Kate Middleton, Richard E Grant, Joan Collins
My right arm to be a fly on the wall for this conversation. (It's not the BIGGEST sacrifice: I am left-handed. But still!) Did they talk about how best to wrestle your enemy into a lily pond? When you should or should not attempt to kill your enemy by painting his office with POISON? When best to employ a fur turban? How to elegantly throttle your rivals? I NEED TO KNOW. Also, that's the red McQueen Kate wore on the Flotilla at the Queen's Jubilee, and it's one of my favorites of hers. Richard E Grant is clearly loving being the meat in this sandwich.
Kate Middleton, Helena Bonham Carter and Sir Trevor Nunn
Kate looks seriously DELIGHTED in all of these photos. I have decided that here, HBC is telling Kate all about her milliner and what Johnny Depp smells like. (We'll be taking a closer look at the guests at this event in a couple of hours.)
Kate and a sliver of John Hurt
This feels very, "you guys, Joan Collins just taught me how to throw a drink in William's face! I KNOW! I mean, I hope to never need this knowledge, but you can't know what the future may hold!"
Kate, Dame Helen Mirren, Sir David Attenborough (rear centre)
You can't really see their outfits here, but the body language is great. News reports claim they were talking about a joke William made at the BAFTAs last night about how he probably ought to call Helen "granny." (Helen appears to be delighted here, so I believe her quote about how much she liked Kate. Obviously she wasn't going to be like, "Insider tip: She's the WORST," but this seems like a genuinely entertaining moment for both of them.) It's neat to see them in the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace too, given that I was just on the tour of them recently. It's like I'M THERE.
Which reminds me, there's a piece in Us Weekly right now about how Buckingham Palace needs renovations and they're going to cost a fortune, and they note -- as a supposedly horrifying example -- that various pieces of furniture in the state rooms are OVER 60 YEARS OLD. Um, YEAH. Some of the furniture is over TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD. THEY'RE CALLED ANTIQUES. Do you really think the Buckingham Palace state rooms are furnished with the finest from West Elm? Jeez, my TV is currently sitting on a table that's over sixty years old. BECAUSE IT'S AN ANTIQUE. Anyway. Well. That went somewhat off topic. But I had to get it off my chest and Heather's out of the office right now. Thanks for being there for me.