CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV: Camilla teaches her pup to unveil a plaque… with a hidden sausage
Paul O’Grady’s For The Love Of Dogs — A Royal Special
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Mary Berry’s Ultimate Christmas
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So much for slimming down the monarchy. The Queen Consort has other ideas.
As patron of Battersea Dogs Home, Camilla told Paul O’Grady, on For The Love Of Dogs: A Royal Special (ITV), that she’s training her pets to do regal openings. To unveil the plaque at the new kennels she had a piece of sausage concealed in the ribbon. Her dog Beth snuffled it out, gave a tug and the curtain fell away. That’s better than a pair of scissors.
Encouraging dogs to do walkabouts should be easy. Teaching them to smash a champagne bottle against the hull of a launching ship might be trickier.
Camilla adopted Beth, a Jack Russell, and her other pet Bluebell from Battersea. Touring the home two years ago, she remarked: ‘They’re luxurious kennels! I wouldn’t mind spending the night in them — air conditioning and everything you could possibly hope for!’
As patron of Battersea Dogs Home, Camilla told Paul O’Grady, on For The Love Of Dogs: A Royal Special (ITV), that she’s training her pets to do regal openings
At a garden party to celebrate the home’s work, held at Clarence House last July, another regal pup stole the limelight.
Eight-week-old Flora was a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and the centre of attention.
Actress Amanda Holden couldn’t keep her hands off the little mutt with the big brown eyes. But it was ITV’s royal editor Chris Ship who fell head over heels in love with Flora…and adopted her.
Paul has been filming at Battersea for more than a decade and the format never changes because it’s exactly right as it is.
He dons a polythene apron and gets stuck in, mopping the floors and applying flea juice, before getting distracted by a waggy tail. In no time, he’s sitting on the floor, having a slobbery facial from a labrador or a shih tzu.
Amanda Holden, Paul O Grady and Camilla, The Queen Consort at the reception for the 160th Anniversary of the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home last July
Camilla is plainly envious and would do the job equally well, including the no -nonsense commentary and scoldings for unruly pups. She joined Paul — who kisses her vigorously on both cheeks whenever they meet — to give a worming tablet to a West Highland terrier.
The terrier was called George, another royal connection, and he wasn’t keen on taking his medicine. A few lumps of chicken from the Queen Consort won his trust though. ‘His new owners will have to shop at Fortnum’s,’ O’Grady observed tartly.
Camilla proposed the pair of them could adopt him: ‘We’ll do a timeshare.’ Paul leapt at the offer.
‘I’ll have him Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and you can have him the rest of the week.’
If that’s not an official royal appointment, it should be: Keeper of the Queen’s Rescue Dog. The O’Grady gong should be in the post.
Dame Mary Berry is practically royalty herself and on her Ultimate Christmas (BBC1) she was preparing a palatial feast. She’s a traditionalist and a believer in plenty of healthy greens. Serving up kale to her guests, including chefs Monica Galetti and Angela Hartnett, she announced: ‘This is going to blow your Christmas mittens off.’
However hard he tried to charm and wheedle, she was no less strict on her other celebrity diner, Radio 2 DJ Rylan. Mary sent him out into a field of Brussels sprouts to harvest a couple of stalks with a saw. His protests were met with short shrift: Dame M would have made a good headmistress.
‘The key to a successful Christmas meal is being organised,’ she declared, with a stern look at the defrosting turkey, daring it to misbehave.
She softened her strictness, though, when it came to the canapes: mini cheese and herb scones topped with cranberry sauce. ‘Sweet and cheesy, just like me,’ giggled Rylan.
He’s got Mary wrapped round his fingers really.
Narrow miss of the night: Standing by a Christmas tree, private eye Cormoran (Tom Burke) hugged his ‘best friend’ Robin (Holliday Grainger) at the end of Strike: Troubled Blood. She nuzzled his cheek. A little bit of mistletoe and they’d have been over the line…but no, it didn’t happen.
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