A prince over a Silver Fox any day

The world's most eligible bachelor is back on the market. Yes, George Clooney has dumped his girlfriend of two years and is footloose and fancy-free again.

Just when it looked like all was lost for those hoping to capture his heart, the Silver Fox once again pulled back from the brink of marriage, this time to girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis. In a shock announcement this week, the pair said their relationship was over, calling it "very difficult and very personal".

You can't help but pity the 32-year-old Italian actress who so nearly netted him. He couldn't keep his hands off her in public. Holidays were spent together at his villa on Lake Como, she strutted the red carpet with him at premieres and she even got to meet his parents. So besotted was he, say friends, that he was known to send her up to 60 smses a day.

So, what happened? I'm afraid Miss Elisabetta lost the plot and mentioned the "M" word. There's no way she couldn't have know that Monsieur Clooney is a commitmentphobe of note. It's not that he even bothers to hide it. After a failed marriage to actress Talia Balsam in the early 1990s, he announced that he would never marry again.

In 1995 he told TV interviewer Barbara Walters that it would be "a cold day in Hell" before he trotted down the aisle again. And he reiterated that on the Piers Morgan show on CNN in January when he said he feared that he would be a lousy husband and he didn't want to put himself and his partner through the pain of finding out. That seems pretty clear cut to me.

But, oh no, only six months later, Canalis decided it was time to push the issue. In an interview with the Italian magazine, Chi, she said she was "a firm believer in marriage" and that she would be married in the future. Referring to Clooney's reputation as an eternal bachelor, she said: "I could never be with someone who every time he opens his mouth says he doesn't want a child with me or to marry me."

That couldn't have gone down too well with Clooney . Things reportedly came to a head during a fiery argument at his lakeside villa last week. He was angry about the interview and she accused him of not spending time with her. The upshot was that she stormed out and fled to Milan. End of row, end of romance.

So, where does it leave all the Clooney fans out there?

Happily, I am not one of them. At 50 and with that greying hair, he is a little too old for me.

I don't need Clooney. There are plenty of eligible bachelors out there. Leonardo DiCaprio is still unhitched (and he has a private island), Ryan Seacrest is well-connected (and one of my idols), and Jake Gyllenhaal is the sexiest thing on the silver screen. If I wanted a sportsman, I'd try to nab baseball star Alex Rodriguez - "A-Rod". I don't mind that he's slept with Madonna and Cameron Diaz, he's cute.

But, if the truth be told, I still dream of marrying a prince. If Charlene Wittstock can do it, why can't I? I know that Albert of Monaco and Prince William are taken, and that Chelsy Davy has all but snapped up Prince Harry, but there are plenty of other princes out there.

My favourite is Prince Andrea Casiraghi. The name may not mean anything, but this dashingly handsome 26-year-old is the son of Princess Caroline of Monaco and her late speedboat-racing husband, Stefano Casiraghi, who was heir to an Italian oil fortune. His granny, of course, was the Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.

And the prince is not just a pretty face. He studied international politics in Paris and taught children in Senegal, Togo and Niger in support of one of his mother's charities. He is completing graduate studies in New York City. I am sure I could interest him in another trip to Africa, this time to the southern tip, where I can hopefully teach him a thing or two.

The funny thing is that his future depends on whether our Charlene can provide an heir to the throne in Monaco. If Prince Albert dies without legitimate children, then my Andrea will be in line to move into the royal palace. With a little bit of luck, I'll be at his side. Sure beats being Mrs George Clooney, don't you think?