PRINCE WILLIAM is to receive a new coat of arms as part of his coming of
age this week, St James's Palace revealed yesterday.
The Prince helped design the crest
which, as a tribute to his late mother,
Diana, Princess of Wales, incorporates
an emblem from her family arms. The
new coat of arms, which has been
approved by the Queen, will show
William's crest, a lion and unicorn,
either side of a shield, topped by a
coronet and a second, smaller lion.
A small, red scallop from the Spencer
coat of arms appears four times on the middle point of four three-pointed,
white "collars", around the lions, unicorn and shield. The collars, or labels as
they are properly called, can only be used in arms of the sovereign's children
or the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. The coat of arms does not have a
motto.
John Brooke-Little, the former chairman of the Heraldry Society, said the
coat of arms was strongly representative of both the nation and the Prince's
own family. He said: "Royal heraldry is ad hoc and it is very much up to the
Queen what symbols she uses. The choice of the four red scallops is
particularly interesting because they could represent one of two things. The
single red scallop can be a symbol for the second son or second heir to the
throne, while the three scallops obviously do represent the Spencer family."
The Telegraph can reveal that Prince William is to receive an £800 digital
radio as one of the family presents for his birthday. William , who is fascinated
by new technology, specified the Classic 2000, the world's first portable
digital radio which was brought out last month. It is made by Roberts Radio in
Yorkshire.
A royal official said: "William asked for the present. He knows what is
technologically cutting edge." The Prince of Wales is reportedly buying his son
a motorcycle. Four more authorised photographs of Prince William at Eton
were released yesterday to mark his 18th birthday on Wednesday.
Last night St James's Palace described a report that the Prince of Wales and
Camilla Parker Bowles were exploring the possibility of marrying in Scotland
as "complete rubbish".
~*~
The Royal Family may be having a ball
but William's A-levels take precedence(Electronic Telegraph)
By Andrew Alderson
THE Royal Family and 600 of their friends will toast Prince William's 18th
birthday in his absence on Wednesday night as they dance until 2am to two
live bands and a disc jockey before enjoying a full cooked breakfast.
The Royal Family's biggest joint birthday party in memory will be a black-tie
event at Windsor Castle hosted and paid for by the Queen on the eve of
Ladies Day at Royal Ascot. The party will mark the special birthdays of
Prince William, who is 18 on Wednesday; the Queen Mother, who will be
100 on August 4; Princess Margaret, who will be 70 on August 21; the
Princess Royal, who will be 50 on August 15; and the Duke of York, who
was 40 on February 19.
Prince William will be absent from the champagne party because he is taking
an A-level exam the following day. The event, estimated to be costing
£100,000, has been billed by the media as a party of "reconciliation" - in that
some family rifts will be set aside. However, Camilla Parker Bowles, the
Prince of Wales's companion, has not been invited, while the invitation to the
Duchess of York does not include the private dinner with the Queen before
the ball.
The Prince of Wales will attend the party but he has not been offered the
opportunity to invite his own guests. He is said to be "disappointed but
accepting" that Mrs Parker Bowles has still not been fully welcomed to the
royal fold. Mrs Parker Bowles's former husband, Andrew, is expected to
attend, either as a guest of the Princess Royal or the Queen Mother, who, like
the Duke of York and Princess Margaret, have each been allocated 125
places on the guest list. The Queen has invited another 100.
Buckingham Palace courtiers also revealed this weekend that although the
Duchess of York will be present, she was not invited by the Queen, but by
her ex-husband. Since it is his birthday celebration, the Queen felt it would be
wrong to prevent her attending. Significantly, the Duchess of York has not
been invited to the dinner that the Queen will host for 80 "immediate and
extended family", including her four children, her sister and her mother.
Buckingham Palace has refused to disclose the identities of Wednesday's
guests, insisting that the party is private. There will be a small number of
representatives from other European royal families.
Guests not attending the Queen's dinner are being asked to arrive at 10pm,
and will be served drinks and canapés by about 300 servants dressed as for a
state visit in full liveried uniforms. In keeping with tradition for such royal
celebrations, a cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, black
pudding, kedgeree, toast, coffee and orange juice will be offered to guests
from 11.30pm until 2am.
Live music will be provided by Grahamophones, who will play a medley of
Twenties music, including the Queen Mother's favourite, A Nightingale Sang
In Berkeley Square. They will be followed by the Chance Band, who
performed at the Duke of York's 21st birthday at Windsor Castle. Their set
will include Things Can Only Get Better and, for the Queen Mother, I'm Still
Standing.
Prince William has arranged a separate party for his school friends and other
young royals after he finishes his A-levels on June 28. Several possible venues
have been checked by royal security staff, including the Hot Rocks Bistro in
Eton Wick, close to Eton College. Prince Harry, 16, will also miss
Wednesday's joint birthday party because it starts late.
Darcey Bussell, the Royal Ballet star whose dancing is much admired by
Princess Margaret, is among the celebrities believed to have been invited to
the party. The Duke of York's guests will include Ghislaine Maxwell, the
daughter of the late Robert Maxwell.
~*~
Guardsman falls out early during
Trooping the Colour(Electronic Telegraph)
By Adam Lusher
THE weekend heatwave proved too much for one Guardsman yesterday as
he fainted in front of the Queen and a crowd of 2,000 at the annual Trooping
the Colour.
Cpl Darren Walls, 26, of the 1st
Battalion the Coldstream Guards
collapsed after being on parade for
about an hour, standing to attention
in a heavy bearskin hat under a
fierce sun in temperatures above
80F. He was one of 1,232 officers
and men performing drills at the
official birthday celebration, marking
the Queen's 74th anniversary with
the biggest ceremonial display in the
royal calendar.
Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales
and the Princess Royal all appeared on horseback to take part in yesterday's
parade. The Prime Minister Tony Blair, with his wife Cherie and members of
the Government, were in the VIP stands.
Watched by the Queen, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the Prime
Minister, Cpl Walls lay prone on the gravel of Horse Guards Parade for five
minutes, his red tunic clearly visible between the boots of his comrades. His
fellow soldiers remained standing rigidly to attention throughout. Eventually
three soldiers appeared with a stretcher.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman later said Cpl Walls would make a full
recovery. "He is okay but very embarrassed," the spokesman said. "It is a
very, very hot day. On a day like this we were very fortunate to have only one
soldier fainting."
Temperatures in London had reached 79F (26C) by early afternoon. A
spokesman for the Met Office said: "That's in the shade. It would have been a
lot hotter where the Guardsman was, on an exposed parade ground with his
colleagues around him keeping him out of any breeze."
Cpl Walls has recently returned to Windsor after a tour of duty in Northern
Ireland. One of his fellow soldiers, CSM Allan Bunyan of the 1st Battalion the
Scots Guards, said before attending the Trooping the Colour, soldiers were
ordered to eat a cooked breakfast and drink plenty of water. They were also
told to avoid alcohol the night before, go for early morning exercise, and keep
wiggling their toes on parade to help circulation.
After the military drill a large crowd outside the palace cheered as the Queen,
in a pink silk floral dress and jacket with matching hat, stepped out on to the
balcony for the RAF flypast. The Queen Mother and other members of the
Royal Family joined her for the salute, by 16 aircraft flying in a low diamond
formation.
The origin of the Trooping the Colour ceremony dates back to at least the
early 18th century, when the guards and sentries for London's royal palaces
formed up daily on the parade ground. The Queen's birthday is on April 21,
but it is celebrated officially on a Saturday in June.
~*~
Prince Charming(Sunday Telegraph)
ACCORDING to royal custom, next Wednesday
morning should bring a strange formality to the life of
Prince William. After 18 years of Christian name terms
with detectives and royal staff, he should, suddenly,
become "Your Royal Highness". Adults he has known
all his life should, thereafter, preface any encounter
with a bow.
This, however, will not happen. The Prince has
announced that he wishes to remain "William". Bowing,
curtseying and the trappings of royal status are not
required. The Prince sees no reason to be treated like
royalty until he starts to assume the duties of royalty.
This, though, is not to suggest any disrespect for the
institution or conventions of royalty. Rather, it is a
laudable display of common sense. As we report
today, the Prince has been granted his own coat of
arms and has taken a close interest in its design. He
clearly understands the importance of royal symbolism
while, at the same time, adopting a practical approach
to his passage into the wider world.
The coat of arms and his wish to remain "William" are
not unconnected. As students of heraldry will note,
there is a clear Spencer element in his armorial
bearings. It is also not hard to detect a Spencer
element in his decision to postpone the use of "HRH".
The late Diana, Princess of Wales lost her royal style
with her divorce. She regarded it as a personal slight,
although she did not miss the protocol and deference
which went with it. It is not, therefore, surprising that
her son should take the view he does of his own royal
status.
Now that the Prince has displayed this degree of
modesty, it is to be hoped that the media reciprocates
with a degree of restraint. He has made it clear that, for
the moment, he remains a private individual and intends
to lead a private life. He is neither performing a public
role nor dependent on public money (the Prince's
expenses are met by his father out of Duchy of
Cornwall income and he has no call on the Civil List).
As a future King, he must accept that the public is
interested in his path to adulthood but that is no
excuse for ritual harassment. The public "has a right to
know" but, at this stage, only up to a limited point. The
Prince's decision to allow The Daily Telegraph's Ian
Jones and an ITN cameraman to chronicle his last year
at Eton on behalf of the world's media was a sensible
initiative which offers a promising modus operandi for
the future.
Sadly, the loss of her royal status made no difference
to the way in which the late Princess was hounded.
And there is only so much that the Press Complaints
Commission can do to protect her son. The real threat
comes not from the mainstream British press, which is
subject to official censure and public vilification if it
goes too far, but from rogue freelances who cater to an
international market and are answerable to no one.
Just because we do not see daily images of the Prince
in his gap year or at university does not mean that the
paparazzi are not there. And it is often the ordeal of
being photographed which is more distressing than the
publication of the results.
Part of the Princess's dilemma, of course, was of her
own making in that she chose to dispense with her
police protection. The Prince, however, has no intention
of doing that. It is to be hoped that any paparazzi
expecting a quarry as vulnerable as the Princess are in
for a painful awakening.
If there is another cloud hanging over the Prince's next
few years, it is a surfeit of public expectation. He has
evidently had an extremely successful school career of
which his family can be proud. There can be no doubt
that his late mother would have been thrilled.
His good looks and much-discussed resemblance to
the late Princess make him a textbook Prince
Charming. His capacity to unite those disaffected
factions still divided by his parents' unhappiness only
adds to the impression of perfection.
There are, however, bound to be hiccups and youthful
indiscretions along the way. The more he is built up in
advance, the greater the disappointment will be when
these setbacks occur. So, in response to the Prince's
quest for normality, there must be a corresponding
public acceptance of his human frailties. Let his
attributes as a future King be judged against his future
work as an active, public member of the Royal Family.
Looking ahead to Wednesday, it seems incongruous to
wish anyone a "happy" birthday on the eve of an
A-Level. Instead, we would prefer to wish the Prince a
student life every bit as happy and secluded as his
schooldays.
~*~
Charles explores Scottish wedding
with Camilla (UK Times)
Christopher Morgan, Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE Prince of Wales is "exploring" the possibility of a marriage to
Camilla Parker Bowles in the Church of Scotland.
A source close to one of the Queen's chaplains in Scotland, who has
knowledge of the secret discussions, said: "The prince has been told
that there would be no obstacle to his marrying here. He and Mrs
Parker Bowles would be very welcome."
Senior sources within the church confirmed that officials from St
James's Palace have been investigating the implications of a
wedding.
Unlike the Church of England, which discourages the remarriage of
divorcees, the Church of Scotland allows divorcees to marry in
church. The Princess Royal married Captain Tim Laurence in 1992 in
Crathie parish church on the Balmoral estate.
"St James's Palace is exploring the feasibility and ramifications of
marriage in the Church of Scotland," said friends of the Moderator of
the Church of Scotland, Andrew McLellan.
Disclosure of the contacts follows Charles's unexpected decision to
bring Parker Bowles to a function at Holyroodhouse while he was
acting as lord high commissioner during the Church of Scotland's
general assembly last month. One source said that private
discussions were conducted during that visit.
Charles has previously ruled out the prospect of remarriage and the
official St James's line is that it is not on the agenda.Contacts with
the Church of Scotland would, however, indicate that other options
were being explored. One senior Buckingham Palace official said last
week: "It is Charles's long-term intention to marry Camilla."
The moves follow a clear indication from George Carey, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, that remarriage in the Church of England
would not be possible with the church's full blessing. A confidante
revealed that Carey had explained to Charles and Parker Bowles in
private meetings over the past few months that, even if controversial
plans to liberalise marriage laws were approved, there would still be
obstacles to a royal marriage.
A working party chaired by the Bishop of Winchester has proposed
that a remarriage should not be sanctioned where one or both parties
has been involved in the breakdown of their previous marriage.
A church source said: "This will solve the problem for George Carey.
A Church of Scotland marriage is both lawful and religious." While
the Queen is supreme governor of the Church of England, she has
no equivalent position in Scotland. The church is governed by its
annual general assembly. On many issues, the local presbyteries of
the church are autonomous.
When Charles addressed the general assembly last month, he
identified Scotland as the place where he felt most at home. Senior
figures in the Church of Scotland enjoy a closer pastoral relationship
with the royal family than their Church of England equivalents. That
has made informal contacts easier.
Charles's advisers are aware, however, of other hurdles. The 1772
Royal Marriages' Act makes it clear that such marriages are of the
"utmost importance to the state".
The Queen would give consent only on government advice. Even if
she disapproved, the announcement would make it clear that she
was acting on "the advice of her ministers".
The Queen has let it be known that her decision to meet Parker
Bowles at a lunch earlier this month, after years of refusing to do so,
did not constitute "approval" of her son's relationship.
Though the Queen is probably resistant to the plan, there is a strong
feeling within the royal family and among senior members of the
Queen's household
that the portrayal of the royals as a soap opera will come to an end
only when Charles marries Parker Bowles. One friend of the Queen
said yesterday: "They all want the pantomime to reach its finale."
One royal source even hinted that there had been a discussion
about possible venues. The parish church nearest the Castle of
Mey, the Queen Mother's home in Caithness, is in Canisbay. Ian
McNee, its minister, said: "It would not surprise me if Charles and
Camilla got married in Scotland, as it would get around a lot of
problems, especially given that Princess Anne has already gone
down that road and it sounds quite sensible.
"I would have no objection to marrying them and I wish they would
go ahead and get married. I have sometimes joked that they might
come here to get married."
St James's Palace denied there were any wedding plans. A confused
official said, before correcting herself: "Neither Mr nor Mrs Parker
Bowles has any plans to remarry."