EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Why there were Three Degrees of separation from the royals

So far, he has pored over 416 pages of often painful memoirs and public periodic statements.

Is it too much to ask, then, to hope that Prince Harry will heed the words – and the warning contained therein – of one of his father’s most devoted admirers, Three Degrees star Valerie Holiday?

I ask because Holiday, who regularly performed for King Charles, has broken her silence on why she says the group has not received invitations to perform at private royal parties since the mid-1980s.

That, she tells me, was due to the alleged indiscretions of Sheila Ferguson – the group member who really caught Charles’ attention.

“I felt the relationship should have been kept private because it was a very delicate matter,” said Holiday, 76, who is touring Britain with band members Freddie Pool and Jessie Wagner.

‘I didn’t like that being put on paper. You’re talking about the image of a country, and that didn’t make it fun for me.

“I didn’t agree with what she did. It was vulgar.”

Ferguson undoubtedly seemed the young prince’s favourite, but she did not want, she said many years later, to be ‘a stain on his star’, describing Charles as ‘a womaniser’.

Holiday prefers to dwell on the innocence of their first meeting with the future king.

‘We were asked to do a charity event for Prince Charles in Eastbourne,’ she says. ‘He came up on stage and danced with us.’

He was so impressed that the trio performed at his 30th birthday party at Buckingham Palace and later at his wedding.

There is, Holiday adds, no prospect of a reunion – artistic or otherwise – with Ferguson: “Sometimes it’s better to leave things the way they were.

“Sheila wanted to pursue a solo career. We didn’t really know about her departure until it was already in the works. It was a very traumatic time – like a bad divorce.”

Annie Mac Meets Madonna

Annie Mac may be considered a queen on the radio, but when she met Madonna last year, she felt like an outsider.

In her podcast Sidetracked With Annie And Nick, the DJ says: ‘I got a message from a friend of mine, who knows Madonna, saying, “She’s having a private party.”

“When she walked in, we all stood up, like she was the queen. She looked right through me, and then she looked at my girlfriend and was like, ‘Oh, it’s you,’ so she started talking to my girlfriend.

“It was a ten-minute period where I felt very uncomfortable.”

Happy Laura has found her own spot in the sun

Laura Hamilton has been showing Brits around holiday homes for over a decade as the presenter of A Place In The Sun, but only now has she taken the plunge and bought her own home abroad.

“I just bought a house in Mallorca,” she tells me at the National Television Awards at London’s O2 Arena, where she wore a jewel-encrusted tulle dress by Isabell Kristensen.

“It’s my first home abroad and it’s quite intimidating, but I have to do what I say myself… Now that I can do it myself, I can pass that first-hand experience on to the people I help and hold their hands through the process.”

The Spanish property in Pollensa is being renovated and Hamilton, 42, who lives in Surrey, said: ‘I’ve learned that no matter how experienced you are, you’re guaranteed to make a mistake every time.’

Motorcycling bishop flies to New Zealand

The Book of Proverbs speaks of ‘the desire of a sluggard’, but Queen Camilla’s favourite priest is leaving for the Antipodes for a quarter of his time next year.

Richard Jackson, the motorcycling Bishop of Hereford, has told his flock he will be taking a sabbatical to New Zealand from January to April, saying he hopes to “catch up on my reading”.

Jackson, 63, who accompanied Camilla to the coronation, is the royal household’s chief chaplain.

The Queen would admire his preaching. It must be stronger than his work ethic.

Suchet versus Beethoven

Classic FM presenter John Suchet has subjected Beethoven to an investigation similar to his brother David’s portrayal of Poirot – for his latest book.

“Beethoven’s music has been my companion through the best and worst of times, but I find it difficult to forgive him for the pain he caused those around him,” he says.

‘This book contains some truly surprising, and not entirely welcome, discoveries.’

All will become clear when In Search Of Beethoven is released next month.

French passports for Davina and her son

Davina McCall revealed last year that she was trying to come to terms with her past by coming out as French, like her late mother Florence.

Now that she has dual citizenship, she says her 17-year-old son Chester has also been accepted. “We keep it in the family,” she tells me.

“It’s a great feeling to have a French passport, and now my son will get one too.”

The 56-year-old Long Lost Family presenter has two other children: Holly, 22, and Tilly, 20, with her ex Matthew Robertson.

McCall, who was 12 when she first used drugs with her mother, was forced to live with her grandparents at age three when Florence moved back to her native France.