The Duke of Sussex stood shoulder to shoulder with Charles Vivian and his other closest confederates in the ‘band of brothers’ photograph at Windsor Castle on the night of his wedding.

So there was disappointment at the weekend among royal fans that Harry and Meghan were not present at Lord Vivian’s own big day.

Lord Vivian, 58, exchanged vows with Saweda Kamara, a US compliance director, at Chelsea Old Town Hall. They held a reception at The Nomad hotel, which is housed in the former Bow Street magistrates’ court and police station.

Lord Vivian confirms Harry was invited. When asked why the duke didn’t attend, he tells me: ‘I don’t know. He has a lot on.’

Among the guests was the man sometimes known as Harry’s ‘second father’, Mark Dyer, 59, a former Welsh Guards officer.

Dyer introduced Harry to Lord Vivian, who’s a major player in the public relations world and reportedly helped the prince set up several of his charity trips to Africa.

The duke’s absence in Chelsea was particularly notable because he was an usher at Vivian’s first wedding to Elizabeth Wimpress.

Today, Harry’s appeal against a High Court ruling on the level of security he is afforded in Britain is due to come before judges. But it’s not clear if he will attend in person.

Lord Vivian’s was not the first wedding of one of the ‘band of brothers’ he missed. In 2023, I revealed Harry skipped Jack Mann’s nuptials in Suffolk.

Dyer is still close to Harry. Last month I disclosed that he and others had quit as trustees of Harry’s charity Sentebale, prompting the duke to resign in solidarity. It followed a dispute with chairman Sophie Chandauka.

Lord Vivian, 58, exchanged vows with Saweda Kamara, a US compliance director, at Chelsea Old Town Hall

Harry and his ‘band of brothers’ at Windsor castle on the night of his own wedding

Why ‘posh’ plays are missing the point of Shakespeare

So-called ‘posh’ Shakespeare productions are preventing his plays reaching a wider audience, claims actress Hayley Atwell.

The Mission: Impossible star, who has just appeared in a West End musical version of Much Ado About Nothing opposite Tom Hiddleston, says: ‘It’s often done badly by people who often make it very posh. Shakespeare is really hard for our modern-day audience frequency to tune into for it to be as powerful as it was back then.

‘He was writing not for academics, intellectuals and posh people – he was writing for the people in a language where all the references they would have got culturally at that time.’

Dame Jilly’s set would rival anyone!

Dame Jilly Cooper became so excited while visiting the set of the television adaptation of her 1988 bonkbuster Rivals that she had to be told to restrain herself.

Recalling the author’s time on set, producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins reveals: ‘She sits there in the first week with her big headphones on and we were filming a scene – and she sits with her big grin on her face and goes, ‘Oh, this is wonderful’, and we said, ‘Jilly, we’re filming’.’

Treadwell-Collins, who was speaking alongside Rivals stars Aidan Turner and Emily Atack at a London event, adds: ‘If she [Jilly] didn’t like it, she’d take her headphones off and go, ‘No, we are not doing that’, and we stopped it.’

Dame Jilly was told to restrain herself on the set of the TV adaptation of her bonkbuster Rivals when she couldn’t contain her joy

Bowie’s stargirl Lexie releases first album

Without fanfare, David Bowie’s only daughter has released her debut album.

Alexandria, known as Lexi Jones, admits the fear of being labelled a ‘nepo baby’ made her reluctant to release the record, called Xandri.

‘I actually pushed it away for so long,’ Lexi says of the album, which features 12 tracks across genres including pop, electronic and indie rock. ‘I honestly didn’t want to be seen as an extension of you-know-who.’ The 24-year-old, whose mother is Bowie’s widow, supermodel Iman, adds: ‘But now I like it.’

Lexi says music has given her ‘the power to reflect’ and help herself following Bowie’s death from liver cancer in 2016, aged 69.

Lexi says music has given her ‘the power to reflect’ and help herself following Bowie’s death from liver cancer in 2016, aged 69

Craig Revel Horwood has revealed the unlikely way he discovered an ex had cheated: ‘I kept finding peanut butter in my pantry. He said it was his nephew’s. I later saw the nephew at the theatre, and I asked him if he liked peanut butter and he said ‘No’. I came home and said, ‘Whose peanut butter is that?’ ‘ And he confessed all.

Even the stars aren’t safe from bike theft…

Labour Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s anti-car policies have driven Londoners to take up cycling.

But they can become victims of crime, as Made In Chelsea’s Freddy Knatchbull has discovered to his cost.

‘Think your bike is safe in public? Think again,’ warns Freddy, 20. ‘I put three locks on my bike and I took the key out and it’s been nicked.’

Freddy, whose bicycle was stolen near Clapham Junction station in south-west London at the weekend, has been a regular on the Channel 4 series since his first appearance in 2022. Freddy has been romantically linked in the past to aristocratic model Delphi Primrose, 21.

And the great-grandson of the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma is not the only aristocrat to have become a victim of crime in the lawless capital.

Last month, I reported that Lady Victoria Hervey, sister of the Marquess of Bristol, had her phone snatched by an e-bike riding thug in Pimlico.

Donald Trump has sent the global economy into a frenzy with his tariffs, yet the BBC’s North America editor, Sarah Smith, takes a laid-back approach. Yesterday, the daughter of late Labour leader John Smith shared a snap from a beach. She said: ‘It’s not a proper holiday until you’ve had your first pina colada.’