The Times - UK (2022-02-23)

the times | Wednesday February 23 2022 2GM 13

News

The Queen cancelled her planned
virtual engagements yesterday due to
“mild cold-like symptoms” after she
tested positive for Covid-19 at the
weekend.
Further scheduled engagements
over the coming week will be decided
on nearer the time.
The virtual engagements, such as
meetings with foreign ambassadors,

Queen cancels virtual engagements due to ‘mild’ Covid symptoms

had been expected to go ahead, but the

plans were not set in stone and were

dependent on how the Queen felt each

day.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman

said: “As Her Majesty is still experienc-

ing mild cold-like symptoms she has

decided not to undertake her planned

virtual engagements today, but will

continue with light duties.”

The light duties refer to the Queen’s

daily red box, signing off statements

and dealing with other correspond-

ence.

The Queen contracting Covid at 95

raised concerns because of her age and

a health scare last year. She had until

recently been on doctors’ orders to rest

after she was admitted to hospital last

October for preliminary tests.

The Queen issued a personal

message of condolence to the president

of Brazil on Monday following the

floods in Petrópolis. At the weekend,

only hours after Buckingham Palace

announced that she had Covid, she sent

her “warmest congratulations” to

Great Britain’s women’s curling team

on their performances at the Beijing

Winter Games.

This indicated that the Queen was

determined to continue with the job

where possible and avoid causing

public concern.

A number of engagements are

coming up next month. She is set to

host the reception for the diplomatic

corps on March 2 at Windsor. The

Commonwealth Service at Westmin-

ster Abbey takes place on March 14,

followed by the Duke of Edinburgh’s

memorial service, also at the abbey, on

March 29. The main celebrations for

her Platinum Jubilee take place in June.

She is being cared for by a core team

of staff at Windsor Castle. Some of

them had tested positive for Covid

before the Queen.

Charlotte Wace

IDA MARIE ODGAARD; CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES

A make-up artist has spoken about her
ordeal at the hands of an alleged
con artist accused of orchestrating one
of Hollywood’s most audacious frauds.
Anna Cichon, 38, from Milton
Keynes, claims to have been conned out
of thousands of pounds by Hargobind
Punjabi Tahilramani. He is wanted by
the authorities in the US, where he faces
allegations of conspiracy to commit
fraud and aggravated identity theft as
part of the £1.5 million scam. An extradi-
tion hearing is due to be held at a magis-
trates’ court in London today.
Tahilramani, 41, is alleged to be the so-
called Hollywood Con Queen, known
for posing as prominent film executives
such as Kathleen Kennedy, the presi-
dent of Lucasfilm, and Amy Pascal, the
former chairwoman of Sony Pictures.
His alleged victims include more than a
dozen British actors and film crew.
Cichon has lived in Britain for 18 years
and worked on films such as World War
Z and Kingsman. In 2016 she was con-
tacted by someone claiming to be a film

Kate’s ‘broody’ joke

on solo Denmark trip

T

he Duchess of

Cambridge has

said that Prince

William

worries about

her working with babies

as she always returns

home pleading to “have

another one” (Charlotte

Wace writes).

On a solo visit to

Copenhagen, Denmark,

where she arrived

yesterday to bolster her

work in early childhood,

Kate, 40, joked that she

was “broody”.

During a visit to the

Children’s Museum in

Frederiksberg, she met

new parents and health

visitors to discuss the

importance of children’s

social development.

After meeting two eight-

month-old boys and

their parents, she joked:

“It makes me very

broody.

“William always

worries about me

meeting under one-year-

olds. I come home

saying: ‘Let’s have

another one.’ ”

Having heard how the

Danish system trains

health visitors to speak

to new parents in a non-

intimidating way about

improving their

children’s wellbeing, she

asked the fathers

present if it had helped

provide them “with a

common language” to

discuss emotions with

their friends.

“As fathers, do you

feel part of this

conversation?” she

asked. “Particularly the

age your kiddies are,

often people’s focus is

on the mother. Do you

feel the health visitors

bring you into the role

as well?”

Denmark has become

a world leader in its

approach to early-

childhood development,

which includes a focus

on play, relationships

and time spent outside.

Kate demonstrated

her enthusiasm for

childhood play by taking

a slide between floors

during a later visit to the

Lego Foundation Play

Lab. The duchess had

been meeting a team

leading a national

programme training

students to help children

use play to develop skills

for life. When her hosts

disclosed that some staff

used the slide instead of

the stairs, Kate gave her

handbag to an aide and

declared that she should

do the same.

She emerged

laughing, still wearing

her high heels, and said:

“In the spirit of where I

am, I had to do it.”

Kate said that her own

children, Prince George,

eight, Princess

Charlotte, six, and

Prince Louis, three,

were “very jealous”

about her visit to the

Play Lab.

“They were like:

‘Hang on, there’s Lego

and we’re not coming?’”

she said.

Raising awareness

around the importance

of the early years has

been a focus for Kate

over the last decade. Her

trip to Denmark with

her Royal Foundation

Centre for Early

Childhood is expected to

help build on her work

in Britain.

The Duchess of Cambridge

opted to take a slide rather

than the stairs at the Lego

Foundation Play Lab. Left:

at the Children’s Museum

driver took her to visit monu-

ments and temples and she

was instructed to pay him.

Speaking to The Times this

week, Cichon said: “It was

stressful because there is so

much traffic in Jakarta,

some trips would take six

hours. I felt bad we couldn’t

make some of the locations

but I think that was a tactic

to keep me on the back

foot.” After two days she

was told to return to

London and that the com-

pany would be in touch.

I lost thousands travelling around

the world for fake Hollywood film

executive called Leslie, who said she had

found her through a movie Cichon had

worked on nine years earlier.

Leslie sent a 2,000-word outline for a

film titled The Master, which would pur-

portedly star the martial artist Donnie

Yen, a household name in China. She

said that she worked for Huaxia Film

Distribution, a genuine film company

that was unaware of the fraud. She asked

Cichon to provide make-up

for the male stars of

the film and to visit

locations in Jakarta

for ideas.

An itinerary was

sent, with Leslie’s

accounts team cop-

ied in, asking Cich-

on to pay for the

flights and submit

an invoice for the

costs. When she ar-

rived in Jakarta, she

was met by a driver

and taken to a hotel,

which had been paid

for in advance. The

The next month Leslie asked her to

return to Jakarta to visit more locations.

Cichon became sceptical during this

second trip because the reimbursement

did not materialise and the driver would

often leave her for long periods.

She said: “The driver started behaving

weirdly and suddenly it was scary. I was

in a foreign country with someone I sus-

pected was defrauding me. I just wanted

to get home safely. After I returned

home I just felt so stupid and didn’t want

to see anyone. In total I spent around

£6,000. But I’ve since discovered many

people suffered the same thing. Even

large talent agencies sent staff abroad

and were duped too.

“There were a lot of people involved

in this. I even had someone claiming to

be an English director phoning me

about the job, who turned out not to be

real either... it’s still like a fresh scab,

even after so many years. I still feel so

bad. It left a really deep mark on me

and I wanted to quit the industry.

“I would like to tell this person how

he destroyed my life and dreams. I find

it very difficult to trust people.”

Ben Ellery

d m w w s m s h m b t f w L p

Hargobind Tahilramani, left, allegedly

duped Anna Chichon with a fake film

Don’t let this

jet go down on

me, Elton prays

Kieran Gair

Sir Elton John’s private jet had to make

an emergency landing in Hampshire

after suffering a hydraulic failure at

10,000ft, it was reported last night.

The musician’s pilot took three at-

tempts to touch down during high

winds at Farnborough airport yester-

day, according to The Sun.

He was reportedly forced to turn

back about an hour after taking off from

Farnborough for New York at 10.20am.

Philip Thomson, a witness, said: “A

crowd had gathered after word went

around that Elton was in difficulty. And

as the plane came around again for a

second attempt to land, the storm was

doing its worst.”

Ambulance crews and police were

alerted at 11.19am and firefighters from

six stations attended as the runway was

cleared.

John, 74, was able to catch a later

flight for the US in time for a gig at Mad-

ison Square Garden as part of his Fare-

well Yellow Brick Road tour. His repre-

sentatives did not comment last night.

Kenyan pilot finds fame, page 31