Dead-end job for Sophie's sibling! Countess of Wessex's brother is working at a FUNERAL PARLOUR 

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Chequered career: David with Edward and Sophie

As pressure builds on minor royals to pay their way, the Countess of Wessex’s brother has seen his own career take a grave turn.

I can reveal that David Rhys-Jones has trained as an undertaker and now works at a funeral parlour in East Sussex.

‘There have been a few jokes about it, but David is deadly serious about his new career,’ one of his friends tells me. ‘You never know, his firm might end up doing the honours for members of the Royal Family.’

Sophie Wessex’s older brother is learning his trade at the family firm C. Waterhouse & Sons in Burwash. His work is likely to impress Sophie’s environmentally minded brother-in-law Prince Charles because it promotes ‘green’ funerals, with eco-caskets made of biodegradable materials.

It also offers woollen caskets with organic cotton interior lining made by Hainsworth & Sons, who hold a Royal Warrant.

Prices are ‘competitive’ and start at £2,000 for an ‘affordable’ send-off. The Good Funeral guide says: ‘They are proud of their presence, wanting to offer the same excellent service to everybody, dukes and dustmen.’

Former racecourse commentator Rhys-Jones, 53, who declines to comment on his unlikely career move, used to be a publican but his hostelry, The Royal Oak, at Brookland in Kent, called last orders in 2012 with debts of more than £100,000.

His business failure came six years after the Countess’s former PR company, RJH Public Relations, also folded. The Queen had told Prince Edward and his wife that they must end their commercial activities.

I can reveal that David Rhys-Jones has trained as an undertaker and now works at a funeral parlour in East Sussex, writes Sebastian Shakespeare

Rhys-Jones, whose father was a tyre salesman, is close to Sophie, and their relationship survived a hiccup after she married into the Royal Family when he cashed in on his connections by selling photos of his son’s christening to Hello! magazine.

Moneybags philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield knows how to throw a party. She booked all 203 rooms of the Verdura golf resort in Sicily to celebrate her 70th birthday with 200 friends at the weekend. 

Rooms cost up to £1,750 per night. Dame Vivien, whose father was Selfridges owner Sir Charles Clore, had celebrated her 60th by flying 120 pals to Florence. 

Sadly, her companion of 32 years, the late English Heritage chairman Sir Jocelyn Stevens, was not present as he had left her the previous year for another woman.

Bespoke bikini designer Melissa Odabash, whose creations are worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, is asked if she has seen her clients naked during fitting sessions. ‘Yes, I have,’ she whispers. ‘A lot of men, when I go out, the first thing they say to me is: “You really should do a live streaming from your office, it could be a huge market for you.” ’ Watch out!