EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Andrew's old friend offers wellness to the well-off

She may be a self-confessed hug hater, but Caroline Stanbury is embracing a very different kind of reinvention.

The reality star, 50, has made a name for herself as one of television’s most feisty, sharp-tongued figures.

Yet now I can reveal Caroline, who once counted the then Prince Andrew among her close friends, is inviting women to leave their baggage behind and find fulfilment at her luxury Stanbury Retreats on a private Maldives island in November.

The Real Housewives Of Dubai star has opened applications for the four-day escape, with hopeful retreaters required to put down a $5,000 (£3,700) deposit before they can be approved.

On the agenda is group coaching in transformational conversations, curated wellness and personal growth experiences.

‘I am myself the queen of reinvention,’ trills Caroline, who shot to fame on Ladies Of London in 2014, in a promotional video online, adding: ‘I want to inspire you and let you know, that your next chapter is going to be the best one yet. This is not just a holiday. It’s an investment in your future.’

Caroline Stanbury, 50, has made a name for herself as one of television’s most feisty, sharp-tongued figures

Caroline, who is worth a reported $30million (£22million) and lives in Dubai with her toyboy husband, former footballer Sergio Carrallo, has yet to reveal the retreat’s full price tag.

But with a $5,000 deposit just to get through the door, it’s unlikely it will be aimed at women embracing what Caroline calls a ‘broke’ mindset.

‘I used to listen to TikToks saying get rid of your broke friends,’ she says. ‘And I’d be like, God no, I have friends from all different walks of life and I love all of them – and I still believe that because some people are on their journey.’

Caroline adds: ‘I don’t mean literally go out and get rid of all your broke friends, but what I do mean is the ones that think broke; the ones that are content-broke or pity-broke and like, “this is my life”.

‘They’ve accepted broke – and you are the pinnacle and you’re the one that’s just going to carry them for the rest of their lives. That doesn’t work.’

She adds: ‘Broke friends – who don’t ever see themselves getting to where you are – are a drain on you mentally, and that’s because you’re always worried about them.’

Nadiya: I am tough enough for SAS show

Axed Strictly dancer Nadiya Bychkova attends the MobLand Season Two World Premiere in Leicester Square on September 10, 2026

After seven seasons of sequins and ball room drama, axed Strictly star Nadiya Bychkova is ready for a grittier challenge.

The Ukrainian dancer, 37, wants to put her endurance to the test in Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS (Who Dares Wins). 

She tells me at the launch of the Restart Medical and Aesthetics Clinic in Fitzrovia, London: ‘It’s one of the shows which I have thought about doing for a while. 

‘But when I was doing Strictly that was near impossible because there might be an injury.’ 

Nadiya believes she has the stamina to deal with the reality show’s punishing physical and psychological challenges.

‘I have been competing my whole life and surviving everything, so I think I’m quite tough,’ she warns. 

Look out!

Teri takes on Devil role Madonna turned down

Bond girl Teri Hatcher is swooping into the West End to take over as terrifying fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly in the West End stage rendition of The Devil Wears Prada at London’s Dominion Theatre. 

But she wasn’t the producer’s dream choice. I hear Madonna was their first pick to replace Vanessa Williams, who bows out of the show next week.

Yet the part was of no appeal to the Queen of Pop, 68. ‘Producers were obviously devastated as she would have boosted sales,’ a well-placed source in Theatre land tells me. 

My insider adds: ‘The bosses will now hire big names to do stints lasting around three months each.’ 

A representative for Madonna was unavailable for comment.

Why Laura’s love shuns limelight

Laura Hamilton at the NTAs on September 8, 2026

A Place In The Sun star Laura Hamilton went solo to this week’s National TV Awards in London, and she says her new mystery man wouldn’t have it any other way. 

She tells me: ‘He avoids red carpets and events. He’s like, “Go do your thing.” He’s not in the industry and he doesn’t want to be known in that way.’ 

The presenter, 44, split from her husband Alex Goward, a broker, with whom she has two children in 2022. ‘I didn’t think I would find love again. It’s quite lovely,’ she says.

Where did it all go wrong for former PM Rishi Sunak? Anthony Seldon, who documents his leadership in Sunak At 10, believes he was just too nice. He tells me at his launch party at Daunt Books Marylebone in London: ‘Rishi almost had too low an ego to be a prime minister, and part of that was his sense of service, his faith.’

Kate’s hat flies back

The Princess of Wales wore one of her favourite alpaca hats from Peruvian Connection

The ‘Kate Effect’ was in full force for fashion label Peruvian Connection after the Princess of Wales wore its black alpaca fleece hat at Sandringham on Christmas Day in 2017. 

After a tough few years, including the closure of its King’s Road store, I hear the brand, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is plotting a return to the capital bigger and better. 

The label's Kansas-born CEO Annie Hurlbut, who has built the brand around clothing inspired by Andean textiles, tells me: ‘Tell Kate, don’t give up the ship. We’re coming back strong, and we are gear ing up to come back in full force with our catalogue.’

She adds: ‘We have seriously discussed opening a store in London.’ 

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Her father, John Frost, earned his second Distinguished Service Order with the Parachute Regiment at Arnhem. And Caroline Frost also brims with martial spirit, as Arnhem’s councillors are about to discover. 

‘They’re pressuring the owner of the last building from the battle to turn it into a supermarket,’ Caroline tells me. 

‘They can’t. It’s sacred,’ she adds, calling on ‘as many Paras as possible’ to stand with her outside the building during next Friday’s 82nd commemorations of the battle.

Blonde, ‘dramatically attractive’, she could – 50 years ago – have been the perfect Princess of Wales. 

So the King will surely be saddened at the news that Davina Sheffield – most dazzling of the girls dubbed ‘Charlie’s Angels’ – has died aged 75. 

They met in summer 1975 and according to one of his biographers, Charles ‘could not disguise his yearning, even in public’. 

He invited Davina to Balmoral, where she enchanted all who met her. But Davina had a ‘past’ having lived with her former boyfriend, Old Harrovian James Beard. 

Charles was obliged to put an end to the love affair. She married happily in 1981 and had three sons.