Dame Kelly Holmes gets invite to King Charles' Coronation

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Dame Kelly Holmes gets invite to King Charles' Coronation - and reveals she hopes to see Prince Harry there too

Published: 01:38, 11 April 2023 | Updated: 02:09, 11 April 2023

Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes appears to have won an invitation to King Charles's Coronation.

'I will definitely be going,' the former athlete tells me. 'I don't know what I'll be doing yet, but I'll be involved somehow.'

Speaking at a red-carpet event in Mayfair, Dame Kelly, who is honorary colonel of the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment, adds: 'No one knows who does what at this stage, and I'm also a colonel in the Army.'

She hopes to see Prince Harry and Meghan at Westminster Abbey.

'It's not my battle -- I don't know,' she says of the California-based couple's possible attendance. 'It's up to the King and it's his son, so you would hope so.'

Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes (pictured) appears to have won an invitation to King Charles's Coronation

She hopes to see Prince Harry and Meghan at Westminster Abbey

King Charles is determined that his charities benefit from the Coronation.

I hear that he's organised a GBP185-a-head Coronation Eve dinner with a former royal harpist at Highgrove, his country home in Gloucestershire, next month.

'Join us for a truly regal evening of elegance and entertainment at our Coronation Eve candlelit dinner with special guest Anne Denholm, former Royal Harpist,' says the advertisement on Highgrove's website.

Proceeds will go to the Prince's Foundation.

King Charles is determined that his charities benefit from the Coronation

Don't expect to bump into Nick Grimshaw at your local multiplex.

'I had a really traumatic experience at the cinema,' wails the TV presenter, 38.

'We went to see The Favourite, and something caught my eye. It was a mouse on the fabric wall, walking next to my head. I ran out screaming, and I've not been able to go back.'

RSC star adds voice to opera row

The Royal Opera House was accused of 'whitewashing' its production of Turandot last month, after a white, Italian singer was cast in the titular role of the Chinese princess.

However, veteran actor Togo Igawa, who became the first Japanese member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1985, says white people should be allowed to play characters of other races.

He remarks: 'There are some who say only Chinese and Japanese actors should play Chinese and Japanese roles -- but wouldn't that mean only English actors could play Romeo and Juliet?

Or only Italian actors, maybe?'

Bridget Jones star Sally Phillips has revealed she deliberately wore extra layers of clothing when she reluctantly agreed to a sex scene with footballer turned screen hardman Vinnie Jones in the film Mean Machine

The 52-year-old actress says: 'There was a scene which Time Out [magazine] called 'the shortest, most gratuitous sex scene in cinema history'.

'I swear I was supposed to just have sex with Vinnie Jones over a desk for no apparent reason, and I was terrified about this because I have never been the grand beauty, and always had crippling body shyness.

'And so I had a plot with the girls in Costume. I had loads and loads of layers and little, tiddly buttons, and so Vinnie literally could not unwrap me. And he went, 'Ah, f*** this for a game of soldiers', and just pushed my head down under the desk, which made it more gratuitous.'

When Levi Roots appeared on Dragons' Den, he managed to convince tycoons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh to invest GBP50,000 in his Reggae Reggae sauce.

Now, the musician, whose sauce business is said to be worth more than GBP30 million, hopes to be on to another winner with a musical makeover of Shakespeare.

'I wrote a musical called Sound Clash: Death In The Arena about a Romeo and Juliet dystopian type of sound system,' he tells me, referring to the audio battles between rival groups of DJs.

'It's a Romeo and Juliet spin, with a Caribbean and a black take to it.' The entrepreneur, 64, is prepared for a backlash towards his show from traditionalists.

'If people are going to be negative about a black Romeo and Juliet about sound systems, I'm ready for them, as that is our culture.'

The musical has its premiere at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

'William Shakespeare would love it because sound system people have been very dramatic like his characters.

The dramatics of sound clashes have always been there.'