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The path to redemption looks long and almost impossibly tortuous for Prince Andrew, now humiliatingly shorn of his royal dukedom. But, as he reflects on his threadbare reputation, he can seek inspiration from a fellow military man once nearly as reviled as he is today. I refer to James Hewitt, 67, the former Household Cavalry officer who became a social outcast after selling the story of his five-year affair with Princess Diana and, a decade later, earned global revulsion when he said he was willing to sell Diana’s letters, hoping to raise £10million. But I can disclose that Hewitt has embarked on a startling and utterly commendable new chapter in his life – a life which he is now putting on the line in Ukraine, day in, day out. It’s a role which demands plenty of nerve from Hewitt who, three years ago, started running rescue missions to the war-ravaged country in tandem with former Coldstream Guards officer Mikey Stewart-Richardson, as I revealed at the time. That, in turn, led to Hewitt delivering ambulances and aid on behalf of Help4Ukraine, established by Lord Monson and John Fuggles. Hewitt, it was said, was finding fulfilment in what he was doing – but has now taken his commitment to another level, as Fuggles explains. ‘James works with us delivering ambulances, medical aid and vehicles, but he is now pretty much “in-country”, working with a team based in Lviv that’s more on the ground,’ Fuggles tells me. ‘So, if a town gets hit by something and there’s no food getting through, they load up vans, put food, clothes and bedding in, and hurtle across the country and deliver all the stuff. They are doing humanitarian work.’ Hewitt declines to comment. But such a vigorous and fulfilling endeavour would have been beyond his most vivid dreams eight years ago when he suffered both a heart attack and a stroke. Fuggles and Lord Monson are delighted that, as they put it, ‘he remains on our books and supports our events’, while they bid to secure charitable status for Help4Ukraine, which has just been praised by the country’s Committee on Public Health for ‘saving countless lives’. Might Andrew find similar salvation? He, like Hewitt – mentioned in despatches in the Gulf War – showed his mettle in conflict, flying helicopters in dangerous decoy missions during the Falklands War. Diana's sister hurt in fall Princes William and Harry’s aunt Lady Sarah McCorquodale has been seriously injured in a horse-riding accident. ‘She had a very bad fall last month and has been in hospital,’ her brother, Earl Spencer, confirms. Lady Sarah, 70, who went out with King Charles before introducing him to her younger sister, Lady Diana, has not enjoyed being confined to a bed, according to the earl. Lord Spencer does not give details of her injuries but jokes that she has been ‘quite a handful as a patient’. He tells the Rosebud podcast: ‘The lead doctor said to my brother-in-law [the land-owner Neil McCorquodale], “She’s quite a character, isn’t she?”, which I think is code for, “Could you take her home?”’ Lady Delves Broughton dies She was ‘just too beautiful and enchanting to have been left alone’, according to an admirer after becoming the youngest-ever female barrister aged 21. And four years later in 1955 she married – as his second wife – Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton, owner of a 35,000-acre Cheshire estate, Doddington Park. But Helen, Lady Delves Broughton, who has died aged 95, saw the glamour of those early years overshadowed by tragedies and rifts which would have broken a less- spirited woman. She was, she suggested, perhaps better equipped to be a femme fatale than a mother. ‘I had to produce some children,’ she said in an interview. ‘Part of the deal, I suppose.’ Her only son, John, drowned aged two, watched helplessly by his older sister. The latter was the inimitable fashionista Isabella Blow, who took her own life aged 48 in 2007. Issy said that her mother responded to John’s death by ‘going upstairs to put her lipstick on’ – a claim Helen called ‘an awful, unfounded lie’. Before Issy’s funeral, she said: ‘I don’t know whether I shall or shan’t attend.’ Her second daughter, Julia Rausing, died of cancer last year, aged 63. Helen divorced Sir Evelyn in 1974, allegedly shaking hands with her three daughters in turn before leaving. She never remarried. Her youngest daughter, Lavinia, survives her. Strictly dancers ‘are all shocked’ by hosts’ departure Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s joint decision to step down as hosts of Strictly Come Dancing has been one of television’s best-kept secrets, leaving even the show’s professionals blindsided. ‘We all were shocked,’ dancer Nadiya Bychkova, left, tells me at the launch of Box Piccadilly, London’s new sports bar. ‘There are always rumours swirling around Strictly, but this is big news.’ The Ukrainian dancer, 36, says: ‘They’ve become such an iconic duo, and I have so much respect for both of them. 'I’ll really miss their energy and kindness.’ Referring to the area of the studio where contestants are interviewed, Nadiya adds: ‘I’ve had so many laughs with Claudia up in the Clauditorium, too.’ Savvy Fergie's free loans Her money troubles led her to the ill-fated embrace of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but Sarah Ferguson’s finances appear to be in a much healthier state these days. I can reveal that the Duchess of York, as she was known until a few days ago, gave £233,000 in interest-free loans to one of her companies last year. Accounts filed this week for Planet Partner Productions disclose the two loans, of £122,000 and £111,000, in the year to February. The accompanying note reports: ‘The loan from the director to the company is on an on-fixed repayment basis at 0 per cent interest.’ Planet Partners was set up in 2009. Prince Andrew’s ex-wife updated her name on Companies House this week to reflect the loss of her title. She gives her occupation as ‘charity patron, spokesperson, writer and TV presenter’. She has eight other directorships listed, all updated with the name Sarah Margaret Ferguson. Millie's baby could tour with granddad Bon Jovi Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown recently adopted a baby at the age of 21. And now it’s been revealed that the infant could go on tour with Bon Jovi. Millie’s father-in-law, the rock star Jon Bon Jovi, tells me he ‘certainly hopes’ that the little girl, whose name has not been disclosed, joins him when he comes to the UK next summer to perform at Wembley. It would be an emotional return for Millie, who lived in Bournemouth, Dorset, as a child. The actress adopted the baby with her husband, Jake Bongiovi, 23, in August. And Jake’s father, 63, says the child ‘has been in the house with us’. Millie has said she knows she’s ‘really young’ to be a mother but that her ‘mom had her first child at 21... I wanted to be a mom just like the way my mom was to me’. James May suffered concussion while filming a Top Gear special in the Syrian desert. And ‘Captain Slow’ appears to have unwittingly risked further head injuries to himself and others on the doorstep of his £3million London home. I can reveal planning officers reported the ‘brick canopy’ he’d installed above his front door was insecure. Citing ‘issues with waterproofing’ and ‘failed’ repair attempts, they said the ‘risk of loose bricks’ was a ‘hazard to those walking below’. Daphne sings Kim's praises Once turned away from the Irish castle owned by Dominic West and his aristocratic wife, Catherine FitzGerald, now Kim Kardashian has found favour with another member of the Anglo-Irish nobility. Fashion icon Daphne Guinness, 57, daughter of Lord Moyne and granddaughter of Diana Mitford, sang at the reality star’s 45th birthday in London. ‘It was a pleasure to perform,’ she says. Guests included Kate Moss and Esther Freud. Not only is former BBC newsreader Simon McCoy blessed to be married to Dynasty’s Emma Samms, but she does all the cooking too. ‘The only time he ever cooked in his life, two of his guests ended up in hospital with food poisoning,’ says the actress, 65. ‘In his defence, all he did was steam some salmon and vegetables, so the issue was clearly with the salmon.’ Sir David Beckham, who seemingly sealed his place among the landed gentry by guest-editing Country Life magazine this week, enjoys an increasingly exotic diet. ‘My career has opened up my eyes to different cultures and foods,’ the former England captain tells Queen Camilla’s son, The Mail on Sunday’s restaurant critic Tom Parker Bowles. These dishes include percebes (goose-neck barnacles) and angulas (baby eels) in Spain, and something that resembled ‘a grilled marshmallow’, prepared by his favourite chef in Japan. ‘It was pufferfish sperm,’ Becks says. ‘And tasted amazing. I try everything.’ Save one vegetable. ‘I’m not too keen on parsnips.’ (Very) modern manners... Flora Gill is taking social media engagement to new extremes. The daughter of former Home Secretary Amber Rudd and the late columnist AA Gill asked her followers to help her decide whether she should shave her baby’s head for a Halloween costume. ‘Me and my husband are currently in the midst of an argument,’ the journalist explained on TikTok. ‘I have scoured the internet for a baby bald cap and, can you believe it, one doesn’t exist. ‘As a result, I want to shave his head completely bald. He won’t know, he’ll still look cute.’ Flora gave birth to her first child, son Jesse, last November. So far, her followers seem largely to have taken the side of her husband, lawyer Adam Vallance, according to the comments.
