British Royal Wedding

Letters written by Princess Diana are to be sold at auction. They describe her love for Prince Charles and the moment she danced with John Travolta.

Tributes will be paid to Diana, Princess of Wales, on the 11th anniversary of her death.

Fans of the Princess are expected to make their annual pilgrimage to her former home, Kensington Palace, to leave flowers and tie pictures and messages to the iron gates.

Princes William and Harry will remember their mother in private. This is in contrast to last year when the royal brothers marked the 10th anniversary with a memorial service.

A Clarence House spokeswoman said: “The princes will be remembering the princess privately and in their own way.” (via The Press Association)

A big slice of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding cake is set to sell for more than £2,000 at auction.

The 27-year-old cake – decorated with the royal coat of arms – was given to Moyra Smith, a cleaner at Clarence House, by a royal chef in 1981.

A thank you letter from Charles and Di to staff for a clock and a bottle of beer made to mark Prince William’s birth in 1982 are also for sale.

The three will go under the hammer at Dominic Winter Book Auctions in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on August 27. (via The Mirror)

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.”…