Prince Harry loses key player at Birmingham Invictus Games charity

Prince Harry loses key player at Birmingham Invictus Games charity,

Prince Harry was palpably distressed last year when he stepped down as patron of Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in 2006 to benefit orphaned African children, having concluded early in 2025 that his relationship with the organisation’s chairman, Sophie Chandauka, had deteriorated ‘beyond repair’.

But is he about to suffer a second heartbreak, this time with another charity which means so much to him and to the multitude of ex-servicemen and women – maimed and, in many cases, mentally scarred by battlefield experience – to whom it has brought a renewed sense of purpose and self-belief?

The question is prompted by the resignation of one of the most distinguished members of the board of trustees for next year’s Games in Birmingham.

Indeed, not only was Melloney Poole a trustee but she was also vice chairman of the board of Invictus UK 2027 Ltd, the charity established to deliver the Invictus Games next year in Birmingham.

In a long and eminent career deploying her legal expertise both in the commercial sphere and public service, she previously played a key role at the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as chairing the board of governors for the Regional Committee of the National Lottery Charities Board.

She currently chairs the Florence Nightingale Foundation.

Prince Harry, pictured last month, was palpably distressed last year when he stepped down as patron of Sentebale

Melloney Poole, a trustee and vice chairman of the Invictus Games board, has stepped down ‘to focus on her other interests’

Such were her talents that, in 2015, the Ministry of Defence asked her to set up and run a new Armed Forces Covenant Fund, which she duly did.

The Fund is now an independent charitable trust.

So securing her services in December 2024 was quite a coup for Invictus. ‘Melloney has decided to step down to focus on her other interests – not least the Florence Nightingale Foundation,’ a spokesman for Invictus tells me, adding her ‘extensive leadership experience’ had been ‘instrumental’ in establishing the foundations for next year’s games.

We must pay to protect Andrew, says unlikely ally

Historian Andrew Lownie’s best-selling book, Entitled: The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York, detailed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s close friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his mysterious financial dealings with foreign billionaires, as well as making claims about his ‘bullying’ of staff, vulgarity and brazen sex life.

But now Lownie fears for Andrew’s safety and thinks he should receive taxpayer-

funded police protection after he was allegedly threatened last week by a man near his home on the Sandringham Estate. The man was arrested.

‘[The incident] does raise questions about his security,’ Lownie tells me at the British Book Awards at the Grosvenor House hotel in Mayfair.

‘He does have protection officers paid for by King Charles, but, as a nation, we have a responsibility. We do need to properly make sure he’s OK.

‘On private land, people shouldn’t be able to get close to him. If he was injured or killed, that would reflect badly on the British state.’

Victoria Beckham claimed to be working class in a Netflix documentary, only for husband Sir David to poke his head around the door and point out that her father drove her to school in a Rolls-Royce. However, Radio 1 DJ Greg James claims Posh Spice will never be accepted.

He says: ‘Proper posh people who have estates and family money would think she was as common as muck. No matter how much money you earn, you’ll never be able to make it into the upper classes.’

Julian Lennon reveals his heart health scare

Julian Lennon, who inspired three Beatles songs, hopes to encourage fans to undergo heart checks after suffering a health scare.

The musician, 63, whose biggest hit was Too Late For Goodbyes, has been ‘diagnosed with coronary heart disease and [being] pre-diabetic’. He advises online fans: ‘I urge you all to get checked out sooner rather than later. You never know what hidden health issues you may have.

‘I’ve managed to catch them early enough to be able to reverse some of the damage and will hopefully be able to live a healthy long life.’

Returning as man-eater Maud O’Hara in Rivals, Victoria Smurfit reveals she contributed her mother Caroline’s glamorous outfits to the 1980s show. Victoria, 52, whose mother died four years ago, explains: ‘She had some really amazing 1980s stuff, like proper Max Mara and Jaeger with the shoulder pads and the multi-coloured belts and the whole shebang… I said to our costume designer, ‘Any chance you want a bunch of fancy-pants 80s gear?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah!’ He has it all. I know my mum would have loved the idea.’ 

Jodie fiance Joseph’s rivals in the bedroom

Jodie Kidd has been engaged to former Royal Marine Joseph Bates for five years, but they are yet to exchange vows.

Now, the model turned publican has revealed that he’s not the only one who shares their bed.

Asked if she allows their three sausage dogs to sleep on their bed at their home in West Sussex, Jodie, 47, replies: ‘Course they do. Drives my fiance absolutely up the wall.’

Jodie Kidd has been engaged to former Royal Marine Joseph Bates for five years, but they are yet to exchange vows

Asked on the Walking The Dog podcast if Joseph, 40, also likes pooches, Jodie says: ‘He does, but not to the point of having three dachshunds on your bed.

‘They have got baskets everywhere, but you can feel them

kind of clambering up in the night.’

However, she explains that Joseph would go to great lengths if any of the dogs were to go missing. ‘He’s ex-military, ex-Special Forces, so he would have been parachuting out on the hunt. He’s amazing.’

Watch your manners, warns TV’s Charlotte

Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Charlotte Hawkins, who says ‘rudeness’ really gets under her skin

Is the British gentleman a thing of the past, asks Charlotte Hawkins, who says ‘rudeness’ really gets under her skin.

‘The other day in a restaurant I nearly took a man on after he let a door slam in my face,’ says the TV star, 50.

‘Then I thought, ‘It’s not worth it.’ We’re all on this planet together. Small things that show people you’re considerate matter.’

Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Charlotte, who worked for 12 years on Good Morning Britain, is to have a wider newsreading role following ITV’s merger with ITN. 

‘I’ve had 19 years of getting up at 3am,’ says the presenter, who has an 11-year-old daughter with husband Mark

Herbert. ‘I can now have a bit more of a social life.’