His quasi-royal trip to Australia, in tandem with wife Meghan, has been summarised by one critic as 'a pathetic cry for public love'.

So perhaps Prince Harry could be forgiven for looking back fondly to simpler times when hearing about an old chum's new flame.

For I can disclose that twice-married hospitality entrepreneur Howard Spooner – one-time co-owner of Harry's favourite nightclub, Public – is enjoying a sizzling romance with an effervescent blonde some 17 years his junior.

She is Olivia Brinkley, 39, daughter of John and Jenny, who own a brace of eponymous London restaurants.

Olivia's talents are remarkable, straddling the chasm between the artist's studio and the creative turmoil of the kitchen, as executive chef at her parents' flagship restaurant.

Who could resist? Well, for quite a while Spooner did – despite receiving a lawyer's letter telling him his second wife, Lucy Gilman, with whom he has two young children, wanted a divorce.

'It was after my father's funeral,' says Spooner, who was educated at £69,000-a-year Gordonstoun. 

'I was putting my mother, who's got dementia, into a care home and I had shingles really badly. A friend said, 'Come up to London. There's an exhibition and I'd really like you to meet the artist, Ollie'.

'I thought Ollie was a bloke... I was very pleasantly surprised,' adds Spooner, who now divides his time between the Isle of Wight, where his family own the George Hotel, and Bournemouth, where he and Olivia opened seafood restaurant Sexy Lobster last week.

'She's a fantastic chef and we can showcase all her art here,' explains Spooner – who it seems is having more fun than his royal pal.

Widow of 'the hippy Earl' could now make a rather stately visit

It's now nine years since she was obliged to leave Port Eliot – 16 months after the death of her husband, 'the hippy Earl', Perry St Germans aged 75.

Losing the Cornish stately pile, with its crenellated parapets, 82 chimneys and 123 rooms, must have hit hard.

But there is splendid consolation for former magazine editor Cathy Wilson, who became Perry's third wife in 2005. She's just been appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cornwall, to assist the King's representative in the county.

Perhaps her duties will, in due course, take her back to Port Eliot. She bowed out from the ancestral seat in 2017 – making way for Perry's grandson, Albie, who had succeeded as the 11th Earl. Albie's own father – Perry's older son, Jago – drowned in the bath, aged 40, in 2006.

Wedding is in vogue for Mail's Shulman

When David Jenkins was lying in hospital after cancer surgery, he asked Alexandra Shulman to marry him.

'It took me only a heartbeat to answer 'no',' the former Vogue editor later revealed – fearing it would 'jinx' her blissful relationship with the journalist, 78. Four years on, The Mail on Sunday columnist, 68, exchanged vows with him yesterday at Chelsea Old Town Hall, in west London.

'Only 22 years together, so no rushing into it,' she tells me.

Ramsay 'sends his ex-mistress a cruel letter'

Gordon Ramsay's alleged former mistress Sarah Symonds claims she is being 'intimidated' by the TV chef and his wife, Tana.

Sarah, who claimed in 2008 she had been involved in a seven-year affair with Ramsay, has received a 'cruel' and 'threatening' legal letter.

It was delivered by hand to her home after she publicly supported Caroline Peaty, whose son Adam married the couple's daughter, Holly, during a rift over the wedding.

'It's obvious they feel threatened by me and what I know,' says Sarah, who is receiving breast cancer treatment. 'The fact they know my address and had it hand delivered I find quite intimidating. I had just come back from my first cancer support group, teaching me coping mechanisms to be strong and move forward, so to be presented with the shock of that letter has set me back.'

Chef match draws Blanc

When King Charles invited Raymond Blanc to join the chefs ahead of last year's state banquet for French president Emmanuel Macron, it was called 'L'Entente Cordiale in the Kitchens'. But Blanc has struggled to keep the French and English chefs friendly at his own restaurants. To bring peace, Blanc, 76, tried to arrange a football game. But both sides wanted the chance to kick him if he played. 'So I decided to be referee,' he explains.

Shabana wants to be a political heavyweight

With Sir Keir Starmer's chances of remaining Prime Minister increasingly slim, Shabana Mahmood is bulking up. 'I love weightlifting,' the Home Secretary declares. 'I'm not that fit at the moment, but my personal best is 105kg [16st]. I need to build myself back.' Speaking to impressionist Matt Forde during a live edition of his Political Party podcast at the Duchess Theatre in London's Covent Garden, Mahmood, 45, adds: 'I was looking to improve my health... I saw a profile of women who've done it [weightlifting] and I gave it a go and I really loved it.'

A flaming disaster for lordship and his pub

One of his forebears helped capture French king John II at Poitiers in 1356.

Now Earl de la Warr faces a battle much closer to home – at his family pub. The Dorset Arms in Withyham, East Sussex, went up in flames on Monday.

Locals are now braced while the damage is assessed – and the fate of the Earl's Buckhurst Park sausages discovered.

The whole lot may have gone up in smoke – a stomach-rumbling horror for his lordship, 78, for whom it took more than 20 tries to perfect the recipe.