Richard Eden: Could it all be kicking off for Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi?

Princess Beatrice’s husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi rode in the royal procession of carriages at Royal Ascot yesterday, but could the property developer soon swap horses for football?

I only ask because Edo, 40, enjoyed a night out in Mayfair this week with Amanda Staveley, 51, who helped a Saudi consortium take over Newcastle United and became a member of its board of directors.

They were joined by the Yorkshirewoman’s Iranian-born husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, 50, also co-owner of the Toon.

“They seemed to be deep in conversation and we really hit it off,” said a fellow guest at the event.

Staveley has a connection to Edo as she is a former flame of his father-in-law, Prince Andrew.

The smart set takes over approximately… Detmar’s jet set parent

Some suggest his family is cursed, while others say it is damned by his own misdeeds.

So it’s encouraging to hear the balance Detmar Blow has achieved in his personal life, 17 years after suffering the loss of his first wife, the inimitable style icon Isabella Blow, who fatally poisoned herself with a weedkiller.

Two years ago he broke up with Martha Fiennes, the sister of movie stars Ralph and Joseph, to whom he had been engaged since 2016. I can now say that he is on the friendliest terms with Mara Castilho, the Portuguese-Brazilian artist with whom he had a son, Sasha, a year after Issie’s death and married in 2010, after which she left for Lisbon in 2011.

“I sometimes stay with Mara in Lisbon to see Sasha,” says Detmar, 60, adding that during the school year, when Sasha is at the £46,000-a-year Bedales School, Mara visits and stays in Hilles, the art – and craft house in Gloucestershire, built by his grandfather.

Before starring as John Falstaff in Player Kings, Sir Ian McKellen felt the need to explain why he wore a fat suit.

“Would it really be better if I put the weight on and then take it off again after production?” asked the star, 85, best known as Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings films.

And I hear that Sir Ian, who has spent much of this week in hospital after falling off stage mid-performance at the Noel Coward Theater in the West End, was spared worse injuries thanks to the thick bodysuit he wore wore his suit.

“It was the fat suit he had to wear as Falstaff that saved him,” a source said. “It kind of bounced.”

McKellen, who was treated for injuries including a broken wrist, said he would not return as Falstaff for the remaining three shows in London. Let’s hope he gets back to full health soon.

Guinness the only singer

Fashion icon Daphne Guinness’s penchant for extraordinary heelless platform shoes isn’t just about style. She says it has health benefits.

“People keep asking why I’m always in these shoes,” says Lord Moyne’s daughter. The 56-year-old singer, who has just released her fourth album, called Sleep, explains: ‘The whole point of this is so I can get down and relax my back and move my hips. If you’re warming up for a vocal recording, you’ll want to get the diaphragm and lower core muscles in shape.

‘It’s not a fashion statement, it’s comfort, it’s my physical health, which is crucial to me.’

Journalist Colin and his new wife Olivia’s extended family

When Jo, the wife of news broadcaster Colin Brazier, lost her battle with breast cancer in 2018 at the age of 55, he was left behind as a widow and father of six children.

Now, however, he has remarried – to a family friend who has also lost her husband.

She is Olivia Warham, 54, whose husband, Mark, was a colorful City financier.

“Olivia and I feel incredibly lucky to have found love after loss,” Brazier, 56, told me.

‘We would like to thank all our friends, and especially our children, for their support in good and bad times. We are very much looking forward to working together for new pastures.’

The couple exchanged vows at Our Lady of Victories Church in Kensington, West London, in the presence of all nine children (above).

Keep it to yourself, but…

A recently deceased beauty of a certain age is revered by surviving contemporaries for a spirited act of reinvention.

Many decades ago, she bought an antique ring at London’s Portobello market bearing both a coat of arms and the name of a continental family.

Then she wore the ring – and brilliantly adopted the noble name as her own.

Prince’s polo friend dates childhood friend Sophie

Prince William and Harry’s polo teammate has found love with the ‘young Judi Dench’.

William Melville-Smith, 37, who played with the royal brothers at the 2016 Audi Polo Challenge in Ascot, is dating Sophie Kennedy Clark, 34.

The actress played the younger version of Dame Judi’s character in the award-winning 2013 film Philomena.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” Sophie tells me on the opening night of the Raindance Film Festival at the Curzon Mayfair cinema in London. “We went to school together.”

Sophie – the granddaughter of Scottish singer Calum Kennedy – and her boyfriend both visited King Charles’ alma mater Gordonstoun.

(Very) modern manners

King Charles is known for his conversations with his plants and is now offering a ‘sound bath’ at his Norfolk retreat.

For £25 per person, visitors to the Sandringham Estate can take part in a ‘midsummer sound bath’ in which they will experience ‘a range of instruments including drums, crystal bowls, chimes, gongs, tuning forks, Himalayan singing bowls, shakes, rattles and much more ‘.

A spokesperson explains that sound therapy ‘is recognized as a beneficial approach that not only helps tackle physical ailments, but also contributes to emotional balance and mental peace’.