EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Royals don't want to frighten the horses by attending Grand National

By Ephraim Hardcastle for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:31 EST, 11 April 2016 | Updated: 02:42 EST, 12 April 2016

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When Rule The World romped to victory in the Grand National, the Queen wasn’t there. Nor were any senior members of her family.

Only granddaughter Zara Tindall travelled to Liverpool to enjoy some corporate hospitality.

Even the Princess Royal, an avid fan of jump racing, avoids Aintree while turning out for the Cheltenham Festival.

When Rule The World (pictured alongside jockey David Mullins) romped to victory in the Grand National, the Queen wasn’t there. Nor were any senior members of her family, writes Ephraim Hardcastle

It’s nothing to do with Aintree being ‘oop north’. It has more to do with political correctness.

The Grand National is targeted by those who want to see it abolished. Its relatively high rate of equine deaths and injuries helps this cause.

The royals can’t be seen to support the meeting, although they would have been safe this year: all the horses in the main race, and their jockeys, returned safely.

The Duchess of Cambridge’s deft handling of a cricket bat in Mumbai triggers excitement in the England women’s team.

They’d love to have Kate as their patron. The last proficient cricketer in the Royal Family was Diana, who began playing the game with her sisters and never lost interest.

Cricket helped her bond with Prince Philip, with whom she could discuss the game.

Playing Roxie in the West End stage production of Chicago, the shapely legs of Denise van Outen, 41, pictured, were widely admired.

She tells Fit & Well magazine: ‘I work hard on them. My family call them “Ted legs” because they’re like my dad’s!’ Her father Ted was an East End docker.

Resting after double hip surgery, Sky dreamboat Eamonn Holmes, a Manchester United supporter, rants on Twitter about the club’s unfortunate manager, Louis van Gaal, after their 3-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur: ‘How in the name of God has van Gaal still got a job at Old Trafford? Today has got to be the end! Signings rubbish, tactics worse, substitutions baffling, it’s a complete farce.’

His adoring wife Ruth must tell him to calm down. Falling out of his pram like this could put his recovery in jeopardy.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is keen to get on Desert Island Discs, I hear. But he must not be too bold in letting them know this at the BBC.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is keen to get on Desert Island Discs, I hear. But he must not be too bold in letting them know this at the BBC, Ephraim Hardcastle writes

It is said that those who ask to be on the show can end up being blacklisted. Since the department was created by John Major in 1992, only one culture secretary has appeared: David Mellor, who chose some fine la di da music and took a Thomas Hardy novel with him to the island.

Unfortunately, his spurned lover, Antonia de Sancha, shortly afterwards sold the story of their affair. Thomas Hardyesque it wasn’t.

Flirtatious Sky News duo Colin Brazier and Jayne Secker – reunited after a fortnight apart – resume their saucy, on-screen flirting.

After mother of two Mrs Secker bemoans the demise of street launderettes, saying they were an important part of her social life as a student, father of six Brazier impudently inquires: ‘Pick-up joint?’ With mock outrage, striking Jayne replies: ‘Speak for yourself!’