PRINCESS Maria Luisa von Hohenlohe, the wife of the founder of the
Marbella Club, once a favoured haunt of the rich and famous, has been found
dead in her bedroom.
Known to friends as Mari Lys, the British-born princess, 57, died on her
husband's vast country estate and vineyard at Cortijo de las Monjas, near the
town of Ronda in mountains overlooking the Costa Del Sol. Her husband, the
Bohemian aristocrat Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe, 76, was not on the estate
at the time.
The princess was reported to have suffered from depression and it is
understood police found a bottle of barbiturates in the room. Tony Dali, a
Marbella restaurateur and friend of the family, said: "The death of the princess
has stunned everyone. She was a fantastic lady." Her two children, James and
Roseanna, left London yesterday for Marbella.
~*~
The prince of wails is a hit on his fujara(Electronic Telegraph)
By Robert Hardman in Bratislava
THE hills were alive to the sound of something peculiar yesterday as the
Prince of Wales began the first royal tour of the seven-year-old Republic of
Slovakia with a blast on one of Europe's most unusual instruments.
His first stop on his two-day tour of the poorer half of the old Czechoslovakia
was the Carpathian mountain region around Banska Bystrica, the centre of the
doomed Slovakian Uprising of 1944.
In pouring rain he strolled through a primeval forest where he was welcomed
by the reedy wail of the fujara, a hybrid of the recorder and the didgeridoo
favoured by Carpathian shepherds for 800 years.
Presented with his own model, the prince felt he should give it a go. "My
fingers aren't big enough," he said as he tried to hold the 4ft instrument in the
correct manner. He managed to emit a respectable selection of notes and
promised to find some fujara recordings so that he could practice when he got
home.
~*~
Comedian's sketch about ghost of Diana
'tasteless'(Electronic Telegraph)
By Sarah Womack, Political Correspondent
A SKETCH by the comedian Rory Bremner in which he plays the ghost of
Diana, Princess of Wales, has been described as "tasteless".
The programme shows the ghost clutching Hello! magazine and sympathising
with a dejected Tony Blair. In a spoof of the 1995 Panorama interview, the
ghost tells Mr Blair: "You are the People's Prince." He replies: "The King of
Hearts?" She responds: "And much more. Up here everyone is saying your
destiny is in the heavens, you wear the crown of stars."
She then vanishes, saying she is going to be late "for a Versace thing". Mr
Bremner defended the programme, My Government and I, to be shown on
Channel 4 on Nov 19. He said the Princess still "haunted" public opinion.
"This is a satire about contemporary Britain and no one can pretend that she
doesn't figure in people's thinking.
"The angle is that Blair seems to have inherited the mantle as the people's
prince or king of hearts. But don't forget that this is all a fantasy." He said the
Princess's sons, William and Harry, would "have their own thoughts". A
Channel Four spokesman said the programme would not be withdrawn.
However, Jo Bexley, spokesman for the Diana Memorial Fund, said: "This
programme does sound in bad taste." Sir Teddy Taylor, a senior
Conservative backbencher, said the programme would cause "hurt and
distress" to the princess's family and should be scrapped.
The 60-minute show, which lampoons the Government as the "unled in pursuit
of unleaded", includes Mr Bremner as the Queen, the Prince of Wales,
William Hague and Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's press secretary.
~*~
Jewels of Catherine the Great for auction(Electronic Telegraph)
By Tara Womersley
A DIAMOND and emerald necklace created from stones given by Catherine
the Great to a British ambassador is expected to fetch up to £600,000 at
auction.
The jewels, accompanied by matching earrings,
suggest a love affair that has never been proved
between the Russian empress and John Hobart, the
second Earl of Buckinghamshire. They are being
sold on Nov 28 by the Marquess of Lothian, a
distant relation of the second earl and father of
Michael Ancram, the Conservative Party chairman,
after being in his family for two centuries.
Catherine the Great was said to have "showered
favours" upon the earl and given him the emeralds
in the 1760s when he was ambassador to the court
of St Petersburg. He wrote in his diary about the
empress: "To see her is to know that she could
love and that her love would make the happiness of
a lover worthy of her."
Whatever the truth of the matter, when the earl returned to Britain he used the
jewels to create a necklace for his wife, with the earrings created later from a
different set of stones.
Daneila Mascetti, director of the jewellery department at Sotheby's, said the
emeralds probably came from India or Colombia. She said: "The emeralds
are a beautiful colour and perfectly matched in tone and hue. Nowadays it
would take at least two years to match such stones and that is with the use of
telephones and advanced communication."
The Marquess of Lothian is believed to be raising funds for other ventures
including work to his home.
~*~
Queen buys ten Penny Blacks(Electronic Telegraph)
A UNIQUE set of 10 Penny Black stamps is to be saved for the nation after
the Queen agreed to buy them for £250,000. The first day cover - dated May
6, 1840, the day the world's first postage stamp was issued - is considered
among the 10 greatest rarities in the stamp-collecting world. The acquisition is
the largest ever by the Queen and will be the most significant addition to the
Royal Philatelic Collection.
The envelope, actually a folded letter sheet, was addressed to a 'James Burnie
Esq of Kirkcudbright', and contained correspondence from a lawyer
concerning a will. It would also have contained legal documents. The
unperforated stamps are franked with nine red Maltese Crosses and the cover
is considered to be in good condition. Its purchase will be financed by the sale
of surplus duplicate stamps from the George V collection.