EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Meet the new Countess of Sandwich who is determined to make a success of aristocratic life
As a qualified yoga instructor, Julie Montagu is used to adopting the downward dog, happy baby and other poses. But now the US divorcee is assuming her most challenging position of all.
Julie, 50, has become the Countess of Sandwich after the death of her father-in-law at 81, which was announced at the weekend.
Her husband, Luke, 55, is now the 12th Earl of Sandwich.
While her compatriot Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, left Britain with Prince Harry after they were married, Lady Sandwich has already proved her determination to make a success of aristocratic life.
She and Luke have run the family's Mapperton estate in Dorset since 2016, with wellness retreats among her initiatives. She's also documented their life on her YouTube channel, American Viscountess, which has 240,000 subscribers. Its title will now need to be upgraded to American Countess.
Born in Sugar Grove, Illinois, they met at a party in London in 2002 after she moved to Britain to work for an internet firm.
'We started dating and, three months in, he told me of his illustrious past – he was part of the British aristocracy and had a title, Viscount Hinchingbrooke,' she has explained.
'I became a viscountess and, for an American girl from a small town outside Chicago, that was quite a shock.'
Yoga instructor Julie Montagu is the new Countess of Sandwich, following the death of her father-in-law
Julie with her husband Luke, now the 55th Earl of Sandwich. The pair met at a party in London in 2002 after she moved to Britain to work for an internet firm
Julie already had two adult children from her first marriage and has two sons, William and Nestor, with Luke.
She supported him through his recovery from a dependency on prescription drugs, which left him unable to work in 2009.
Julie said: 'Luke wasn't working and I knew I had to do something to make money, but at the same time I needed to be at home with my children. So, I decided to learn to teach yoga.'
She has spoken about the marriage of Harry and Meghan, suggesting that King Charles's younger son benefits from his American wife's 'emotional openness'. She added: 'I always say, whenever you meet an American, you know their life story within 24 hours.
'We're very emotionally open, which, I think, for Harry is actually a really good thing.'
Sisterhood has an Ellie of a time
Ellie Goulding seems to have gained a sisterhood after the end of her marriage to art dealer Caspar Jopling last year.
The singer, 38, attended the 29th birthday party in New York for US model Brooks Nader at the weekend.
Ellie Goulding (left) attended the 29th birthday party for US model Brooks Nader at the weekend
Brooks's sisters, Sarah Jane, Mary Holland and Grace Ann (pictured kissing Brooks)
They were joined at the club Chez Margaux by Brooks’s sisters, also models, Sarah Jane, 23, Mary Holland, 26, and Grace Ann, 25, who is pictured kissing the birthday girl.
Brooks is divorcing property investor Billy Haire. She has since been romantically linked to Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark, a godson of Prince William.
The day Julia bard Ralph
Ralph Fiennes hopes he will land an Oscar at the third attempt after receiving a Best Actor nomination for his performance as Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave, the adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel about Vatican scheming.
But Fiennes, 62, has confessed some Hollywood stars remain resistant to his charms.
Ralph Fiennes (pictured) is hoping to pick up an Oscar at the third attempt as Cardinal Larence in Conclave
Asked at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival about his unsuccessful audition to be cast in Shakespeare In Love opposite Julia Roberts, Fiennes admitted: ‘I did audition with the then leading lady of the film, who was not Gwyneth Paltrow – it was Julia Roberts. I liked Julia Roberts, but I don’t think she liked me.’
Adding to the intrigue, Paltrow would take over Roberts’s role in the film... and her co-star was Ralph’s younger brother, Joseph.
It's the lilies of Longleat!
Longleat is famous for its lions – but there’s a new attraction on the horizon, although it’s not for visitors.
The Marquess and Marchioness of Bath, who own the Wiltshire safari park, want to make it more appealing to its permanent human residents.
Ceawlin and his wife, former Strictly star Emma Weymouth, who have two children, are seeking permission to create ‘a high-quality, family-friendly garden’.
It would include a swimming pool and that middle-class must-have – an outdoor kitchen and dining area.
Becker's boy snubs Dad, but backs Jungle Queen Mum
Boris Becker's fourth child, Amadeus, made a conscious decision not to attend the former Wimbledon champion’s wedding to third wife Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro in Italy last year.
Yet Amadeus, 15, was on hand to greet his mum, Lilly Becker, as she was crowned Queen of the Jungle after winning the German version of I’m a Celebrity... at the weekend. Unfortunately, his first comment after she spent three weeks in the Australian camp was: ‘My mama smells.’
Boris Becker's ex-wife Lilly being crowned Queen of the Jungle on I'm A Celebrity in Germany
In 2018, after nine years of marriage, Dutch model and actress Lilly separated from Boris, 57, who was jailed in 2022 for hiding assets worth £2.5million to avoid paying debts.
Alan Cumming reflects on gay rumours surrounding Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut
Looking back on his appearance with Tom Cruise in the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut, Alan Cumming reflects on the persistent gay rumours that surrounded the Hollywood star.
Bisexual Cumming, who played a flirtatious hotel receptionist opposite Cruise in Stanley Kubrick’s final film, now insists: ‘He was charming, absolutely charming... I have a pretty good gaydar, and I didn’t get anything like that from him.’
The Scot hastily adds: ‘And if he was a bit gay, so what?’
Tom Cruise in 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut. Co-star Alan Cumming says the Hollywood star was 'absolutely charming'
Retired Whitehall grandee is on the corporate speaking circuit
One of the few retired Whitehall grandees to support the Government’s Chagos surrender – by giving the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius – is Lord Darroch, once our man in Washington.
His diplomatic career blew up in 2019 when he fell out with Donald Trump’s circle.
It is heart-warming that Darroch has had time to express a view on the Chagos Isles.
His parliamentary register of interests shows that in the past year he has made 26 corporate speeches – most likely at several thousand pounds a pop. He’s probably making more now than he did as an ambassador.
