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Age comes to all of us, even royalty, so it’s no wonder that Claire Foy, Vanessa Kirby and Matt Smith — however talented — have to be recast for the next series of The Crown. Olivia Colman has already been announced as taking over from Foy as the middle-aged Elizabeth II, and now we hear a new Princess Margaret has been found: arise, Helena Bonham Carter.

We are told that HBC is all but confirmed to play the inimitable royal. The two-time Oscar nominee was rumoured to be in contention to play Elizabeth II herself but has instead landed the far riskier, funnier and louche sister Margaret, which sounds like a better part anyway.

She made her name in the Merchant Ivory films Howard’s End and A Room with A View, then moved on to the Harry Potter franchise and several films with her ex-partner Tim Burton. Bonham Carter is also not bad at real-life depictions, having played Liz Taylor to Dominic West’s Richard Burton.

Bonham Carter has a personal connection to the Princess Margaret part: her home in Oxfordshire, Mill House, was previously owned by Margaret’s former lady-in-waiting, Jane Stevens.

She and Colman also have a key performance in common: they have both played the Queen Mum — Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech, and Colman in Hyde Park on Hudson.

We are, however, yet to discover who will take over the role of Prince Philip from current incumbent Matt Smith, but our money is on Michael Sheen or David Tennant. Time, perhaps, for Bonham Carter to start getting used to the taste of gin.

Poetic Gove reveals his earthy side

Michael Gove has been accused of having a Wordsworthian view of nature. And he is indeed hitting the poetry. Yesterday he was photographed clutching a copy of The Soil Never Sleeps during his visit to the Oxford Farming Conference. It’s a new book from Adam Horovitz, a collection of lyrical poetry based on a year he spent visiting four farms in Yorkshire, Cornwall, Wales and Kent exploring the bond between man, animal and landscape. “A certain amount of surprise to see him holding it,” Horovitz tells us. “I’m giving a copy to David Drew [shadow Defra minister] by way of balance next week.”

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In 2016 Gove praised The Archers for a “gripping” storyline that supported a call for prison reform. Now the Radio 4 staple is returning the favour.

Last night’s episode of the rural soap opera inserted a last-minute reference to the speech that the Environment Secretary gave yesterday. A character praised his Brexit plan for farming subsidies which will see them paid for “public goods” such as improving water quality, access to the countryside and planting meadows. “Are you a Defra spokesman?” another farmer character replied.

Quote of the day

"Of course we are. It's called the human condition." Mary Beard's response when asked by the New Statesman if we are all doomed.

All roads lead once again to the Pentagon

Memories of scandals past at Palm Springs as Hollywood royalty gathered for the International Film Festival. Last night saw the screening of Steven Spielberg’s The Post starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The film covers the period when the Washington Post stepped in to publish the Pentagon Papers. President Nixon’s administration had sued the New York Times, which had the original scoop to stop publication. The ploy didn’t work and, far from ceasing and desisting a Hollywood film was made out of it. Whatever could come next?

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The Londoner was at Bafta Piccadilly last night to watch Professor Green’s new documentary for Channel 4, Working Class White Men. “I met Neil Crombie from Swan Films when I was pissed as a fart at the Baftas and we just started to talk. It was one of those conversations where it actually materialised into something,” Green explained, flashing his perfect white teeth. “I’m quite proud of my teeth,” he said, when asked. “I paid a lot for them.”

Fickle flak on Vogue cover

WHEN Edward Enninful took the reins at Vogue, it was a new day for diversity for the fashion world’s most influential magazine. But three issues in and some are questioning if the editor, right, is going to deliver.

This week the new issue was unveiled — Enninful’s third — with Australian actresses Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman on the cover. A headline — “Why We Need To Talk About Race”— hints at diversity within, but social media- users were quick to vent their exasperation.

“Same old, same old,” one Instagram-user wrote beneath Vogue’s post of the cover. “More blonde celebs, how boring,” another added. “I thought new Vogue was going to be diverse?” said another.

Despite the criticism of the cover, part of a joint Hollywood-themed issue with America’s W magazine, Enninful has included several women of colour within the magazine. He also signified a commitment to a broader range of cover stars by choosing model Adwoa Aboah for his debut. But public opinion, like fashion, is fickle.

Tweet of the day

Writer Andrew Mueller says Trump's efforts to pulp the new Michael Wolff book is the stuff of dreams

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Nickname of the day: yesterday MP Nicholas Soames let slip his nickname for Digital Minister Matt Hancock: Matty Moo Moos. We don’t really want to know.

An online hit of biblical proportions

Some things just refuse to stay behind. Last year, a stock photo of a man distracted by a passing woman — upsetting his girlfriend in the process — became an online sensation and one of the year’s most edited images online: it was photoshopped and peppered with gags in hundreds of different ways, using the photo to make jokes about everything from Beyoncé to Henry VIII and his six wives. The photoshoppers are still at it: someone has given it this Old Testament salt shake-up.

2017 has a Lot to answer for.