With daughter-in-law Sophie — the Countess of Wessex and wife of Prince Edward — absent on baby production duties over Christmas, the Queen will miss her company over the holiday season, we’re told.

Sophie is a favourite companion of the Monarch, providing welcome female chatter amid the male talk of the rest of the family. She also remains with the Queen when the men embark on their traditional Boxing Day shoot at Sandringham.

Sophie will be admitted to Frimley Park Hospital on December 21 for a planned Caesarean, hoping to take the new baby home to Bagshot Park on Christmas Eve.

——————————————————-

Prince Charles and Camilla will spend only a short time at Sandringham this Christmas. Arriving late on Christmas Eve, they will depart for Balmoral after the Boxing Day shoot.

With Princes William and Harry also anxious to get back to London and their friends, it will be a short and unusually quiet holiday season this year in Royal Norfolk.

——————————————————-

When Earl Peel, the Lord Chamberlain, announced at a reception at Buckingham Palace last week that the Queen would not be retiring any time soon, he is said to have received a rousing cheer.

The thought of the Queen retiring is enough to ruin many people’s Christmas spirit, but has not been an issue since her 80th birthday passed without carpet bags at dawn. I wonder why it was necessary for Peel to reiterate this now?

——————————————————-

With the interminable Diana Inquest appearing to be hurtling towards an inevitable Accidental Death verdict, the “Dearest Pa” letters between a clearly affectionate Prince Philip and an appreciative Princess Diana have garnered a lot of coverage and comment in the press.

Attempts to blacken the name of the bluff war hero have diverted attention from his sterling qualities as head of the Royal Family. While Philip can be outspoken at times, his heart has always been in the right place — in support of the Queen.

——————————————————-

As 2007 draws to a close how will the Queen assess it?

Royal Anecdotes imagines her delighted at the arrival of a new grandchild; glad that a succession of major anniversaries are finally over; and looking forward to the first of what could be many Royal Weddings in the spring — that of Peter Philips and Autumn Kelly at Windsor in May.

Despite all the minor problems the flesh is heir to, that’s not a bad haul of good news to concentrate on.

Merry Christmas.

Kate Middleton and Prince William were spotted the other night at famous Julie’s Restaurant in Holland Park — an establishment which once hosted Prince Charles’s stag night before his wedding to Diana Spencer.

Kate Middleton and Prince William on the town

The couple sat in booth G1, known to staff as the G-spot because it has luxurious red curtains that can be drawn for extra privacy.

The restaurant is a haunt for showbiz and luvvie types and the table has been occupied by Madonna and Guy Ritchie, Kate Moss and Johnny Depp. Not to be outdone, Sylvester Stallone is said to have removed the bulb out of the light socket while entertaining a glamorous lady friend.

William and Kate, however, were more decorous at the G-spot. An onlooker said, “They enjoyed their meal but their body language was friendly rather than intimate.”

It seems they didn’t even close the curtains, giving fellow diners nothing to gossip about.

Good move.

In what is sure to cause a few harumphs of indignation, ITV — Britain’s premier commercial TV channel — is to broadcast a thinly-veiled drama depicting the lives of an allegedly ficticious Royal family.

The Palace will go out next year in six one-hour episodes, and will focus on the lives of two young, tequila-swigging Princes. Naturally.

Veteran actress Jane Asher will play the Queen, who is described as the “beautiful, but emotionally-scarred mother” of the two boys. Now I wonder who that could be?

The story follows the premature death of the Princes’ father, the King. Clearly some gender bending going on here.

We’re told that one Prince is bogged down ruling the country. What, no Prime Minister?

The other Prince simply leads a decadent lifestyle — the producers claim he is “only loosely” based on Prince Harry. Of course he is!

More bizarrely still, the set for Buckingham Palace has been built in a dilapidated old Soviet cigarette factory in Lithuania. You really couldn’t make it up.

Buckingham Palace is refusing to comment.

Another date for your diary. Hmmm.

Helen Mirren, who recently won an Oscar for her portrayal of the Queen, doesn’t see Kate Middleton as the “new Diana”, as some do. No, it’s quite obviously Paris Hilton, she claims.

Paris Hilton, left, Princess Diana, right

The Dame believes that the hotel heiress has what it takes to reach the same heights as Diana. “I don’t applaud Paris Hilton, but I think she’s pretty cool,” Helen says. “She’s developed, like Princess Diana, that deliberate foolishness, which is disarming.”

Dear oh dear, when actors reveal their real thoughts, they kind of diminish, don’t they? No Oscar for punditry for you, Dame Helen.