Princess Beatrice to go to Swiss school(Electronic Telegraph)
Enough of the prince of wails (The Guardian)
~*~
Britain's Prince Edward named as debtor(Yahoo: Reuters)
Bankrupt builder may sue Prince(Electronic Telegraph)
Drunk son of Duke's friend is jailed for death of cyclist (Electronic
Telegraph)
~*~
Charles and William in nightclub row (Sunday UK Times)
WILLS HAS A RACY TIME WITH TV JOKER JOHN (Sunday Mirror)
WARRANTS FACE AXE - BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT (Sunday Mirror)
~*~
Planning row threatens Diana's former school(Electronic Telegraph)
Queen Mother 'feeling better' (BBC News)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Feb 4)
Princess Beatrice to go to Swiss school
By Neil Tweedie
PRINCESS BEATRICE is to become the first member of the Royal Family in
recent times to be educated abroad.
The Duke of York announced yesterday that his elder daughter had passed the
entrance examination for Aiglon College, a private boarding school in
Switzerland. The 11-year-old Princess will take up her place in September.
Her father made the announcement in an interview that was published on the
Buckingham Palace website to mark the approach of his 40th birthday on Feb
19. Fees for boarders at Aiglon, a British-run international school near the
Alpine ski resort of Villars, begin at £17,000 a year.
The decision to educate the Princess abroad represents a break with royal
tradition and is expected to result in the Duchess of York setting up home
in Switzerland in the next few years. The Duke and Duchess of York's second
daughter, Princess Eugenie, nine, will join her sister at Aiglon after
completing her primary education at Cowarth Park School near Woking, Surrey.
It is understood that the Duchess will base herself in Switzerland at least
during term time once Eugenie has transferred to Aiglon. But it is not yet
clear whether she will leave Sunninghill Park, the home near Windsor she
still shares with the Duke. The Duke will foot the bill for the fees, which
will rise to £22,000 a year as the Princess enters the upper forms.
The decision could only have been made with the consent of the Queen, whose
rights of supervision extend to her grandchildren. British police bodyguards
are expected to accompany Beatrice, who is fifth in line of succession to
the throne.
Aiglon, a co-educational school, has about 300 pupils of 50 different
nationalities. Roger Moore, Sophia Loren, Jackie Stewart and Jonathan Aitken
have had their children educated there. The Duke said: "Sarah and I were
delighted to hear this week that Beatrice has passed her entrance exam to
Aiglon and will begin in September. Eugenie will follow in the normal course
after completing her time at Cowarth Park.
"We have done exhaustive research into which school to send them to. In the
end we feel that the opportunities offered by Aiglon and the teaching and
community philosophy are exceptional, to say nothing of the languages that
are available to them there."
Aiglon is a member of the Round Square, a group of schools that subscribes
to the teaching philosophy of Kurt Hahn, the founder of Gordonstoun School.
The current headmaster of Aiglon, Richard McDonald, was a contemporary of
the Duke at the Scottish boarding school.
During the interview, the Duke spoke warmly of his family. On having
children, he said: "It is a fantastic gift to have and one that I am
determined not to squander. I love our children and I strive to do the best
for them. I am immensely proud of them and I love them completely.
"You only have to be with them to see how wonderful they are. Each is of
course unique and each has her own particular way of trying to get me around
their little finger. I try not to let them succeed all the time, but it can
be hard to resist them.
"Sarah is a brilliant mother and together we are ensuring our children will
be able to withstand the pressures they will ultimately have to face in
their lives. Beatrice is the responsible one - her sense of duty and concern
for others is quite amazing. Eugenie can be a tearaway. She is undoubtedly a
leader and she has a maverick streak in her."
Speaking of his plans for the future, the Duke said he was not looking
beyond his career in the Royal Navy. One of his main ambitions, he joked,
was to improve his golfing handicap. Life, he believed, began at 40. He
said: "If I had one wish and one aim it would be to be blessed with
continuing good health and a determination to see the best for my children's
future."
The Duke said his experiences in the Falklands War, in which he served as a
helicopter pilot, had been life-changing. He said: "All these things develop
your character."
~*~
Enough of the prince of wails
Charles is hardly a philosopher; it's time he stopped pontificating
Leanda de Lisle
Prince Charles is a man who looks as if he is carrying all the problems of
the world on his shoulders. However, the first ever published accounts of
the Duchy of Cornwall reveal that he has a fortune of £290m to temper his
gloom. As the old joke runs: "Money can't buy you happiness ... but it makes
misery a great deal more comfortable".
A truth that has particular significance for a man who sees the world's
problems in terms of the terrible shortage of classical buildings and
organic chocolate thins.
Our future king's appreciation of other people's misery is founded on
personal experience. The difficulty of finding fulfilling work, the
unpleasantness of all that is cheap, nasty or vulgar and the prison of
materialism are all things that he feels profoundly. So profoundly, in fact,
that he believes he may be stumbling towards some great truth. A conviction
that has earned him a reputation as a "philosopher prince".
His whining self pity is forgiven as the consequence of being the sensitive
son of a fiendish father. But it is one of life's little ironies the thing
for which he is best known - his interest in the environment, whether it be
the cityscape or the natural world - was actually learnt at Prince Philip's
knee.
Furthermore it is Prince Philip rather than his son who is the better at
eschewing frivolous luxuries. He drives around Windsor in a taxi powered by
LPG, the latest green fuel. Prince Charles's idea of a green car, on the
other hand, is a gas-guzzling Aston Martin or two, painted green.
This may, in part, be a consequence of their different upbringings. Prince
Philip had to learn to make do and mend, while Prince Charles's easy access
to beautiful things taught him that exquisite living was his by divine
right. Unfortunately his education was not so extensive that his taste has
developed beyond those of his ancestors. He likes what he knows and damns
anything with which he is not already familiar, be it a GM tomato or a
Picasso.
The Prince of Wales supports organic farming because it produces classy
vegetables for his table and ensures the countryside around him has an
attractive and, above all, traditional appearance. It is part and parcel of
his 18th-century model village approach to housing (so well displayed at
Poundbury), and the minute attention to detail he expects from his tailors
(on whom he is said to lavish £50,000 a year). He would make a world fit for
princes, but has neither the will nor the ability to look for ways to better
the lot of mankind.
Prince Charles's message to the world's hungry amounts to little more than:
"Don't breed so much, you're spoiling the view", and: "Let them eat Duchy
Originals".
Closer to home, he has talked a great deal about restoring communities.
However, he sees himself as above their common rules. At Highgrove he enjoys
what he calls his "haven", but he ruins his neighbours peace by buzzing
though the sky in his new Sikorsky helicopter whenever he has to leave it.
This sense of separateness allows him to buy ruby necklaces for his mistress
and have vast quantities of cut flowers delivered to his homes, while
delivering heartfelt speeches condemning "modern materialism". For all his
introspection he is not very self aware. But then who can blame him, when
others see fit to call him "a very spiritual man"?
A "very spiritual man" who has some affection for High Anglican ritual, but
for most of his adult life has thought nothing of breaking the Commandments
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife", and "Thou shalt not commit
adultery".
People point to the fact he likes to talk to plants, as if the key to his
much vaunted spirituality lies there - and perhaps it does. He may be a kind
of animist - one who believes first rate turnips and Louis Vuitton luggage
have souls, but carbuncles and carrier bags do not. Prince Charles's
thoughts are so profound it is difficult to plumb them. However they do
appear to reflect many of the prejudices of middle England.
People fill their larders with his branded tea biscuits and raspberry jams.
These are goodies which suggest elegance and embody the desire to stop all
those horrible brown people chopping down the rain forest and ruining their
adventure holiday destinations.
But there is also something more: many feel the absence of meaning in their
otherwise comfortable lives. Restlessly they try paganism, psychiatry or
whatever the Laurens Van der Post of the week comes up with. In Prince
Charles they have found a pundit at the apex of society who expresses
something of what they feel.
Unfortunately he is living proof that just as money can't buy you happiness,
billions can't buy you brains.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Feb 5)
Britain's Prince Edward named as debtor
LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Edward has been named as owing a "substantial"
amount of money to a building firm which has gone bust.
The debt is related to renovation work at Edward's 50-room mansion Bagshot
Park, in Surrey, south- east England, which he shares with his wife Sophie.
Media reports said building firm CJ Sims, which went into receivership on
Monday, collapsed after Edward refused to pay a 600,000 pound bill.
Receiver Keith Goodman, of accountancy firm Leonard Curtis, confirmed to
Reuters that Edward, the Queen's youngest son, had been named among the
firm's debtors. He said the amount of the debt had not been finalised, "but
according to the company it's a substantial figure".
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: "Prince Edward's arrangements for
the renovation of
Bagshot Park are very much a private matter for him."
The Daily Mail quoted an unnamed Royal source saying Edward was involved in
a dispute over the final cost of the work.
"It is far greater than the two million-odd which was originally agreed when
CJ Sims won the contract. He sees no reason to pay the final bill until he
knows exactly what he is paying for," the source said.
"At present it is around 30 per cent higher than the original estimate."
The source said Edward had paid the "vast majority" of the fee but had
withheld the disputed amount, put by the Mail at 600,000 pounds.
CJ Sims, which has been trading since 1946 and ironically had recently
received the Royal warrant, is not expected to survive.
Goodman said the company employed 90 staff and "hundreds of
sub-contractors".
Edward's role in the collapse of CJ Sims was the second piece of unwelcome
publicity for the prince and his wife this week.
On Wednesday Sophie was forced to apologise for her "error of judgment"
after being seen wearing a fox fur hat.
Sophie, a public relations executive, had been branded cruel and out of
touch with public opinion after being photographed wearing the hat in the
exclusive Swiss resort of St Moritz.
~*~
Bankrupt builder may sue Prince
By Neil Tweedie
THE Earl of Wessex was warned yesterday that he could be sued by the
receivers of a bankrupt building company unless he pays up to £600,000 owing
on the renovation of his country home.
Prince Edward has been named as one of the main debtors of C J Sims, which
collapsed on Monday. The receivers claimed yesterday that the London-based
company might have survived, albeit in the short term, if the Prince had
paid bills incurred in the renovation of Bagshot Park.
C J Sims, which employs 90 people and had only recently been awarded the
Royal Warrant, claimed that it was owed about £600,000. The sum was in
addition to an agreed payment of £1.8 million, which the Prince paid in
instalments before the completion of the renovation work in August last
year, shortly after his marriage to the Countess of Wessex.
Keith Goodman, of the accountants Leonard Curtis, who are acting as
receivers, could not say whether the demand for £600,000 had been valid
until he received advice from his quantity surveyor and lawyers but there
was no doubt that money was owing. He said: "There will be a significant
debt due in respect of the contract on the work. It has to be said that it's
that contract, and other contracts where the client has not paid with
alacrity, which has caused C J Sims to have the difficulties it has.
"There are always straws which break the camel's back, and his [the
Prince's] may have been the final straw. At the end of the day, if they
don't come and talk to me then I must follow the normal routes that one
would follow in collecting in a debt, and that would be resorting to
litigation if we had to."
Yesterday, a friend of the Prince defended his decision not to pay the bill,
saying C J Sims had produced it "out of the blue" a couple of months after
the £1.8 million valuation had been agreed on - minus 1.5 per cent as was
normal in case of teething problems.
The friend said "An offer was made to pay more but his proposed settlement
was rejected."
~*~
Drunk son of Duke's friend is jailed for death of cyclist
BY HELEN JOHNSTONE
A FORMER public schoolboy whose father is a close friend of the Duke of
Edinburgh was jailed for 4½ years yesterday for killing a cyclist while he
was more than three times over the limit.
William Hobbs, 21, the son of Major-General Sir Michael Hobbs, had
previously been counselled for a drink problem, the court was told.
His family live in Windsor Great Park and last year Sir Michael, Chief
Executive of the Outward Bound Trust, was appointed Governor of the Military
Knights of Windsor. Hobbs was said to have turned to drink after finding it
difficult to cope on his own with university life and student debts.
After drinking all day, he ploughed into 20-year-old Sarah Westwood, another
student, who was pushing her bicycle along a designated cycle path. Ms
Westwood, from Barnstaple, Devon, suffered severe head injuries and died in
hospital 13 days later. She never regained consciousness.
Hobbs, a student at Oxford Brookes University where he is a friend of the
daughter of Camilla Parker Bowles, pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court to
one charge of causing death by dangerous driving in April last year. When
breathalysed, he was found to be more than three times over the drink-drive
limit but told police he was "fine to drive".
Wearing a pin-stripe suit, Hobbs, who was a second-ear student in hotel and
restaurant management, sat with his head bowed throughout the hour-long
hearing. His father sat in the public gallery with his wife.
The court was told that Hobbs had been driving at up to 70mph before the
accident. David Bright, for the prosecution, said: "He had been drinking
heavily in an Oxford public house for several hours before he got into the
car. He had previously been counselled for what has been referred to as a
drink problem. He was certainly not in any fit state to drive anywhere that
night."
Sentencing him and banning him from driving for six years Judge Anthony King
said that Hobbs had put a scar on his future by his own stupidity. "You will
have to live with that but she cannot. The most important tragedy is that by
your own conduct you have brought to an end a young 20-year-old's life
suddenly and with no good reason.
"Secondly, and incidentally, by your own stupidity, you have put a great
scar on your own future. You will have to rebuild your life. I have a public
duty and that can only be to pass a substantial prison sentence."
The court was told that Hobbs had felt instant remorse and had to be
restrained by police from harming himself after he was detained. In a letter
to the dead girl's parents, but not posted, Hobbs had said: "I can't begin
to say the remorse I feel for this tragic waste of life."
John Alban-Williams, for Hobbs, said that he now suffered "flashbacks,
loneliness, trauma and humiliation". Hobbs, who attended Ampleforth, the
Roman Catholic boarding school, attained four A levels but did not have the
maturity to deal with the commitment and responsibility of going to
university, he said. Despite his background and loving parents, he found it
difficult to cope with the mounting debt he was incurring as a student.
Hobbs voluntarily withdrew from the university after the incident.
The parents of the dead girl, who are devout Christians, had written a
letter forgiving Hobbs, the court was told. In a statement after the
hearing, Ms Westwood's family said she was a caring, sensitive, thoughtful
girl with a keen sense of humour and with many friends.
"Sarah's family is trying to come to terms with the outrageous curtailment
of her life. This has totally devastated every member of the family," it
said.
Sir Michael and Lady Hobbs said: "On behalf of our family we wish to express
to Mr and Mrs Westwood and their family our heartfelt sorrow and regret over
the death of their daughter, Sarah, and the pain they must feel as a
consequence." Lady Hobbs is an internationally renowned garden designer. Her
husband retired in 1988 after a distinguished army career. He was latterly
Commander of the 4th Armoured Division in Germany.
He was director of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme for ten years until
1998, working closely with the Duke and becoming friendly with the Earl of
Wessex.
The court was told that Hobbs had planted a tree in Kent in memory of his
victim and buried a letter to her among its roots.