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In Downton Abbey, she played dowdy maid Anna Bates, and in real life Joanne Froggatt may be used to being looked down on.

The petite 5 ft 2 in actress was eclipsed in the height stakes by her 6 ft 2 in husband James Cannon, as the couple pitched up for the premiere of her new movie Starfish at the Curzon Mayfair. However, Joanne still stole the limelight in a shimmering Ermanno Scervino gold frock and matching heels.

Joanne Froggatt (left) and husband James Cannon attend the UK Premiere of 'Starfish' at The Curzon Mayfair on October 27, 2016 in London

Jacobis' U-turn on gay marriage

WEDDING JOY ONE 

Sir Derek Jacobi is to wed his partner, actor Richard Clifford, just four years after famously dismissing gay marriage as a ‘squabble over nothing’.

‘I’m getting married next year,’ confirms Jacobi, 78. ‘We’ve done civil partnership, we’ve been together for 39 years, and I think marriage is the next logical step.

‘I don’t think we’ll go through the “love, honour and obey” and all that.

‘It won’t be a religious occasion, but it will be a proper marriage.’ The news of Jacobi’s forthcoming nuptials amounts to a dramatic change of heart.

When asked about his views on gay marriage in 2012, he said: ‘The word doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s a squabble over nothing . . . It doesn’t matter what you call it. We don’t think of it as marriage, it’s a partnership.

Sir Derek Jacobi (left) is to wed his partner actor Richard Clifford

‘People are getting hot under the collar at the moment because of this word.’

Acknowledging religious opposition to gay marriage, Jacobi, a staunch atheist, says: ‘Well, I suppose their argument is that marriage is equated with having children, but what about couples who meet in their 50s? They can’t have children.

‘Or what if you are biologically unable to have children? The word becomes meaningless . . . the Church is the problem. I don’t mind people having faith and finding strength in that. But it ain’t for me.’

WEDDING JOY TWO

The Duchess Of York, Sarah Ferguson, with her half-sisters Eliza (right)

The Duchess of York recently laughed off suggestions that daughter Princess Eugenie is engaged to boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, but at least there’s another wedding in the Ferguson family.

Fergie’s half-sister Eliza Ferguson, 30, the younger daughter of Fergie’s late father Major Ronald Ferguson and his second wife Susan, now Lady Swinburn, has announced her engagement to private tuition director Harry Cobb, 30.

Eliza (pictured with Fergie) helped look after her nieces Beatrice and Eugenie, then aged ten and eight, when the Duchess flew to Argentina for her mother Susan Barrantes’ funeral in 1998. 

Her older sister Alice was Fergie’s bridesmaid when she wed Prince Andrew in 1986. 

Will Harry and Eliza, who met when they attended Stowe school in Buckinghamshire, continue the family tradition by asking Beatrice and Eugenie to be bridesmaids at their big day?

Though newly single, Beatrice may not be in the mood after her ex, Dave Clark, was spotted stepping out with a mystery blonde this week, just two months since they split.

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 Heiress's £16,000 frock flop

 If you've got it, flaunt it — your extreme wealth, that is. Hotel heiress Nicky Hilton Rothschild put on an opulent show at a fashion gala in New York this week dressed in a nude chiffon Valentino gown embellished with sequins that cost more than £16,000.

The multi-millionaire fashion designer topped off the lavishly embroidered high-necked creation with plaits seemingly inspired by Heidi. However, Nicky’s pricey frock was a snip compared to her £60,000 outfit when she wed banking heir James Rothschild last summer.

Hotel heiress Nicky Hilton Rothschild put on an opulent show at a fashion gala in New York this week dressed in a nude chiffon Valentino gown embellished with sequins that cost more than £16,000

 The matriarch of the prolific Fox acting dynasty, Joanna David, admits she’s not impressed by how much her nephew, Lewis star Laurence Fox, uses social media.

‘I don’t get involved with social media, downloading apps or anything like that. I don’t do technology,’ Joanna, 69, tells me at a Poetry Hour do for the Josephine Hart Foundation.

‘If you’re always using apps on your phone, you’re not living in the real world.’

 Rufus Norris, head of the National Theatre, did not dress to impress at the opening night of Amadeus on Wednesday.

Norris and his predecessor, Sir Nicholas Hytner, walked on stage before the show to pay tribute to late theatre director Howard Davies.

Hytner was smart in coat and tie. Norris looked as if he was on a day off, in denims, pullover and no discernible collar.

Could the National not have togged him out in something more respectful?

MENTIONING NO NAMES...

Which leading actor’s recent family holiday was actually an attempt to fix his ailing marriage? He failed to smooth out all the bumps. 

CONFESSION OF THE WEEK

 Piping up from her behind her, Downton creator Fellowes bellowed: ‘We knew we couldn’t afford her!’At a party in London, Joanna Lumley made a surprising admission. ‘I have been auditioning secretly for years for Downton Abbey,’ said the Ab Fab star. ‘Every time I see Julian [Fellowes] I do something quite charming, which I think could be seen as above stairs or below stairs.’

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