He is, it’s said, ‘utterly devastated’ by the fate of Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in 2006 to help orphaned African children but which is now chaired by Sophie Chandauka who has accused him of playing ‘the victim card’ – as well as observing that the Sussex brand is ‘toxic’.

So Prince Harry wouldn’t be human if he didn’t feel a scintilla of loss at the departure of an outstanding trustee from the other charity so close to his heart, the Invictus Games.

I can disclose that John James ‘JJ’ Chalmers, Royal Marines reservist-turned-broadcaster and games gold medallist, has stood down after just two years.

When appointed – alongside Jonathan Edwards, whose triple-jump world record still stands after 30 years, and Conny Wenting, chief executive of the Games in The Hague in 2022 – JJ emphasised just how crucial participation in the Games had been to him.

Speaking of Invictus’s ‘transformational power’, he described his involvement – he captained the trike team to victory in 2014 – as the ‘catalyst in my recovery’ from life-changing wounds sustained while serving in Afghanistan in 2011.

Caught by a roadside bomb which killed two fellow Marines, JJ lost a large part of his right arm and two fingers on his left hand. Ventilated and sedated, he was flown back to the UK, aware that his career as a design technology teacher was over.

Only two months ago, reflecting on life as a broadcaster and motivational speaker, JJ, 38, said that ‘none of it would have been possible without the Invictus Games’.

But while Edwards and Wenting continue as trustees, JJ’s increasing commitments – at work and as a father of two young children – have persuaded him not to extend his two-year term.

‘He’ll continue to work in an ambassadorial role for Invictus,’ I’m assured.

A consolation for Harry, after a gruelling few months.

• Starring on Strictly is often said to put the celebrity contestants’ love lives in peril. It’s not a risk Richard Osman, married to actress Ingrid Oliver since 2022, is willing to take. ‘I’d never do Strictly,’ he says. ‘I’d never have time to do all the training and have an affair.’

Chaplin heirs sound off about new booze brand

Charlie Chaplin made history with his silent films – now his grandchildren are making noise of their own… with alcohol.

Actress Kiera Chaplin and her singer brother Spencer Chaplin are launching their own brand of booze, Generation, which boasts a whiskey, a vodka and an aperitif.

‘We’re an entertainment family,’ Kiera, 43, tells me, ‘and the best way to entertain people is with good drinks and great conversation.’

As for their motivation? Kiera doesn’t sugarcoat it: ‘We just thought it was a great excuse to travel the world, throw parties, and get people to try our alcohol.’ Well, her candour is certainly refreshing.

 

• Heather Mills is happy her critics are eating their words over her choice to raise her and Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter, Beatrice, as a vegan. She says: ‘My kid is 21, vegan their whole life. All I had was: ‘Oh, you know your child will die, they will get very ill.’ And then, within a couple of years, ‘Why is your child never sick?’ When I bump into them now, they’re like: ‘This vegan thing is huge.’

Zadie Smith: Publishing world rife with snobbery

Best-selling novelist Zadie Smith broke the mould for black writers when her critically acclaimed novel, White Teeth, skyrocketed her to literary fame.

Yet, over 25 years since its release, the London-born writer, 49, feels that the publishing industry is far from progressive and has accused it of classism.

Smith tells me at the Black British Book festival in Somerset: ‘I think the class thing in publishing is still really intense. White working-class novels have to be about northern gangsters or sheep farmers.

‘It’s never our actual experiences; it’s codefined and sold to a middle-class audience.’

She adds: ‘I think upper-class editors have a lot of anxiety, and they’re just like ‘Oh, do we need black books now?’ They just point at things – there’s no consistency in supporting careers.’

• Lord Ivar Mountbatten has delivered his verdict on gay men with ‘much younger partners’. ‘If you’re 70 and you have a 40-year-old, they’re not going to want to look after you [when] you’re dribbling,’ insists Lord Ivar – a year younger than husband James Coyle, an air cabin services director. 

Raymond Blanc roasts Ramsay’s ‘moronic’ TV shows

Potty-mouthed Gordon Ramsay is known to fly off the handle at contestants on his reality shows, such as Hell’s Kitchen.

But fellow television chef Raymond Blanc finds such outbursts unpalatable. ‘I don’t want to see a young kid on TV being humiliated in front of cameras while ten million morons watch this TV programme,’ he says at the Big Feastival in Oxfordshire.

‘These things have completely undermined our industry,’ explains the Frenchman, 75, who is an ambassador for the King’s Foundation. He adds: ‘One of the things I’ve done is create an environment which is kind. We support young people, we measure their achievements, we grow them, create aims for them. That’s what creating an industry looks like – one where you’d want to send your kids.’

Painful truth about Jade’s no-show

Statuesque Jade Parfitt has enjoyed modelling success since bursting on to the scene in the 1990s.

But sadly, I hear the former Chanel mannequin’s career recently suffered a setback due to a debilitating battle with sciatica, a painful nerve condition affecting the back and legs.

Parfitt, 47, tells me: ‘I was supposed to do a fashion show earlier this year but I had sciatica, so I couldn’t do anything.’ Happily, she’s now on the mend. ‘I’ve done a lot of rehab and I’m ready to go,’ she adds.

Parfitt, right, who founded the Bath Fashion Festival, says she’s found healing through ‘a lot of yoga, gentle stretching and massages’.