IT is the householder's prerogative to tell the builders that she has changed her
mind about the work on her home. But it inevitably means that the bill goes up
- even if the customer is the Queen.
A National Audit Office report published today shows that Buckingham
Palace spent £70,000 last year on new wardrobes for three rooms - almost
40 per cent more than was originally estimated.
About £19,000 was added to the cost after the "user identified additional
requirements resulting in changes to the design of the wardrobes themselves".
A audit office spokesman said "the user" referred to the Royal Household and
added: "We cannot speculate about what the involvement from the top was."
The original estimate for the wardrobes was £51,000 but, when the work
began, it was discovered that the joists supporting the floors were thinner than
expected and would not support their weight. This increased the cost by
£10,000 and the work was delayed for almost a year. During that period, the
designs were changed, adding another £9,000 to the bill and pushing it to
£70,000.
A Palace spokesman said the installation costs included fireproofing,
reinforcing floors and extra work for security reasons. The spokesman said:
"This was work done on rooms which are not living quarters but which are
storage areas. One of the rooms also needed specialised work for the storage
of ceremonial robes."
After having direct access to the Royal Household accounts for the first time,
the auditors report that the nine occupied palaces are providing value for
money. Palace managers cut total spending for the year by £800,000 to less
than £16 million while maintaining the historical status of the buildings.
The National Audit Office - Parliament's spending watchdog - was allowed
direct access to the accounts following pressure from the Commons public
accounts committee. MPs said that they wanted to see whether money was
being properly spent on the palaces and the 250 apartments occupied by
members of the Household at low or nominal rents.
Under the old arrangements, the accounts were submitted to the Department
of Culture, where ministers then decided what auditors could scrutinise.
Works that were examined by the watchdog included a new £2.2 million
visitor centre at Windsor the costs of which went up by £51,000 largely
because of extra stonework. Also examined was the conversion of empty
buildings in Windsor Great Park for a picture conservation studio that cost
£788,000 - a £25,000 increase - and which was delayed by three months,
plus redecoration of the White Drawing Room at Windsor costing £218,000
- an increase of £11,000 on the estimate.
~*~
German royal scandal builds as Prince
Ernst accused of 'telephone terror'(Electronic Telegraph)
By Toby Helm in Berlin
A GERMAN "royal scandal" involving Prince Ernst August von Hanover was
spinning out of control last night as the country's biggest popular newspaper
prepared to publish a compromising picture of him and threatened to make
public tapes of allegedly obscene phone conversations.
The clash between the Prince and elements of a
normally sober German press has gripped the
country for the last five days, after Bild accused
him of insulting Turkey by urinating against an
outside wall of its national pavilion at the Expo 2000
exhibition in Hanover. The Prince, who is married
to Princess Caroline of Monaco and is a distant
cousin of the Queen, has made no public statement
on the incident so far, although he denied the story
to the Turkish embassy in Berlin after Turkish
government officials called on him to apologise.
On Monday, Bild followed its weekend "scoop" by
publishing transcripts of phone calls in which the
Prince allegedy threatened and insulted one of its
female journalists over the phone. On Tuesday, it located him in an exclusive
German health clinic, took photographs and published them in yesterday's
edition. Last night, Udo Röbel, Bild's editor, said that readers would be
treated to an explicit picture today of the Prince with his zip open at Expo.
Until now, it has published pictures of the alleged act taken only from the rear.
To compound the drama, police in Hanover have begun an inquiry into the
affair after Anne-Kathrin Berger, a news editor with Bild, alleged that the
Prince insulted her over the phone on Sunday. Early in the exchanges, Ms
Berger, a long-time acquaintance of the Prince, asked "his Royal Highness" if
he always talked to people so aggressively. "No, only with arseholes like
journalists," he said.
Later he allegedly referred to her as a "fat arse" and said the newspaper was
"****" and that he would have "no mercy" on it. When Ms Berger defended
Bild, the Prince replied: "When you say, and I read in newspapers that are
sent to me from all over the world, that I'm creating race hate in Germany
because of Turks and Germans, yeah? Do you know what you'll get?" Later,
after being asked if he wanted her to switch on a tape recorder, the Prince
allegedly said: "Yes, this is your dirty job. Now listen to me as ordinary
journalist with the fat ****."
Ms Berger asked what his wife thought about his behaviour. "She is here and
is enjoying herself. She is elegant like me; only you are inelegant," he replied.
Later, the language allegedly became even more heated and obscene. Bild
claimed the last call was full of threats and sexual abuse before Ms Berger put
the phone down in disgust. Karsten Wolff, spokesman for the Hanover
police, said: "We have received a detailed written account from Ms Berger
and are waiting for the tapes of the calls to be handed over. I expect both
sides will be invited to make a statement. We will pass our findings to the
state prosecutor."
Mr Röbel said he believed the Prince must be in need of treatment, adding: "I
am amazed that Ms Berger managed to stay calm during the calls which I can
only describe as telephone terror." Last night, he said that if the Prince denied
insulting Ms Berger, he would play the tapes to the media. During the week,
Bild has enlisted the help of a posse of German aristocrats who have
denounced the Prince. Philipp, Count Walderdorff said: "If Prince Ernst
August really used such words he has disqualified himself and acts in a way
unbefitting of the style of German aristocracy."
~*~
A nightingale sang in Windsor
Castle(UK Times)
BY TIM REID
QUEEN Elizabeth the Queen
Mother's love for one of the most
romantic songs of the 1940s was
revealed last night to 700 guests
at a Windsor Castle party to
celebrate five royal birthdays.
After hosting a private dinner in
the State Apartments for 80 "immediate and extended
family" in the State Apartments, the Queen welcomed
guests to a glittering black-tie affair where they were
entertained by three live bands and a disco in a mock
"nightclub".
One of the first numbers played by The Gramophones big
band ensemble in the Waterloo Room, was Manning
Sherwin and Eric Maschwitz's A Nightingale Sang In
Berkeley Square, the Queen Mother's favourite song.
Second on stage was Lester Lamin's big band, which
played a series of swing numbers before making way for
the more modern Chance Band. Their repertoire included
Elton John's I'm Still Standing; Tina Turner's Simply the
Best; Kool and the Gang's Celebration;and Lou Bega's
Mumbo No 5, which Channel 4 uses as its Test cricket
theme.
The party, attended by a host of European Royalty and
members of the international beau monde, celebrated the
Queen Mother's 100th birthday, Princess Margaret's
70th, the Princess Royal's 50th, and the Duke of York's
40th. Prince William, who was 18 yesterday, was toasted
in his absence as he prepared for an A-level examination.
~*~
A meticulously kept couture
collection(UK Times)
BY ANDREW PIERCE
ALTHOUGH the Queen has never won an award for the
world's best-dressed woman, her collection of dresses
could easily win a prize for being among the largest.
No one at Buckingham Palace yesterday was even
prepared to hazard a guess at the number of Hardy Amies
outfits hanging in three of the Queen's private rooms,
where the new wardrobes have required specially
reinforced floors to take the weight.
"I should think even the Queen has lost count," one official
said. "I don't know how many there are but endless rows,
I imagine."
There is a full-time dresser to the Queen who supervises
the collection. Each outfit is tagged and filed and gives the
date when it was last worn.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Queen's
clothing, but one clue to the scale of the wardrobe comes
from the Queen's trip to Australia earlier this year, when
she took three tonnes of luggage. There were three outfits
for each day, plus evening gear, 22 pairs of shoes and 50
pairs of gloves (white, of course). During a 44,000-mile
Commonwealth tour in 1953 she took 12 tonnes of
luggage, mainly clothing.
The Palace insisted last night that the reinforcement of the
floors to accommodate the new wardrobes lining the walls
was because of the design of the rooms rather than the
weight of garments.
Sir Hardy Amies, 90, designer to the Queen for almost 50
years, also discounted one rumour that the outfits were
particularly heave because some hems were lined with
lead or weights to ensure that they would not gust in the
wind.
"Rubbish. There is no need for weights, lead, or wiring.
The answer to that delicate problem is couture," said Sir
Hardy.
"That's handmade and handmade well. You cut the outfits
properly. You sew them properly. Then there is never any
need to worry about an unexpected gust.
"Every time the Queen has gone on a trip I am proud to
say my house has made outfits for her. I have no idea how
many. All I can tell you is that she dresses to please
people."
Another factor in the size of the Queen's wardrobe is the
fact that she is famously thrifty and does not like throwing
things away.
One affectionate anecdote that has done the rounds is that
some of the Queen's outfits have celebrated their own
silver jubilees. Even when the Queen decides to part with
an outfit it is often passed on to Princess Margaret. An
emerald green coat, designed by Sir Hardy and first worn
by the Queen in 1977, her jubilee year, was spotted in
1995 on Princess Margaret.
Only a few years ago the Queen performed the state
opening of Parliament in a silver fur-trimmed coat over a
full-length white evening dress of heavy silk, which was
made as a robe of state for her Coronation in 1953.
Sir Hardy dismissed the idea that she had kept dresses for
25 years. "Not that long, but I could not say how long
they are kept for. But many outfits reappear years later
when they have been adapted in some way.
"I hope no one is complaining about the number of
dresses. She was not an extravagant customer."
So much so that Sir Hardy once said in an interview that
the Queen often grumbled about the cost.
"Oh, I don't know about that," he said last night.
~*~
Camilla: suddenly she's in fashion (UK Times)
Life as a royal consort provides more
than its fair share of complications for
Camilla Parker Bowles, but it also has
its rewards (Andrew Pierce writes).
Leading designers are queuing up to
persuade her to model their wares.
Donatella Versace and Valentino both
produced outfits for the Prince of
Wales's companion to wear at
Tuesday night's gala dinner (pictured left). It is thought the
Prince, who chose the bright pink colour but not the design
of the Versace dress she chose, paid for them or made an
equivalent donation to a charity of the designer's choice.
Vivienne Westwood, former fashion designer of the year,
would relish the chance to be invited to St James's Palace for
a consultation. A spokeswoman for the London designer
said: "Vivienne is 59 and still wears all her own clothes. I
think Camilla Parker Bowles would be a good role model
for our designs." Mrs Parker Bowles is 52.