The financial rewards will be mouthwatering, the prestige limitless and the acclaim global.
So it’s fair to say that being named as the official biographer of Queen Elizabeth is a prize beyond price, leaving potential contenders on tenterhooks while the King assesses their comparative strengths and weaknesses – and discretion – before selecting one of them, who will have unrivalled access to the late Queen’s private papers.
But I’m told that one author – whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the monarchy, and the nuances and niceties of court protocol, have made him the perfect studio commentator for numerous State occasions – has bolted ahead of the pack.
Hugo Vickers, whose prodigious literary output began in 1977 with We Want The Queen and includes The Private World Of The Duke And Duchess Of Windsor, has, I’m assured, decided to crack on immediately. ‘Hugo’s writing a biography of Queen Elizabeth for publication next year – the centenary of her birth,’ a retired courtier tells me.
Queen Elizabeth II talks with Hugo Vickers outside of Buckingham Palace in 2012
The author, 73, was the historical adviser for Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, since when he has published numerous books, including The Crown: Truth & Fiction – dissecting the deficiencies of the Netflix series. Displaying characteristic discretion, he declines to comment. But I’m told that his decision to go it alone almost certainly rules him out of contention for writing the official biography.
‘Hugo was overlooked for the official biography of the Queen Mother,’ reflects my source, adding that that role went to Vickers’s fellow Old Etonian, William Shawcross – a friend of Queen Camilla – who, aside from trousering a £1 million advance for his efforts, was awarded the CVO and, in 2023, knighted ‘for public service’.
Undaunted and undeterred, Vickers leapt into action, writing his impeccable Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, so that it was published in 2005 – a full four years before Shawcross’s official biography saw the light of day.
Anna gives everyone a lift rolling back the years on red carpet 
A smiling Anna Friel said ‘it’s lifted’ as she waved her fingertips past glowing cheekbones. From Instagram
Thirty years after scooping Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards, Anna Friel skipped along to 2025’s event looking so radiant that you could’ve been forgiven for thinking that the intervening decades had never happened.
The Marcella star’s mini dress caught the eye – as did her flawless skin.
So had she had any help achieving the age-defying result? Well, yes, as the 49-year-old acknowledged on social media.
There was no surgery – just the tender care of Nichola Joss and her ‘inner facial massage technique’. Delighted at being ‘reunited’ with Joss after ‘over ten years’, Friel said: ‘She does a very specialised facial called the Buccal. It’s going to lift everything naturally.’
Post-treatment, a smiling Friel said ‘it’s lifted’ as she waved her fingertips past glowing cheekbones.
Davina’s own hairstyle hero
Davina McCall’s boyfriend, hairdresser to the stars Michael Douglas, has been by her side throughout her recovery after life-saving brain surgery last year.
Doctors discovered a 14mm benign tumour on the TV presenter’s brain. Now, Michael is delighted that Davina’s hair has been growing back well. ‘It’s quite mad how it’s all come back,’ he tells me.
Michael, who styled her hair into a striking beehive for the National Television Awards, says: ‘I’ve done her hair for 24 years. I have a load of hairstyles in my mind that I know work.’
Michael Douglas and Davina McCall during the National Television Awards on Wednesday
King’s coffers piling up at Highgrove
Being on the throne appears to be doing wonders for King Charles at his company AG Carrick, which runs his commercial activities at his Gloucestershire retreat, Highgrove.
Newly filed accounts report £5.7million turnover for the year to March, £100,000 up on 2024 and £1.8million up on 2023. Its income came from the sale of organic and lifestyle products for the home and garden, copyrights, as well as tours of the gardens at Highgrove and restaurant sales.
Profits are donated to The King’s Foundation. The £561,000 gifted this year included £13.3million in income generated by the foundation, whose assets rose from £132million to £141million.
The charity has £72million in heritage assets and £28.4million in cash, among other assets.
Classicist Dame Mary Beard has made her living out of the ancient world but isn’t starry-eyed about the life of 2,000 years ago.
‘People say to me, “Mary, you must really love the Romans,” ’ the television historian remarks. ‘No, I hate them. But I do think they are fantastically interesting in a way that isn’t just, “They are our inheritance.” ’