Hearts and power .sx VICTORIA BURGOYNE was 18 when she married Christopher Dunhill , the substance-snorting heir to a slice of the pounds1billion Rothmans fortune jailed for cocaine dealing in 1988 .sx She was 19 when they divorced .sx Now , at 29 , she has taken up her pen to write a novel about a rich , glamorous but troubled family .sx She tells me :sx " I was always being asked to write the story .sx Then I was approached by a publishing house to write a book based around that kind of dynasty .sx They thought I had a lot to call on .sx I am interested in writing about families , broken hearts and intrigue , but it will be entirely fictitious - whatever people want to read into it .sx " .sx When not hunched over a steaming page , Victoria - she already has a thriller , Savaged , under her literary belt - has been supervising her company Kyng Screen Productions' first situation comedy for Channel 4 , entitled When .sx And she is shortly to grace the screen herself , in ITV's The Bill .sx Sweetheart But the breathless pace of writing , acting and producing has taken its toll on her relationship with Gallic songster Frederick Bertelot , 29 .sx She says :sx " I'm seeing other people , but there's nothing serious .sx I'm very frightened of getting married again .sx When you get married to a childhood sweetheart and it doesn't work , you question your judgement in people .sx " .sx She is looking for " a creative , spiritually-orientated millionaire " .sx In the meantime , she is contenting herself by drawing on her nuptial experiences for commercial fiction .sx Best caught short with an own goal .sx GEORGE BEST , legendary footballer , notorious imbiber and undischarged bankrupt , now finds himself in a " ludricrous " Catch 22 situation .sx He is being pursued by the Inland Revenue for pounds60,000 .sx He has , in a trust fund in Belfast , pounds60,000 from the testimonial match held in his honour three years ago .sx He is unable , however , to match the two together .sx " The trustees say they won't release the money to me until I've discharged my bankruptcy , " he tells me plaintively .sx " They say I must use my own money to pay off my bankruptcy before they'll give me my money .sx But I don't have any money , except the money they're holding .sx " .sx It is a disturbing aftermath to that exultant night at Belfast's international Windsor Park stadium , when 27,000 fans turned out in pouring rain to pay their tribute to the player the great Pele once described as the best in the world .sx HIS financial affairs then already in disarray with the Inland Revenue demanding pounds16,000 - it has since spiralled to its current level because of compound interest - George initially requested that the gate money be set aside for the education of his son Calum , now ten .sx Separate measures have since been taken to safeguard Calum's education and George has appealed to his chief trustee , Belfast soccer administrator Derek Wade , to release the money .sx In vain , I fear .sx Testimonial match treasurer and fellow trustee David Crawford tells me :sx " The testimonial was for George , not for the bankruptcy court .sx If the fans who attended knew the proceeds would be going straight to the Inland Revenue , they wouldn't have gone near the game .sx " .sx George does not agree .sx Nor does the Revenue .sx As I have reported , it has appointed prominent Belfast solicitor Sir Oliver Napier to recover the trust money from the bank account where it has sat since 1988 .sx To that end , Napier has summoned Wade to appear in court in Belfast - and the hearing , adjourned earlier this summer , is expected to take place before the end of the year .sx George , bewildered and angrily declaring that the whole thing " stinks" , is planning to take action of his own .sx As he complains :sx " Because I'm bankrupt , I cannot earn a living .sx The trustees keep saying that what they are doing will be to my benefit at the end of the day .sx " Well , it is the end of the day .sx I'm still legally bankrupt and the debt is going up every day .sx " .sx IF THE matter is not resolved in his favour - and soon - he is threatening to fly to Belfast where he will call a Press conference to explain his sorry side of this financial mess .sx I can only add that when Paul Gascoigne says he will not be happy until he stops playing football , he is talking rot .sx And if he doesn't believe me , he should ask George .sx Bathtime has the Majors all in a whirl .sx SAFELY home after his dash across the world , the Prime Minister settled down yesterday to consider a new-found remedy to relax from the rigours of life in the political fast lane .sx On his way through Kennebunkport , Moscow , Peking and Hong Kong , John Major apparently discovered the delights afforded by a whirlpool bath .sx And having come across one way to soak off the dust of travel , Major and wife Norma duly headed straight for a builders' merchant near his Cambridgeshire home at the weekend .sx There the PM studied an array of whirlpool baths while Norma read through brochures in the quest for the one to grace their new bathroom .sx With the true caution of one faced with the prospect of workmen tramping through the house , Major says :sx " We're just considering a few ideas .sx " .sx And before driving back to his home at nearby Great Stukely , he helpfully emphasised the great deliberations going on :sx " We are looking at new bathrooms for our home , but we haven't made a final decision yet .sx " .sx Nor even on a date of the General Election ?sx " No .sx I'd much rather talk about bathrooms .sx " .sx Staff at the store would too , but a spokesman reluctantly hiding his excitement conceded :sx " We think his privacy should be respected .sx " .sx However , I am delightfully told by one customer , rightly too embarrassed to be named :sx " I went in to look at kitchen units and saw Mrs Major in deep conversation with a man in a grey suit whom I thought was a salesman .sx They were looking at whirlpool baths .sx " I couldn't believe it when the 'salesman' turned round and it was the Prime Minister .sx " .sx Anne's visit puts Eire on royal map .sx IN A significant breakthrough yesterday , Princess Anne became the first member of the Royal Family to visit the Irish Republic since Earl Mountbatten was blown up by the IRA 12 years ago .sx Officials , fearing demonstrations , kept the visit quiet .sx But the Princess Royal , 41 , with daughter Zara , 10 , was warmly cheered visiting the European Equestrian Championships at Punchestown , County Kildare , and even lunched with Eire premier Charles Haughey .sx Informal Her role as president of the International Equestrian Federation gave Anne the perfect opportunity for an informal visit , even if surrounded by armed Special Branch detectives , as guest of the Championships organising committee .sx Clad in business-like blue blazer and white skirt she toured jumps by jeep before lunch with Haughey .sx It was an event few would have thought possible after Mountbatten's slaughter .sx Explosion Princess Margaret was the last royal visitor before that , way back in the Sixties .sx She stayed at Birr Castle in County Offaly with her then husband the Earl of Snowdon , but their trip was marred by a small terrorist explosion near the estate walls .sx Only three months ago , however , Eire President Mary Robinson made an historic official visit to Britain , leading to Fine Gael spokesman Brendan McGahon calling for a royal return match , saying :sx " There is a distinguished Royal Family in Britain and we should receive them in the same manner President Robinson was received .sx " .sx High-flying Major's new status symbol .sx PRIME Minister John Major is in need of an aeroplane befitting his sudden status as a globe-trotting international statesman .sx That is why he flew first to Russia , then on to China , not in the ageing VC 10 so favoured by his predecessor , but in a pounds35 million TriStar .sx Speed , of course , is one factor .sx The VC10 , all of 234 years old , is slower and requires many more refuelling stops .sx Then , of course , there is the delicate and unspoken matter of statesmanly status .sx France's President Mitterrand travels in a supersonic Concorde .sx The President of the United States flies in one of two Boeing 747-200Bs which stand six-storey high , have been dubbed the Flying Taj Mahals , and cost over pounds600 million .sx The VC-10-borne Prime Minister is belittled by such high-flying comparison - a point given illustration when he flew into the airforce base near Kennebunkport to consult with George Bush and found himself dwarfed alongside one of the president's mighty Boeings .sx The switch to the TriStar - this one is supplied by British Airways - could signal the move towards the privatisation of VIP travel which has traditionally been handled by the RAF .sx It has certainly brought the British Premier into the modern age of government air travel - and represents yet another definite break from the Thatcher era .sx The TriStar's configuration is comfortable - the seats are first class and there are single beds for Major , his wife Norma , Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and Downing Street foreign affairs specialist Sir Percy Craddock .sx Its communication equipment , provided by the electronic spies at GCHG , is of the most sophisticated variety .sx It allows the Prime Minister to communicate instantly with president Bush .sx Just as importantly , it has enabled him to keep up with Chelsea's football scores .sx And Another Thing .sx .. GOOD news for the Princess Royal from Scotland , where fears that her friend , Old Etonian farmer John Corbett , 44 , might follow HRH into the divorce courts have proved premature .sx Lord Rowallan's son , who lost his family seat - Rowallan Castle - after being hit by massive death duties , is now down to his last 1,000 acres after selling the castle plus 6,000 acres to a leisure consortium .sx Corbett , who frequently entertained Anne and Mark Phillips at Rowallan , has decided to take a tolerant attitude towards his wife Sandie's fondness for a member of the Scottish horse show fraternity , which has been the talk of equine Scotland .sx He married former groom , Sandie , 29 , after divorcing his first wife Jane , and assures me :sx " There was never a split .sx " .sx A fortune up in smoke for tobacco heir .sx RECLUSIVE tobacco heiress Doris Duke , one of the richest women in the world , has disinherited her adopted daughter , Chandi Hefner - for daring to consort with a man Doris does not approve of .sx Chandi - no relation to Hugh - has been dating a big , good-looking bodyguard who once worked for Doris in Hawaii .sx Doris - worth 874 million dollars at my last count and who recently put up the 4.6 million dollar bail for the Philippines' former first lady , Imelda Marcos when facing fraud charges in New York - objected .sx And she is used to getting her own way .sx She wanted to see Chandi , who is in her 20s , married - but only to someone who met her socially formidable criteria .sx When Chandi refused to break off her romance with the bodyguard , Doris , 78 - her father founded the giant American Tobacco Company - promptly ordered her out of her mansion .sx She also got her lawyers to retrieve the trust fund she had set up for " daughter" .sx This strikes me as a charming example of pot calling kettle black - for Doris's own romantic record is hardly one to set before a daughter , even an adopted one .sx She divorced her first husband , American banker and former US Minister to Canada , James R Cromwell , after eight years on the grounds of " systematic mental and physical " .sx She then married Dominican " diplomat " and unconscienced playboy Porfirio Rubirosa ( a Parisian newspaper reporting the wedding mistakenly called her Madame Doris Duck) .sx Playboy She paid him off with a million dollars - a lot of money in 1949 - after just 13 months ( Rubirosa , who died the quintessential playboy's death by driving his Ferrari into a tree , collected another million dollar divorce settlement off Woolworth's heiress Barbara Hutton) .sx Her next marital excursion was with a bandleader called Joseph Castro .sx That union also went the way of all flesh ; they were divorced eight years later .sx In between there were brief grapples with Errol Flynn , a Tory MP and sundry others .sx Doris survived her flings with her finances intact .sx Chandi - La Duke took her in after her own family threw her out for joining the Hare Krishnas - has not .sx