Right Royal Drama: Pippa & Gungate

Dear, oh dear. While Harry has got into his fair share of trouble over the years, it seems that Pippa has gone and trumped him in one fell swoop. She’s currently in Paris, mingling with some of France’s most eligible bachelors, and somehow managed to get herself photographed in the front seat of a convertible next to a man wielding a gun.

With two rather dashing gentlemen: Arthur de Soultrait on the left and with his brother Marcy on the right. Something tells us they'd have little need for our chivalry guide.

While it appears the gun was a fake, Pippa may face questioning. And the grin on her face will seem insensitive to many so soon after the terrible shootings in Toulouse.

We’d love to hear what you think: has Pippa done anything wrong? Or is she being treated unfairly due to the intense media spotlight on her? At moments like this, we can’t help but think of the terrible treatment of Diana.

Tea & Sympathy and ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ Collaboration!

As we announced last week, we’ve arranged a very exciting collaboration with the people behind ‘One Man, Two Guvnors‘. The smash British show is coming to Broadway on April 6th and and here’s how we’ll be showing our support…

First up, we’ll have specially branded coasters in-store and restaurant any day now. Grab yourself one of the accompanying flyers, and you’ll get 40% off the price of a ticket. Then, come May, we’ll be running a fantastic competition to choose or name a special OMTG menu item! Still in the early stages of planning, we have a couple more tricks up our sleeve… we’ll let you know as soon as we do!!

How to Marry Prince Harry: Discretion

Ladies and gentleman, welcome back to the Tea & Sympathy manor house, for your second lesson in how to marry Prince Harry. Top of today’s agenda is a very important subject indeed: discretion.

With discreet, well-behaved ladies like this in the world, there's a lot of competition for Harry's hand in marriage. So pay attention!

Once thought of as an essential British virtue, the general public’s voracious appetite for sex, scandal and salaciousness, and the willingness of the tabloid press to give it to them, means it’s increasingly looking like a thing of past.

But discretion isn’t done for just yet; not under our watch! We want to encourage one and all to take a leaf out of the book of the traditional English butler, and work hard to keep secrets secret. Follow these simple rules for a more upstanding society, and you may just catch Prince Hazza’s eye along the way!

•  Keep your public mobile phone calls bland and brief.
•  Avoid discussing the following: sex, bodily functions, illnesses.
• Don’t have full-blooded rows and don’t swear! (Ahem, Nicky).
• And always look around you before speaking – do you really want that elderly lady or small child to hear what you’re saying?

Oh, how we love a man in uniform.

The Sprinkles Cupcake ATM

Looking around NYC, you’d be excused for thinking Gordon Gecko was referring to cupcakes when he uttered the infamous words: “greed is good“. You can’t turn a corner without tripping over a new boutique bakery and from Magnolia to Buttercup, frostings and fillings are being used with ever-increasing gusto. Now, displaying supply-and-demand pragmatism to do Michael Douglas and co. proud, Sprinkles have announced plans to launch a cupcake dispensing ATM on the Upper West Side. What’s more, it wouldn’t look amiss on 1980’s Wall Street!

What a fantastic idea, eh! Now, what do we think of a Victoria Sponge version for Greenwich Avenue?

Our favorite Oscars’ Dresses

So it’s the morning after the night before. The red carpet has been rolled up, Anne-Sophie Bion has been taken out with the trash, and the The Artist are ordering a new trophy cabinet. A big well done to Meryl, for her portrayal of Ms Thatcher, but more importantly – Here’s are our favorite dresses of the evening, and one of our least… take a look and you’ll see what we mean about Ms Bion!

Our bet for the most talked-about dress this morning. No jewellry! No bag! And that leg (it even has it's own Twitter profile - with 9,000 followers and counting)! She owned the place.

Bridesmaids star Rose Byrne filled the sequin quota for the whole event in this fab metallic Vivienne Westwood number. Extra points for representing the Brits!

Our favorite of the evening. Gwyneth Paltrow looked refined, resplendent and extremely sophisticated in this Tom Ford piece. She wore THAT Alexander McQueen dress back in 2002, but has gone with one of the our fave American designers... and it's worked!

And the worst…

Sorry Anne-Sophie Bion, as editor of The Artist, we're sure you're an extremely talented lady... but what were you thinking?! Not only does it look like a trash sack, it's a mighty big one at that. Our kitchen boys have been eyeing this jealously for their end-of-night cleanup!

Oh Anne-Sophie! We might even have to take back all the nice things we were saying about French style last week.

So, who was your best- and worst-dressed? And most importantly, what did you have for your Oscars dinner? It was tea & finger sandwiches for us, of course!!