He's been contemptuous of convention since at least the age of seven, when, packing for his first term at prep school, he learned he'd have to leave behind his favourite piece of clothing — a red tweed skirt.
Perhaps that, in part, explains why Rupert Everett used to dismiss the institution of marriage and was still more scathing about gay marriage, deriding it as 'a waste of time' and 'beyond tragic'.
But that was more than a decade ago. Now, I can disclose, the actor, whose greatest box-office success was as Julia Roberts's gay chum in My Best Friend's Wedding, has figuratively waltzed down the aisle with the man with whom he's discreetly shared his life for years, a Brazilian accountant called Henrique.
'They married recently,' one of their friends tells me. 'Both are wearing rings and are clearly very happy. Henrique is absolutely charming. He's rather quiet and happy to let Rupert take centre stage.'
Everett, who celebrated his 65th birthday last week, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday, though he has, in the past, spoken with characteristic verve about marriage — and about why, in his words, it's 'not my idea of heaven'.
Rupert Everett pictured at the ABBA Voyage premiere in London last month
Rupert is seen here withHenrique, a Brazilian accountant, who he married recently
Everything about friends' weddings, he explained in 2020, he found 'repellent', and going to stag nights in the early 1980s was 'one of the most appalling things' he'd ever experienced.
Warming to his theme, he summarised wedding dresses as 'hideous', wedding cakes as 'ghastly' and lamented that 'everyone is splitting up' within two years of their wedding day.
'I think making it a legal contract is very, very damaging to a relationship,' reflected Everett, who, in his wild youth became entangled with John Hervey, later the 7th Marquess of Bristol, who died of Aids aged 44, having blown £35 million on drugs, rent boys and other amusem*nts.
'A relationship has to breathe and live and change, and turn into a different thing every day,' added Everett (left). But he did concede his perspective had shifted.
Declaring his intention of being with Henrique 'forever' — they live with Everett's mother and their labrador, Pluto, in Wiltshire — he said he envisaged a restrained, unfussy wedding.
'It's not going to be George Clooney on a motorski going down the Grand Canal in Venice,' he explained. 'It's going to be very quiet.' So it's proved.
Sue Barker would love to see Kate at Wimbledon
Prince William told a concerned D-Day veteran this week his wife was 'getting better'.
Now Sue Barker has her fingers crossed the Princess of Wales may appear at Wimbledon next month.
'We are hoping she will be well enough to be at Wimbledon, as she loves it,' says former tennis star Barker, 68, who stepped down in 2022 from BBC tennis coverage.
The Princess of Wales pictured presenting the Gentleman's Singles trophy at Wimbledon last July
Catherine has been patron of the All England club since 2016. Speaking at the launch of Barker's book, Wimbledon: A Personal History, at the New Wimbledon Theatre, she says: 'I had the privilege of going to Kensington Palace to interview her about Wimbledon. She told me they used to queue up as the Middleton family and get tickets.
'One Wimbledon . . . Pete Sampras had beaten Tim Henman and Tim was walking past.
Her father shouted, 'Well played, Pete.' She was mortified.'
Dynasty star Emma Samms recalls failing to hit the heights as a model . . . 'I was asked to meet Eileen Ford, of the New York Ford Modelling Agency,' says Samms, who's married to former BBC newsreader Simon McCoy.
'She came in, looked at my face, and said. 'Oh, yes...' I stood up, and she said, 'Oh, no.' And that was the end of the meeting.'
Zendaya has eyes on the West End
Crowds of young women gather outside the Duke of York’s Theatre each night, desperate to catch a glimpse of Romeo & Juliet’s star, Tom Holland. The Spider-Man actor’s own girlfriend was, however, at a different West End playhouse on Thursday.
I hear Hollywood star Zendaya, 27, was at the Criterion Theatre to watch new musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).
Afterwards she went backstage to meet its leading actors, Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift. How long before Euphoria star Zendaya (centre with the pair) treads the boards in London herself?
Harry Potter star Emma Watson — studying for a Master's degree in creative writing at Oxford University — showed her enthusiasm for such work as a child actress.
David Heyman, executive producer of the films about the boy wizard, says a director asked Watson and co-stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, to write essays about their characters.
He says: 'Dan wrote a page, Emma wrote ten or 12 — Rupert didn't give in anything. Just perfect.'
Wild Lady Lola's bowled over
Who can keep up with model Lady Lola Crichton-Stuart?
Barely a month ago, the daughter of late racing driver Johnny Dumfries — more formally, the 7th Marquess of Bute — was joined by Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and Lady Mary Charteris as she celebrated her 25th birthday in such uninhibited style comparisons were made with the decadent excesses of Emerald Fennell's hit film, Saltburn.
That was at Mount Stuart House, the family seat on the Isle of Bute. This week it was London's West End which got the Lady Lola treatment.
Lady Lola Bute pictured as she arrived at the Maison Diptyque London Grand Opening yesterday
Lady Lola pictured being carried byAmerican model Fai Khadra out of the venue
She was later photographed sitting next to a dustbin after being carried from the restaurant
After arriving by taxi at the opening of French perfumer Maison Diptyque in dark glasses, black boots and black mini dress, Lola really revved up once she and boyfriend, Dutch model Parker Van Noord, reached Chiltern Firehouse in Marylebone.
So much so that Lola needed an unscheduled pit-stop — next to a dustbin where she had a little rest after being carried from the restaurant.
(Very) modern manners
Model Martha Sitwell — who once described matrimony in general as 'pure misery', saying, 'It sucks all the energy from you, sucks your youth and all the fun from your life' — has explained why she stuck with her ex-husband, the film-producing baronet Sir George Sitwell, for a decade.
Apparently it was to fund her taste for fine clothes. 'I am a shopping addict,' she declares online.
'Hats and dresses mostly. I stayed in an unhappy marriage to feed my habit.' Lady Sitwell, daughter of late gastronome Justin de Blank, lived with Sir George at his family's £3.25million Grade II-listed home, Weston Hall in Northamptonshire.
She held a 'divorce party' in 2017 to mark the end of their marriage.
Model Martha Sitwell pictured at a launch party in Harrods last November
Richard E. Grant has described the pain of selling the holiday home in Provence where he and his late wife, Joan Washington, spent their summers swimming, dancing and partying.
Now, the Withnail And I star wants a pool house at his £5.7million London home.
Grant, 67, hopes to demolish a garage and chop down trees to make way for the building at his Georgian rectory.
He's applied for permission for a timber pool house with lantern rooflights at the property, which is in a conservation area. A decision is due next month.
The smart set's talking about... Which UK party will win big in the US election?
A new front is opening in the bitter U.S. political wars — in London.
Next week, Dame Anna Wintour, imperious editor-in-chief of Vogue, is understood to be hosting a fundraising event in the capital for Joe Biden's presidential campaign.
It is due to take place on the same evening that Neighbours actress-turned-pop star Holly Valance is hosting a party at a 'private Chelsea address' to raise funds for Donald Trump's campaign.
She and her husband, the property developer Nick Candy, are friendly with Trump and have visited his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. The invitation from 'Mrs Holly Candy' (pictured with Nick) promises a 'discreet and important evening'.
Donald Trump Jr. is said to be among the invited guests.
