British Royal Family Current Events 1: November 2002-November 2005


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Queen sells land at Kensington palace

First sale of royal grounds for 300 years

David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Monday December 16, 2002
The Guardian

The Queen is to get a windfall of up to £100,000 from the first sale of land by a royal palace for 300 years. A deal is being brokered between the government, on behalf of the royal household, and the owners of the Royal Garden hotel in London over the sale of a plot of land owned by Kensington Palace.

Hitherto it had been illegal for any of the grounds of the royal homes - Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, and Windsor Castle - to be sold. In 1702 parliament forbade William of Orange to sell any of the palace land, in order to stop him joining in the property speculation rife at the time.

A wheeze has been devised by the parliamentary agents Winckworth Sherwood to get round the ban. The agents, who draft bills and promote them through parliament, have had passed a private act giving the owner of the Royal Garden hotel, the Imperial Tobacco pension fund, dispensation to buy the land.

The procedure could be copied in future and has implications for development of royal palaces at a time when the royal household is looking at rationalising its residences; Kensington Palace is largely empty, and once vacated by its last royal tenants, including Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the building could be redeveloped.

Plans to lease some of the empty flats to selected, security-cleared tenants, such as foreign ambassadors or military figures, have foundered because of laws preventing any property in the palaces being leased for longer than 31 years.

The new legislation, under the unwieldy title of Land at Palace Avenue, Kensington (Acquisition of Freehold) Act, got through parliament virtually without debate in June. It gets round the 31-year lease by allowing Imperial Tobaccoto to start negotiating to buy a parcel of the most valuable estate in the capital.

The back of the hotel (designed by Richard Seifert, who built Centre Point) straddles the palace land. A 31-year lease agreed in 1987 cost £5,000, plus a ground rent of £200 a year, which will soon rise to £300.

The pension fund, through its property advisers, DTZ, opened negotiations with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport within days of the act getting the royal assent. It is understood that an opening bid of £25,000 for the land, six yards by 60 yards, was turned down by the department; it is reported to want a six figure sum more in line with land prices in Kensington.

A spokesman for the department said yesterday: "The money raised is expected to go to the royal household."

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/monarchy/story/0...,860766,00.html
 
Princess Margaret's palace home to be open to public

Princess Margaret's former apartment at Kensington Palace will be opened up to the public as an education centre and extra exhibition space for the royal ceremonial dress collection, it has been announced.

In addition, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Queen will pay £120,000 a year from her own funds in rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent to remain at Kensington Palace.

No decision had yet been made on the future of the former Kensington Palace apartment of Diana, Princess of Wales, said Buckingham Palace.

The former home of Princess Margaret, who died in February, will be taken over by the Historic Royal Palaces, a self-funding charitable trust.

As well as administering the Kensington Palace State Apartments, already open to the public, the trust manages the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Banqueting House in London's Whitehall and Kew Palace.

All running costs will be paid by the trust, which receives no government funding, and the new arrangement will, therefore, use no taxpayers' money.

Link: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_730110.html?menu=
 
Lots of interesting news coming from Great Britain! Elizabeth seems to be cracking down on some of her realtives a bit... ;)

Julia
 
Originally posted by Jacqueline@Dec 21 2002, 04:26 PM
The procedure could be copied in future and has implications for development of royal palaces at a time when the royal household is looking at rationalising its residences; Kensington Palace is largely empty, and once vacated by its last royal tenants, including Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the building could be redeveloped.
KP is still the home of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent and Duke and Duchess of Gloucester along with his mother Princess Alice, who won't be going anywhere for a long time to come. The Duchess of Gloucester could live another 40 years. The Duchess of Kent another 30. But this is the same paper who said the Queen Mum died in June, so I'm not surprised.
 
Very interesting! This paper tends to be unreliable, I am guessing?

Julia
 
They are a republican paper, so the only time the cover the royals is when they do something wrong. They have a whole section devoted to the monarchy on their website, though. Take everything they say with a grain of salt. They don't research much of anything and it shows. I've seen mistakes in their coverage on other topics, not just the royals.
 
From the BBC....Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas Message in its entirety.

Wednesday, 25 December, 2002, 15:01 GMT
Queen's message in full

As I look back over these past 12 months, I know that it has been about as full a year as I can remember.

But Christmas itself still remains a time for reflection and a focus for hope for the future. All great religions have such times of renewal - moments to take stock before moving on to face the challenges which lie ahead

Many of you will know only too well from your own experience, the grief that follows the death of a much-loved mother or sister. Mine were very much part of my life and always gave me their support and encouragement.

But my own sadness was tempered by the generous tributes that so many of you have paid to the service they gave to this country and the wider Commonwealth.

At such a difficult time this gave me great comfort and inspiration as I faced up both to my own personal loss and to the busy Jubilee summer ahead.

'Sense of community'

Anniversaries are important events in all our lives. Christmas is the anniversary of the birth of Christ over 2000 years ago, but it is much more than that.

It is the celebration of the birth of an idea and an ideal. In a different way I felt that the Golden Jubilee was more than just an anniversary.

The celebrations were joyous occasions, but they also seemed to evoke something more lasting and profound - a sense of belonging and pride in country, town or community; a sense of sharing a common heritage enriched by the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of our 21st Century society.

I hope it also provided an occasion to acknowledge the progress of the past 50 years and the contributions of those who have done so much to make this country what it is today - their leadership and example, their achievements in science, the arts and many other fields.

These celebrations also gave opportunities to recognise the valuable work undertaken by so many people in service of their communities.

'Pressure of modern life'

It was a time to remind ourselves, as the Christmas story does every year, that we must never forget the plight of the disadvantaged and excluded, that we must respond to the needs of those who may be in distress or despair.

Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever.

It is often difficult to keep this sense of perspective through the ups and downs of everyday life - as this year has constantly reminded me.

I know just how much I rely on my own faith to guide me through the good times and the bad.

Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God.

Like others of you who draw inspiration from your own faith, I draw strength from the message of hope in the Christian gospel.

Fortified by this and the support you have given me throughout the last 12 months, which has meant so much to me, I look forward to the New Year, to facing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and to continuing to serve you to the very best of my ability each and every day.

A Happy Christmas to you all.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2603637.stm
 
Summary of Queen's message and few details about her injury obtained a few days earlier from Yahoo News.

Queen reflects on mixed year in Christmas speech
Wed Dec 25,11:37 AM ET

By Emma Ross, Associated Press Writer


LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II reflected on "as full a year as I can remember," Wednesday, speaking of her grief following the deaths of her mother and sister and of the success of national celebrations marking her 50 years on the throne.

For her annual Christmas broadcast, the queen sat in a powder blue dress in front of a table with framed photographs of her sister, Princess Margaret, who died in February, and her mother, the Queen Mother Elizabeth, who died in March.

She wore a hand-painted rock crystal brooch, set on 100 diamonds, that she had given to her mother for her 100th birthday.

"Many of you will know only too well from your own experience, the grief that follows the death of a much loved mother or sister," she said. "Mine were very much part of my life and always gave me their support and encouragement.

"But my own sadness was tempered by the generous tributes that so many of you paid to the service they gave to this country," she said. "At such a difficult time this gave me great comfort and inspiration as I faced up both to my own personal loss and to the busy Jubilee summer ahead."

Against a montage of film footage showing the Queen's hectic Golden Jubilee year, she said: "As I look back over these past 12 months, I know that it has been about as full a year as I can remember."

"Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever.

"It is often difficult to keep this sense of perspective through the ups and downs of everyday life — as this year has constantly reminded me."

This year's broadcast was, for the first time, publicized in advance by Buckingham Palace with a television trailer.

The unprecedented promotion of the address appeared to be an attempt to boost the speech's declining ratings.

Watching the queen's address used to be a holiday fixture for many British families, but the British Broadcasting Corp. said that while about 30 million people had watched in decades past, last year only about a third that many tuned in.

Earlier in the day, the queen, 76, attended a Christmas Day church service with other members of the royal family on the royal Sandringham estate, showing signs of a knee injury she suffered last week.

She did not use a walking stick but did appear to have a slight limp and used a handrail as she walked up the steps into the church.

The Queen injured her leg during a private visit to Newmarket, Suffolk, on Friday and has since been walking "with the occasional use of a stick," according to Buckingham Palace.

A crowd of about 300 people lined the path leading to the church to watch the royals and the royals were joined at the service by a number of local people.

As the royal family left the church, an American woman ducked under a rope keeping back crowds.

Mother-of-three Marlene Ponce, 42, of Ruby, South Carolina, dashed up to Prince William, hugged him and handed him a block of chocolate before being led back behind the rope by police.

Prince William smiled and resumed his walk back to nearby Sandringham house after the incident.

Link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...een_christmas_1
 
Photographs from the Royal Family's Attedance of Christmas Services at Sandringham Church in Norfolk on Christmas Day.

All Photos are From Yahoo News.

Queen Elizabeth II
 

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Queen Elizabeth II and the Countess of Wessex
 

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1.Princess Beatrice

2.Princes William and Harry

3.Group Picture of Royals

4.The Duke of Edinburgh

5.Queen Elizabeth II

6.Prince William and Crowd

7.Prince William and American Woman Who Wanted to Give Him a Gift

8.Prince William Looking at His Gift

9.Queen Elizabeth II
 

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December 31, 2002

The monarch is safe, but the monarchy is not

Libby Purves

“ I know,” said the Queen pensively, “that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings and to put my trust in God.”
It is not a complicated credo. It expresses the dutiful, dogged ordinariness which enrages intelligentsia, bores republicans rigid, and comforts the humble. Perhaps that is why, 50 years on, the crowds turn out to applaud an aged monarch battered by social change and family scandals. On The Mall in June, hoarse from singing and suffering flag-stick wounds, we were all struggling away from the final balcony appearance when a woman near me said: “You know, she’d have been out there waving, even if only two people and a dog turned up.”

Yes, I thought: that’s it. The Queen is there for us, whether we care or not. As survival strategies go it may prove to be the subtlest of all. Let lesser royals petulantly threaten to spend the rest of their lives ski-ing, or move to America and turn their backs on an ungrateful nation. The Queen won’t, and we like her for it. Beneath all our Americanised susceptibility and global pretensions the old Britain survives, waiting for a chance to say “Mustn’t grumble” and “Could be worse, could be raining”. The Queen strikes that chord. The contrast between the unglamorous persona and the pageantry is unique: there was a curious moment at the Golden Jubilee horse spectacular at Windsor when the Household Cavalry escorted her landau into the arena. Under the floodlit castle, flanked by the glitter and jangle of magnificent young men, sat not some fairy prince and princess but a tidily dressed elderly couple, he looking keenly around like any old gent on an outing, she a bit shy, lifting a tentative hand.

Personally, I like that. I am aware, though, that it drives some people crazy: they wish we would grow up and stop wanting both glitter and matriarch. A hilarious think-tank pamphlet demanded this year that honours should be given “in a democratic ceremony at the House of Commons, presented by the Speaker in clothes he would be happy to wear on public transport”. I prefer the jubilee remark by Martin Amis: “Sometimes every nation needs a holiday from reason. On our holiday, we do no harm.”

Either way, it seems a good moment to review what we have learnt this year about the relationship of Queen and people. This is not the same as the relationship of palace and media. The media are not the people: we try to lead, but in the end we must follow. The “stealth jubilee” succeeded despite numerous editors and opinion-formers, who began by joyfully predicting a flop and were wrong-footed by evidence that real people were keen, even if they saw no reason to advertise June parties in February. The hostile stories mutated into more helpful ones, lambasting local authorities and insurance companies for making street parties difficult; those bodies swung into line, and community celebrations proliferated.

Two other things jolted the media. The first was the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. When Princess Margaret died commentators were scornful, but the old pictures had the opposite effect. They reminded us that the Princesses were once beautiful, the Snowdons smart and witty, and that the years wear us all down in the end. They created a reflective mood, with compassion for the Queen. Then the Queen Mother died. Again, some media resorted to sneers about privilege: but suddenly the decorous but decorative funeral arrangements caught the national imagination. In a time of security alerts we enjoyed the sheer nerve of parading the Koh-i-noor diamond through the streets of London, followed by half the Royal Family on foot. Moreover, in a demonstration that government serves the nation, not vice versa, we had the delightful spectacle of Cabinet and Opposition leaders penned up like schoolchildren, paying honour to a centenarian who for complex historical reasons somehow represented the rest of us. In defiance of expectation people queued to file past the coffin, day and night. The Palace dispatched Princes and Princesses out to chat. News crews caught the spirit and sought out Rastafarians and teenagers in the queue. It was a funeral carnival.

The other PR coup was less public. The Palace gives parties for professional groups, and invited “the media”. The Queen spent two-and-a-half hours practically body-surfing through crowds of the rudest, most irreverently reptilian press with her polite opener of “It’s so nice to meet the media!” and well-judged expressions of concern about David Beckham’s foot. Numerous scoffers threw in the sponge at this point, and wrote amazingly polite pieces about her: when the fierce republican Jonathan “Bring home the Revolution” Freedland softens, you know something has happened. It was, I think, her sheer courage that turned them round. Journalists are not accustomed to gentle smiles from people they torment.

So the tours were a success and the jubilee weekend happy and glorious. With two million on the streets of London, there were fewer arrests than on a normal weekend and railways and the Underground rose to the event heroically, handing out sweets to travellers. The crowds in the Palace gardens made themselves at home (Michael Parkinson idiotically opened the concert booming “don’t be awed by your surroundings” to picnic-parties who had been making whoopee in shellsuits for three hours). The day after the gold coach procession and the eccentric carnival finale, the Queen was seen visiting a bus garage to say thank-you. Business as usual. The other notable thing was that so few people wondered who was running the weekend: for security and co-ordination it was, inevitably, a Home Office committee and later one from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport under the relevant ministers’ aegis. But with miraculous self-restraint, neither the PM nor his Cabinet did any grandstanding. Most people, if asked, would say that it just “sort of happened”. That was a sort of triumph, too.

So what do we learn? That people like a party, and a modest monarch is a great focus; that being British can still feel good; that the matter of Diana, while not forgotten, is largely forgiven; that royal faithfulness wins affection; and that a wise government stands back and keeps out of Black Rod’s way when these national mysteries are afoot.

Then came the Paul Burrell trial. Hysterical journalism says the jubilee year was ruined, but I am not sure. The Queen did not “intervene”: she gave evidence that would have been irrelevant if there had been any truth in the police story of his selling things. Once the police admitted that this was nonsense, her evidence became important again and she gave it. It was the judge who stopped the trial. Sane people can grasp that much. As for the succeeding welter of stories, few were damaging — apart from the dodgy psychic saying that the Duke of Edinburgh called Diana a trollop, which he explicitly and credibly denies. One revelation was powerfully favourable: that the Queen corresponded weekly with Diana even after the divorce, and was not the cold horror she is portrayed as.

The really uncomfortable effect is elsewhere. If I were a royal adviser my dismay would be reserved for the Prince of Wales’s reputation. While his mother wins affection for being quietly faithful to family and nation for half a century, the unfortunate Prince has no such reservoir of habitual love to draw on. Apart from the shadow of his late wife’s misery, serious harm has been done by glimpses and allegations of warring courtiers, favourites, hissy-fits, extravagant self-indulgence and over-artful spin-doctoring at St James’s Palace. It is not Charles’s fault that he never will have his mother’s history of long service as monarch; his charity work is exemplary and his support of the jubilee year was modest and appropriate. But none of this outweighs the year’s negatives. Even the matter of Camilla Parker Bowles is unresolved. The other week my own liberal views on the matter were shaken when, at a provincial literary lunch, I met a unanimous chorus of “We will never, never accept her”.

Odds are worryingly stacked against the Prince of Wales right now. At the end of 2002 the monarch is closer to the people than she has been for years, but her heir is farther away. Monarch very safe: monarchy itself rather less so. Its past is more than satisfactory, but the future is all to play for.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,48...-528512,00.html
 
ROYAL BOX CURTSEY BOWS OUT AT WIMBLEDON

30 APRIL 2003
As of this year, female tennis players competing at Wimbledon will no longer be expected to curtsey before the Royal Box. The Duke of Kent, who is president of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, has done away with the tradition, branding it an anachronism.

An exception will be made if the Queen chooses to appear in person, but Her Majesty has only attended the event four times in the last 26 years.

"The Duke feels the tradition of bowing and curtseying is pretty much on the way out," said All England Club chairman Tim Phillips. "He thinks it is time to stop it, and we respect his views."

The custom was first established on June 26, 1922, when Leslie Godfree and Algie Kingscote walked onto Centre Court to play the opening match in the club's now legendary arena. The pair turned and bowed to George V, then the Prince of Wales, and Princess Mary.

They thereby established the tradition, which has never been officially required of competitors. Indeed one of the tournament's most legendary champions, Martina Navratilova, admits she found it one of the toughest parts of the competition.

"One of the most difficult things I ever had to learn was that little job," says the athlete, who forgot protocol altogether after receiving the runner-up medal from the Duke of Kent. "I forgot to curtsey. I'd never been through something like that before. Usually at tournaments they give you a cheque, you thank everybody and leave."

Article From: Hello Magazine
 
Wimbledon scraps bowing and scraping
Wed Apr 30, 8:51 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Venus and Serena Williams will no longer have to curtsey to the Royal Box at Wimbledon this year.

Officials of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club have decided to do away with one of the tournament's traditions after consultation with the Duke of Kent, the club's president.

All England chairman Tim Phillips said the move had been under consideration for some time.

"The players don't have any problem with it but the Duke of Kent feels the time is right to stop this and we respect his view on that."

Most players were happy to bow or curtsy to the Royal Box although they were never formally required to do so.

Pete Sampras once had to tap Sweden's Thomas Enqvist on the shoulder to remind him to make the necessary genuflection.

Wimbledon officials said a loyal gesture would still be appropriate if the Queen or the Prince of Wales appear in the Royal Box.

But as the Queen has visited only once, despite being the club's patron, to see Britain's Virginia Wade triumph in 1977, and the Prince only once, that clause is unlikely to be called into action very often.

The most regular attender in the Royal Box, and at the presentation of trophies, used to be the Duchess of Kent, but ill-health has meant her virtual withdrawal from public life.

John McEnroe, men's champion in 1981, 1983 and 1984, was astonished by the change.

"I'm absolutely speechless. This can't be right," he told The Times newspaper.

"All those years spent practising, although I think I forgot to do it a couple of times."

One change Wimbledon has not made is to award women the same prize money as men and Women's Tennis Association chief executive Larry Scott took the club to task.

The men's champion will walk away with 575,000 pounds (900,000 dollars), an increase of 50,000 pounds on last year, with the women's winner collecting 535,000 pounds, up from 486,000.

Scott said he was disappointed that what he called the "long-standing inequity between men's and women's prize money" had not been abolished.

"The quality and depth of play demonstrated by women's professional tennis players, combined with the global popularity and media interest in our players, merits equal prize money at the Grand Slams," he said.

All England chairman Phillips replied: "We like to think our prize money is driven by market data and fairness."

He pointed out that last year's women's champion - Serena Williams - actually left Wimbledon with more money than men's winner Lleyton Hewitt because she also played in the doubles.

"The situation is that the women play much shorter matches while the men feel they cannot succeed in both singles and doubles," Phillips said.

Article From: Yahoo News
 
ROYAL REBEL CLAIMS WELFARE


May 10 2003


Exclusive

By Wayne Francis


ROYAL dropout Marina Mowatt is living on housing benefit and income support while her mother Princess Alexandra sits on a fabulous gems collection worth up to £10million.

Appalled by Marina's plight, a titled friend of the family said yesterday: "It's all so unnecessary. Alexandra only has to sell one of her rings and she could buy Marina a house."

Princess Alexandra, 66, and husband Sir Angus Ogilvy, 74 - who live in a 12-bedroom £7million mansion in Richmond Park - are worth an estimated £23.4million. But the friend added: "Angus and Alexandra are very careful with money." Marina's publisher brother James, 39, has a £950,000 fortune. Queen's cousin Marina - a goddaughter of Prince Charles - lives in a three- bedroom rented Crown Estate cottage at Windsor Great Park.

The 36-year-old music student and mother of two claims housing benefit which is paid directly to her landlord, ultimately the Queen.

She also receives income support believed to be worth around £115 a week and £28.30 a week child benefit for her daughter Zenouska, 12, and son Christian, nine. Her council tax is paid directly by the local authority.

Yesterday, she answered the door of her semi-detached home after spending the morning at college. But asked to comment on her problems, she merely smiled and stayed silent.

Marina is so anxious about her financial future she has discussed sending her privately educated daughter to a comprehensive.

She has already visited one highly praised comprehensive in Berkshire. If the move went ahead, it is thought Zenouska would be the first royal to attend state school.

Zenouska finishes at £7,500 a year St George's Windsor Castle School - where pupils include Prince Andrew's daughter Princess Eugenie - this summer.

But a close friend of Marina's told the Daily Mirror: "Marina has just not thought it through. It would be such an upheaval for Zen."

The cost of Zenouska and Christian's education is met from a trust fund one of whose trustees is the Duke of Westminster, Britain's richest man.

Marina's cash crisis dates back to her stormy seven-year marriage to former comprehensive schoolboy Paul Mowatt. They divorced in 1997.

During the final months of their relationship, the couple had violent rows triggered by spiralling debts which led to their phone being cut off six times and cheques bouncing.

Marina claimed at the time that a £100,000 trust fund set up in her name was frozen when she married while pregnant with Zenouska.

It is believed the fund was reinstated after her divorce but that since then Marina - 36th in line for the throne - has drawn heavily on the funds. Photographer Paul would only say: "She's a wonderful mother. I know she won't allow the children to suffer."

Part of Marina's financial problems come from her decision to go to college to revitalise her flagging career as a composer writing advertising jingles and film scores.

She is studying orchestration at the Royal Holloway University of London near Egham, Surrey, arriving for classes in fine weather on her bicycle.

Officials confirmed that despite Marina's privileged background, she is fully entitled to her benefits.

The Department for Work and Pensions has clear guidelines for claimants.

Child benefit is for people bringing up children. It is paid for each child and not affected by income, savings or wealthy background.

Income support is for those aged 16-59 who are not working, or working less than 16 hours a week. Students who are lone parents are also eligible to claim income support.

Housing benefit is usually paid at the claimant's behest and is for those on low income and paying rent.

A departmental source, unaware of Marina's identity, said: "It doesn't matter if the claimant is related to the Queen of Sheba. If he or she fits the requirements, they qualify."

The Crown Estate, which manages royal assets including property, announced a record surplus in July last year of £160million.

Profits go to the Treasury in exchange for the Queen's Civil List pay.

The Estate is one of Britain's biggest landowners with a portfolio which includes 1,000 listed buildings, 300,000 acres and properties such as Regent Street and Portland Bill, in Dorset.

Buckingham Palace said last night: "We do not speak on behalf of Marina. She is a private citizen. She doesn't carry out any royal engagements."

From The Mirror
 
Queen cousin on benefits By PAUL THOMPSON
Royal Correspondent

ROYAL rebel Marina Mowatt is claiming state handouts to pay the rent on a grace and favour cottage.

The Queen’s second cousin gets up to £500 a month in benefits — even though her parents are worth £23MILLION.

Divorced Marina, 35th in line to the throne, lives in the Crown Estate-owned cottage in Windsor Great Park.
The Queen will have had to consent to her taking it over.
The Department of Social Security pays the housing benefit directly. Marina also claims income support.

The music student, 36, lives in the semi-detached home with daughter Zenouska, 12, and son Christian, nine.

But her parents Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus Ogilvy have a 12- bedroom mansion in Richmond Park, Surrey, worth £7million.

They also have a jewellery collection worth £10million.
Pals claim if Princess Alexandra sold ONE of her jewels it would pay for a home for the wayward Royal.

And one added: “I am sure Marina’s parents are aware of the situation.”

But the Royal has cut her own costs — she is taking her children out of a £2,000-a-term private school and is looking for a comprehensive.

Marina, who is Prince Charles’s god-daughter, has a strained relationship with her parents.

She scandalised the Royal Family in 1990 when she announced she was to become an unmarried mum.

Marina claimed her mother told her either to marry the father, photographer Paul Mowatt, or have an abortion. The pair did marry, but it fell apart in 1997.

Marina sold exclusive photos of her family life to magazines, and once even posed in kinky boots and a crown.

Since her divorce, she has been trying to earn a living writing music for films and TV adverts.

Buckingham Palace last night refused to comment. A spokesman said: “Marina Mowatt is a private individual.”

A Department of Work and Pensions source said: “It doesn’t matter if the claimant is related to the Queen of Sheba — if they meet the requirements, they qualify.”

From The Sun
 
SHE WAS THE BAD GIRL WITH TASTE FOR SCANDAL May 10 2003


MARINA has never shied away from controversy. This is her rebellious path:

1989: She causes a scandal by announcing she is pregnant with Paul Mowatt's child. It is the first time anyone in the line of succession admits to being pregnant while single. Marina is swiftly dubbed the Royal Bad Girl.

1990: Marina and Paul marry in time for birth of first child Zenouska. They live in a South London semi but hardly see Marina's parents who live 10 minutes away in Richmond Park.

Marina says: "I've been turned from my parents' house so many times. I'm puzzled two mature people behave in such a manner."

1991: She sells the story of her pregnancy to a national newspaper, poses for photographs in a crown, miniskirt and thigh-length boots and describes her mother, Princess Alexandra, as "snarling". Marina claims her parents forced her to marry or have an abortion.

She also wins the title Rear of the Year and shows her bum on Jonathan Ross's chat show.

1992: Marina models in a lucrative catwalk appearance at Vivienne Westwood's Paris show.

1993: She is reunited with her parents at second child Christian's highly publicised christening ceremony at Windsor. It is alleged Paul sold exclusive picture rights to Hello! magazine for £100,000.

1994: Marina describes her godfather Prince Charles in a BBC documentary as "foolish".

1996: Marina and Paul announce split amid accusations of drunkenness and violence.

1997: Their marriage ends

From The Mirror
 
considered a cutie when he was younger? i mean, like the way his children are. :huh:
Coz to me, he wasn't good looking then and still isn't today. but i guess he had alot of gorgeous girls around him, no?
 
I watched the same show and I'm not exactely sure if Charles was considered a "cutie." Does any one have some real evidence, maybe?

BUT in my opinion, I doubt that he was considered very...uh...what's the word....hot. I mean, I'm sure the fact that he is Crown Prince added on to his image...girls like the whole "princess" fantasy. Plus, he played polo and attended Cambridge and did all those clichés associated with royality. But, I don't think he ever acheived the immense support his sons have. William and Harry are probably so popular because of their mother, their family backgrounds, their behavior, in addition to their looks.
 
My aunt told me that she had a crush on Charles when she was in high school. We're americans.
 
PHILIP: SECRET TRIPS TO CANCER EXPERT


THE Queen is desperately worried about the health of Prince Philip as he visits a top cancer specialist, The People can reveal today.

Her ailing 81-year-old husband is believed to be suffering from prostate cancer.

He is being seen by a leading consultant at the Royals' favourite hospital, the private King Edward VII in central London, and the Harley Street Clinic Oncology Unit.

Despite Buckingham Palace denials that the Duke of Edinburgh has been stricken by the disease, we can reveal that he has kept several appointments with the specialist, one of the country's most respected oncologists.

The Queen, still coming to terms with the deaths of her mother and Princess Margaret, is hugely relieved that no-nonsense Philip agreed to seek medical advice.

But she is said to be "deeply concerned" about her husband of 55 years, who has insisted that no details of any medical condition be released.

A Royal source told The People: "Prince Philip had always enjoyed the best of health and been more active than many men half his age.

"Like most of the senior Royals, he has an old-fashioned approach to illness - don't whinge, buck up and get on with it.

"So he has found it very hard to come to terms with the problems of getting old or accepting that he has to slow down. The Queen would never dream of trying to force Philip to do anything against his will. But she is very pleased that he is now getting the best medical guidance available."

Prostate cancer hits one in 14 men at some time of life. The disease kills about 9,000 a year in the UK but responds to treatment if detected early. More than 80 per cent of sufferers are over 70.

Philip's health started causing serious concern to family and friends at the end of last year.

He suffered a series of falls - blamed on worsening arthritis - and became forgetful and increasingly techy.

The source explained: "The Duke is notoriously grumpy and doesn't suffer fools gladly but was getting more and more irritable. He has a lot of pain from his arthritis but this seemed different.

He also seemed to have memory lapses. Once he was half an hour late for a morning shoot - and he's a stickler for punctuality.

"Sometimes he would ask a question then ask the same one a few minutes later. He also mislaid items and couldn't remember where he had left them.

"It could be put down to old age but everyone became concerned because he also started to look quite frail."

At Christmas Philip was photo- graphed going to church at Sandringham with black eyes and a cut nose. Insiders at the Norfolk estate revealed he had fallen downstairs but got up unaided and was not badly hurt.

In March the Prince seemed muddled at an engagement at York University, confusing it with Cambridge.

He was also said to be irritable and upset during a Sandringham dinner party with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

But the Prince ordered aides to quash all reports about his health and bluntly refuted any suggestion of cancer.

He can rely on the total discretion of staff at the King Edward VII.

It is the hospital where the Queen had a knee op in January and Prince Charles had a hernia repair in March.

Prince Edward's wife Sophie was also treated there after losing her first baby in December 2001.

There are three main options for prostate cancer sufferers:

SURGERY to remove the prostate gland, which carries a risk of impotence or incontinence. RADIOTHERAPY to shrink the tumour - either externally or by inserting radium in the gland.

But most patients, including brave comedian Bob Monkhouse, are given HORMONE injections or implants to stop male sex hormones which stimulate cancer cells to divide.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said last night: "We never comment on medical details of members of the Royal Family.

"There have been numerous stories about the Duke of Edinburgh's health over the past six months and they have all been absolute rubbish. He is fine."

From thepeople.com.
 
Charles' concern


PRINCE Charles wants to call a family summit to help hard-up royal Marina Mowatt, who is living on state handouts.

Marina, 36, is the daughter of The Queen’s cousin Princess Alexandra — worth £23million.

A royal aide said: “He is very close to Princess Alexandra but does not want to be seen to interfere.”

From The Sun.
 
Fury at Royal 'mercy deaths' claim

CLAIRE GARDNER


SHE was the grand old lady of the monarchy who slipped peacefully away after 101 years of faithful service to her country.

It is one of Scotland’s feistiest publishing houses with a reputation for rocking the establishment .

But Mainstream Publishing has now been accused of cynically exploiting the memory of the Queen Mother by publishing allegations that she agreed to be killed by lethal injection to avoid the possibility of dying during her daughter’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

The claim that the Queen Mother chose the time and means of her death will be carried in a revised edition of The War of the Windsors: A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy, by historian Lynn Picknett and Stephen Prior, a former intelligence officer.

Citing only a "very high-up" source at Buckingham Palace, they claim the Queen Mother was despatched by an injection of diamorphine - the medical name for heroin - echoing the death of King George V who was lethally injected by his doctor 66 years earlier.

Last night, the allegations were angrily denounced by Royal watchers, who pointed out that euthanasia conflicted with the Queen Mothers’s religious beliefs.

Lord St John of Fawsley, a veteran monarchist and close friend of the late Queen Mother, said: "This is absolute nonsense. I spoke to the Queen Mother shortly before she died and this claim is ludicrous, preposterous and outrageous.

"These people are beneath contempt. Away with them and off with their heads."

The Queen Mother died on Saturday, March 30, last year in her bedroom at the Royal Lodge at Windsor Castle. The death certificate confirms that she died of "extreme old age".

However, a new chapter of the Windsor book, to be published in paperback by Mainstream later this year, will not only claim that the Queen Mother was given a lethal injection but will also speculate that her youngest daughter, Princess Margaret, who died in her sleep on February 9 2002, after suffering a stroke the previous day, was also a victim of a "mercy death".

According to Picknett and Prior, the Queen Mother deliberately chose the date of her death so that her funeral and nine-day period of official mourning would not clash with the start of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations on May 1.

Picknett, the former editor of The Royal Family magazine, who has co-written a host of conspiracy theory books including Double Standards, The Rudolf Hess Cover-up, The Turin Shroud: In Whose Image, The Templar Revelations, and The Stargate Conspiracy, said the Queen Mother considered it an extension of her "royal" duty to die at an "appropriate" time.

Co-author Prior said they were basing their claims on "information from a very high up source at the Palace".

"We are not saying it was murder because the Queen Mother was in agreement with it. It was her sense of duty to keep the system running smoothly.

"It would have been a logistical nightmare trying to deal with both occasions and it was understood that this just could not happen."

Last night a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman dismissed the claims out of hand.

"That’s absolutely ridiculous. There was absolutely nothing scheduled about her death. In fact, I’m not even sure we should dignify these allegations with a response," she said.

Royal commentator Harold Brooks-Baker said the allegations were "absurd".

"There were enough people, including ladies-in-waiting and friends who saw the Queen Mother right up to the end to push that argument aside quickly.

"These types of assertions are in extremely bad taste and should call into question the validity of the whole book. I don’t think that by any stretch of the imagination that the Royal Family are as sinister as this."

Lord James Douglas Hamilton, the pro-monarchy MSP and Conservative party elder statesman, said: "I would rather stick to historical facts than give credence to these fantasy conspiracy stories."

And Mary Kearns, spokeswoman for the ethics think-tank, the Scottish Council for Human Bio-Ethics said she would be "astonished" if the claims were true. "I don’t think that it would fit in with the Queen Mother’s strong Christian beliefs."

Publishers Mainstream said they did not wish to respond to accusations of exploiting the Queen Mothers’ memory.

A spokeswoman confirmed an additional chapter for the book, which is currently on its fifth print run, was being written and added: "Euthanasia is such a topical issue. It will be a very interesting addition."

The authors claim their controversial theory is supported by the death in 1936 of George V.

Royal physician Lord Dawson of Penn claimed in his private diaries, which emerged in 1986, that he pumped a massive injection of cocaine and morphine into the jugular of the 70-year-old Monarch as he lay on his deathbed.

His reasoning was that he felt it appropriate that news of the king’s demise should catch the morning edition of The Times rather than the "less appropriate" evening journals.

Dawson died in 1945 and the well-kept secret came to light only 50 years after the king’s death when the doctor’s private diary was opened. "Hours of waiting just for the mechanical end when all that is really life has departed only exhausts the onlookers and keeps them so strained that they cannot avail themselves of the solace of thought, communion or prayer," he wrote.

The right to choose

CLAIMS that the Queen Mother was the victim of euthanasia follow several high-profile cases where British citizens have campaigned for the right to choose to die.

Currently, under the 1961 Suicide Act, anyone who helps someone to die in the UK could face up to 14 years jail.

Most recently Reginald Crew, 74, became Britain’s first publicly-declared suicide tourist after flying to Switzerland, where doctors helped him take his own life with an overdose of barbiturates.

Crew, who was crippled with motor neurone disease, was forced to go to Zurich to be granted his last wish because so-called assisted suicide is illegal in Britain.

Previously, Diane Pretty, who suffered from motor neurone disease lost in several courts of appeal and at the European Court of Human Rights after asking the Director of Public Prosecutions to grant her husband immunity from prosecution if he helped her to end her life.

From Scotland on Sunday.
 
Trouble in Queen's kitchen

By PAUL THOMPSON
Royal Correspondent

SIX Buckingham Palace cooks have quit over rows with the head chef.

The below stairs bust-up flared amid complaints about volatile Mark Flanagan.

One source described him as “Gordon Ramsay without the cooking talent” — a reference to the celebrity chef known for ranting.

A woman cook stormed out of her £25,000-a-year job after only two weeks working for the Queen. She was appointed by Flanagan, 38, but insiders said she did not like his kitchen manners.

It is claimed that five other workers have set leaving dates over the next two months.

Flanagan was said to have a fiery temper and upset long-serving Palace staff.

He was appointed last October and had a reputation for French cuisine, after working for the Roux brothers. But a source said: “He has an incredibly overbearing attitude and has really wound a lot of people up the wrong way.

“He had a stand-up row with a pastry chef a few weeks ago and they were eyeball to eyeball. It almost ended in a punch-up.

“A senior woman chef could not believe the way she was being treated and walked out.

“No one could believe it as she’d only been here five minutes but the view was, ‘Good on you’.”

The Palace is now advertising for new recruits in a catering trade magazine.


By PAUL THOMPSON
Royal Correspondent

SIX Buckingham Palace cooks have quit over rows with the head chef.

The below stairs bust-up flared amid complaints about volatile Mark Flanagan.

One source described him as “Gordon Ramsay without the cooking talent” — a reference to the celebrity chef known for ranting.

A woman cook stormed out of her £25,000-a-year job after only two weeks working for the Queen. She was appointed by Flanagan, 38, but insiders said she did not like his kitchen manners.

It is claimed that five other workers have set leaving dates over the next two months.

Flanagan was said to have a fiery temper and upset long-serving Palace staff.

He was appointed last October and had a reputation for French cuisine, after working for the Roux brothers. But a source said: “He has an incredibly overbearing attitude and has really wound a lot of people up the wrong way.

“He had a stand-up row with a pastry chef a few weeks ago and they were eyeball to eyeball. It almost ended in a punch-up.

“A senior woman chef could not believe the way she was being treated and walked out.

“No one could believe it as she’d only been here five minutes but the view was, ‘Good on you’.”

The Palace is now advertising for new recruits in a catering trade magazine.


From The Sun.
 
I cant believe it the chefs got quits job for Her Majesty's job!

if need hire chefs or asst chef that sad !

Sara Boyce
 
I remind about Queen Mother when i visited Windsor Castle last year when my mother and I been visited London, England i going see her tomb few month after the funeral that my first time see her tomb. And also i not see Princess Margaret's tomb too.

Maybe i will come visiting see Althorp where Princess Diana's childhood.

Sara Boyce
 
Hey Jenna!

On Larry King Live (the Royals edition) Hugo Vickers (author of Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece) said that he thought that the cancer rumors were rubbish and that the press is always trying to find something wrong with Philip. :shock:
 
I guess even royals can be tacky and gauche ;) ....Marina sounds like a piece of work. :blink: :shock:
 
It's hard to say where the fault lies in family squabbles, especially those between parent and child.

From the Mirror.
 

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