An official statement from Clarence House earlier this week revealed that the couple got engaged on during holiday in Kenya last month, and that William presented Kate with an engagement ring belonging to his late mother Princess Diana.

The official statement also said that the couple are expected to tie the knot in spring or summer 2011, and that they will live in Wales following the wedding.

Since the news broke, congratulatory messages have been pouring in from everyone from the Queen and Prince Philip to Prime Minister David Cameron.

They have been in Lesotho, a small country surrounded by South Africa. Whilst there they played football with a group of orphaned teenagers, and rode horseback to visit a children’s education centre. Harry’s team wore red and yellow – in support of his favoured team, Arsenal – and William’s team wore claret and blue – that of Aston Villa, his favoured team.

The princes were given traditional herd boy blankets to wear whilst horse riding, each with a personalised message on the back.

The Prince’s tour coincides with them being in South Africa for the England match against Algeria tonight. Hopefully they can bring our national team a little royal luck.

An army lieutenant in the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals is held responsible for the racial remarks in an airport departure lounge as soldiers waited to travel to Cyprus on a training mission.

As per the report, in the video, Harry referred to one colleague as “our little Paki friend” which in turn is a derogatory term for people of Pakistani origin. It was also reported that Prince Harry called another cadet, who was wearing a headscarf a `rag head`. According to the newspaper, the video was filmed by other cadets and supplied to them.

St. James’s Palace, the office of Harry and his elder brother Prince William said on Saturday that Harry was sorry for any offense caused by his use of the word `Paki`.

“Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any wrongdoing his words might cause. However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend” said spokesman, Patrick Harrison.

Britain’s defence ministry in a statement said:

“Neither the army nor the armed forces tolerates inappropriate behavior in any shape or form. The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behavior very seriously and substantive allegations are invested.”

The prince apologised for making use of racist language. He was caught on film calling his fellow cadet a racist term. Gordon Brown though thinks his apology was genuine.

Labour MP, Keith Vaz stated the term was ‘wounding and unacceptable’. A senior army officer is going to look into the peculiar circumstances surrounding the comment, made.

It was made in a home video that Prince Harry made while he was an officer cadet and one that was obtained by a newspaper. The prime minister, speaking on GMTV, stated

“It was indeed a mistake and he has made the admission of that. The British people are good enough to give someone who has actually been a role model for young people and who has done well fighting for our country… the benefit of the doubt.”

Labour MP Keith Vaz though told BBC Radio 4 that Prince Harry needed to spend more time to learn from his father, who had shown how much indeed, can be done towards building relations between communities! Rod Richards, who has served in John Major’s Conservative government as a Foreign Office minister and also as the Royal Marines officer, defended the prince.

Barring an accident or an illness to the Queen, Prince Charles happens to serves ‘by only standing and waiting’, if one says so. He has already become the oldest Prince of Wales and also third-longest serving heir-apparent. In five years’ time, he would turn the oldest person to have ever become king.
Meanwhile, he continues to carry on. Last month, he had a lengthy tour of east Asia (Brunei, Indonesia and Japan). This week, there are remembrance services in Verdun and London, a dinner with the Sarkozys, a British Antarctic expedition, receptions for insurers and a comedy gala that stars Robin Williams, Joan Rivers and John Cleese.

Last night (November 13) the Queen had a private dinner for 170 special guests at Buckingham Palace. The birthday entailed visits to Prince’s Trust projects plus a party at Highgrove.

As millions of ordinary folk are struggling with crippling mortgages and soaring food and energy bills, Labour MP Ian Davidson branded the demand outrageous.

He said: “When many are facing the possible loss of their homes, it is absurd for one of the richest women in the world to seek an even bigger handout from the taxes.”

According to an audit of the royal accounts, the Parliament must increase the ₤15 million a year it pays to maintain royal palaces and the ₤7.9 million for the staff and functions. As per the aids, the required sum is needed for upkeep of homes, such as the Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral and Sandringham. According to them, the Queen will not be able to afford the upkeep if the funds are not made available to her.

A Royal spokesman said: “We have enough to cover all our expenditure until 2009 when we start negotiations for the new Civil List allocation.”

Author Raymond Lamont Brown’s studies are backed by the suits of armour, now on display at the Tower of London. To support his claims he cited studies of armour how the tall and handsome Tudor Monarch became clinically obese in later stage of his life. The Sunday Telegraph reported: “in one year alone, the King and his court devoured 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep, 2330 deer, 760 calves, 1870 pigs, 53 wild boars and a multitude of fish and sea life, ranging from cod to whale.”

King Edward, the elder, was the first to wear a crown for his coronation. Edward was the King of the West Saxons who ruled from AD899 to 924. His coronation is believed to have taken place in June, AD 900, at Kingston upon Thames. Edward was the second son of Alfred the Great. He was the first king to proclaim himself “by the gift of God’s grace, King of the Anglo-Saxons.”

You may be surprised to know that the King who invented the handkerchief some 600 years ago was Richard II. He ruled Britain from 1377 to 1377. He was thought to be a homosexual, due to his foppish dress sense and the fact that his “ favourites” were male.
The author has noted: “In fact, his interest in clothes is said to have led him to make his invention. The Household Rolls noted `little pieces (of cloth) for the King to wipe and clean his nose.”

An unnamed Buckingham Palace aide is quoted as saying, “Make no mistake; this is very important to the prince and the duchess. Clarence house has previously indicated that when the Prince of Wales becomes king, Camilla intends to be known as Princess Consort. But that is not set in stone- far from it. The prince and duchess do not want her status undermined when he is the sovereign. And both believe the matter will be resolved in their favour.”

Under current laws in Britain, Camilla would automatically become queen when Charles is made king because of the fact that they are married. However, according to the revelation by an ICM survey conducted for the Daily Mail, the public opinion in 2007 was against Camilla becoming the queen. The majority of Britons oppose Camilla becoming queen if Prince Charles does become king. A whopping 59 percent do not want her to be queen.

After all these years, the Paris–based Eoile Limousines has demanded that the wreckage of the car be returned to it.

Daily Mail quoted Manager Jean-Francois Musa as saying: “It’s worth a great deal of money!’

The £70,000 black S280 Mercedes that crashed and killed princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi, is likely to fetch as much as £1 million.

Harrods boss, Mohammed Al-Fayed, was offered the car on sale by the company. He turned down the offer, saying the idea “is disgusting.” Even the Royal Family has condemned the idea of publicly selling the car. According to a Royal Family source, the Princes (William and Harry) wants a line drawn under the affair. Their view is that the car should be disposed of privately and discreetly.

However, the French company has clearly ruled out the Royal Family’s suggestion of destroying the ill-fated car instead of selling it.

The British queen is believed to have asked the second-in-line to the English throne, to help Prince Williams, with the aim to engage him in charity work when his military attachments come to an end next year.

It is not the only the queen, even the Royal Family members are discussing an “umbrella” charity role for him.

An unnamed aide said:

“Charles turn s60 in November and the Royal Family feel William would be perfect for dealing with younger start-up schemes to oversee his current charity work”

The aide added:

“He has always had an aptitude for working with youngsters and he is looking forward to becoming some kind of youth ambassador. He will continue to retain his other charitable duties.”

It is always better to engage ones self fruitfully in activities one enjoys there by avoiding falling prey to be part of the “Devil’s workshop” as the saying goes, “an idle mind is a Devil’s workshop”.