EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Eyebrows are raised at Queen Camilla's decision to take a week off amid shortage of royals

ROYAL eyebrows tilt skyward at Queen Camilla's decision to take a week off in the midst of the Family Firm's worst labour shortage in history. 

With both the King and the Princess of Wales hors de combat, there simply aren't enough of the first team to cover the plethora of engagements requiring a royal presence. 

Mischief makers hint at a falling-out between Camilla and William stemming from his no-show at King Constantine's memorial at Windsor, and claim she decided on a holiday. 

Alarmingly, the sudden dearth of working royals has given discredited Andrew hope of some sort of rehabilitation by helping William and Princess Anne fill the gaps. 

But one courtier whispers of an Andrew comeback: 'He has two chances. None and none at all.' 

Queen Camilla is the latest royal to take a week off from her public duties (pictured at Buckingham Palace in February) 

With both the King and the Princess of Wales (pictured at Wrexham Football Club) hors de combat, there simply aren't enough of the first team to cover the plethora of engagements requiring a royal presence

Alarmingly, the sudden dearth of working royals has given discredited Andrew hope of some sort of rehabilitation by helping William and Princess Anne fill the gaps

Sighs of relief at the BBC with the prospects of a May general election receding as it struggles to road test a replacement for anchor supreme Huw Edwards. 

Laura Kuennsberg and Clive Myrie are the front runners, with the Beeb reluctant to anoint a lone successor to Huw. What odds from Paddy Power on the venerable David Dimbleby, 85, making a general election comeback?

Celebrating the launch of Sir David Attenborough's Secret World of Sound, a Sky executive mischievously refers to fakery in the BBC's Frozen Planet series when footage of a polar bear giving birth in the wild was actually shot in a Dutch zoo, saying: 'The animal sounds in this new series were recorded as live in the wild and not done afterwards like in other TV shows where a man punches a box of snow in a studio pretending to be a polar bear stomping around in the wild.'

 Sir David Attenborough's Secret World of Sound programme will be launched on Sky Nature and NOW TV on Sunday, February 25 

Promoting his debut film Strictly Confidential – starring his mother Elizabeth Hurley, pictured – writer and director Damian Hurley fondly reveals: 'When I was eight my mother promised she'd be in my first feature. 

'It was a joy to come to work and tackle each day together.' No doubts about Mum's commitment. The trailer shows his mother in a steamy lesbian scene.

In the preview, Elizabeth's character Lily, is being seduced by Natasha, played by young actress Pear Chiravara

Curb Your Enthusiasm stalwart Richard Lewis, who has died, credited Ringo Starr with helping him to remain sober for 29 years. 

'He's been an enormous inspiration to me, and not just because he's a Beatle, but just as a human being. He's been through it like I went through it, and he walks the walk.' Take a bow, Mr Starkey.

Curb Your Enthusiasm stalwart Richard Lewis (pictured in 2011), who has died, credited Ringo Starr with helping him to remain sober for 29 years 

Jilly Cooper reveals the 'naughty joke' that tickled Alex Ferguson sufficiently to get him to provide assistance for her football bonkbuster Tackle. 

'It was about three Scottish mice discussing who's the toughest,' Jilly tells a podcast.

'After Aberdeen mouse brags about 'tearing up a mouse trap' and Edinburgh mouse talks of 'snorting rat poison', the Glasgow mouse goes towards the door, saying, 'I'm off to s**g the cat'.'