EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: The Queen’s favourite copper who formed a special bond with the late monarch is given top role in the court of King Charles III

He formed a special bond with Queen Elizabeth while commanding the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department, becoming known as Her Majesty’s ‘favourite copper’. But Peter St Clair Erskine, 7th Earl of Rosslyn – plain ‘Peter Loughborough’ to colleagues during his decades in the Metropolitan Police – has now embedded himself in royal service more firmly than ever.

On Wednesday, he went to Buckingham Palace where he was received by King Charles, ‘kissed hands’ – a courtly expression rather than a literal description – and received a white staff, known as ‘the Wand of Office’, on his appointment as Lord Steward, in succession to the Earl of Dalhousie.

Rosslyn, 64, thereby becomes the ‘first dignitary of the King’s court’ – a role for which his understated charm and discretion eminently suit him, not to mention his membership of White’s, grandest of gentlemen’s clubs, where Charles held his stag party before his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer. Or, indeed, his ownership of Rosslyn Chapel – setting of the finale of The Da Vinci Code.

Arresting presence: Commander Peter Loughborough with Queen Elizabeth II

The Earl of Rosslyn from Reading is decorated with The Queen’s Police Medal by The Queen at Buckingham Palace

Educated at Eton and Bristol University, he had already inherited his title by the time he joined the Met in 1981 – and was soon patrolling the insalubrious south London streets of Peckham and Southwark.

Promoted to chief inspector in the 1990s, he led Operation Troodos against crack dealing on the notorious Mozart Estate in London’s north Paddington.

Involving 30 undercover officers, Troodos was one of the capital’s most ambitious drugs operations. It was also one of the most successful, resulting in the arrest of several dealers – including one who’d been supplying Rosslyn’s fellow aristocrat, the Marquess of Blandford, now the entirely reformed 12th Duke of Marlborough.

King Charles talkin with Peter St Clair-Erskine on day two of Royal Ascot on June, 15, 2022 England

Commander Peter Loughborough (left), King Charles and Queen Consort at The Metropolitan Police Annual Memorial Service & Reception In Hendon, London.

In the following decade, months after he took charge of royal protection, Rosslyn had to contend with the aftermath of a serious security breach when Aaron Barschak, 37, gate-crashed Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle, talking his way past a number of police officers and kissing William on both cheeks.

But the Earl, who is married with four children, is entirely familiar with the wheel of fortune. His thrice-married great-grandfather, James, the 5th Earl, a reckless gambler, lost the family estates, was twice bankrupted and fled abroad. Only Rosslyn Chapel remained in the family’s hands.

Fleabag Phoebe reveals her timely secret to success

Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge has some controversial advice for women: don’t undertake important work when you have premenstrual tension (PMT).

Phoebe Waller-Bridge when she attended  the World Premiere of ‘No Time To Die’ at the Royal Albert Hall on September 28, 2021 in London

‘From a practical point of view, I try not to [push ideas] if I’ve got PMT,’ the actress and screenwriter tells aspiring thespians in a talk to members of the Masterclass acting scheme at Theatre Royal Haymarket. ‘I avoid doing any readings or pitches around that time.’

Waller-Bridge, 37, whose company made almost £20million in 2021 after she contributed to the screenplay for the last James Bond film, No Time To Die, adds: ‘When you’re feeling really great, that is when you just go out and pitch your work if you can.

‘It sounds really silly, but I mean it. I went into that Bond meeting when I was ovulating and I smashed it.’

• Eamonn Holmes claims youngsters aren’t being prepared to cope with life’s hardships because they’re being too mollycoddled. ‘What are we doing with young people today?’ asks the GB News star, 63. ‘When we all sat our exams in an assembly hall, you had adjudicators and invigilators. ‘Now, you get kids with carers because some of them are feeling anxious. Well, that’s what exams are supposed to do.’ 

Three A&E trips for Paxo and love

University Challenge quizmaster Jeremy Paxman has revealed he had to make two visits to A&E in the space of 24 hours, while his girlfriend, Jillian Taylor, was also admitted to hospital.

‘I was watching a family of squirrels outside my window, when I was seized by a pain in my chest,’ explains Paxo, 72, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. ‘I have read enough to know heart attacks are usually accompanied by pains down the arm.’

Taylor, who’s 29 years his junior, returned home to walk their dog, only to fall into a hole in the road, breaking her ankle.

Then, after returning home himself, Paxo fell over. ‘There was an awful lot of blood on the floor and down my shirt,’ he writes in Saga magazine. ‘Back to A&E. By now [it was] the early hours of Friday the 13th.’

• Prince Harry’s book, Spare, would no doubt have appalled his grandmother. But children’s television presenter Floella Benjamin says her own memoir, What Are You Doing Here?, was on Queen Elizabeth’s desk at Balmoral when she died. ‘Some of you may know I was appointed to the Order of Merit last November and, apparently, it was because Her Majesty had my book on her desk,’ Baroness Benjamin tells guests at the Parliamentary Book Awards, where she won Best Autobiography. ‘Two days before she died, she said: ‘I want to appoint Floella Benjamin to the Order of Merit to show children that anything is possible.’ 

Party on, Helena, but it sounds barking!

Supermodel Helena Christensen is determined that her faithful friend is treated like a catwalk queen.

To celebrate the seventh birthday of her Australian Shepherd, Kuma, she dressed her up in a white lace cape, party hat and a blue bow tie.

Supermodel Helena Christensen, 54, posing with Kuma, her Australian Shepard dog

Helena Christensen is determined that her faithful friend is treated like a catwalk queen

Celebrating the seventh birthday of her Australian Shepherd, Kuma, she dressed her up in a white lace cape, party hat and a blue bow tie

Helena also treated her to a birthday ‘cake’, with a candle and a pointy party hat to celebrate

Helena also treated her to a birthday ‘cake’, with a candle, explaining: ‘All she wanted for her seventh birthday was a 20-layer lasagne.’

The Danish mannequin, 54, has previously credited Kuma with ‘saving’ her spirit during a ‘rough time’ in her life.

‘I never had a dog before her and had no idea how much love and joy these four-legged friends bring into our lives,’ she said. ‘Kuma is so smart, loyal, protective and incredibly loving. She makes us laugh all day long.

‘They say we don’t deserve dogs, and perhaps that’s true, but I will do my damn best to deserve Kuma every single day she’s with me.’

• McFly drummer and Strictly Come Dancing winner Harry Judd was delighted to receive a call out of the blue from The Who star Roger Daltrey. ‘I was, like, ‘What?’ Judd says. ‘I’ve spoken to Roger Daltrey once — ten years ago.’ However, the exchange rapidly took a turn for the worse. ‘As soon as I answered, he said: ‘Oh, no. I’ve called the wrong Harry.’ Daltrey didn’t say which Harry he’d hoped to reach. Harry Styles, I suspect. 

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