British Royal Wedding

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)

Princes William and Harry read Diana prayers – 24Dash
Princes William and Harry have approved two new prayers to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of their mother Princess Diana. The readings, which have been published by the Church of England, talk about Diana’s “generosity”, “vulnerability” and her “tragic and untimely death”…

Zero Gravity treat for Princess Beatrice – Hello Magazine
It was very much a case of ‘Love is in the air’ for Princess Beatrice and her boyfriend Dave Clark this week when the pair embarked on a zero gravity flight aboard G-Force 1 – a specially modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. American-born Dave took his relationship with the 19-year-old royal to another level when he accompanied her on the 90-minute trip which saw them climbing to 25,000ft…

William & Kate Together Again – ABC News VIDEO
“Well, they are an item again. But whether they’ll get engaged, I don’t know,” said Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty Magazine. Right now William and Kate are vacationing on an Indian Ocean island. They tried to keep it a secret. She flew in from Paris; he flew from Kenya. They reportedly checked in to a hotel as Martin and Rosemary…

Royal Romance – CBS News VIDEO
England’s tabloids are filled with stories about the love lives of Princes William and Harry, but the palace is keeping quiet…

Don’t forget to check out our own Royal Videos page!

Prince William is planning to propose to Kate Middleton – using one of Princess Diana’s favourite rings to seal the engagement.

The 25-year-old Royal has asked his uncle Earl Spencer for permission to give the cherished memento to his sweetheart. Royal sources are confident that William will pop the question within six months – probably at Balmoral where the couple first fell in love.

Our source said: “William is sure his mother would have approved of Kate. So he approached his uncle to see what he thought of the idea. Using one of Diana’s rings is the greatest symbol Wills can think of to show how important Kate is. It will also keep his mother’s memory to the fore on his big day.”

“Assuming Kate accepts, it will be like a union of the two most important women in his life.” Wills, who split briefly from Kate, 25, is reported to have whisked the brunette beauty to the paradise isle of Desroches in the Seychelles for a romantic, week-long break.

But William is more likely to propose at Balmoral, the Royal estate in Scotland.

The source explained: “Balmoral has special memories for them because it’s where they used to sneak off for discreet weekends when they were students at St Andrews.

“It is where the romance started. William thought it would be the place with the most meaning to them.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Once it was a love affair between a royal prince and a comely commoner that simply reached what many took to be its natural end. But today, Kate Middleton is formally back in the royal fold, her wide, open-mouthed smile as unrevealing as ever about what she’s really feeling.

The Queen is exasperated by what she sees as future difficulties for her grandson, William and the former air stewardess’s dark-haired daughter whom he met at St Andrews University. Her private dream is that her grandchildren do not make the same mistakes that wrecked the domestic happiness of three of her children.

She has told close friends that William and Kate, having split up once, could do so again. Even though she is fond of Kate, she feels William could be making the wrong decision, especially as he confided to her and Prince Philip in the spring that he did not think he loved Kate enough.

As for Kate, let us not kid ourselves: throughout this confusing episode, she has slipped in the public’s regard because of the way she has sometimes appeared to grab all the attention that she could get while, at other times, she has had her lawyers issue formal warnings and complaints about the attentions of the paparazzi.

Read entire Daily Mail article…

A clear majority of people believe the Duchess of Cornwall should not go to the memorial service for Princess Diana later this month.

A poll for the Daily Mail shows 54 per cent feel the presence of the woman famously described by Diana as the third person in her marriage would be “inappropriate”.

Just 39 per cent say she should attend. Women are even more strongly opposed, with 61 per cent against. The finding is one of a string which will alarm supporters of Charles and Camilla.

For the first time, most Britons now want the crown to pass to Prince William rather than his father when the Queen dies or decides to abdicate. Even if Charles does become King, a large majority oppose Camilla being Queen – reversing a finding last year. Of most immediate concern to Clarence House will be the swelling controversy over the August 31 service to mark the 10th anniversary of Diana’s death.

Support for William is particularly strong among women and younger people. Some 71 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds want him to be the next king, as do 57 per cent of women. The increase in support for William may reflect his higher public profile as he has started to take on more Royal duties. (via Daily Mail)

Outraged Palace officials have complained to the BBC over the Concert for Diana broadcast for turning Prince William’s love life into a soap opera.

Senior courtiers went ‘ballistic’ at BBC staff during a debrief of the six-hour live coverage. They believe they turned a celebration of Princess Diana’s life into a mockery-focusing too much on Wills’ rekindled romance.

Prince William’s private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton has complained about the amount of cutaway shots of the army officer and Kate Middleton, both 25. They were particularly angered when they focused on her when Take That sang Back For Good towards the end of the show-referring to the Prince’s on-off romance.

One senior royal source said: “The Palace are hopping mad over this, they won’t let the BBC get the better of them when it comes to the boys personal lives.”

They accuse the broadcaster of turning William’s romance with Kate into a state occasion instead of focusing on what would have been Diana’s 46th birthday.

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Prince William’s Romance Rekindled – CBS News (with video)
It was a royal riddle: Did Kate Middleton sitting not with but behind Prince William at the Concert for Diana last weekend mean the relationship was off or back on? Britain’s The Sun Newspaper says the relationship is very much back on. A royal spokesman declined to comment. British gossip columnist Katie Nicholl said that it is important to be careful about speculation because Middleton and the prince have not yet had an official outing as a couple…

Harry: I’m Bullied For Being Ginger – Daily Record
PRINCE Harry has admitted he gets bullied for being ginger and says he needs counselling. The 22-year-old redhead made the revelation to a 14-year-old award winner at the Princess Diana memorial concert. In an interview on US television last month, Harry revealed the childhood nickname given to him by Princess Di was Ginger. His girlfriend of three years, Chelsy Davy, 21, fondly calls him Big Ginger. And the men in his Blues and Royals regiment nicknamed him the Ginger Bullet Magnet – claiming that if he was posted to Iraq he would be picked out as a trophy target by insurgents…

The Royal Watcher on CBC Newsworld – Marilyn’s Royal Blog
Congratulations to Marilyn over at Marilyn’s Royal Blog – she was interviewed on Canadian television about the Concert for Diana and the NBC Interview with the princes. “Today I had the privilege to be interviewed by Andrew Nichols on CBC Newsworld about Princes William and Harry and the Concert for Diana.”

via The Sun – PRINCE William got cosy with Kate Middleton over a candlelit drink after Wembley’s Concert for Diana – then stunned pals by dirty dancing with his old flame.

The couple, who have battled to keep their renewed relationship secret, threw caution to the wind at the after-show bash.

A friend said last night:

“The pair went wild when the Bodyrockers’ hit I Like The Way You Move came on. It used to be ‘their song’. Kate was dancing so sexily in front of Wills that chemistry was just oozing off them.

“None of us had ever seen so much electricity between them before. It was as if they had just met and fallen in love for the first time. Wills and Kate couldn’t get enough of each other. It was almost embarrassing to be around them. We all kept saying, ‘Get a room, chaps’.

“They didn’t leave each other’s side for the whole party — and danced together constantly. Wills’ eyes were out on stalks as Kate shimmied seductively up and down his body.

“It was like something out of Dirty Dancing. It is obvious to them now – as it has been to all their mates for ages – that they are made for each other.”

Before taking to the dancefloor the lovebirds slipped away from pals to sip cocktails in a corner.

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