Fair to meddling
Court Circular , Issue 1652 Flunkey writes... KING BRIAN's willingness to engage in politics has set alarm bells ringing at the palace.

Prime minister Keir Starmer can't believe his luck. Whether it's getting permission to brandish a "confidential" letter to Donald Trump for the cameras, using Brian's support as a cover to push through potentially risky changes to the Crown Estate (to help fund Great British Energy) or asking for a royal commendation of Ed Miliband's green agenda (read aloud at an energy summit last month), Brian has been eager to help Starmer out.

The late Queen, who never fully trusted any of her politicians beyond Churchill, would have been wary and her PM would have been "invited" for sherry and a gentlemanly rebuke from her private secretary.

Man of letters
In return, Brian, who thought his meddling days had ended when he took the throne, has been given a new lease of life.

After a brief hiatus under Rishi Sunak, he is more or less free to contact ministers and lobby for his chosen causes via meetings and confidential letters which arrive sealed inside two or three envelopes like Russian dolls. Starmer is the first PM to abandon the privilege of strictly controlling his ministers' access to the sovereign.

And there are definite royal favourites. The eco-monarch is a Miliband fan, delighted that a genuine enthusiast has the climate brief.

Brian and foreign secretary David Lammy have been getting along since the Tottenham riots of 2011, when the then Prince of Wales and his charities got directly involved to rebuild a community. Lammy, the local MP, says Brian has "done more for my constituents, some of the poorest people in Britain, than most politicians". His Majesty won't be shy in sharing his opinions on foreign policy.

And, of course, there's Angela Rayner, Brian's Eliza Doolittle. The unlikely couple have formal and off-the-record chats where they bond occasionally over a whisky as Brian tries (in vain) to teach Doolittle the virtues of beauty in architecture and of housebuilding using traditional methods.

Keir royale
But his deputy's royal mateyness has Starmer's aides flustered. When they found out Rayner was joining Brian on a visit to one of his pet building projects in Cornwall in February, Starmer swiftly gatecrashed the party. But the PM – not a natural soulmate for the king – ended up playing gooseberry.