British Royal Wedding

Royal girlfriend Kate Middleton is to be taught the art of photography by Princess Diana’s favourite snapper Mario Testino.

Prince William has arranged for her to have a series of sessions with the world’s top fashion lensman who took the iconic Vogue cover shots of his mum.

Sources say Kate, 26, flew to New York to meet Testino in November and will return to his studio in March.

The beauty – who quit as a buyer for fashion chain Jigsaw in October – is said to be “extremely passionate” about photography and keen on making it a career.

A close pal told The Sun: “Kate’s very excited. She’s itching to get her teeth into a new career and says William’s been fantastically supportive.”

Sources say the prince, 25, “sounded out” Testino when the snapper flew to London last September for a service to mark the tenth anniversary of Diana’s death.

Wills – who split from Kate for three months last year – is determined to throw himself into his military and royal duties this year and had worried about how that might affect their romance.

The source said: “Now Kate’s focused on something it’ll be far easier.”

Peruvian-born Testino, 54, was a close pal of Di. Two years ago he was chosen to take Prince Harry’s 21st birthday photos. (via The Sun)

The jury in the Diana, Princess of Wales, inquest watched her lover Dodi Fayed picking out what his family say may have been an engagement ring.

Just hours before the crash in which the couple were killed, Dodi paid a visit to the Paris branch of the famous Monte Carlo jeweller Alberto Repossi.

CCTV footage shown for the first time at the inquest in the High Court in London captures Dodi standing, surrounded by staff, being shown several items of jewellery.

The grainy images show Mr Fayed being taken to a cabinet by Mr Repossi before a selection of pieces are laid out on tables for him to inspect.

Diana is not shown with Dodi in the footage, but he returns, after the brief visit to the exclusive shop to the Imperial Suite at the Ritz Hotel, where the couple spent several hours on the afternoon and evening of August 31 1997.

Dodi’s father, the Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed, says the couple met Mr Repossi earlier that summer to chose a ring which was then sent to be sized in Italy.

The ring was from Repossi’s “Dis-moi oui” range - meaning “Tell me yes”.

Mr Fayed was then to collect it that day and present it to Diana as an engagement ring, the jury has heard. (via Press Association)

You can keep up to date with the latest hearing transcripts at the Official Inquest website.

It proved a dramatic day in court yesterday as the coroner began his inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, by immediately appearing to demolish conspiracy theories surrounding the crash, and making public poignant pictures that show her final moments…

The inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, is finally beginning in full more than 10 years after the Princess was killed.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker will start the proceedings in front of a mass of legal teams and media at the High Court in London. Eleven jurors out of a shortlist of 25 will be sworn in, ready to decide once and for all how one of the world’s most famous women died.

All have been probed on their connections to the Royal Family, Mohamed Al Fayed and the Secret Service, as they prepare to sit on what is perhaps the most high profile inquest in living memory.

Mr Al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed alongside the Princess, will be there, with his barrister Michael Mansfield QC, ready for the joint inquest. The Harrods owner claims the Princess was pregnant with Dodi’s child and that the couple were murdered in a plot by MI6 and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Diana’s sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Prince William and Prince Harry’s private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton are expected to attend.

William and Harry, who marked the 10th anniversary of their mother’s death this year, have called for a swift resolution to the case, but it looks set to last up to six months. The inquest will examine the mass of theories linked to the crash.

About 20 issues will be addressed, ranging from whether driver Henri Paul was really drunk or on drugs, to whether Diana feared for her life, was really pregnant, or about to marry Dodi. (via Press Association)

Chelsy Slums it in Leeds - Daily Times
Prince Harry’s girlfriend Chelsy Davy has moved into a dingy terraced house in a rundown part of Leeds. The millionaire’s daughter is slumming it with three pals in student digs costing her £55 a week. Zimbabwean Chelsy, 21, had been expected to splash out on a luxury riverside flat for her two-year law degree in Leeds…

Diana Documentary ruled “Not Insensitive” - Reuters
A controversial television documentary about the death of Princess Diana was not insensitive, disrespectful or in breach of broadcasting standards, the media watchdog has ruled. The documentary, broadcast in June, focused on the paparazzo’s role in the accident that also killed her boyfriend Dodi Fayed…

Camilla makes her Tussauds debut - The Press Association
The first Madame Tussauds waxwork of the Duchess of Cornwall has been unveiled. The life-like figure of Camilla was added to the royal models at the popular tourist attraction. The Duchess’s waxwork was slightly apart from her husband, taking centre stage. But eventually hers and the Prince of Wales’s will be side by side, flanked by models of Princes William and Harry. Looking on is the waxwork of Diana, Princess of Wales - placed 15ft away, facing the Duchess…

Prince Charles Pens Gardening Book - UKTV
Prince Charles, a stanch supporter of sustainability in nature, has co-authored a book on organic gardening. Released in America this month, the book portrays Prince Charles as a hands-on gardener who is keen to get his message across about not using pesticides and chemicals while gardening…

Australians now have the chance to view Princess Diana’s wedding dress, and other memorabilia, as it tours the globe…

The dress is composed of hundreds of metres of the finest, handwoven ivory silk taffeta and tulle, antique lace stitched with pure gold thread, embroidery garnished with more than 10,000 pearls and mother-of-pearl sequins. It has not been worn since July 29, 1981.

The wedding dress of Diana, Princess of Wales, was released from its hermetically-sealed crate in Sydney yesterday for the opening of an exhibition likely to be the most popular ever seen at the Powerhouse Museum.

Diana: A Celebration brings together an eclectic collection of artefacts from the life of the late princess, drawn from the estate of her children, princes William and Harry. Almost 2000 people have already booked for the exhibition, which runs from September 29 to May next year.

“The fabric itself was hand-woven in Norfolk, the lace was handmade in Suffolk,” said Nick Grossmark, an art handler who accompanied the dress from the Spencer family’s Althorp Estate in England. “It is simply magnificent, and the most famous dress ever. At the wedding, it was seen by almost a billion people.”

Read full Sydney Morning Herald article

Video: Ten Years On: Mourners Remember Princess Diana - ABC News Australia
Princess Diana has been remembered in a church service attended by the Royal Family, ten years after she died in a car crash in Paris…

Harry delivers heartfelt tribute to Diana - Times Online
Prince Harry made a heartfelt tribute to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, describing her as “simply the best mother in the world” during a moving thanksgiving service on the tenth anniversary of her death today. During the highly personal speech, delivered on behalf of himself and his brother William, the young prince described her as their “guardian, friend and protector”. “We miss her,” he said. “When she was alive, we completely took for granted her unrivalled love of life, laughter, fun and folly.”…

London Remembers ‘the People’s Princess’ - ABC News USA
Hundreds of people gathered in London today to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. While Diana’s family marked the anniversary with a private service organized by her sons, William and Harry, devoted admirers of the princess turned up at the gates of Kensington Palace, her former residence, to pin posters, collages, poems and bouquets, in memory of her life…

Diana Memorial Service - Speeches in Full - CNN International
“And then there are the 10 years since our mother’s death. When she was alive, we completely took for granted her unrivaled love of life, laughter, fun and folly. She was our guardian, friend and protector… She will always be remembered for her amazing public work. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world.”…

More than 30 members of the Royal Family will be present, including the Queen, Prince Philip, the Princess Royal, Peter Phillips, Zara Phillips, Prince Edward, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie.

A further 100 family members will attend, including Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, and his six children; her sisters, Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale; Diana’s stepmother, Raine, Countess Spencer; and all 12 of her godchildren.

The bridesmaids and pageboys from her 1981 wedding to the Prince of Wales are invited. They are India Hicks, Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones (daughter of Princess Margaret), Clementine Hamble, Catherine Cameron, Sarah-Jane Gaselee; Edward van Cutsem and Lord Nicholas Windsor (son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent).

Notable figures in the guest list include Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and former prime ministers Tony Blair and Sir John Major.

Close friends and aides invited include Simon Solari, Diana’s driver, and his wife Lyn, a former St James’s Palace secretary; Nicky Cockell, Diana’s former assistant; chef Mervyn Wycherley; Lucia Flecha de Lima; Rosa Monckton and her husband Dominic Lawson; and Prof Sir Magdi Yacoub. Among some of the other well-known friends of the princess attending will be Sir Elton John, Sir Cliff Richard, Mario Testino, Lord Attenborough, and Sir David Frost. The princes have also invited Dodi Fayed’s sisters, Camilla and Jasmine.

There will be 110 representatives from charities and other organisations associated with the princess, including the Landmine Survivors Network, Help the Aged, the Trust for Sick Children in Wales, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Centrepoint, the British Lung Foundation, the National Aids Trust, Eureka!, the Museum for Children, and the National Children’s Orchestra.

For more details on Diana’s memorial Service visit the Telegraph’s website here...

Diana’s appeal endures even if her fairytale turned grim - NJ.com
If the story of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer had concluded with their royal wedding, it would have constituted a modern-day “Cinderella.” Certainly, amid all the pomp and pageantry of that memorable day in July 1981, there was no reason to think theirs wouldn’t be a storybook marriage…

Survey reveals Diana’s status unchallenged by cine and music icons - Hello Magazine
An extraordinary nationwide survey commissioned by HELLO! magazine has shown that Princess Diana’s legacy is as powerful as ever ten years after her tragic demise in a Paris car crash. Ninety per cent of women believe no modern-day celebrity has come close to replacing the late Princess on the world stage…

Furious Camilla takes break without Charles after Diana memorial furore - Daily Mail
The Duchess of Cornwall is to fly off for a Mediterranean holiday without Prince Charles. Sources say she will use the weeklong break to cool off after she had to pull out of tomorrow’s memorial service for Princess Diana at the last minute…

A word from the Queen led to the Duchess of Cornwall’s announcement that she would not be attending the Diana memorial service.

According to insiders, Camilla agonised to her mother-in-law about the dilemma she felt her presence would present. Buckingham Palace had watched with growing unease the insistence of Clarence House courtiers that Camilla’s presence at the event would be “appropriate”.

It triggered a series of rows between the duchess and Prince Charles, who wanted his wife to be at his side for Friday’s thanksgiving service at the Guards Chapel. Privately she was known to be uneasy and reluctant to attend but Charles insisted she should.

As late as last Friday, Charles’s aides were still briefing that Camilla would be in the front pew alongside the rest of the Royal Family. But at Balmoral, where the duchess is on holiday with her husband, she had already had second thoughts.

Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, said:

“Camilla probably thought it was her duty to go, but now she’s been let off the hook. It could have only come from the Queen. It could have only come from the highest. She probably said, ‘You don’t have to do this, Camilla - you really don’t have to do this’.

All eyes would have been on her. We would have been thinking, ‘What’s Camilla doing? Is she crying? Is she feeling awkward?’ It would have been awful for her. It was madness to think she should have gone.”

In a statement yesterday, the duchess said that she was “very touched to have been invited by Prince William and Prince Harry to attend the thanksgiving service for their mother Diana, Princess of Wales”. She went on:

“I accepted and wanted to support them, however, on reflection I believe my attendance could divert attention from the purpose of the occasion which is to focus on the life and service of Diana. I’m grateful to my husband, William and Harry for supporting my decision.” (read entire Daily Mail article here)