EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Politically correct quotas undermined Donald Trump’s security before his shooting, claims The Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth

At 15 he spoke fluent French and German, soon after he mastered Spanish and some Russian, and was flying a fighter jet at 18. He then became a correspondent for Reuters in Paris and later in Berlin.

He also occasionally carried out missions for ‘The Firm’, the British secret service, and after extensive research he came up with a groundbreaking blockbuster.

But after Donald Trump’s miraculous escape from death, Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal, tells me he despairs of security services around the world – particularly their inability to learn or remember a fundamental truth.

“The sniper is still a formidable enemy,” he points out. “I’ve lost count of the number of politicians killed since I hit ‘the day of the Jackal was over’ on the last page.”

“What Trump’s escape shows is the futility of having bodyguards at gunpoint if you can’t secure the area,” adds Forsyth, 85, who is understandably struck by an extraordinary similarity between Trump’s survival and that of the French president in his novel of 54 years ago: a very slight movement of the head.

Forsyth claims that the U.S. Secret Service has been undermined by putting quotas above capacity. “They’ve become civil servants. They actually saw the guy preparing his shot and just waited, apparently thinking, ‘How interesting.’

The only criterion for selection should be ability, adds Forsyth, who has written a chapter for Vampire Boys, Catherine Bailey’s book about the RAF jet Forsyth flew. It had no ejection seat. “You fly in it … or you die in it,” he and his contemporaries were told.

‘Eighty percent failed the medical exam. Those who did pass had to take tests of aptitude, dexterity and hand-eye coordination.’ Then came a psychological assessment through an interview. ‘Another 19 percent failed.’

But Forsyth wonders whether performance will triumph over political correctness and inertia. He assumed that the primitive passport fraud he outlined in The Day of the Jackal would be quickly eliminated. Not a speck of it.

“The KGB used it, the Mafia used it, the IRA probably used it,” he muses. “Nothing was done for 30 years. Bureaucratic idiocy.”

The naked truth about Edo’s ex’s steamy secret

Dara Huang, the mother of Wolfie, Princess Beatrice’s stepson, has a confession: she is a voyeur.

The US-born architect designs many penthouses, even though she has a fear of heights.

“Why do I always get the penthouse?” asks Bea’s husband’s former fiancé, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

It’s because [developers] want the wow factor, the money shot.’ She adds: ‘I like the aspiration of the penthouse. The view is unbeatable and the sense of privacy here when you have a really busy street.

‘I’m totally into this idea of ​​empowerment. What’s really a priceless way to live is to walk around naked in your own space — I’m a little voyeuristic.

‘I often make bathtubs for large glass windows, and then I don’t hang a curtain in front of them.’

Goddamnit!

The smart guys are talking about… the royal family’s newest smart guy

Prince William met his wife at St Andrews in Scotland, but Eloise Taylor is busy setting up another university.

Eloise, 21, is the first member of the royal family to graduate from the University of Manchester.

Her brother Cassius, 27, a DJ, shared this photo he took last week after her graduation.

Eloise is the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth’s cousin, the Duke of Kent, and a daughter of Lady Helen Taylor and art dealer Timothy Taylor.

Mamma Mia! Drag act is the icing on the cake for Jeremy and bride

War Horse star Jeremy Irvine has revealed he secretly married midwife Jodie Spencer in May.

“As soon as we got married I had to go back to Scotland,” says the 34-year-old Mamma Mia 2 actor, who is filming the Outlander prequel Blood Of My Blood north of the border.

At the opening of the Pangaia store on Carnaby Street, he tells me: ‘I’ve just got back to London, so I’d like to be her husband.’

Of their big day he says: ‘We had a beautiful, small, intimate wedding with our friends and family in Somerset.’

Jodie says: ‘We added a bit of theatricality to it with a drag queen.’

The couple have not yet been on their honeymoon, but Irvine hopes to be able to combine work and pleasure: ‘My next job is in Italy, so it could be worse.’

It should never be said that the king cannot laugh at himself.

A Channel Five documentary, Highgrove House: A Royal Residence, features footage of various busts of His Majesty at various stages of his life, in the gardens of his home in Gloucestershire.

Former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe told the programme: ‘I remember Charles saying, ‘What do you think of the busts?’

‘Well, I’m not an art critic, so I can’t really comment on it, but I said, ‘What’s interesting, sir, is that the sculptors always see you differently. I mean, no two sculptures are the same.’

“And he said, ‘I know, but you know what the common denominator is? They always get my fucking ears right.'”

Finally some good news for hedge fund magnate Crispin Odey, who suffered a £37m loss after the company he founded was liquidated following allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.

I hear his son, Felix Odey, 30, is engaged to an NHS doctor, Ana Clayton-Smith.

Felix followed his father’s example and is a fund manager at Schroders.

Why Wallis does business

The MeToo movement in Hollywood has helped spur measures, including intimacy coordinators, to help actresses feel safe on set. However, British model and actress Wallis Day has her own measures in place to ensure she avoids unwanted attention.

“I’m there for the work — not the drama,” she tells me at a party in London. “I do my work and go home and sleep when I’m done. I don’t hang around on set.”

Wallis, 29, will star in the upcoming remake of Red Sonja, the 1985 sword-and-sorcery film starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Marquis and centers of power…

When the Marquess of Cholmondeley was replaced as Lord Great Chamberlain after the death of Queen Elizabeth, it seemed that he lost his intimate connection with the monarchy.

He and his wife, Rose, could not stay any closer to the seat of power, however. For the couple, who are friends and neighbours in Norfolk of the Prince and Princess of Wales, will continue to provide the Chair of State and the Consort Throne on which King Charles and Queen Camilla sat at the State Opening of Parliament this week.

“Although Lord Carrington is the new Lord Great Chamberlain, the chairs are David’s,” a friend tells me. The furniture has now been returned to David and Rose’s stately home, Houghton Hall.

(Very) modern ways

In the past, couples would announce their engagement and quickly set a wedding date. Now, pop star Annie Lennox’s daughter Lola is celebrating the anniversary of their engagement.

This week, Lola, 33, a singer who is set to marry Canadian model Braeden Wright, 36, celebrated her “engagement anniversary.” “Why don’t we celebrate a year of being engaged?” Lola asks.