Last night the Rugby World Cup commentators said that in addition to Princes William and Harry, the Princess Royal was present “as the representative of the Queen”. After the final whistle, the trophy was presented by the French head of state Sarkozy accompanied by Mbeki, South Africa’s head of state, and Gordon Brown. Protocol-wise it should have been Anne.

What was Brown’s role at the rugby world cup final? Was he keen to get close to all those rugby heroes to bask in their reflected glory? Sports fans should note that the PM is a sporting Jonah; Scotland lost the the soccer match he attended as PM, England lost to Germany the match he attended with Merkel and the English rugby team suffered his curse last night.

The Springboks carried Mbeki aloft as they celebrated, if England had won could you imagine Jonny and the boys carrying our bottler-in-chief on high?