Friday 10 June 2022 11:22 PM EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Love blossoms for photographer Andrew Mills and Sky royal ... trends now
Boris Johnson is not the only one at 10 Downing Street who’s left his wife and courted a vivacious younger woman.
I hear that one of the Prime Minister’s most trusted aides, Andrew Parsons, has divorced his wife and is enjoying a romance with Sky’s royal correspondent, Rhiannon Mills.
Indeed, so enraptured is the PM’s chief photographer Parsons, 47, that he’s posted a snap on social media, showing a beaming Mills sitting on his lap, and captioning it: ‘Great night of celebration at the Platinum Jubilee’.
Lest there is any misunderstanding about his marital status, he stresses that his marriage to writer Karen Attwood, 48, with whom he exchanged vows in 2007, is over. ‘I am divorced,’ he assures me.
The PM’s chief photographer Parsons, 47, posted a snap on social media, showing a beaming Mills sitting on his lap, and captioning it: ‘Great night of celebration at the Platinum Jubilee’
Matters are slightly less clear-cut for Mills, 42, to whom Prince Harry memorably opened his heart while on a tour to New Zealand in 2015, telling her that he would ‘of course’ love to ‘have kids right now’ and marry someone to ‘share the pressure with’.
She acknowledges that she is still married to Dan Jordan, though she emphasises that the marriage has run its course. ‘I have been separated from my husband for some time,’ she tells me.
The new couple are assured of Boris’s blessing, not least because of the affection in which he holds Parsons, who enjoys the status — and salary — of a special adviser.
One friend tells me he ‘is practically part of the Johnson family — he drives Carrie around the country in his Range Rover’.
I hear that one of the Prime Minister’s most trusted aides, Andrew Parsons, has divorced his wife and is enjoying a romance with Sky’s royal correspondent, Rhiannon Mills
He is also entrusted with taking photographs at Johnson family events, and has remarked that he ‘gets on’ with the PM, ‘more so than [other politicians]’.
Neither Parsons nor Mills discuss whether they envisage marrying or if they hope to have children — Parsons is already a father — or where their paths crossed.
But that might well have been on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2019 tour of South Africa, which both covered.
On that tour, Mills asked Harry what he hoped to achieve, only for the Prince to respond angrily.
Later, Mills ruefully reflected: ‘I had basically kicked the wasps’ nest.’
Lilibet’s cake is fit for a queen
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s spin doctors announced that they had invited close friends and family to an ‘intimate backyard picnic’ to celebrate their daughter Lilibet’s first birthday at Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, last Saturday.
However, Prince Harry and Meghan made sure that the toddler was presented with a birthday cake grand enough for a wedding.
Last night, the baker Claire Ptak, who runs London-based Violet Cakes, shared this photograph of her creation.
‘It was an absolute pleasure to make this special cake for Lilibet’s birthday,’ she says. ‘Wishing her a very happy year ahead.’
Last night, the baker Claire Ptak, who runs London-based Violet Cakes, shared this photograph of her creation
Rocker Roger Daltrey, who once sang about hoping to die before he got old, now wants to raise a glass to his golden years.
I hear the 78-year-old hopes to open a cider mill on his 580-acre East Sussex estate, which lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
He’s applied to Rother District Council for permission for a 30m x 18m six-bay steel-framed building to house the brewery, including an area for deliveries and collections.
Rocker Roger Daltrey, who once sang about hoping to die before he got old, now wants to raise a glass to his golden years
Tennis star: My book’s rubbish!
Tennis ace turned commentator John Lloyd says he bitterly regrets agreeing to a joint autobiography, Lloyd On Lloyd, with his then wife, Chris Evert. Their co-author was Margaret Thatcher’s daughter, Carol.
‘I was in a bad place in my marriage, my tennis and my life in general at
