Pop star in hot pursuit of an animated prince(Electronic Telegraph)
BRITNEY SPEARS, the teenage pop star, gets Prince William in her
clutches at his 18th birthday party in a fictional version of it to be broadcast
by Channel 4.
In the first still from the cartoon Will's World, the prince is seen with his
trousers around his ankles with the Baby One More Time star in hot pursuit.
The programme, which features the prince at a stuffy formal occasion and
then a wild showbusiness event, is to be screened on June 21, his birthday.
Writers from The Fast Show and Smack The Pony have worked on the script
and it has been directed by Oscar-winning Bob Godfrey, best known for
television favourites Henry's Cat and Roobarb And Custard.
In the show, Prince Philip is seen waist high in a Dalek outfit. And Prince
Edward is cheekily pictured leafing through a manual by Dale Winton called
How To Succeed Without Any Talent. Other guests include the "It Girls" Tara
Palmer-Tomkinson and Tamara Beckwith.
In real life, Prince William - whose voice will be provided by comedian
Morwenna Banks - has been admired from afar by Spears. A Channel 4
spokesman said: "It's an affectionate, sideways look at the first really modern
prince."
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Prince's link to Paras halts
Londonderry trip(UK Times)
BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER IN ENNISKILLEN
THE Government has cancelled a visit by the Prince of
Wales to Londonderry amid fears that his links with The
Parachute Regiment would offend nationalists.
The Prince is Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, whose
actions on Bloody Sunday in 1972 are being scrutinised at
the Saville inquiry, which is sitting in the city's Guild Hall.
Unionists reacted with fury to yesterday's last-minute
decision to block the royal engagement at Ulster
University's Magee campus. Jeffrey Donaldson, the Ulster
Unionist MP, said that it would be seen by the Unionist
community of Ulster's second city as a snub.
He said: "When you consider a convicted IRA man has
been elected as the Mayor of Londonderry without any
regard to the sensitivities of the Unionist community in that
city, then if the reports are true that Prince Charles was
due to visit Londonderry and it has been cancelled
because of nationalist sensibilities - it shows how absurd
this whole situation has become."
Earlier Sinn Fein confirmed its boycott of today's garden
party for 2,000 people in honour of victims of the
Troubles, which will be attended by the Prince. A Sinn
Fein spokesman said: "Prince Charles is Colonel-in-Chief
of The Parachute Regiment responsible for the Bloody
Sunday massacre and other atrocities against the Irish
people.
"Republicans will not be attending, but perhaps it would
be appropriate for the British Prince to use the occasion
to apologise for the actions of the paratroopers."
John Taylor, deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party,
said he was pleased that the two Sinn Fein executive
ministers and the party president, Gerry Adams, will be
staying away from today's function at Hillsborough Castle.
"They are not the kind of people one would like to meet at
a garden party," he said. "I am sure it will be a much more
pleasant affair in their absence."
The Prince was accompanied to Northern Ireland by his
temporary press secretary, Amanda Neville. She was
standing in for Sandy Henney, who resigned on Friday
after a row between St James's Palace and The Daily
Telegraph over the copyright to photographs of Prince
William.
His two-day visit was his first official engagement without
Ms Henney, whose last job before she resigned was to
visit Enniskillen Agricultural College in Co Fermanagh in
preparation for the Prince's visit and to arrange photo-
opportunities.
The Prince met farmers at the college and spoke of what a
"total tragedy" it would be if the younger generation felt
that there was no future for it on the land. He warmly
endorsed traditional farming methods during a two-hour
visit to college, close to the Irish border, amid high
security. Police snipers hid behind hedgerows and manned
rooftops at the college in an area known to be a
stronghold of the Continuity IRA.
"It is a very difficult time for farmers and the rural
community," the Prince told an audience of about 200
people. "I care very much about their plight and have been
trying over the past few years to do what practically I can
to help."
He praised organic producers in the Province, where
organic production is fast growing but said by officials to
be ten to 15 years behind the mainland's. The number of
producers has jumped from 18 to 80 in the past 18
months and the land being farmed organically from 17,500
acres to 150,000.