CAMILLA’S FORCED TO CUT BACK

Each summer Camilla and her best friends Fiona Lansdowne and Amanda Ward have been indulgently entertained by whichever tycoon happens to offer his super-yacht.

In the past they have enjoyed sybaritic cruises aboard the Rio Rita, the gin palace owned by Greek shipping magnate Spiros Latsis; the Alexandros, also owned by the Latsis family; or the more tasteful Leander, Sir Donald Gosling’s sumptuous craft, which was also used for Charles and Camilla’s official tour of the Caribbean last March.

This playful (if somewhat mature) posse of women, occasionally joined by Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot, would moor off Corfu so that they could enjoy Lord Rothschild’s pool (and fine wines). It was to the same 30-acre property that Camilla fled in 1998 when attention was focused on her on the first anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.

there will be no such jaunt this summer. The Duchess has bowed to pressure from aides at Clarence House that any photos of her on a jolly would be “unhelpful to the ongoing cause of promoting our image”.

Those aides are particularly sensitive about unnecessary travel just when Prince Charles’s accounts have stated that he has reduced his carbon footprint by 18 per cent. The same report also revealed that Camilla undertook fewer engagements last year than before.

“Camilla has been told that she has to be aware of the national mood at a time when the whole country is tightening its belt,” reports a senior royal source.

“It’s annoying for her because she particularly enjoys these breaks with her friends, not least because she has zero respons-ibilities to anyone while she’s on board, but she’s been convinced that her husband’s advisers know best.”

This ban on Camilla is likely to be even more irritating for her because it effectively ties her to spending more time with Charles at a time when she is said to find it particularly difficult dealing with his “grumpy and irritable” temperament.

So how will poor Camilla find enough distractions to keep a suitable distance from her harrumphing hubby before the pair decamp for their long vacation at Birkhall in the Highlands?

Reports a chum: “She intends to offer herself for a lot of babysitting for her two new granddaughters.”