Jessie Buckley was left heartbroken after splitting up with Happy Valley star James Norton, admitting their break-up had been ‘acrimonious’.
Rubbing salt in her wounds, Norton, whom she had met on the set of acclaimed BBC drama War and Peace, later became engaged to her fellow actress Imogen Poots.
I can reveal that Buckley, 34, has, however, beaten Norton, 38, down the aisle. The actress, who was nominated for a Oscar for her performance in The Lost Daughter, has secretly got married to a man she met on a blind date.
She declines to disclose her husband’s surname, revealing only that he’s called ‘Freddie’ and is an English mental health worker from Islington, north London.
She says they were set up by their mutual friend Marc Robinson, a music boss with whom she worked with on the 2018 film Wild Rose. ‘He’s gone back to university to work in mental health,’ she says of her husband.
The couple have homes in east London and Norfolk, where their wedding was held last summer. Their pals Lori and Laura, who run the Towpath cafe in Dalston, provided catering.
‘One of my favourite memories of the day was: I wanted a keg of Guinness, and I definitely wanted their cheese toasties at a certain hour,’ Buckley says. ‘And then they came and did breakfast the next day.’
Not content with one honeymoon, the couple have had several post-nuptial holidays. ‘We had many moons,’ says the Olivier award-winning star.
‘We actually just kind of bottled into friends’ holidays. Loads of friends were going away and they rented a place and were, like, ‘come with us’.
‘It was really nice. Usually I’m away shooting or something, and because of the [Hollywood] strike everything got moved, so I’ve had a whole year just to, like, hang out.’
She adds: ‘We were originally going to move to Suffolk because we’d fallen in love in Suffolk. And, then, friends of ours had moved to Norfolk and bought this old place for, like, nothing at an auction, like pulled weeds out of it and just did the whole thing up.
‘And then they showed us this house that we live in, which is, like, 1500s and falling down and orange. It’s a really amazing old house that’s been there forever.’
A new honour for former defence minister Nicholas Soames, who was asked to represent King Charles at the thanksgiving service for Baroness (Betty) Boothroyd at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey, on Tuesday.
Lord Soames, 75, is an old friend of the Monarch and was one of his supporters during the so-called ‘War of the Waleses’.
Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson claimed that Princess Diana had accused Charles of adultery because of ‘her mental illness and advance stages of paranoia’.
He apologised in 2020, saying: ‘I regret it.’ He added: ‘I should never have said it because I am not a doctor… a lot of what was said and passed in those days was very unpleasant. It was a very unhappy time for everyone.’
Gladrags and a bandage for Rod
Did Sir Rod Stewart, the sprightliest of septuagenarians, overdo his 79th birthday celebrations last week?
I ask only because on Tuesday night he sported a bandaged right hand as he emerged from London’s Kit Kat Club.
The drab dressing, unadorned by so much as a speck of colour, was in stark contrast to the rest of the pop star’s attire, which included a vibrant red waistcoat enhanced by an orange starburst and floral embroidery, a jacket in ochre velvet, and bronze brogues with leopard print panels.
The First Cut Is The Deepest warbler Sir Rod has fathered eight children by five different women — three of whom he married, including his current wife, model-turned-special constable Penny Lancaster, who only three months ago was pictured on crutches.
Might Penny, 52, and Sir Rod be overdoing cops-and-robbers role-playing at their Essex mansion?
Comic Frank Skinner loves Antiques Roadshow but is perturbed by the outfits worn by some of the specialists. ‘When I see the experts in their canary yellow blazers and cravats and monocles and all that, I always think, ‘If there was any sort of dark crimes happening locally, I’d just round them up as a matter of course’. Why can’t you just have a suit and tie and be an antiques expert? Why do you have to dress like a fool?’
Did Blair keep fraudster’s fee?
Friendship with four-times divorced American billionaire Larry Ellison, 79, has paid lavish dividends for Sir Tony Blair, whose Institute for Global Change is set to trouser $272 million (£213 million) from Ellison’s foundation.
But while all at Blair’s Institute are ‘very grateful’, according to a spokesman, they remain resolutely silent about Blair’s relationship with another American billionaire — Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto currency exchange FTX.
In 2022, Blair took to the stage alongside Bankman-Fried at a conference in the Bahamas. ‘FTX and its partner spent a lot of money on the guest list,’ reflected an observer. The next year, Bankman-Fried, 31, was convicted of fraud and money laundering.
Blair’s Institute declines to reply when I ask if it has returned any fee received for Sir Tony’s duties in the Bahamas.
Bridgerton’s Rege-Jean earns cool a £1million
He became a heart-throb thanks to his role as the Duke of Hastings in Netflix bodice-ripper Bridgerton, and is tipped to succeed Daniel Craig as James Bond. Now, Rege-Jean Page has the bank balance to match.
I hear the 35-year-old Londoner has earned £1.3 million through the performing arts company into which he channels his earnings, Bowl Laminate.
According to newly filed accounts, its assets, which comprise monies due in at £666,000 as well as cash at £606,000, offset by bills of £266,000, leave Rege-Jean with £1 million in accumulated earnings.
His profits are £300,000 up on the £721,000 held in 2022.
Rege-Jean is due to be seen next as Simon Templar in a new version of The Saint.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
