THE LADY established 1885 • No 6445 ContentsJANUARY Features 5 Competition Win tickets to see The Sleeping Beauty at Sadler’s Wells and a luxury stay in London 12 The Ideal Duchess How Sophie Rhys-Jones rose from humble roots to the top of the royal tree 26 Emilia Fox The Silent Witness actress tells us about her career and being par t of a famous acting dynasty 32 Secrets and Lies An intriguing exhibition reveals Britain’s murky history of espionage 36 Your Stars for 2024 Our astrologer Victor Olliver predicts what the year ahead has in store 40 Queen of the Castle Historic Lympne Castle in Kent has an unlikely new and glamorous Canadian owner 46 Take it Slow Delicious recipes that make the most of your slow cooker 52 Seek Out the Sun Head for Por tugal, Madeira or the Canary Islands to banish the winter blues 66 New Year, New You Twenty easy-to-keep resolutions that will improve your wellbeing Regulars 6 The Lady Loves... Cosy comfor ts 8 Her Indoors Mary Killen 10 Letters 18 The Lady Remembers The first Winter Olympic Games in 1924 20 Modern Manners 24 Liz Hodgkinson I can’t bear spending large amounts of money 44 Gardener’s Diary Ciar Byrne 50 Ivo Uncorked Robust red wines 62 Fashion Brighten up dull days 64 The Stylist Armand Beasley 72 Case Notes Dr Sue Hyde 77 Weight of the World Ivo Dawnay 114 First Impressions Angela Gheorghiu Reviews 74 Bookshelf The best new novels and non-fiction 78 Art Roderick Conway Morris 82 Theatre Georgina Brown 83 TV Emily Ross 84 Films Larushka Ivan-Zadeh 85 Radio Louis Barfe Puzzles 101 Word Fill and Codebreaker 102 The Ladygram Challenge Win a set of ten Lady postcards 104 Archive Ladygrams 106 Cryptic Crosswords, Wordsearch, Sudoku 108 Giant Crossword 110 Spot the Difference 111 Bridge 112 Solutions Classifieds 88 Holiday lets, positions vacant and much more Thomas Blaikie 23 The Debate Should we mourn the demise of cash? Subscriptions 60 Subscribe and receive an Aether & Light candle 12 52 62 46 26 66 JANUARY 2024 TH E L A DY 3