A porcelain proposal for baby-faced royal Sam Chatto as he announces his engagement

In 2021, after revealing that Princess Margaret’s grandson Sam Chatto had a love affair with artist Eleanor Ekserdjian, he began depicting her in his works.

Now the couple is the picture of happiness after Sam got down on one knee.

“I’m really happy to say Ellie and I are engaged,” says Sam, 29, whose mother Lady Sarah Chatto is a first cousin of King Charles. ‘And we couldn’t be happier.’

While some royal brides look forward to wearing giant sparklers, Eleanor, the 29-year-old daughter of an art professor, was presented with a unique gift.

‘I proposed with a porcelain ring I had made myself,’ says Eton-educated Sam, a talented ceramist whose work has been exhibited in art galleries in Japan and Norway.

The engagement came as no surprise to royal watchers, who noted that Eleanor was invited to stay at Sandringham last Christmas.

Spending the festive season with the Royal Family at Sandringham was a privilege not granted to Catherine Middleton.

Like other brides such as Sophie Rhys-Jones, Catherine had to wait until after the wedding to be invited to the monarch’s retreat in Norfolk.

‘I proposed with a porcelain ring I made myself,’ says Eton-educated Sam. Image: Handmade ring

Queen Elizabeth scrapped the “no ring, no bring” rule for Meghan Markle in December 2017 when the American actress was allowed to stay at Sandringham five months before the wedding.

This was all part of the Queen’s efforts to welcome Meghan into the Royal Family (which turned out very well).

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Sam inherited his parents’ artistic genes.

His father, Daniel Chatto, was an actor-turned-artist, while his mother’s paintings were exhibited as part of the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition.

A member of the Royal Family told me: ‘I couldn’t be happier. Everybody is very happy.’

The King is said to have been informed of the engagement and is ‘very happy’ for the couple. The wedding is planned to take place next spring.

The price of being a football fan

Even billionaire Formula 1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone’s son-in-law is complaining about World Cup prices in the US.

‘I managed to take my boys to school’ [England quarter-final] “A lot of fathers have been deprived of this opportunity because of the price of the game,” says Sam Palmer, Petra Ecclestone’s husband.

‘Everything is very expensive here. At £17 per pint, ticket prices range from £2,000 to £2,500. ‘This is complete nonsense.’

The realtor will have to endure the indignity of flying in cattle class. ‘We’re about to book a flight to Atlanta for the semi-final – £1,000 for one-way tickets [in] ‘economy’ he cries. ‘It’s really bad.’

Yobbice adds that football is about ‘drinking beer in the street and throwing white patio chairs.’

King Charles invited Raymond Blanc to ‘share stories from his career’ for a £250 per head, five-course dinner and ‘live Q&A session’ at his stately Ayrshire home, Dumfries House, on Friday. Let’s hope the chef, who is a King’s Foundation Ambassador, is in a good mood on the night. He was once forced to apologize after saying of The Great British Bake-Off runner-up Ruby Tandoh: ‘Not much skill, women’s tears and such a poor winner that it makes me doubt her love of great cooking and baking.’ Blanc later said he was a ‘cranky Frenchman’.

Another day in paradise for Phil’s son

Nic Collins to marry Isabella Cristina Serralles after almost a decade together

Nic Collins in his youth with his father Phil

Phil Collins received good news after announcing that he was not well enough to perform at this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony.

The 75-year-old pop star, who has produced hit songs such as Another Day In Paradise and Two Hearts, is celebrating the engagement of his son Nic, who is also a drummer.

The 25-year-old actor will marry Isabella Cristina Serralles after almost ten years of dating. ‘I’m here forever my love,’ says Nic, whose half-sister is Emily In Paris star actress Lily Collins, 37. Nic’s mother is Phil’s third wife, Orianne Cevey.

Phil’s health problems include surgery on his neck and spine.

Beverley Knight, who competes with Mica Paris for the title of Queen of British Soul, is grateful that, unlike some contemporary pop singers, her 25-year career has progressed slowly. ‘If I was like Raye or like Adele – a great, great artist at such a young age – who’s to say it wouldn’t destroy me?’ says the 53-year-old star, born in Wolverhampton. ‘Who says I can handle this?’

It’s a girl! The princess’s first great-grandchild

Princess Alexandra is celebrating the birth of her first grandchild. Her granddaughter, Flora Vesterberg (née Ogilvy), 31, named her little girl Isabel

Art historian Flora married Swedish hockey player-turned-financier Timothy Vesterberg, 32, in 2020.

Princess Alexandra, Queen Elizabeth’s last surviving lady-in-waiting after the death of Lady Pamela Hicks, is celebrating the birth of her first grandchild.

Her granddaughter, Flora Vesterberg (née Ogilvy), 31, named her little girl Isabel. Art historian Flora married 32-year-old Timothy Vesterberg, a Swedish hockey player and financier, in 2020.

‘Timothy and I are very happy and loving towards him,’ says Flora.

His brother is Alexander, a flamboyant 29-year-old British Army officer who graduated from Sandhurst last year at a ceremony attended by the late Queen’s first cousin, Princess Alexandra. Prince Philip’s cousin, Lady Pamela, died last month at the age of 97.

British Wimbledon hero Arthur Fery, who was born to French parents in the Paris suburb of Sevres, is trying to explain that he would support England if the two countries meet in Saturday’s World Cup final. Saying that he ‘felt more French’ during his childhood, 24-year-old Fery says, when asked about his commitment to football: ‘I have lived here all my life and I feel very British.’