TO a blaze of camera flashes, Prince William and his father stepped into the lions' den of the Press Complaints Commission's birthday party with his father last night.
He and the Prince of Wales were joined - for the first time in public - by Camilla Parker Bowles at an evening reception at Somerset House, London, to celebrate the PCC's 10th anniversary. The 18-year-old, dwarfing his father, looked a little nervous at first, clasping his hands behind his back and then in front.
But he managed to relax and smiled for the cameras as he and his father, both dressed in dark double-breasted suits, made their way up the red carpet to be greeted by Lord Wakeham, the PCC chairman. Fourteen minutes later, Camilla Parker Bowles arrived with her sister, Annabel Elliott, and her son, Tom, 25. Dressed in a black cocktail dress and wearing a triple string of pearls, Mrs Parker Bowles smiled but did not pause as she made her way inside.
Prince William and the Prince of Wales arrived early so that they could have time together with editors and proprietors of newspapers who had been asked to attend the function at 6.30pm. The idea was to give him and his father some privacy. But that was to prove impossible. As one guest said: "This is the only party I've been to where everyone has arrived early."
Accompanying Prince Charles, he was steered around the throng in the underground room housing the glittering gold, silver and bejewelled objets d'art of the Gilbert Collection. Later, Prince William and his father split up. They made their separate ways around the crowded room as the 550 guests stood jammed shoulder to shoulder.
Some 40 minutes after the arrival of Prince William, the Duke of York and Prince Edward arrived at Somerset House. They were preceded by the footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones and the fashion designer Donatella Versace. Prince William, suffering from a heavy cold, looked a little flushed. However there was no sign of him being nervous in the company of so many journalists. He said: "It's not an ordeal. I'm just happy to be here to say thank you to people."
He seemed remarkably at ease chatting to some of his celebrity guests, including Miss Versace and Santa Sebag-Montefiore, a family friend of the Prince of Wales. He also chatted to Andrew Neil, the former editor of the Sunday Times, and to Elizabeth Smith, the widow of the late former leader of the Labour Party.
Other guests included the former newsreader Selina Scott and Sir Richard Branson, the television presenters Carol Vorderman, Richard Madeley and his wife Judy Finnigan, as well as the soap opera actors Kevin Kennedy, Liz Dawn and Tracey Shaw. They joined scores of politicans and journalists, including the Conservative leader William Hague, who was accompanied by his aide Sebastian Coe, all but two Fleet Street editors and some newspaper proprietors.
Amanda Donohoe, who is soon to take over the West End role of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate from Jerry Hall, arrived in a sparkling trouser suit. Ostensibly, the party was to celebrate the success of the PCC, the newspaper industry's monitoring body. Those on the guest list, drawn up by Aurelia Cecil, a PR consultant who used to be seen regularly on the Duke of York's arm, and including hundreds of members of the public, have all had complaints against the media upheld. Prince William's was against OK magazine over pictures taken during his Operation Raleigh expedition in Chile.
Explaining the choice of guests, a PCC spokesman said: "We wanted to give Prince William a fun event and a relaxed evening." Originally it had been thought that Prince William would attend a private dinner with editors at St James's Palace. However, it was recently decided the PCC reception provided a better opportunity for him to appeal to Fleet Street's better nature. So, within in the confines of Somerset House, the sinned against found themselves sipping champagne, sharing canapes and making small talk with the sinners.
But the Prince's relationship with the media was not the only item on the party agenda last night. The presence of Mrs Parker Bowles in the same room as Prince William and the Prince of Wales, provided the strongest signal to date of Prince Charles's determination to gain recognition of her position as his unofficial consort and place in his family life
After about 90 minutes at the party, the two Princes left together, saying they had had a good evening. Prince William told reporters: "It was brilliant."
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Girlfriend could cost prince throne(electronic Telegraph)
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
CROWN Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands may face a choice between the Dutch throne and the daughter of an Argentine politician linked to the former military junta.
The prince's burgeoning love affair with Maxima Zorreguieta, 29, threatens to set off a constitutional crisis in Holland after a group of MPs said they would not allow anyone suspected of human rights abuses to be associated with the royal family.
Her father, Jorge Zorreguieta, was agriculture minister in the military dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla from 1979 to 1981, at the height of the "dirty war" against the political Left. "With a father like that, Maxima cannot become my queen," said Jan van Walsem, of the D66 party.
The newspaper NRC Handelsbad has suggested that the prince should consider stepping down as heir to the throne if he is determined on an expected engagement.
Miss Zorreguieta, educated at the English-style Northlands School in Buenos Aires, met the prince, 33, while working for Deutsche Bank in New York two years ago. She has moved to Brussels and is learning Dutch, a pre-requisite for a queen.
Under the Dutch constitution, parliament must assent to royal marriage, especially when a Roman Catholic is marrying into the family. Jan Marijnnissen, a Socialist MP, said: "If the prince dies on the throne, she could occupy the post of head of state, so we must be absolutely clear that she is a democrat from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head."
While Mr Zorreguieta has not been accused of atrocities by Argentine human rights groups, he headed a ministry that played a murky support role in dissidents' disappearances.
Maarten Mourik, Holland's former ambassador to Unesco, filed a lawsuit last month in Holland accusing Mr Zorreguieta, 72, of co-responsibility for crimes against humanity. This is intended to compel Dutch prosecutors to initiate extradition proceedings against him.
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Leave student Prince William alone, says press watchdog(Yahoo: Reuters)
By Giles Elgood
LONDON (Reuters) - Tabloid editors must respect Prince William's privacy when he goes to university and refuse to publish paparazzi pictures of the royal pin-up, Britain's press watchdog said on Wednesday.
Lord Wakeham, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said newspapers had not used unauthorised shots of William, 18, at school at Eton College and this should continue when he arrives at Scotland's St Andrews University later this year.
William, second in line to the throne, was due to attend the commission's glitzy 10th anniversary party on Wednesday with his father, Prince Charles, and Charles's mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles.
The young prince, son of the late Princess Diana, has let it be known that although his title is His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, he wants to be just William.
Despite this egalitarian gesture, there was criticism of William joining an assemblage of "cheesy stars" at a party which gathered together showbiz figures who had successfully used the commission to protect themselves against the press.
"William has no business going to this tacky showbiz knees-up," said the Daily Telegraph of the young prince's most high profile public appearance to date, where he will rub shoulders with soap opera stars and game show hosts.
The Sun said: "The monarchy is becoming, day by day, more of a celebrity-fest than a constitutional necessity."
PUBLIC SIGN
William's presence at the party is seen as a public sign of appreciation by the royal family for the help the commission has given in protecting his privacy and that of his younger brother Prince Harry while they were at Eton.
The PCC, through which the newspapers have agreed to regulate themselves rather than risk statutory controls, has been criticised for being better at safeguarding the rich and famous than ordinary people.
Wakeham insisted that William's right to privacy was no different from that of the humblest of his future subjects.
"When he went to Eton I asked that he should be left alone," Wakeham said. "And by and large the press respected that and I anticipate they will do the same when he is at university."
William would make himself available to the media from time to time as he had done during an adventure training trip to Chile last year.
"I think the press appreciate that but I think the deal is they must leave him alone the rest of the time."
If the editors refused to publish paparazzi pictures, the paparazzi would find there was no market and they would vanish, Wakeham said in an interview with BBC radio.
Even if the paparazzi do vanish, William remains a major attraction at St Andrews, with student applications up by more than 40 percent since it was announced that he would attend.
Some tabloid newspapers are reported to have bought houses in the Scottish seaside town, also famous for its golf course, to help them monitor William. But Wakeham said he had no evidence of this.
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William to rub shoulders with stars(Yahoo: Ananova)
Prince William is preparing to attend a party to mark the Press Complaint's Commission's 10th birthday.
The bash at London's historic Somerset House will be laden with celebrities, Cabinet ministers and TV stars, including Claudia Schiffer, Carol Vorderman and Vinnie Jones.
William will be accompanying his father, the Prince of Wales, to the event, which will also be attended by Camilla Parker Bowles.
Ewan McGregor, Donatella Versace and Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan will also be there, along with a clutch of Coronation Street stars, including Kevin Kennedy, who plays Curly Watts.
But there is doubt over whether some others will attend, such as Sir Paul McCartney, George Michael, Kylie Minogue and Geri Halliwell. Prime Minister Tony Blair cannot attend and has sent his apologies.
Mingling with the stars will be one, slightly less famous person whom William will be particularly keen to meet - "Accrington Boy", the man who in 1995 inadvertently boosted the teenage prince's chances of privacy during his school days.
Christopher Livesey was 15 when his mother made a complaint against their local newspaper in Accrington, Lancashire, after he was questioned by a journalist in breach of the PCC's code of conduct, which says children must be 16 or over to be interviewed.
Christopher was linked to Prince William by the PCC's chairman Lord Wakeham, who said in a speech to newspaper editors: "What goes for a child in Accrington goes for a child in Eton."
William and his younger brother Harry were largely left alone at school by the media.
Christopher, now a 21-year-old graphics student at Leeds Metropolitan University, says he is thrilled at being invited to the party, which is to celebrate the success of self-regulation in the industry.
Many of the celebrities and politicians at the party are ones who have made complaints through the PCC, and many of the other guests are Fleet Street editors against whom their grievances were upheld.
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Charles, William and Camilla go partying together(Yahoo: Reuters)
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Charles went partying on Wednesday night with his son and his lover -- and he didn't mind who saw them together in public.
Charles and his heartthrob teenage son William were greeted by a barrage of paparazzi flashbulbs when they went to a 10th anniversary party for the British media watchdog that has sought to protect their privacy.
Ten minutes later, Charles' long-time lover Camilla Parker Bowles arrived separately for the glittering party packed with showbusiness celebrities.
Their choice of occasion was rich in irony.
For they were rubbing shoulders with royalty-obsessed tabloid editors at the party thrown by the Press Complaints Commission.
It was William's way of saying "thank you" to editors who gave him a chance to enjoy his schooldays away from the remorseless glare of the media spotlight that followed his late mother, Princess Diana, around the world.
Ever since Britain was plunged into mourning over Diana's death in a 1997 Paris car crash, Charles has trodden warily in seeking public acceptance for Camilla.
After years of artfully dodging the lenses of the world's media, they first appeared in public in January 1999 for a party at the Ritz hotel in London.
Although the two were only outside for about 15 seconds the carefully choreographed scene at the Ritz was of major significance for Charles, determined that Camilla would be accepted as his partner in the wake of Diana's death.
Press Complaints Commission chairman Lord Wakeham took the opportunity of the watchdog's 10th anniversary to renew his plea to protect William.
He said tabloid editors must respect William's privacy when he goes to university and refuse to publish paparazzi pictures of the royal pin-up.
Wakeham said newspapers had not used unauthorised shots of William, 18, at school at Eton College and this should continue when he arrives at St Andrew's University, Scotland's oldest, later this year.
But the decision by Charles, William and Camilla to party with the showbiz glitterati came in for some sharp press criticism.
"William has no business going to this tacky showbiz knees-up," said the Daily Telegraph of the young prince's most high-profile public appearance to date, where he rubbed shoulders with soap opera stars and game show hosts.
The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling daily, said: "The monarchy is becoming, day by day, more of a celebrity fest than a constitutional necessity."