It’s been announced that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are to meet with Pope Benedict on a visit to the Vatican this April. Before their audience, they’ll pay an official visit to Italy. It’s believed that Their Royal Highnesses will carry with them an invitation to the Pope to visit Great Britain though such an invitation was apparantly offered by Gordon Brown when he visited the Vatican earlier in the year, something the Vatican denies. Either way, this visit will be an interesting one and there’s bound to be sarky comments on two divorcees visiting the Head of the Catholic Church (comments which will make very little sense to those with half a brain but still they’ll come from the usual sources) but if the Pope does visit Great Britain he’s more than likely to be met with protests as LGBT organisations have already begun to prepare demonstrations against the Pontiff’s visit (according to the Gay Times that is). For those not concerned with such matters, it could prove to be a tiara outing for Her Royal Highness.

BeatrixFan British Royals Duchess of Cornwall, Italy, Official Visit, Pope Benedict XVI, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Vatican City

Click the image to see the photo at the Duchy Originals website

 It seems that England is producing some miracle cures from the unlikeliest of sources. Firstly there’s the £15 bottle of water from the English Channel currently sweeping parts of the USA and France which claims to rejuvenate and replenish (what doesn’t these days?) and has, according to London’s Metro paper, been proved to turn back the hands of time. And secondly and even more unlikely is the new addition the the Duchy Originals “herbal” range. It’s a mix of dandelions and artichokes which is said to aid digestion and detox the body and is being flogged under the rather twee name of “Duchy Original’s Herbal Tincture”.

However, a Professor from the Peninsula Medical School has denounced the tincture as ‘quackery’ saying; “Prince Charles [is] financially exploiting a gullible public in a time of financial hardship”. Still, no word from the UK Chief Medical Officer or the Royal College of Physicians and so the product will continue to be sold. According to a Duchy spokesman; “There is no “quackery”, no “make believe” and no “superstition” in any of the Duchy Originals herbal tinctures. We find it unfortunate that Professor Ernst should chase sensationalist headlines in this way rather than concentrating on accuracy and objectivity.”

It’s an interesting thought that the heir to the throne has turned apothecary to the nation and although I’m as big a fan of Charles as anyone can be, it’ll be a cold day in East London before I crack open a jar of Duchy Originals Leeches.

BeatrixFan British Royals Duchy Originals, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales

 In an interview for the 2002 documentary series “Queen and Country”, Susan Crosland (wife of the late former Foreign Secretary) said of the Royal Family and politics, “One naturally assumes they would be Conservative”. Has Mrs Crosland hit on something we wonder? It’s no secret that the Queen Mother wasn’t keen on Tony Blair and the spats between the Queen and Lady Thatcher are fairly well documented but this recent foray into political intrigue has caused jitters at Westminster.

The Prince of Wales is infamous for his ’spider-memos’ which some take more seriously than others. In 2006, the Telegraph claimed that; “Ministers [were] being bombarded” with the peak coming when former Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he found Prince Charles’s views, “Old fashioned and patronising”. Letters are one thing but now it seems that His Royal Highness may have inadvertently donated money to the Conservative Party. The accusation is that The Prince’s Trust gave £10,050 to a charity called “Women2Win”, a Conservative backed organisation that promotes more female Tory candidates in elections. Over two years ago, the Trust and Women2Win joined forces to host a fundraising luncheon with Baroness Thatcher as guest of honour with tickets going for just over £1,600 each.

British politicians now sweat at the word “donation”. Ever since Lloyd George sold honours for political support back in the 1920s, honours and politics have gone hand in hand despite the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act. Unfortunately for Mr Blair, he was the PM that got caught. As Westminster tries to open up on just how much money political parties recieve and where the money comes from, this Royal connection may well prove more explosive than either Charles or Gordon would like it to…

BeatrixFan British Royals Conservative Party, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, The Prince's Trust

Click on the image to to read the article at Sky News

Click on the image to to read the article at the Mail On Line

 And so at last London gets a memorial of the Queen Mother that’s more than a few wirey gates, dented from an argument with a lorry. As well as the new statue of a young Queen Elizabeth, there’ll be bronze reliefs showing scenes from the Queen Mother’s life placed alongside it, depicting both the war role the Queen Mother played and her later years as Grandmother of the nation. The memorial will be unveiled by the Queen this afternoon in view of her family, friends and the world’s press. It’s said to have cost £2m and was funded by the sale of commemorative £5 coins, specially minted for Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday. It’s taken some time to complete and one hopes it doesn’t go the way of a marble statue of Margaret Thatcher that was decapitated in protest in 2002. It seems to be the week for tributes; Gordon Brown has apparantly just paid £100,000 to artist Richard Stone to paint a portrait of Lady T for the newly christened “Thatcher Room” in Downing Street. Oooh er.

BeatrixFan British Royals Elizabeth II, Memorial, Queen Mother

What’s the difference between the Duke of York and a mango? A mango is flown thousands of miles and people actually want to see it when it gets there. Yes, Airmiles Andy is at it again with a little helicopter trip to open a bridge. Members of the Royal Family use helicopters a lot of course, but when their destination is only 70 miles away surely a car is the better option? By road it would have cost a mere £40, and by rail just £90 and a few pennies. But no, Andrew “golf-balls for brains” Windsor decided to splash out four grand for a jaunt by chopper. With behaviour like this, the Grand Old Duke wants to be careful it’s not the only chopper coming his way. Britain’s apparantly in recession, we’re experiencing a credit crunch (well, I’m not but then my only assets are an empty bottle of Gordon’s and a half-eaten bagel), and the Royal Family should be seen to lead the way in economising. Of course the Palace are keen to stress that as HRH had a dinner at Buck House later that night, he needed the copter to get him back otherwise the whole schedule would have been thrown out.

Here’s a thought, Andy: why not cancel a round of golf, schedule a lovely little train ride to Shoreham, and work two days running. Or is that a little too much like hard work….

BeatrixFan British Royals Duke of York, Finances, Prince Andrew

  In 1993, the entertainment world battened down the hatches and prepared for the bitchiest onslaught in recent times as the Kenneth Williams Diaries were published, followed by the publication of his private correspondance to friends and fans. Even those who thought they’d be praised were suprised; Michael Parkinson was taken aback to find he’d been branded a “North country nit.” A similar wave of dread must have passed over the bigwigs of the London scene when Diana Princess of Wales died: could there be diaries or letters with what she really thought laid down in black and white for all and sundry to see should some eager publisher get a-hold? Well there are letters but to the relief of many, her correspondence with top government officials won’t be published. Of course there’ll be the nutters who try and cite the Freedom of Information Act as an excuse to find out whether Diana was really talking about an international ambassador role or just flirting with the Prime Minister (isn’t that what these kind of documents only ever throw up?) but do we really need to steal any more privacy from Diana and her family?

BeatrixFan British Royals Correspondence, Diana Princess of Wales, Princess Diana