EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Bond girl is desperate for the portrait of herself by late lover ‘the Loins of Longleat’

He was blessed to inherit the majestic Longleat, his stately family seat in Wiltshire – and a vast estate of more than 20,000 acres – after his father died in 2020 aged 87.

But Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath, would hardly be human if he did not from time to time wish that his late father, Alexander, had lived in a slightly more orthodox manner.

As it is, almost four years after the late Marquis died, Ceawlin is still beset by the inevitable rifts caused by the man who acknowledged having 75 lovers – or wives, as he preferred to call them – after his 1969 marriage to Hungarian-born actress Anna Gael, from whom he never divorced.

Now I can reveal that the railings of Longleat are being rocked by former Bond Girl, Jamaican-born bombshell Sylvana Henriques, several decades after her tryst with Alexander.

The affair culminated in him painting her portrait and hanging it on a staircase next to images of his other wives.

She tells me her attempts to recover the portrait – No. 13 of 75 – have been ‘ignored’, despite the fact that her relationship with Alexander, known as ‘the loins of Longleat’, softened into a friendship that lasted until his death. dead.

“I’m disappointed,” says Sylvana, who was a top model in the 1960s before her appearance in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, starring George Lazenby as 007.

She adds that she, along with her husband, businessman Robert Puddy, had dinner with Alexander shortly before his final illness. “I was one of the few friends he could trust,” she says. ‘Ceawlin knows I was very close – I was there when he was born at St Mary’s (hospital) in Paddington. I knew Alexander for 56 years.’

Such was her favored status among the wives – a term Sylvana refuses to use – that she enjoyed the use of a cottage on the estate.

She still hopes her portrait will one day hang in her bungalow in Somerset. “(Ceawlin) doesn’t need it, does he? It’s probably locked in a cupboard somewhere.’

The 8th Marquess, 49, who is married to former Strictly contestant Emma Thynn, 37, declined to comment.

After taking over the reins of Longleat more than a decade ago, he inadvertently antagonized his father by temporarily removing his graphic ‘Heaven and Hell’ murals.

But Sylvana fears there is nothing temporary about the fate of her portrait. “It could have been destroyed,” she says.

The smart set talks about…

William and Kate visit Teddies in Oxford

While Oundle has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to suggestions that the Prince and Princess of Wales might prefer it for Prince George, I can reveal there is another co-educational public school that has caught their attention.

It costs £47,000 a year to ‘Teddies’, as St Edward’s School in Oxford is known. The ‘director’ – director – is the almost impossibly gifted Alastair Chirnside. As an Oxford student he achieved a Congratulatory First – awarded perhaps only once in a decade for exceptional brilliance – in Classics and French, and also won a Half-Blue for rowing in the Oxford lightweight crew.

After a stint in the city at blue chip fund manager Schroders, he switched to teaching – and it seems he caught the attention of William and Kate.

“They went to watch,” a Teddies grandfather tells me.

The school’s extraordinary alumni include Dambusters leader Guy Gibson and fellow RAF legend Douglas Bader, as well as actor Laurence Olivier and Oppenheimer star Florence Pugh.

Poppy keeps it in the family at dinner with royal ex’s brother

Poppy Delevingne appeared to have cooled her romance with her blue-blooded toyboy, Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark, 25, late last year.

Still, it seems she has remained close to his family. She is seen alongside his brother, Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark, 23, at a group dinner with friends in New York this week. “La Familia,” she wrote next to the photo, which she shared online.

As well as the 12-year age difference between 37-year-old model Poppy and the Prince, affectionately known as Tino, distance may have been a factor in their breakup. The Greek royal, the godson of the Prince of Wales, moved to Los Angeles last year to attend film school.

Trinny’s girl drives away her anxiety problems

Trinny Woodall has spoken about the crippling social anxiety her daughter Lyla, 20, was left with following the Covid lockdowns.

The former What Not To Wear presenter, 60, says Lyla’s fear became apparent when she visited Italy. “She called me thirty times a day for three days; she was chronically vomiting every ten minutes,” Trinny reveals.

Her efforts to help Lyla, whose father, businessman Johnny Elichaoff, died in 2014 at age 55, “went from ‘Come on honey’ to tough love,” she says.

Eventually, Trinny traveled to Lyla’s college. “I brought her Post-it notes that said, ‘Get out of bed and move,’ ’99 percent of the things you worry about never happen,’ ‘Don’t pick your spot,'” she says. them to the Spinning Plates podcast. She adds, “Within a month it was like having another child. She told me she was gone until five in the morning. I was so relieved.’

Could an online romance be on the cards for James Norton following his quiet split from fiancée Imogen Poots? I hear news of the 38-year-old Happy Valley star’s split from 34-year-old actress Poots late last year didn’t come as a big shock to users of the upmarket dating app Raya.

“He’s been there for a while,” a source said.

CHOICE OF PARTIES

THE OPPORTUNITY: The BAFTA Gala 2024 at The Peninsula London hotel

REUNITED: It’s almost five years since we last saw Poldark stars Eleanor Tomlinson, 31, and Aidan Turner, 40, play husband and wife Ross and Demelza in the BBC TV drama.

The pair had a mini reunion at the gala, with Eleanor dressed in a sophisticated black dress – very different from her on-screen character.

SUITS YOU: Leading the fashion group was actress Celia Imrie, who was dressed in a white tie outfit, which she wore with an elaborate Chanel necklace. The Calendar Girls star, 71, has yet to win a BAFTA but she is still aiming for bigger roles.

She tells me, “Most of my roles have been supporting roles and one day I want to dare to be even more.”

LEADER: Rege-Jean Page, 35, who played the dashing Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton, always has female attention. Since 2019, he has been in a relationship with copywriter and part-time footballer Emily Brown.

Sandi is a big fan of Toksvig masculinity

Sandi Toksvig founded the Women’s Equality Party in 2015, but it appears the QI presenter prefers a male-dominated workplace in her own field. The Danish-born presenter, 65, and her wife, Debbie, have hired a group of local men to help them restore a 40-acre patch of ancient woodland they own near Herne Bay in Kent.

“When we started using this forest, we thought it was too much,” says Sandi. ‘I gave a speech at the village hall and a group of local men came together. We are there every Sunday. We call it ‘Toksvig masculinity’.

The past seven months have been tough for Huw Edwards, who remains on leave from the BBC following the findings of an investigation into his conduct. This followed claims that he paid a young man for sexual images. But 2023 hasn’t been all bad for the BBC’s highest-paid journalist, as the Corporation’s external events register shows he has earned at least £60,500 from hosting, moderating or interviewing events. Despite not being on air since July, he was one of the BBC’s biggest earners at these events last year.

(Very) modern manners

Pop star Nicole Scherzinger is worth more than £11million, but she may not have to pay a penny for her wedding reception – if she accepts an offer from Montenegro’s Forte Rose Resort.

Scherzinger, 45, and her fiancé, former Scottish rugby star Thom Evans, 38, are being urged to hold their reception there for free – rather than foot the usual £50,000 bill. The singer said the ceremony will take place in her native Hawaii, while a reception will take place “somewhere in Europe.”