RICHARD EDEN: Drama to be made about Sarah Ferguson’s former dresser…

Still on a high after her daughter Princess Beatrice’s wedding, Sarah, Duchess of York is about to be brought down to earth with a bump.

I can disclose that a big-budget television drama is to be made about Fergie’s former dresser, Jane Andrews, who murdered her banker boyfriend, Thomas Cressman, after he refused to marry her.

Andrews was not just an employee of Prince Andrew’s then wife for nine years; they became close friends and would often swap clothes.

The series is to be produced by Left Bank Pictures, which makes hit drama The Crown. Work has already begun on the project, with the production team speaking to people who knew Andrews and Cressman.

One of those approached was Basia Briggs, who let Andrews stay at her Chelsea home during the murder trial. Basia, a friend of the royals, has refused to be involved in the project. ‘I really don’t think it’s a suitable subject for entertainment,’ she tells me. ‘Poor Tom was butchered. The programme would be in very poor taste.’

Still on a high after her daughter Princess Beatrice’s wedding, Sarah, Duchess of York is about to be brought down to earth with a bump

Andrews stabbed Cressman to death after clubbing him unconscious with a cricket bat at the home they shared in Fulham, West London. The producers are said to have been inspired by the success of another drama, White House Farm, which starred Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas and told the story of Jeremy Bamber’s 1985 murders of five members of his family in Essex.

Andrews was released from prison last summer and the drama is not the only programme being made about her crime. ITV is filming a documentary presented by Martin Bashir, who interviewed Princess Diana for Panorama in 1995. Bashir has been allowed to present the ITV programme even though he works for the rival BBC.

It will be broadcast to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Cressman’s murder this autumn.

  • Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Zara Tindall has found another lucrative position.

Princess Anne’s daughter has been signed up as a ‘brand ambassador’ for U.S. company Equine America.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Zara Tindall has found another lucrative position

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Zara Tindall has found another lucrative position

The Olympian horsewoman will be joining Lauren Hough, girlfriend of her father, Capt Mark Phillips, who also works for the firm. It’s just the latest in a string of businesses promoted by the Queen’s granddaughter, ranging from Land Rover to Musto clothing and jewellers Calleija.

But probably better not to mention the £100,000 a year she received from Johnny Hon, the controversial Hong Kong businessman.

The smart set’s talking about…Lady of the lamps Rosanna

Even Harrods went dark during lockdown, but one young craftswoman has been busy brightening up the homes of the rich and famous.

Rosanna Lonsdale is the secret go-to lamp designer whose creations have been spotted in a number of royal palaces.

She’s managed to double her sales during the past few months while other businesses have laid off staff.

Rosanna Lonsdale is the secret go-to lamp designer whose creations have been spotted in a number of royal palaces

Rosanna Lonsdale is the secret go-to lamp designer whose creations have been spotted in a number of royal palaces

A guest at the home of a senior royal tells me: ‘I could not believe seeing Rosanna’s lamps next to some Sevres — best known for being the favourite designs of pre-revolutionary French aristos and monarchs.’

The decalcomania lamps, decorated with paint and collage, have been selling online so well that Heathfield-educated Rosanna was filmed by BBC News this week bundling out by courier her lamps to customers in cottages as well as palaces.

Outside work, there’s a bright spot ahead, too, as Rosanna, 31, is due to marry financial whizz Thomas Brooke in December if social-distancing rules lighten up.

 Sam Cam fashion firm racks up £1.6million loss 

Samantha Cameron displayed splendid ambition when she established her Cefinn fashion label, applying to trademark the company name not just for the odd frock but for everything from scented candles to tiaras.

But Sam, a baronet’s daughter — as well, of course, as wife of former prime minister David Cameron — still won’t be uncorking the champagne quite yet.

Cefinn notched up a £700,000 loss last year, bringing its total loss to £1.6 million since it was established in 2016.

There’s no chance of panic among Sam’s shareholders, though. They include her mother, Lady Astor, as well as Lord Feldman — plain Andrew Feldman when he was David Cameron’s tennis partner at university — and Philip Bassett, the most stylish of Dave’s contemporaries at both Eton and Oxford.

Boris Johnson used to be paid £275,000 per year to write a newspaper column, but his father, Stanley, is faring less well. I hear the former I’m A Celebrity contestant, 79, has been dropped as a columnist by Saga, the magazine for over-50s, after just six efforts. ‘Stanley’s column has come to an end as part of a general redesign,’ its editor, Louise Robinson, tells me.

  •  Seen as a future PM, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is putting together a formidable media team.

I hear ‘Dishy’ has lured rising BBC star Katie Hile to be a spin doctor at the Treasury. Hile follows the path of ITV’s Allegra Stratton, who joined Sunak as his director of strategic communications in April. A colleague remarks waspishly: ‘Anyone would think a leadership contest was imminent.’

Laurence Fox steps out with his latest leading lady 

Laurence Fox’s infamous appearance on Question Time, when he sparked a furious row by accusing a mixed-race audience member of making a racist comment, is said to have left his acting career in jeopardy. But it did wonders for his love life.

He’s been enjoying a passionate romance with journalist Madeline Grant, whom he met when she was a fellow panellist on the BBC1 programme in January.

Laurence Fox’s infamous appearance on Question Time, when he sparked a furious row by accusing a mixed-race audience member of making a racist comment, is said to have left his acting career in jeopardy. But it did wonders for his love life

Laurence Fox’s infamous appearance on Question Time, when he sparked a furious row by accusing a mixed-race audience member of making a racist comment, is said to have left his acting career in jeopardy. But it did wonders for his love life

Here is the first photograph of the couple together, seen as they left Annabel’s in Mayfair on Thursday.

‘They seemed very happy,’ a fellow club-goer tells me.

Grant, 27, wrote in The Spectator last week about the difficulties of dating during lockdown, leading friends to believe she had split up with Fox, 42, who played Sergeant Hathaway in ITV detective series Lewis. However, the article appears to have encouraged Fox’s interest.

He’s been single since divorcing Secret Diary Of A Call Girl star Billie Piper in 2016.

Flora’s sunny outlook 

Princess Alexandra’s granddaughter Flora Ogilvy is due to be the next royal bride and she seems to be already practising her poses for the wedding snaps.

Princess Alexandra’s granddaughter Flora Ogilvy is due to be the next royal bride and she seems to be already practising her poses for the wedding snaps

Princess Alexandra’s granddaughter Flora Ogilvy is due to be the next royal bride and she seems to be already practising her poses for the wedding snaps

Art curator Flora, 25, showed off her long legs while staying with a friend in Italy.

She annnounced her engagement to former ice hockey professional Timothy Vesterberg, 27, last November.

 Scathing review for absent theatre patron Meghan . . . 

There’s irritation in theatreland over the Duchess of Sussex’s role as patron of the Royal National Theatre.

Meghan accepted the position shortly before she did her flit to Canada. The National Theatre hoped that, with her acting background, she might be a high-level champion for the stage.

Yet thus far she has barely lifted a finger.

These are desperate times for live entertainment venues everywhere. A committed royal supporter could have made a difference, both with lobbying Government at a ministerial level and in winning over the public.

If the Government does not allow theatres to reopen without social distancing, many will go bust. ‘There is a real risk we could soon not have a National Theatre,’ warned theatrical knight Sir Trevor Nunn at the London Palladium this week.

Another theatre insider says: ‘The National’s artistic director, Rufus Norris, must be wondering why he put his faith in Meghan. She was all gushy when she agreed to become patron but then she legged it to North America and has spent her time doing internet broadcasts about Black Lives Matter.’

Maybe Norris would have been better advised to go for an unexciting, but hard-working, royal like Prince Edward.

He likes panto, after all.

 . . as writer of THAT book’s nightclub past is revealed 

Her biographer and cheerleader, Omid Scobie, underwent an even more drastic transformation. Here’s a photograph of the author, near right, when he was a writer on the celebrity gossip magazine Heat.

Her biographer and cheerleader, Omid Scobie, underwent an even more drastic transformation. Here’s a photograph of the author, near right, when he was a writer on the celebrity gossip magazine Heat.

Her biographer and cheerleader, Omid Scobie, underwent an even more drastic transformation. Here’s a photograph of the author, near right, when he was a writer on the celebrity gossip magazine Heat.

Meghan Markle’s entry on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia was airbrushed to include more flattering details days before her romance with Prince Harry became public.

Her biographer and cheerleader, Omid Scobie, underwent an even more drastic transformation. Here’s a photograph of the author, near right, when he was a writer on the celebrity gossip magazine Heat.

One of his former colleagues tells me: ‘He used to go to nightclubs with the glamour model Jodie Marsh. We never thought he would become friends with royalty.’ Is Meghan ‘royal’? She and Harry are no longer allowed to use their HRH titles.

(Very) modern manners 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have become such a hot potato that they’ve been banned as a topic of conversation in the salons of Hampstead, I hear. ‘We’re not allowed to talk about Harry and Meghan,’ confirms Esther Rantzen, who lives in the posh North London enclave. ‘That produces passionate views, pro and anti — which is strange.’ Rantzen’s pals have been meeting online. ‘We call ourselves “the Hamsters”. I make the rules, and I don’t like it when we fall out.’

Is former Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan pitching for a spell in the jungle? The peer reveals she joined leading celebrity agent Jonathan Shalit, whose roster includes Kelly Brook and I’m A Celebrity runner-up Emily Atack, for breakfast, in her final declaration of gifts and hospitality. Baroness Morgan also accepted a free dinner at the Hippodrome Casino before leaving office. Let’s hope her luck was in.