THE QUEEN is to recognise the Duke of Edinburgh's support for her and his contribution to public life over half a century with a series of celebrations to mark his 80th birthday this summer.
There will be three main events culminating in a reception for 450 guests, which will include the royal couple's children, grandchildren and other family members, at Windsor Castle on his birthday, June 10.
The events the Queen is planning should contrast with the difficult start to the year the Royal Family has experienced, particularly fears for the health of Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother. According to senior members of the royal household, Prince Philip was anxious for his birthday to be "low-key", but the Queen was determined to express publicly her gratitude for his role since their marriage in 1947, five years before she succeeded to the throne. The Queen is expected to make a speech acknowledging her husband's support during her 49-year reign, probably at the Windsor Castle reception.
The first event to mark Prince Philip's birthday will be a gala, which he will attend, at the Royal Albert Hall on May 24, organised by the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. "It will be a big affair, a dinner with cabaret recorded for television, with tickets sold for corporate purposes," said a spokesman for the award scheme. The second event is a lunch hosted by the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman David Howard, at Guildhall on June 6, linked to the Duke's London charities and attended by 500 people.
His birthday will be marked with a morning service at St George's Chapel, Windsor. The 450 guestswill go on to the reception at Windsor Castle. They will include family, friends and staff who have worked with the Prince over the past 50 years at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Balmoral and Sandringham.
The Prince was born in Corfu on June 21, 1921, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. He left Corfu for Britain in December 1922, when he was 18 months old, after his father, a lieutenant-general in the Greek army, was banished from Greece for his alleged part in a heavy military defeat by the Turks.
The Prince has no constitutional role, other than as a Privy Counsellor, but has accompanied the Queen on all her Commonwealth and State visits overseas from 1953. He has also taken a prominent role in nature conservation and was the first president of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Britain from 1961.
Since 1981, Prince Philip, a qualified pilot, has been the international president of the WWF. He has 796 patronages ranging, alphabetically, from Accrington Camera Club to the Zoological Society of Scotland. He became a naturalised British subject in 1947, renouncing his Greek royal title. He was given the style and title of a prince by the Queen in 1957.
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Arab prince sues Coutts over missing valuables(Electronic Telegraph)
By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
AN Arab prince is suing Coutts & Co, the Queen's bankers, for more than £1 million compensation, claiming that staff lost valuables he had left in a safe deposit box.
Prince Naguib Hassan Adb Allah alleges that Coutts lost jewellery, gold jewellery boxes, gold cigarette boxes and gold lighters deposited at one of its most prestigious London branches. The prince is seeking damages and interest on his alleged loss from the private bank. The bank denies liability and is contesting the claim.
In a High Court writ served on Coutts, the prince claims that he visited the Cadogan Place branch on September 4, 1998, and asked to see his valuables, which had been deposited five months earlier. He says that he was told that the two safe deposit boxes he wanted could not be found. Later he claims he received a phone call from the bank apologising for the incident.
The prince claims that he returned to the branch three days later and was again told the valuables could not be found. However, later the same day, when he returned with his solicitor, he says senior bank staff produced a grey box, and the contents were checked.
According to the claim, the staff then produced a blue box which was not locked, but was instead sealed with plastic. When the prince opened this box, in the presence of two senior staff, he says it was empty.
The prince, who lives in Paris, claims that the 10 items that should have been in the blue box were worth at least £1 million. They included a Cartier sapphire and diamond bracelet, a large Indian gold brooch, a gold and emerald ring, and an antique diamond brooch.
He alleges that Coutts was in breach of contract in that its staff had opened the box without his consent. He also says the bank "failed to take reasonable care" of his possessions. A spokesman for Coutts said yesterday: "We will strongly contest this action." However, she refused to give the bank's version of the events of three years ago, or confirm how long the prince had been a customer.
Last week The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that Coutts has been suffering an exodus of some of its most famous clients, including Phil Collins, the pop singer, and Lord Lloyd-Webber's theatre company, the Really Useful Group.
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Italian royal family prepares to return from exile(Electronic Telegraph)
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
ITALY'S politicians are planning to lift a 55-year-old order barring members of the royal House of Savoy from the country.
Family members were sent into exile following a referendum on the future of the monarchy in 1946, but they are now confident of an imminent return.
"I am going to be back in three months," Victor Emmanuel, 63, the head of the House of Savoy, told Italian television last week. Prospects for the Italian royal family have been enhanced by mourning for Queen Maria Jose, Victor Emmanuel's mother, who died last month, aged 94.
While the 1946 vote for exile reflected the post-war anger of Italians at royal backing for Benito Mussolini, Queen Maria Jose is credited with seeking to dissuade the fascist dictator from entering the Second World War, and with supporting politicians who opposed him.
On news of her death in Geneva, President Carlo Ciampi sent condolences to her family. Giuliano Amato, the prime minister, told parliament that he supported lifting the royal ban because it had been "historically overtaken" and risked becoming "an unjustifiably long discrimination".
Italy's ruling Centre-Left coalition is keen to pave the way for the Savoys' return ahead of national elections in the spring. It fears that the conservative opposition, including a monarchist faction, will otherwise turn it into an election issue. Last week the government formally asked the Council of State, an executive body with powers similar to a constitutional court, to rule favourably on the return of the family on the grounds that it now no longer represented a "royal house".
Even Antonio Maccanico, a government minister and leading constitutionalist who had previously opposed lifting the ban, declared himself in favour of the Savoys' return. He said he had been impressed by Victor Emmanuel's description last week of Mr Ciampi as "our president, the president of all Italians" - words which, he said, amounted to "an act of loyalty".
A public opinion poll taken last week showed that 74 per cent of the Italians surveyed were in favour of allowing the Savoys back, although 54 per cent felt that they should be asked to swear allegiance to the republic.
However, Victor Emmanuel, a Geneva businessman who remains unpopular with many Italians, has refused to swear such an oath. He told journalists: "Give me a public post and I'll do it straight away, but now I'm just a private citizen. Have you [the media] ever been asked to swear allegiance?"
Victor Emmanuel has a reputation in Italy for errors and arrogance. Some years ago, a French court acquitted him of murdering a young Dutchman, although the victim's family has never accepted the ruling.
His affable son Emmanuel Filiberto, an investment banker in Geneva and former football commentator, is considerably more popular.
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Prince to people: 'I'll sell up to Bill Gates'(Electronic Telegraph)
By Fiona Fleck in Geneva
A BITTER row that threatens to tear apart the fabric of the sleepy 282-year Alpine statelet of Liechtenstein is set to enter its final stages when the results of today's general elections are known.
Elections in Liechtenstein, the world's fourth smallest state, an Alpine tax-haven sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland, are traditionally a quiet affair, rarely making headlines beyond the 60 square mile principality. This year's vote is, however, being used by Prince Hans-Adam II, the reigning monarch and head of state, to settle a long-standing row with Liechtenstein's cabinet and parliament over controversial proposals to give himself sweeping powers.
The prince is proposing a packet of constitutional amendments which a panel of experts from Germany, Austria and Switzerland have decided would undermine government and parliament while boosting princely powers. Part of their findings were published last summer and the rest last month. Undaunted and unrepentant, the prince is determined to extend the royal prerogative and enshrine his increased rights in the 80-year-old constitution.
Recently, the prince outlined his proposals in a 40-page brochure sent with a letter to his 32,000 subjects asking for their support. One of his most controversial demands is the right to appoint judges and, if parliament does not like his choice, to call a referendum. At present, parliament appoints judges but needs princely approval.
The prince also wants the right to dissolve cabinet or parliament if he does not agree with them and veto legislation he does not like. He insists on having the final word on any interpretation of the constitution instead of Liechtenstein's supreme court. He also wants the people to have the right to remove the prince by a no-confidence vote - in which case "adult male members of the princely house" would decide whether to carry out the decision or not.
"We feel more committed than ever to our country especially in these difficult times and we are convinced we can make a positive contribution to Liechtenstein's future," he said, using the royal "we", and pledging to discuss the proposals with the new cabinet and parliament once they are in place in April or May.
However, if the new government and parliament do not agree with him, the prince has vowed to call a referendum. If the people vote in his favour, he will instal his son and heir, Crown Prince Alois, to help carry out day-to-day princely business. If the people vote against him, the prince threatens to abandon them, sell the princely house to "Bill Gates or anyone else who can afford it" and run LGT Bank and his family's businesses worth £3.2 billion from Vienna.
Peter Wolff, the speaker of the 25-member parliament, said the prince was "manipulating the fears of many Liechtensteiners who cherished fond memories" of his late parents, Prince Franz-Josef and Princess Gina, who stood by the people in the Second World War. Mr Wolff said: "Whatever the outcome - it will be damaging for Liechtenstein. If people vote against him, he will lose status. If they vote in his favour - they will always resent the fact he blackmailed them."
The prince, a lofty figure who holds court from his medieval castle overlooking the capital, Vaduz, likes to remind his subjects how he works as a "businessman in the morning to pay to be prince in the afternoon". Last year he launched a charm offensive, inviting hundreds of Liechtensteiners to his castle for cocktails. Despite that, a survey found that only 20 per cent of the people were in favour of giving him more power, 20 per cent in favour of giving him less power and 60 per cent in favour of the status quo.
Opponents have branded the monarch "mad", his threats "damaging" to state interests and accused him of trying to return to the absolute monarchy his forefathers surrendered after the First World War. They fear the abdication debate will hurt Liechtenstein's image abroad. Despite a raft of new anti-money laundering laws last year, the tax haven has yet to recover from accusations that it harboured the ill-gotten gains of drug barons.
Mr Wolff said: "The worst thing is that discussion about the proposals is difficult because the prince has threatened to leave and that's what worries people most. He doesn't want just one or two proposals accepted - he wants them all adopted or none at all."