This will cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth among estate agents: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have called off their search for a country home.

The couple, who moved back to Britain from California at the end of August, were said to have a budget of up to £10 million.

However, I can disclose that they have now moved into a house owned by a friend.

The couple made the move the weekend before they went on holiday abroad during the half-term at the school attended by their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.

The family have been staying with the friend, a wealthy businessman who lives in the Cotswolds, since they arrived in this country.

'They were living in the main house,' a friend of the businessman tells me. 'They have now moved to a property on the estate.'

The businessman became friends with Prince Harry through their mutual support of military charities. He is said to be happy for Harry, Meghan and their children to continue living on his estate.

After moving to Britain, the Sussexes retained their £19.5 million mansion in Montecito, California, with its wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, swimming pool, tennis court, wood-fired stove, barbecue – and 13 (and-a-half) bathrooms.

In 2024, I disclosed that the couple had bought a coastal home in Portugal near that owned by Harry's cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, on the CostaTerra Golf & Ocean Club, a luxury development of 300 properties by the sea in Melides, south of the capital Lisbon.

The Sussexes were said to be searching for a home in the Cotswolds with lots of land, no public rights of way and nine bedrooms at least.

£350million India has an utterly frightful wedding!

Here's a wedding to give guests the creeps!

Soho heiress India Rose James celebrated her marriage to Mexican-American musician Daniel Vildosola, 40, on Halloween.

India, 34, granddaughter of the late pornographer and property king Paul Raymond, cut into a wedding cake decorated with black ribbons at the candle-lit reception, at Oakley Court in Berkshire, which doubled as Dr. Frank-N-Furter's castle in The Rocky Horror Picture Show film.

India, whose fortune with her half-sister Fawn is estimated to be more than £700million, wore an ivory gown with black ribbon bows that matched the cake decorations.

The couple had their first wedding ceremony in Las Vegas in the summer.

Adolescence star Ashley Walters was once a rapper with hip-hop group So Solid Crew, but now he prefers more soothing tones. 'My younger self would not imagine Ashley being a classical music or jazz fan,' the actor, 44, says in a feature for Big Issue magazine called Letter to my Younger Self.

'But it comes from age – I just can't listen to drill any more. I need music to calm me down and focus me.'

Olivia's just Wilde about British men

Olivia Wilde is a big fan of all things British – including our men!

After going out with pop superstar Harry Styles, 32, the American actress and director, 42, is now involved in a relationship with art dealer Caspar Jopling, 34.

He's the Eton-educated ex-husband of pop singer Ellie Goulding.

'I'll be spending more time in the UK,' Olivia says during an In Conversation talk at the BFI Southbank in London.

'I'm on week three of a film we're making here in London. It's a Christmas comedy and I love it so much. I'm building the North Pole right now on a sound-stage and it's insane.'

Stella on 'weird' life touring with Macca 

Touring with a pop superstar would have been a dream for most teenagers, but not so for Sir Paul McCartney's daughter Stella.

'I was kind of angry when I was 18 because I was building friendships and getting into the swing of my own thing,' admits the fashion designer, 55. 'I was like: 'What, really? We have to go on a world tour?' Stella, whose mother Linda died in 1998, recalls the contrast between the family's quiet farm life in Scotland and her parents' extraordinary fame.

'Mum was cooking, dad was shearing sheep and writing songs,' she says. 'And then we were on tour with, like, 200,000 people screaming at your parents... it was trippy and weird and surreal.'

She now insists, however, that travelling the world was 'one of the biggest privileges' of her upbringing, adding: 'Everything that my mum and dad did came from a place of love.'

 Lotus star raises a glass to booze

Gen Z's obsession with clean living has failed to win over The White Lotus star Sam Nivola, who thinks his generation would benefit from a few more boozy nights out.

The 23-year-old son of British actress Emily Mortimer and American actor Alessandro Nivola laments that young people drink less than they used to. 'It's kind of terrible, honestly, that we don't drink as much,' he says. 'We've gone soft.

'It's tied in with the health movement. So much of advertising and the products in the world are about wellness.'

Sam, who is dating US actress Iris Apatow, 24, adds: 'Drinking, of course, it's terrible for you. It's poisoning your body. But also, I think it's worth poisoning yourself a little bit once a week to meet someone new and kiss that girl that you like.'

The actor also warns that young people's obsession with self-care can slip into 'selfishness and narcissism'. He says: 'Not everything revolves around you.'

Michael Douglas, who reveals in his new memoir an affair with Kathleen Turner while filming Romancing The Stone, has advice for the next generation. 'A lot of actors make the mistake early in their career of having a relationship with their leading lady,' he said at the Royal Festival Hall in London. 'What they forget is that you can break up. They're having to perform these love scenes, and they hate each other. We've all made that mistake, and I try to warn people.'

Tom Cruise's awkward backstage compliment 

Riz Ahmed, who appears in Tom Cruise's comedy film Digger, was disturbed by the star's relentless cheeriness.

'Tom Cruise is so nice and positive and sweet that as a British person it's very uncomfortable,' admits the Londoner, 43. 'We were about to go on stage for the royal premiere and Tom turned around and said: 'Riz, your mom – I love your mom, she's fantastic. Beautiful, inside and out.'

'I was like: 'ok' .'