EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Prince Harry’s army pal proposes to stepdaughter of South African mining tycoon 

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He inherited a historic title, the 200-room Floors Castle and an estimated £100million estate when his father died in 2019, but the Duke of Roxburghe lacked a wife.

Now, I can reveal, Charlie Roxburghe, 39, an Army pal of Prince Harry, has put that right by proposing to Annie Green, 31, the delightful stepdaughter of a South African mining tycoon.

‘How could I say no?’ Annie told friends.

Another chum tells me: ‘They will get married as soon as this pandemic is over.’

Former Army captain Charlie – who has a daughter with his ex-girlfriend, the Iranian fashion designer Morvarid Sahafi – met Annie last summer. 

She’s an Edinburgh University graduate who’s training as an occupational therapist. 

She grew up in South Africa, where her stepfather, Patrick Quirk, is one of Africa’s biggest tycoons.

Her brother Nick was a leading light of the notorious Bullingdon Club while students at Oxford.

Eton-educated Charlie and his Duchess will move into Floors (prononounced Fleurs), while his stepmother, Virgina, will live elsewhere on the 52,000-acre estate in Roxburghshire.

He was previously married to Lord Beaverbrook’s elder daughter, Charlotte Aitken, but the couple separated just a few months later. She works as a wedding planner.

Charlie’s father Guy Innes Ker died in 2019 after a long battle with cancer at the family’s ancestral pile, Floors Castle, near Kelso, in the Scottish Borders. 

He was a graduate of Sandhurst Military Academy and Cambridge University, inheriting the title from his father at the age of just 19.

Guy split from Charlie’s mother Lady Jane Grosvenor, sister of the Duke of Westminster, in 1990, and married Virginia Wynn-Williams two years later.

The castle has a history of tempestuous break-ups with Charlie’s grandfather, the 9th Duke, famously trying to evict his wife in 1953 after he had an affair.

She refused leave, locking herself in a suite at the castle for six weeks.

In response the Duke turned off the electricity and gas and even attempted to cut off her water supply to get her out. Eventually, the dispute was settled out of court.

2021 marks the 300th-anniversary of Floors Castle, with the team maintaining the estate planning a series of events to celebrate the landmark. 

Choo chuffed at Carrie reboot 

High-heel obsessive Carrie Bradshaw, as played by Sarah Jessica Parker, helped make Jimmy Choo a global brand, so the shoe designer is delighted that Sex And The City is getting a reboot. ‘This is a good chance for me,’ admits Choo, who hopes students from his own London Fashion Academy will get to create new styles for the series.

Choo, 72, still misses his most famous customer, Princess Diana. ‘Whenever she travelled to different parts of the world, she would call me and say, “Oh, Jimmy, can you design a range for me? I’m travelling to Japan, India … my birthday is coming up, can you design something for me?” We had a trust.

‘So people said, “Oh, I must also ask Jimmy to design something for me”.

‘It’s thanks to Princess Diana for giving me this opportunity.’

Erstwhile drag queen Paul O’Grady has been forced to accommodate some extra visitors at a proposed new guest house for his pals at his £3 million country home.

The For The Love of Dogs presenter wants to knock down a cottage and build a new one in the grounds of his Georgian farmhouse in Kent.

He’s also applied for permission for a loft conversion to create a sixth bedroom at his home. But a bat survey found both buildings are home to soprano pipistrelle and brown long-eared bats — protected species. It means he’ll have to apply for a special licence from Natural England and install a bat loft in his guest house and a bat box in a nearby tree.

He said: ‘It’s like the Addams Family at twilight. They all come flying out, all the bats.’

Anna still Friel-less about stripping off

Some actresses, such as Keira Knightley, loathe stripping off so much that they have no-nudity clauses written into their contracts.

But Marcella star Anna Friel is happy to keep baring all for her art at the age of 44.

‘I’m fearless when it comes to nakedness, for some reason,’ she declares. ‘I don’t really get intimidated by that, unless I’ve been eating too many crisps.

‘It’s more difficult as you get older, but we’ve all got bodies and shouldn’t be ashamed of them.’

The actress — who made history on soap opera Brookside in 1994 when she shared, with Nicola Stephenson, the first pre-watershed lesbian kiss on British television — is pleased that she’s still being offered strong parts.

‘I’m really grateful at this age I’m working,’ she says. ‘Even five or six years ago, there were very few parts for someone who’s 44. You could make it ’til your late 30s, then you’d be reintroduced in your 60s when you can play a grandma. Now they are saying, “People in their 40s are actually interesting.” Thank God.’

He made £3 million last year, but Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud is likely to leave backers of his own £2.3 million property venture out of pocket. He encouraged viewers to pump up to £150,000 each into the eco-friendly housing scheme he launched in 2007.

But now liquidators have told them they’re likely to see nothing in return. In a newly filed document, they state: ‘Based on current estimates, it is uncertain whether there will be a dividend to unsecured creditors.’

Hollywood’s ex bids loyal pal farewell (not you, Paul)

Paul Hollywood’s ex-wife, Alex, is bereft after the death of her beloved chocolate Labrador, Rufus, who helped her through the acrimonious breakdown of her marriage to the Bake Off star.

‘When times were tough and my marriage collapsed so messily and so publicly he would sit patiently whilst I cried into his warm furry shoulder,’ she says. ‘He was my friend. Loyal, brave, trustworthy, completely without guile or selfish-ness, attributes that are sometimes sadly lacking in humans we know.’