RICHARD EDEN: Infidelity, Lucian Freud and a £5m family home sale

According to one of his lovers, having an affair with artist Lucian Freud felt like becoming ‘completely hooked’ on ‘a dreadful drug’.

The consequent addiction – to which a ‘long list of sensitive young women’ succumbed – only ended, recorded one of them, when they became ‘too dependent and needy’, at which point Freud, who ‘always encouraged the infatuation’, dumped them.

But did the damage inflicted by Freud extend to the families of those of his lovers who were less young and not remotely needy? The question is prompted by the fate of Stoke Park Pavilions in Northamptonshire, the enchanting remnants of what was once the first, and possibly the finest, Palladian house in England.

Linked by a curving colonnade and set in 113 acres, Stoke Park has for the past 70 years been the home of the Chancellor family. First, publisher Robin Chancellor, who bought it in 1953 and rescued it from dereliction, and then his nephew Alexander, who, at various times, edited the Spectator and Oldie magazines. But now, some nine years after Alexander’s death, it’s been ‘reluctantly’ put on the market for £5.25 million.

Such a fate seemed improbable, even unthinkable, only four years ago when Alexander’s widow, Susanna, told me: ‘All Alexander’s life was tied into Stoke Park.’ The house, she added, was owned and administered by a trust. But the couple’s long and happy marriage was also unconventional. Susanna, granddaughter of Sir Ernest Debenham who sold the family department stores in 1927, had a longstanding affair with Freud.

Alexander, for his part, fathered a daughter by another of the artist’s lovers, Emily Bearn, who was 26 when she posed naked for Freud, who was then in his 70s.

Stoke Park, which has been the home of the Chancellor family for the past 70 years, has been put on the market for £5.25 million

Five years after Alexander’s death, Susanna, who died this year aged 82, made very substantial provision for Alexander’s extra-marital daughter, telling me it was ‘a settling of a very unclear will’ and was Alexander’s ‘contribution to her education’.

It would be pardonable if Alexander and Susanna’s own daughters, Eliza and former model Cecilia, now regret that act of generosity.

‘The family hoped to be able to retain the property,’ I’m told, but ‘reluctantly, recently, agreed that the trustees should sell.’

Gemma: I’m no Dancing Queen!

Gemma Chan at a screening for her new film, Josephine, at the Curzon Mayfair in London

Dominic Cooper showed off his fancy footwork in Mamma Mia! but his girlfriend, Gemma Chan, struggled with her dance moves in her new film, Josephine.

The Crazy Rich Asians actress, 43, plays a woman whose daughter witnesses a violent assault in psychological thriller Josephine.

A ballet performance scene proved particularly daunting for Gemma. ‘It was really the most nerve-racking day,’ she tells me at a screening of the film at the Curzon Mayfair in London. Gemma, who wore a sequinned Burberry dress, adds: ‘But we had an amazing team of dancers who made me look a lot better than I actually am.’

Even the most poised became tongue-tied when introduced to Queen Elizabeth. But poet Pam Ayres, 79, says she kept her head by telling the late monarch details from her childhood. ‘I decided to talk about my father’s old, knitted swimming costume that used to drop when it got wet,’ warbles Pam. ‘Apparently, it was a great success.’ A lady in waiting later sought her out and told her that the Queen had ‘rocked’ with laughter. 

Harry and Meghan to lead Commonwealth?

Shome mishtake, shurely? The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are being tipped to lead the Commonwealth.

King Charles succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth, as head of the organisation but the position is not hereditary.

Private Eye magazine claims that Prince William has shown little interest in following his father and that the talk at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the Caribbean was of his brother and sister-in-law stepping in to the breach.

‘Among those being whispered about in Antigua to succeed [the King] are H and/ or M,’ it reports. ‘H & M gained a lot of support across sections of the Commonwealth after Meghan accused the royals of racism five years ago.’

The couple were stripped of their roles as president and vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust in 2021 after they quit royal duties in 2020.

Why Olivia is perfectly happy as a singleton

Olivia Bentley said she's 'perfectly happy in my own home, alone' after she moved in with her cricketer boyfriend, Rory Hamilton Brown, who she has since parted ways with

Made In Chelsea’s Olivia Bentley moved in with her cricketer boyfriend, Rory Hamilton Brown, just months after they met at Hurlingham Club in west London, as I disclosed last year.

They’ve since split up, and the reality TV star says going solo has its drawbacks. ‘The only thing annoying about being single is the look you get from people when you say you’re single,’ says Liv, 31.

‘They look at me like some sort of stray dog that needs to be rehoused. I don’t want to be rehoused – I’m perfectly happy in my own home, alone.’

My Sweet Gnome… Beatle’s fab legacy

He brought the Fab Four back to life in his acclaimed documentary Get Back. Now Sir Peter Jackson is turning his attention to another piece of Beatles history.

The Oscar-winning film-maker is helping George Harrison’s widow, Olivia, create a ‘gnomery’ at Friar Park, the late musician’s Victorian mansion in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, where he recorded music.

‘I’m building a gnomery... like a museum. Peter Jackson is helping me,’ says Olivia, 78. The estate’s garden figures appeared with George on the cover of his 1970 album All Things Must Pass. ‘George used to paint them with nail varnish,’ she recalls. ‘I kept saying, “Stop that! These are really valuable.”’ 

Dame Helen Mirren has sworn by a 12-minute military workout as the secret to keeping in shape. But the Oscar-winning actress, 81, now reveals she has abandoned the regime because it is ‘too exhausting’.

Dame Helen spent decades championing the Royal Canadian Air Force’s XBX exercise plan, developed for women in the 1950s.

‘I used to [do it],’ she says. ‘I don’t any more. It’s too exhausting.’ The MobLand star now takes a gentler approach. ‘I do yoga,’ she adds. ‘I do about ten, 15 minutes a day.’