It wasn't a fat lady singing but a well-received final performance of the season of Don Carlo at Covent Garden that captivated Rio Tinto chairman Paul Skinner on Thursday after a week that saw one of the dominoes fall on BHP's quest for antitrust approval.

Also at the Royal Opera House - for the new production sponsored by Coutts - as well as Aline Foriel-Destezet , wife of Swiss billionaire Philippe, and Rolls-Royce director Simon Robertson and wife Victoria - was former lord chief justice Lord Woolf .