The birthday pictures of Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte made me beam. I adore gorgeous little six-year-old Louis, who sticks out his tongue, thumbs his nose and puffs out his cheeks at royal events – proving he’s a hilariously natural boy who doesn’t stand on ceremony.
We’ve never seen a member of the Royal Family like him, and only Princess Charlotte can keep him in check. Louis reminds me of our Robert, who was full of devilment as a child and still is (and I have no idea who he got that from). Charlotte, who’s nine, is like a mini- Princess Anne and I imagine she’s doing a great job looking after her mum and gently telling her off if she tries working before she’s fully well.
I was chuffed to bits to hear King Charles is responding well to his cancer treatment. But as Harry is due to come home soon, I don’t think Charles should put too much time aside for the son who turned his back on his family and slagged them off in a book. I’d sit him down and say: “I love you because you’re my son but I don’t particularly like you right now.”
But I really like Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who bravely visited Ukraine to meet President Zelensky. What a backbone. Sophie strikes me as a lovely lady genuinely more interested in doing the right thing than pushing to the front of photographs and trying to outdo family members with her outfits. It’s a shame other royal in-laws don’t take a leaf out of her book.
FA aiming for the wrong goal
By banning FA Cup replays, the FA has deprived small clubs of the chance to boost their income with lucrative fixtures against big clubs. It is, as usual, prioritising the Premier League in the name of making money. Thinking how football has changed over the decades makes me sad. I miss the Saturdays when all matches were played at 3pm, and roads across the nation were full of carloads of excited fans heading to their games with their scarves waving from the windows. Now, we have games at 11.30am, 5pm, mid-week, Sundays – no one ever knows which time as it’s all a scheduling mess just to boost TV firm coffers. Once again, I found myself wishing we were living back in the old days.
NHS must be better on call
This week I called the hospital to try to make an eye-check appointment at the diabetes clinic. I was given eight options to different ology departments but by the time I’d heard all the options I’d forgotten which button to press. I tried numerous times before giving up and throwing the phone on the floor in a temper. When we over-70s probably need the NHS most, does it have to be so hard to speak to a human being to help us make appointments? Many of my friends have real trouble accessing dentists.
I have some advice: eat wine gums. I once bit into some, felt something hard so took it out with a tissue and found a tooth. That saved me all the hassle and expense of an extraction.
Hard to Digest the end of an era
Reader’s Digest UK has gone into administration, which feels like more evidence the world is moving too fast. Every home had Reader’s Digest books when I was growing up – I was forever finding them dog-eared on the sofa or stacked up in doctor’s surgeries. Now far too many people only ever read tiny screens. But I will always love the feel, smell and weight of a book in my hand (even though I need a magnifying glass to read them these days).
Spying would be a bit of a giggle
News that a Tory researcher has been charged with spying for China took me on a flight of fantasy as I imagined myself as a spy. I can definitely keep secrets – if friends told me things in confidence I wouldn’t even have told my husband Colin and kept things absolutely to myself.
I’d enjoy looking as smart as a Bond girl or an elegant lady from The Ipcress File. And I’d whizz about in a cool car (if I could drive). But under interrogation I’d probably get the giggles. I’d be useless at using gadgets and would throw them away in a huff. And if I was sent to live in Russia or China I’d be so scared I’d need 20 Tena Ladies a day. I think I see why MI5 never tried to recruit me.