...for January 2003

January 30, 2003 -

• Harry joins lower classes
  
  TROUBLED Prince Harry has been demoted to a lower year at Eton College after flunking exams. Upper-sixth pupil Harry, 18, must do extra lessons four times a week with younger boys from the lower-sixth form. The move was agreed between Eton and dad Prince Charles after wild-living Harry failed his geography A/S exams last year.
  
  The Prince is studying A- level geography, art and history of art and needs at least two Bs and an A result to get into a good university. Tutors are making him resit his geography A/S exam after the dismal showing. A source at the Berkshire school said:
  
  “Harry sits in with the lower- sixth, which is embarrassing.
  
  “He will continue to do his A-levels but also join the lower-sixth’s geography class.
  
  He accepts the situation, but nobody likes to be put down a year.”
  
  The poor result was blamed on Harry’s lifestyle. He has admitted smoking cannabis and drinking while under age. He avoided expulsion from £20,000-a-year Eton but still has to give random urine tests. Harry quit drugs and has vowed to try harder. A royal source said Charles may let him take a gap year playing polo if he gets good A-levels.
  
  
  

January 29, 2003 -

• Prince Harry Requests Invite to Notoriosly Rowdy N.M.E. Awards
  
  This year's ultra-hip NME Awards may have an unusual guest – 18-year-old Prince Harry. The red-haired royal has reportedly requested tickets to the February 13 independent music bash.
  
  The notoriously wild alternative to the Brits – the NME's are commonly known as the "Brats" – will be "bigger and messier" than last year's star-studded show, say planners. "It would be great to have Harry there," says a source. "He's a fun-loving guy and would fit in with the spirit of the ceremony. We're crossing our fingers that he'll come along."
  
  The big winners at the irreverent music showcase last year were The Strokes, Radiohead and Ash. Pop star Kylie Minogue, who also received one of NME's famed gongs – a statuette of a fist with the middle finger extended – said she would be careful about placing the award on her mantelpiece. "I'll put it on display with my Brit awards," she said, "but when my mother comes over I'll be putting it in the cupboard."
  
  

January 26, 2003 -

• HARRY'S OFF HOOK AS PHONE BAN ENDS
  
  SCHOOLBOY Prince Harry has been told he CAN have a mobile phone at posh Eton College. They were banned by the old headmaster after pupils used them to wind up teachers at the £17,000-a-year school.
  
  But new head Tony Little has agreed the prince, 18, and his chums will be able to make calls and send text messages. A source said last night: "Harry's really chuffed. He has already started using his phone whenever he can.
  
  "The prince has had some low points in the last year when he could have done with being able to chat to close friends and family.
  
  "Because Eton is a boarding school, the pupils can't just go home and ring people."
  
  Mobiles were banned last year after cheeky boys in Harry's year used them to send taxis and pizzas to the homes of two masters. One taxi firm was asked to beep outside a teacher's house every 15 minutes through the night.
  
  

January 12, 2003 -

• William and Harry: We'll buy Diana love letters from Hewitt
  
  Royal Princes William and Harry want to buy the 64 love letters their mother sent to James Hewitt - to end the agony of watching him trying to auction them off to the highest bidder. They could cost £10million - but The MailonSundayhaslearnedthatWilliam has said there is 'no price not worth paying'.
  
  Former Army officer Hewitt, 44, has exploited his relationship with Princess Diana since the end of their five-year affair in 1991 and Diana's children have been left with a deep hatred for him.
  
  Now it emerges that Prince William is determined to make sure Hewitt can no longer trade on the memory of his mother. Insiders say the 20-year-old Royal wants to engineer a way of securing the letters, which disclose intimate details of Diana's relationship with Hewitt.
  
  The process will involve Royal solicitors, who will have to decide whether the money should come from William's private fortune of around £22 million --which includes £6.5 million from his mother's estate. During an appearance last week on the American television chat show Larry King Live, Hewitt claimed the letters deserved a wider circulation because they were 'important historical documents'.
  
  He indicated that he would be prepared to accept an offer of £10 million for them. Following the interview, William expressed the view that he would rather pay for the letters than have his mother's most secret thoughts laid open to the public. The collection of handwritten notes include alleged references to a part of Hewitt's body - which Diana calls 'my friend' - and his dalliances with other women. They were written between 1989 and 1991 - many while Hewitt was commanding a tank squadron in the Gulf War - and cover the period of the couple's five-year affair during which they were closest.
  
  Asked by interviewer Larry King if he thought William and Harry would be embarrassed by the letters, Hewitt said: 'The letters are extremely well-written and nothing to be ashamed of.'
  
  But the Princes are deeply concerned about any public airing of their mother's intimate thoughts. While Hewitt is in possession of the letters, the copyright on their content is held by the executors of Diana's estate, namely her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and the Bishop of London. None want the letters published.
  
  However, no copyright action can be taken if the letters are bought by a private collector and put on show in a museum. Hewitt had promised in a 1999 deal with the Spencer family's lawyers that the letters would be stored in a safe place, never sold and destroyed when he died. Yet his efforts to market the letters during his television appearance indicate that these were empty promises. Hewitt's about-turn is partly due to his dire financial circumstances. He is on the verge of bankruptcy, with Customs and Excise pursuing him for tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid VAT.
  
  The former Cavalry officer, who received a £40,000 pay-off from the Army, faces a bankruptcy hearing in London's High Court on January 23. Princes William and Harry have a combined fortune of around £ 47million, but neither can access the money until they are 25.
  
  However, in special circumstances, it is understood they could take a loan against their personal wealth if the trustees of their respective trust funds - which include Prince Charles and Lady Sarah - agree.
  
  According to senior Royal sources, Hewitt's cynical 'hard sell' of the Diana letters could be enough to warrant such an extreme move. The British Museum has already indicated it would be interested in taking the love letters but they would have to be donated by a wealthy benefactor. It said it would bar access to anyone other than Diana's sons for an agreed period.
  
  In December, Hewitt was trapped trying to sell the letters for £10 million to an undercover News of the World reporter posing as a middleman for a Swiss tycoon. He tried to use the alleged intimate sexual content to push up the price. However, his appearance on American television indicates he is no longer interested in brokering secret deals.
  
  His plans have horrified even his own family. Hewitt's twin sister Caroline told friends earlier this week that she is 'appalled' he has put the love letters up for sale.
  
  Last night Michael Coleman, the solicitor acting for Hewitt, said: 'If William or Harry, or anyone representing them, wishes to make contact with me I've got no objection whatsoever in discussing a possible acquisition by them. I would be happy to negotiate with them.'
  
  He refused to discuss whether other offers had been made for the love letters.
  
  

January 5, 2003 -

• Harry wants some action
  
  PRINCE Harry has abandoned plans to study at university and wants to join the Welsh Guards. Action man Prince Harry on a recent visit to a London school / AP The 18-year-old, who is said to be struggling academically, will apply to join the army next year.
  
  It is understood Harry wants to enlist with the elite unit which provided six guardsmen as pallbearers for Princess Diana's funeral in 1997. Prince Charles has reluctantly accepted Harry's decision not to follow his brother Prince William to the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Charles is a colonel with the Welsh Guards Household Division and the Queen is colonel-in-chief.
  
  Harry has several friends with the Aldershot-based Guards. The Prince had considered joining the Royal Air Force and the navy before settling on the army.
  
  Harry recently failed two exams amid allegations his mediocre academic achievements were a result of wild socialising, which included drinking and smoking marijuana. An army spokesmen said Harry's past drug problems would not prevent him from enlisting.
  
  Prince Charles also served in the army and Harry's uncle, Prince Andrew, rose to the rank of commander in the navy and flew helicopters in the Falklands War.