On Wednesday this week I hosted a lunch at Sotheby’s with the chairman Henry Wyndham and twelve friends for a pre-sale private viewing for the forthcoming Duchess of Windsor jewel sale. Some of my guests included Rachel Johnson (Editor of The Lady), Sir Tom Stoppard and Princess Maya Schoenberg, but sadly the viewing was somewhat thrown out of kilter when the jewels had to be flown to Hong Kong for a private client to view them.

All was not lost, however, as I had my first grouse of the season - having been in Turkey when the season launched - and we had a roaring good time.