Serena hit the kerb and we got a flat tyre,’ Venus explains. ‘We had a doubles match and didn’t know what to do. She’s never driven again since that time – in Australia or London.’
