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RICHARD KAY: New attack on 'Queen Wag' Kate

After the furore over  Hilary Mantel’s venomous attack on the Duchess of Cambridge, whom she described as a ‘shop-window mannequin’ with a ‘plastic smile’, you might have thought writers would think twice about putting pen to paper on the subject.

Not a bit of it.

For just three months after the Booker Prize-winner faced a furious backlash for her comments — which even earned a reprimand from the Prime Minister — human rights activist Joan Smith dismisses the former Kate Middleton as ‘unambitious and bland’ and Britain’s ‘Queen Wag.’

Human rights activist Joan Smith dismisses the former Kate Middleton as 'unambitious and bland' and Britain's 'Queen Wag'

In her new book The Public Woman, Ms Smith a republican, who turned down an MBE for her campaigning work, devotes an entire chapter to hapless Kate, which she entitles Queen Wag.

‘By the age of 30, the new Duchess of Cambridge had done little since leaving university except play a supporting role to her boyfriend, marry him with great pomp and ceremony and get pregnant,’ she writes.

In her new book The Public Woman, Ms Smith a republican, who turned down an MBE for her campaigning work, devotes an entire chapter to hapless Kate

‘She had never really enjoyed an independent identity or income — even her clothes were paid for by her father-in-law — and didn’t seem to aspire to either. 

‘Unambitious, uncontroversial and bland, Kate Middleton was Queen Wag in everything but name.’ 

Best known for her Loretta Lawson crime novels, Smith’s new tome is all about what she sees as the backlash against gender equality and its ‘staggering viciousness’.

Reading University-educated Joan, 59, has not been without interesting men in her own life.

She was married to Old Harrovian satirist Francis Wheen for eight years and then was the live-in love of disgraced MP Denis MacShane, who was suspended from the Labour Party for using fake receipts in his parliamentary expenses.

The Duchess, she contends, has become famous ‘not for her achievements but her willingness to play the most traditional feminine role of all: waiting for a husband, getting married and not long afterwards becoming pregnant’. 

Referring to those who have been branded Wags, Smith cites Coleen Rooney and Cheryl Cole, then adds of Kate: ‘It’s all the more telling that the prime candidate, the woman who arguably deserved the title more than anyone, never appeared on lists of the country’s leading contenders.’

Desperate measures for Eva after Cannes diamond raid Eva Longoria was told by Swiss jewellery house Chopard that she would have to be accompanied by a security guard as she dressed in glittering gems for a charity gala at the Carlton Hotel

It’s the kind of extreme measure usually reserved for royalty, not Hollywood stars. 

But just days after diamonds worth £650,000 were seized from a safe in Cannes, no one is taking any chances. 

Eva Longoria was told by Swiss jewellery house Chopard that she would have to be accompanied by a security guard as she dressed in glittering gems for a charity gala at the Carlton Hotel.

At one point during the evening — where guests included Jane Fonda and Marion Cotillard — the Desperate Housewives star was even escorted to the bathroom when she went to powder her nose. 

Eva’s philanthropist friend and co-host Ella Krasner, who also had a burly bodyguard to watch over her de Grisogono baubles, says: ‘We were both told we would have to have a guard each to follow us all evening. 

‘They were everywhere we turned. They were even there as we got dressed for the event and whenever we went to the ladies’ to fix our make-up. 

‘Eva and I kept on looking over at each other thinking: “This is crazy!” At one point I had to turn around and say to mine: “It’s OK, I’m not going to run off with these beautiful diamonds to the Caribbean or anything.” 

‘But all the top jewellery brands are trying to avoid another robbery. It has been the talk of Cannes.’

Dragons’ Den winner Levi Roots has Royal approval

Dragons’ Den winner Levi Roots, who has earned a fortune since gaining £50,000 backing for his Reggae Reggae Sauce, has fans in the most unexpected places, he says.

‘I went to a dinner and Prince Charles was there,’ he says.

‘I thought they would put me on some far table in the corner, but I was on the table next to him.’

Dragons' Den winner Levi Roots, who has earned a fortune since gaining £50,000 backing for his Reggae Reggae Sauce, has revealed he has a royal fan - Prince Charles

He tells Waitrose magazine: ‘After dinner we got talking and I tried to introduce myself, but he said, “Don’t worry Levi, you are well-known in our household.” A few months later I met Camilla and I tried to say who I was, but she knew who I was too. I feel I have got the royal seal of approval.’

It appears they hold Roots — real name Keith Valentine Graham — in higher esteem than High Court Judge Mark Pelling QC who, during a legal battle over the origins of the spicy sauce two years ago (which Roots won), said the 54-year-old ‘regards truth as an optional extra’.

Chelsea’s elephant in the room

Not all of the aristocracy wants to see the Government end centuries-old laws of succession so titles and fortunes can pass down through the female line.

Viscount Chelsea, heir to the Earl Cadogan’s £3.6 billion estate, says: ‘The system works, so why change it?’

Speaking at the launch of the Animal Ark initiative on Sloane Street — funded by Priya Vandrevala, pictured with Elephant Family founder Mark Shand — Lord Chelsea, 47, whose sister, Lady Anna-Karina, is two years older than him, says: ‘With the inheritance thing, it’s been like that for a thousand years.

Speaking at the launch of the Animal Ark initiative on Sloane Street (funded by Priya Vandrevala, pictured with Elephant Family founder Mark Shand) Viscount Chelsea said current laws of succession 'work' and shouldn't change so fortunes can pass down through the female line

‘Changing it after all this time could be really complicated. I think we’re better off sticking with the system we have.

‘Don’t get me wrong: I have no problem with women at the helm of a family, but it all needs thinking through a bit more.

‘I’m very lucky. I have been blessed with two sons — an heir and a spare.’

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Proof, if it were still required, that the planet-sized ego of BBC creative director Alan Yentob knows no bounds.

The 66-year-old appears at next month’s Sheffield DocFest, where he will be talking about himself.

A puff for this event states: ‘Alan Yentob is an institution in his own right, with a career that spans six decades at the BBC . . .  ‘Join Alan in conversation to hear about his incomparable career.’

I wonder if he will also take the opportunity to discuss his vast,  publicly funded pension, which as far back as 2004 was said to  be £2.8 million?

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He is one of our theatrical aristocracy, but Derek Jacobi says it is up to his more illustrious co-star and fellow knight Sir Ian McKellen if they are to reunite for a second series of Vicious, the sitcom about bickering gays.

‘It’s a whole new world for me,’ says Sir Derek. ‘I’ve only ever done something like that once when I guested on Frasier playing a bad Shakespearean actor — which I was born to do!

‘But we had a wonderful script and hopefully we’ll have a second series. We’ve done a Christmas special to remind people we’re still around.

‘Ian is such a movie star  and he’s not free — goddamn him! — until this time next year.’

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PS We may have seen the last of her as M (she was bumped off in the most recent Bond), but Judi Dench will be among real national heroes this afternoon in the West End.

Our grandest theatrical dame will be at the Bomber Command memorial — opened by the Queen last year — to launch an appeal. Dame Judi is a patron of the new Upkeep Club, dedicated to meeting the £1.5 million maintenance bill from Westminster Council.

She joins a growing list of supporters for a memorial first championed by Bee Gee Robin Gibb. Dame Judi was eager to help, I gather, because her late husband, actor Michael Williams, served in the RAF.





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