With a shout of "Oi" and a sharp tug on the sleeve of his
father's ski suit, Prince Harry took to the slopes today.
Harry, clearly in impish mood, grinned at photographers
assembled to picture them as they began their day's skiing.
Prince Charles,
accompanied by Harry
and Prince William, had
agreed to pose briefly
outside the cable car
station at Klosters after
the original photocall on
the mountain was
abandoned because of
poor visibility.
Carrying their skis, the trio climbed out of their four-wheel
drive vehicles to the familiar chorus from photographers
urging them to pose.
William, notoriously camera shy, looked embarrassed but
Harry played up to the cameras and after several seconds
pulled at his father's familiar grey ski suit and then turned
to walk up the steps to the cable car.
When he realised his father and brother were not following
he shouted: "Oi! Come on."
The royal trio hired their skis on arrival in Klosters. All are
using Dynamic carving skis, now widely used because of
the benefits in turning.
The ski party includes three Eton school friends and Prince
Charles's friend Piers von Westenholz and his daughters
Victoria, 14, and Violet, 16.
Earlier, photographers had been left stranded after making
their way up the mountain at first light to be in place for
when the royal party skied into view for the grudgingly
given "photo-opportunity".
There was just one problem: no view. Rain, sleet, fog and
almost zero visibility resulted in the photocall being
abandoned today.
After a series of mobile phone calls between the royal
party at breakfast in their hotel, various aides and minders,
and the photographers up the mountain, the whole thing
was postponed.
Asked later about the ski conditions Charles had grimaced
and said: "It's not looking too good." The lack of visibility
and a mixture of rain and sleet made it a dismal day. They
will be hoping for better snow higher up the mountain.
Early spring snow has turned to rain and sleet at Klosters.
Yesterday Charles and his sons had to endure "white-out"
conditions at the top of the mountain and a downpour at
the bottom.
Although the pistes are still in generally good condition,
particularly higher up, Charles may be regretting leaving his
holiday so late in the season. Yesterday was their first day
and William, 17, who has preferred shooting to skiing in
recent years, used it to get his "ski legs" back and catch up
with his 15-year-old brother - like his father, an
accomplished skier.
To say the photocall ritual is reluctantly undertaken by the
Prince would be an understatement. His private holiday
has always attracted the undesirable attention of the
paparazzi and the presence of his two sons, and in
particular the dashing William, has served to increase
media interest.
In recent years Charles has agreed to a pre-planned and
heavily posed photocall in return for being left alone for the
remainder of his holiday.
Last night his deputy press secretary, Colleen Harris, told
photographers: "I hope you will all leave them alone to
enjoy an intrusion-free family holiday. They're looking
forward to a nice, peaceful break."
The message was reinforced by resort tourism director
Dennis Schneider, who welcomed reporters,
photographers and camera crews but said they risked
becoming unpopular if they tried to follow the Prince.
"We greatly value him coming to Klosters each year and
we wish him to have time and space to enjoy himself."
~*~
Australians favour republic after royal visit, poll shows(Yahoo: Reuters)
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australians still favour making their country a republic
despite the warm reception they gave to the Queen on a recent visit, an opinion poll
has showed.
The Newspoll survey, published in The Australian newspaper, found 52 percent of
1,200 people interviewed favoured ousting the monarch as head of state and
replacing her with an Australian president.
The poll showed 35 percent were against Australia abandoning the monarchy while
13 percent were uncommitted.
Published on Friday, the poll was conducted towards the end of the Queen's 16-day visit in March and April. It showed
republican sentiment at much the same level as it was before the failure last year of a proposal to replace the Queen with a
president chosen by parliament.
Australia, settled by Britain in 1788, is a constitutional monarchy with Britain's monarch its head of state, represented in
Australia by a governor-general.
Most opinion polls have shown that Australians favour a republic. Republican campaigners say last November's referendum
failed because many people want a directly-elected president and so rejected the referendum proposal as too limited.
~*~
Attack on army barracks raises
fears for Queen(UK Times)
BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER
CONCERN for the safety of the Queen when she visits
Northern Ireland next week has increased after an attack
on an Army barracks near Londonderry. Buckingham
Palace and the Northern Ireland Office said yesterday,
however, that there were no plans to cancel the one-day
trip.
Senior security sources believe that the Real IRA, which
carried out the 1998 Omagh bombing in which 29 people
died, was most likely to have been behind yesterday's
explosion at Ebrington barracks, which houses 500
members of the Royal Anglian Regiment. A 5lb device of
homemade explosive detonated at 6.30am just inside the
perimeter wall, alongside a former guardhouse at a
disused entrance. Nobody was injured.
Later detonators and timing devices were found three
miles away, suggesting that more attacks were planned.
Security sources said Army patrols had recently been
stepped up in Londonderry because of Real IRA activity
in the area. The group is thought to be preparing to launch
a wider campaign against British targets and has been
recruiting heavily, especially disaffected members of the
Provisional IRA.
A similar attack was made at the barracks in Ballykelly six
weeks ago against a building in which members of the 1st
Batallion Royal Welch Fusiliers were sleeping. The timer
used there was similar to the one used in Omagh.
Soon afterwards, terrorists preparing to ambush troops in
Dungannon, Co Tyrone, were surprised, and abandoned
an armour-piercing rocket launcher believed to be part of
a Real IRA weapons consignment from the Balkans. The
Real IRA was also blamed for transporting 500lb of
homemade explosive towards Belfast on the eve of St
Patrick's Day. British intelligence sources believe that the
explosives were to have been used in an attack against the
Army. "There is no doubt that British troops are now a
target again," one senior officer said.
The Queen is to visit Hillsborough Castle, to confer the
George Cross on the Royal Ulster Constabulary. There
are fears that the Real IRA or another dissident group, the
Continuity IRA, might attempt a "spectacular" terrorist
attack at the same time.
Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, urged all
members of his party to be vigilant last night after 17 of its
councillors allegedly received death threats from loyalist
paramilitaries. The party said that 13 municipal
representatives in Belfast and four in Lisburn had been
informed by the RUC that death threats had been made
against them.The RUC refused to comment.
~*~
Princes take to the slopes(BBC News)
The Prince of Wales and his two sons posed
for the world's media before spending a day
skiing in the Swiss Alps.
Princes Charles, William and Harry faced the
cameras before taking a cable car to the top
of Gotschna mountain, near the resort of
Klosters where they are staying.
Around 60 photographers and reporters from
the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland
gathered for the photocall.
But after only a few minutes Prince Harry, 15,
was seen by reporters pulling his father
towards the cable car with an impatient "Oi".
Seventeen-year-old
Prince William, who is
taking his A-levels this
summer, was asked by
reporters how his
revision was going. He
smiled briefly, but did
not reply.
The royal party also
included former royal
nanny Tiggy
Legge-Bourke, and the
Prince's friends Charles
and Patti Palmer-Tomkinson and their daughter
Santa.
The photocall and a further one, which is
expected to take place on the slopes on
Friday, have been arranged in return for the
royal party being left alone by the media.
On Wednesday, they enjoyed a trouble-free
day's skiing and had good snow conditions, but
on Thursday awoke to sleet and foggy
weather.
Charles was asked how the skiing was and
replied: "Not too good at the moment."
But later a St James's
Palace spokeswoman
said the group had
enjoyed the day's
skiing.
"The snow was
fabulous and they have
had a good day," she
said.
Prince William has
taken three friends
with him on the trip -
Captain Harry Legge-Bourke, 27, William van
Cutsem, 19, and Mark Tomlinson, 18, son of
Claire Tomlinson, one of Britain's leading polo
players, who lives near Highgrove.
The Royal party are staying at Klosters until
Monday.