EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Country Life reveals its new dinner party rules… Smoking jackets and sex are IN!

Once, in the old days, its engagement photographs of ‘girls in pearls’ were about as racy as it got. But the latest edition of Country Life seems guaranteed to have the Aga-owning classes steaming up.

In what it describes as a ‘guide to modern table manners’, the magazine plunges in, amending and in some cases ripping up the proverbial rule-book — including what it calls ‘the religion, politics and sex ban’.

The Kama Sutra, it would appear, is now firmly on the Country Life menu.

‘The British are no longer terrified of acknowledging that sex exists,’ it asserts.

While religion and politics remain ‘off limits’, the hurly-burly of the chaise longue is now a subject which can be savoured as much as the Beef Wellington.

The Kama Sutra, it would appear, is now firmly on the Country Life menu

‘Smoking jackets and smart chinos — also known as ‘Gloucestershire half dress’ — are a good 21st century alternative to black tie (pictured: Daniel Craig)

‘They also ensure that you don’t look as if you’re going to an awards dinner’ (Orlando Bloom)

‘The only proviso,’ it adds, ‘is that one should never be a bore: always read the room and seek both to listen and to entertain.’

It helps, of course, to be properly dressed. Here, too, the magazine is on hand to help. 

‘Smoking jackets and smart chinos — also known as ‘Gloucestershire half dress’ — are a good 21st century alternative to black tie. ‘They also ensure that you don’t look as if you’re going to an awards dinner.’

But old customs have not been ditched entirely. The ‘left-and-right rule’ — that ‘men talk first to the person on their right and women to the person on their left’, switching ‘with every course’ — remains in place. 

This may be of some consolation to Sir Lewis Hamilton, who, seated next to Queen Elizabeth at a Buckingham Palace luncheon, began to talk to her.

‘She was like, “You speak that way first, and I’ll speak this way, and I’ll come back to you,”‘ he recalled.

There is, alas, no such comfort for Meghan and Prince Harry, who, attending Pippa Middleton’s wedding to James Matthews in 2017, wanted to sit next to each other but were put on opposite sides of the table.

It’s one tradition that remains inviolable. ‘Never place couples next to each other,’ says Country Life.

Doubtless the author of the article, Annunciata Elwes, consulted her husband’s great-aunt and uncle — the Duke and Duchess of Kent . . .

To be Blunt, Cressie gets all the attention!

Cressida Bonas wisely decided not to marry Prince Harry but remains friends with nicer royals.

The actress attended a fundraising dinner for the Anti-Slavery Collective, co-founded by Princess Eugenie.

Cressie, 34, appeared to have the undivided attention of singer James Blunt, 49, leaving the King’s niece Zara Tindall, 42, looking neglected. Both women did well to stay on guard at the London event. 

At a previous bash at Royal Lodge, Windsor, Eugenie’s sister, Princess Beatrice, pretended to ‘knight’ Blunt with a sword — cutting pop star Ed Sheeran’s cheek.

This time, Sheeran and Blunt were armed only with guitars.

Cressida Bonas wisely decided not to marry Prince Harry but remains friends with nicer royals. The actress attended a fundraising dinner for the Anti-Slavery Collective, co-founded by Princess Eugenie

Cressie, 34, appeared to have the undivided attention of singer James Blunt, 49, leaving the King’s niece Zara Tindall, 42, looking neglected. Both women did well to stay on guard at the London event 

At a previous bash at Royal Lodge, Windsor, Eugenie’s sister, Princess Beatrice, pretended to ‘knight’ Blunt with a sword — cutting pop star Ed Sheeran’s cheek. This time, Sheeran and Blunt were armed only with guitars

Will Rambo get a soggy bottom?

It’s hard to imagine Rambo star Sylvester Stallone wielding a rolling pin — but that could soon be the reality if his daughter has her way.

Sistine Stallone, 25, says she’s trying to convince him of the merits of The Great British Bake Off.

‘I’m a religious Bake Off watcher and I’m trying to get him into it,’ she tells me at Smirnoff’s WE DO US campaign launch in London. ‘In the States, every week they only give us one episode. It’s killing me.’

Sistine Stallone, 25, says she’s trying to convince him of the merits of The Great British Bake Off

‘I’m a religious Bake Off watcher and I’m trying to get him into it,’ she tells me at Smirnoff’s WE DO US campaign launch in London. ‘In the States, every week they only give us one episode. It’s killing me’

Outspoken MP Jess Phillips quit Labour’s front bench over the Gaza conflict. Now, she’s struggling to enter Midlands watering holes.

‘I went to Dirty Martini bar in Birmingham and they wouldn’t let me in because I was wearing trainers,’ she tells me at The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards.

‘I did a Jedi mind trick, gesturing ‘you are going to let me in’, and the bar staff let me in.’

Perhaps she should try that on her leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Outspoken MP Jess Phillips (pictured) quit Labour’s front bench over the Gaza conflict. Now, she’s struggling to enter Midlands watering holes

Culture Club had to shell out £1.75 million to former drummer Jon Moss earlier this year after they lost a legal battle in which he claimed they expelled him during their 2018 tour.

Yet the Karma Chameleon band’s singer, Boy George, is happy to reignite the feud with his ex-lover Moss.

‘It’s a real shame because he has dismissed his whole legacy for coins,’ George claims while promoting his memoir, Karma, at the Southbank Centre in London.

Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts couldn’t even tell her parents about their reunion tour. 

The sold-out shows will be their first time performing since bandmate Sarah Harding’s death. 

Roberts tells me: ‘We had to keep it a secret from everyone — even mum and dad.’

Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts couldn’t even tell her parents about their reunion tour

King Charles called time on his polo career aged 57 after suffering a few fractures playing the sport he described as ‘my one great extravagance’. 

Another generation is, however, picking up a stick — at the age of nine. ‘Mia has taken up polo,’ Mike Tindall says of his daughter with the King’s niece, Zara. 

‘Hopefully I can do it with Mia — even though she’s better than me.’ She started riding aged two.