There were unidentified objects flying through the air, the heat was almost unbearable, the natives restless and noisy. This was before we even got off the coach. A few weeks ago Olivia volunteered me as a ‘parent-in-charge’ for a school outing to an A …

“Mummy,”said Olivia yesterday. “Do you buy the presents that Father Christmas brings?” This was too direct a question to ignore, or skirt around. What would you have done? She is seven years old. She has two younger siblings who passionately believe in …

An article in the Daily Mail today tells us that men are now too scared to flatter women or to flirt with them. Apparently in our PC times a compliment is all too easily seen as an insult. So a ‘you look nice today’ can be miscontrued as either ‘I want …

“You are superman,” said Leo as Rupert kissed him goodnight last night. “What’s mummy?” “She’s a princess.” It is true that aged three your world is quite simple. Mummy and daddy are perfect, superheroes really do exist and everyone loves you. I rememb …

We all want a conclusion to this story. It has to be said that it was with a sense of relief that at last something was happening that we watched the news the other night of Robert Murat’s arrest and the house search. It was chillingly familiar to the …

So my first outfit is deemed “too muttony” by my husband. His comment on the second one is “you look like you’re going to a hen party.” Finally he agrees the white linen trousers, white cotton shirt and red cardigan will be fine. And the shoes of cours …

Tomorrow we have been invited to lunch at a friend’s house and among the other guests is the editor of Vogue. My question is this; what does one wear to lunch with the editor of Vogue? The whole thing is too terrifying for words. Do I try to go fashion …

I have just come back from my friend Frank’s memorial service. It was the first memorial service I have ever been to, but I suppose from now on they will be as frequent as 21st birthday parties were twenty years ago. It was a moving and actually quite …

So it seems the Queen and I were in America at the same time. I wonder how different our visits have been. While I was recovering from a day of exhausting makeover treatments in my hotel room (actually I spent most of the evening trying to find a light …

Normally I look at the Daily Mail website every morning to see if my latest article has made it in. Now all I am interested in is news about Maddy, the little girl that was abducted Thursday from a resort in the Algarve. I can’t think of a news story t …