New Zealand Woman’s Weekly 1906

Downton Abbey devotees can rejoice with the arrival of new pictures of the sumptuous upcoming movie. It looks as though all the main players are back – uptight butler Carson (Jim Carter) looks to be on the warpath again; Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) enjoyed a romantic waltz with her on-screen husband, Harry Talbot (Matthew Goode); and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) was seen clutching her imperious grandmother’s hand. At one point, it looked like scene-stealer, Dame Maggie Smith, wouldn’t appear. Maggie (84) said she could not see the Dowager Countess in a film, unless it began with her funeral. “I could croak it and it would just start with the body,” she said. With the movie set for release in September, we’re very glad she changed her mind!…

My heart truly skipped a beat. I glanced at my phone last week and noticed I had a flurry of unread messages and a news alert with the words, “Prince Philip” in it. Gulp. Although he’s sprightly and made of tough stock, I do have to remind myself fr om time to time that the reality is the duke is now 97 years old – actually , not too far off 98. Thankfully, the fear didn’t last too long as news came that although Prince Philip had been involved in a car crash, he had escaped fairly unscathed. Which really is remarkable when you consider the photos of the upturned Range Rover he was at the wheel of (see page 7). While I fretted over the health of Her Majesty’s…

Downton Abbey devotees can rejoice with the arrival of new pictures of the sumptuous upcoming movie. It looks as though all the main players are back – uptight butler Carson (Jim Carter) looks to be on the warpath again; Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) enjoyed a romantic waltz with her on-screen husband, Harry Talbot (Matthew Goode); and Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) was seen clutching her imperious grandmother’s hand. At one point, it looked like scene-stealer, Dame Maggie Smith, wouldn’t appear. Maggie (84) said she could not see the Dowager Countess in a film, unless it began with her funeral. “I could croak it and it would just start with the body,” she said. With the movie set for release in September, we’re very glad she changed her mind!…

My heart truly skipped a beat. I glanced at my phone last week and noticed I had a flurry of unread messages and a news alert with the words, “Prince Philip” in it. Gulp. Although he’s sprightly and made of tough stock, I do have to remind myself fr om time to time that the reality is the duke is now 97 years old – actually , not too far off 98. Thankfully, the fear didn’t last too long as news came that although Prince Philip had been involved in a car crash, he had escaped fairly unscathed. Which really is remarkable when you consider the photos of the upturned Range Rover he was at the wheel of (see page 7). While I fretted over the health of Her Majesty’s husband, the irony…

Best Picture: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Roma, A Star is Born, Vice Best Actress: Yalitza Aparicio, Roma; Glenn Close, The Wife; Olivia Colman, The Favourite; Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born; Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Best Actor: Christian Bale, Vice; Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born; Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate; Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody; Viggo Mortensen, Green Book. Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, Vice; Marina de Tavira, Roma; Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk; Emma Stone, The Favourite; Rachel Weisz, The Favourite Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Green Book; Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman; Sam Elliott, A Star is Born; Richard E Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Sam Rockwell, Vice. It has been a cracker…

As a wartime officer in the Royal Navy, Prince Philip learned to face his fears head on. The lesson is still with him today – he was back behind the wheel just a day after a potentially fatal car crash near the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. “Even at 97, he remembers what he was told when he was learning to ride as a child,” says a former aide. “If he fell off, he was told to get straight back on his horse. That’s what he has always done and why he got straight back behind the wheel. He knew it was the best way to regain his confidence.” The crash took place when Philip was turning out from a country lane on to a main road on January 17…