The King is sending Prince Edward to Washington for Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday, something which has raised eyebrows.
Only two presidents, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr, had a royal at their funeral – Prince Charles.
Surely the present Prince of Wales would have been a more suitable choice than the 14th in line to the throne? Asking William to turn out for Carter was probably a non-starter. Thursday is Kate’s birthday, always a family affair.

The King is sending Prince Edward to Washington to attend the funeral of Jimmy Carter

Only two US presidents have previously had a royal at their funeral – King Charles, the Prince of Wales at the time

Jimmy Carter pictured in Plains, Georgia in October 2002 after it was announced he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Did a youthful Donald Trump play in goal for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ youth team? On the eve of his inauguration, a 1991 edition of Shoot magazine has been unearthed claiming the Donald turned out six times for Wolves while his father was stationed in the Midlands with the US Air Force.
Alas the tale has been debunked by magazine FourFourTwo, which pointed out Trump Sr never served in the USAF. As Donald, famous for his small hands, might exclaim: ‘Fake news!’
Flaunting his dazzling new veneers at Hollywood’s Golden Globes, Robbie Williams does not mourn the loss of his old teeth.
‘The old ones have gone. Auf Wiedersehen. I would like to thank them for all the food that we went through and the cocaine that I used to rub on them.’

Robbie Williams (right) with Colman Domingo at the Golden Globe Awards in California
Andrew Neil, reflecting on his brief appearances on BBC’s Newsnight, explains: ‘I did a couple of guest presenter stints a long time ago but the Left-wing Newsnight team didn’t like it. So nothing came of it.
‘The editor then –George Entwistle – was new and weak. He didn’t have the confidence to make an appointment which would have been unpopular with his staff and J Paxman. He went on to become DG of the BBC –and lasted about three seconds.’
Fourteen months after splitting from his wife of 25 years, Lulu, Hugh Bonneville is asked by Gyles Brandreth on his Rosebud podcast if he has been a ‘good father’ to son Felix, 20.
‘Let’s pause the tape there,’ he says, before pointedly quoting Philip Larkin. ‘They f*** you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do…’

Former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson leaving Downing Street in December 2012
Fraser Nelson, who was editor of The Spectator when it was sold for an eye-watering £100million last year, has been recalling his early days as a gauche business journalist fresh from the Scottish Highlands.
‘I once stopped a high-level business lunch to announce that my soup was cold and did anyone else have the same problem? It was something called gazpacho.’
Painted with his lover Wayne Sleep by David Hockney, delightfully daft rare books dealer and Bovril heir George Lawson, who has died aged 82, was from a Scots family of eccentrics.
A rich uncle left his fortune to a giraffe at Edinburgh Zoo because it reminded him of his very tall wife.