Duchess of York in talks to appear at Oscars
The Duchess of York is in talks to appear at the Oscars thanks to her links with the family of Elvis Presley, according to reports.
The Duchess, who is currently in the US, is hoping to hand out an Academy Award at this weekend’s ceremony, it is claimed.
Last year’s Elvis biopic has been nominated in eight categories, including Best Picture.
A source told The Sun: “There have been discussions about the Duchess attending and it now looks as though that will happen – the plan is for her to present an award.
“She has been a very close friend of the Presley family, especially Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie. It’s a big deal to have her there, but it’s a big deal for the Duchess too.”
A different source close to the Duchess told The Telegraph that nothing had been finalised.
Last month, the Duchess delivered an address at a memorial held at the Graceland estate in Memphis to celebrate the life of Lisa Marie Presley, with whom she had been close since they met in 2007.
She described the only daughter of Elvis Presley, who died in hospital in January aged 54, as her “Sissy”.
The Duchess has been on a publicity blitz in recent weeks to promote her forthcoming Mills & Boon novel, A Most Intriguing Lady.
She has given several interviews in which she spoke extensively about her close relationship with Queen Elizabeth II and her affection for the Duke of York, her disgraced ex-husband, with whom she still lives at Royal Lodge in Windsor.
There has been a flurry of other stories about the Duchess in recent months, concerning among other things her invitation to spend Christmas with the Royal family at Sandringham and her close bond with the Queen Consort.
It was claimed last week that the Duchess had held talks about doing an interview with her friend, Daphne Barak, a US-based investigative journalist and socialite, which was denied by her spokesman.
Ms Barak has sold several stories to tabloid newspapers in recent weeks about Ghislaine Maxwell, who she interviewed in prison, and Prince Andrew, including the recent revelation that the King had cut the Duke’s annual allowance.
Ms Barak told The Sun: “I was told by a source close to him ‘They didn’t even wait 10 days from the end of mourning the Queen. That’s when courtiers started to send the bad news’.”
She added: “One senior member of the family joked about his plight at a Christmas gathering, teasing ‘We’ll kick Andrew out of that house’.”
In January, she also revealed that the Duke was hoping to overturn the multi-million-pound settlement he struck with Virginia Giuffre, his sexual assault accuser.
Last week, The Sun broke the news that the Duke had been asked to vacate Royal Lodge and instead move into Frogmore Cottage, the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Windsor home, which would have repercussions for the Duchess of York.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that she was recently introduced to the Texan billionaire Trammell Crow Jr, 72, when she was in the US state to meet her literary agent.
The pair discussed his EarthX gathering, the world’s largest sustainability event, in her capacity as an ambassador for the Perfect World Foundation, a Sweden-based non-profit group.
However, reports of any deeper relationship are said to be overblown.
