...for March 2003

March 30, 2003 -

• HE BUYS TAKE-OUTS: HARRY LIKES A PIZZA THE ACTION
  
  Hungry Prince Harry has been dubbed Prince Pepperoni - because of his secret passion for pizza. The sports-mad royal is so fed-up with the posh nosh at Eton College he has joined a secret fast-food society to make sure he gets his fill of the grub.
  
  And the 18-year-old's No 1 choice is a deep-pan meat feast pizza from a nearby takeaway delivery service. He always orders a 15-inch family- size with double pepperoni, spicy pork, ham and American sausage toppings. It comes in 12 slices and costs GBP 13.99. Harry and other students at the GBP 20,000a-year college use their pocket money to pay.
  
  The lanky teenager, who is officially known as HRH Henry of Wales at the top school, is such a regular for the service that staff joke Prince Pepperoni has placed an order.
  
  There are strict rules at the college banning students from ordering takeaways and smuggling food into their rooms. So toffs have organised a drop-off point for their favourite forbidden food. . . a lamp-post known as the Burning Bush.
  
  The Prince and his pals also use the code name John in case teachers try to rumble their devious delivery scam.
  
  A college pal of Prince Harry's said: "Most boys have three meals a day in Bekynton, which is the college refectory. But other houses like Harry's Manor House have their own dining rooms. It is mainly traditional grub like shepherd's pie or beef stew. It is good food and we can't complain but most of the boys prefer fast foods like pizza or McDonald's. Harry and some of his mates have an arrangement with the Perfect Pizza takeaway in Slough who regularly drive over to Eton to deliver their deeppans and Harry's favourite is meat feast. A delivery driver from the shop, which is two miles away, turns up in an ordinary car with the pizza beside him and is paid in cash. Once they have checked the coast is clear they smuggle the pizza into Manor House and have a feast in their rooms. It's against the rules but they are prepared to take the risk for a good nosh."
  
  A member of staff at Perfect Pizza in Slough said: "The Eton boys have gone mad on our pizza. We deliver between 50 and 80 pizzas a week to them. Prince Harry always orders extra pepperoni but stays in the background at the pick-up point and sends a school pal - who uses the name John - to pick it up."
  
  A spokesman at Eton was not available for comment.
  
  

March 30, 2003 -

• His Royal High Notes
  
  Rocking Royal Prince Harry turned karaoke king during a recent trip to the North. Locals looked on in amazement as he grabbed the microphone during a late-night knees-up in a hotel bar. And Grease was the word for the prince as he launched into a spirited rendition of Summer Nights from the John Travolta film.
  
  The Grease song was one of a string of hits, including Dexy's Midnight Runners' Come On, Eileen and Nelly's Ride Wit' Me, belted out by the artist formally known as Prince Henry Charles Albert David Windsor.
  
  The impromptu gig took place at a hotel 18-year-old Harry was staying at during an Eton College field trip. His stint at the mike was not the first Royal karaoke session hosted by the Crossways Hotel in Thornley, County Durham. His elder brother Prince William had a go at singing there too, back in 2000, also during a college field trip.
  
  The hotel's owner, John Hudson, said the younger Royal was a much more confident performer than his brother.
  
  He said: "William was a smashing lad too, but Harry was fantastic. He was up for a lot more singing and he just put everyone at ease from the moment he arrived. He got up and sang Come On, Eileen and after that there was no stopping him. He was up there for most of the night. He must have sung at least half a dozen songs. What a character he was. He made a lot of new friends that night!"
  
  Among his new pals were hotel staff Kristie Hubery, 16, and Joanne Thompson, both of whom joined Harry for his version of Summer Nights.
  
  "It was amazing," said Joanne, also 16. "He was lovely. There were no airs and graces about him. He just had a laugh with the rest of them. I couldn't believe it when he got up to sing with us. It's not every day you get to sing with a prince while you're at work."
  
  Mr Hudson added that the prankster prince had even left behind a special gift when he went home yesterday morning.
  
  "I went into the room where he stayed - oddly he had picked exactly the same bed that William slept in - and found he had left a plastic cutlass propped against his pillow. I couldn't help laughing. That was just him all over, a real little joker. But I'm not sure what the significance was . . . maybe he wanted to give me a knighthood!"
  
  

March 20, 2003 -

• Prince William to fling aside dress code for his 21st birthday bash
  
  Prince William is planning a Highland fling at St Andrews University to mark his 21st birthday. The word is that William will turn up at the party in a kilt and tam-o’-shanter.
  
  While William will have his formal coming-of-age party at Windsor Castle in June, this will be a more private gathering for his friends. Unlike his father, Prince William has shunned Highland dress while in Scotland. But he plans to make an exception for his 21st. “Prince Charles has tried several times to persuade William to wear the kilt but he has always resisted,” a friend said. The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, was the venue for Princess Anne’s 21st party, but William wants something less formal.
  
  

March 20, 2003 -

• William plans Scotland's party of the year
  
  PRINCE William is to arrange a large informal party to celebrate his 21st birthday with his university friends in Scotland, according to Royal insiders. The contract for the official celebrations at Windsor Castle has been awarded to Michael Fawcett - the Prince of Wales’s former aide who resigned recently over the sale of Royal gifts for personal gain.
  
  But it is understood that Prince William, who is studying history of art and anthropology in his second year at St Andrews University, is keen to hold a party north of the Border where he and his friends can "let their hair down".
  
  A list of possible venues has been drawn up, with the five-star Gleneagles Hotel favourite to win the honour. The prince will come of age on 21 June and his aides are concerned that any informal party should be discreet, while having the necessary security precautions in place - something that the exclusive Perthshire hotel could guarantee. A Royal insider said Prince William was keen to host a party for up to 100 guests in an environment far removed from the formality of the Windsor Castle function which will be attended by senior members of the Royal Family.
  
  He said: "Prince William is fine with the formal celebration but he’s a young man with a lot of friends and naturally he also wants a party that won’t be as rigidly formal as the official occasion. He feels sincerely that a good, old-fashioned thrash in a totally relaxed atmosphere would be much more enjoyable for his group of young male and female friends. Several places are being sounded out as possible venues and there are instructions to make arrangements for up to 100 guests. He is keen to have a tartan theme."
  
  The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, was suggested as a possible venue. That was where his aunt, the Princess Royal, had her 21st birthday party. But it is thought to have been rejec ted by the prince because it would appear too formal. Gleneagles is favoured because it is close to St Andrews and Edinburgh, and has a reputation for discretion. A spokes woman for the hotel declined to comment on speculation that Royal aides had provisionally booked several rooms and a function suite for June.
  
  She said: "We always respect the privacy of guests who have booked in advance, whoever they might be. I cannot comment any further."
  
  Royal observers said that a party in Scotland would be a welcome distraction for Prince William in the light of the negative publicity that has surrounded Mr Fawcett’s role in the planned celebrations at Windsor Castle.
  
  Harold Brooks-Baker, the publishing director of Burke’s Peerage, said: "The prince is very popular, as is Scotland, and a party for his friends there would go down well. It would be a breath of fresh air for everyone after the recent bad press around St James’s Palace. Of course it will be difficult for him to completely let his hair down away from the eyes of the media, but it is only natural that he should want to celebrate around the university friends he has made."
  
  Prince William has become increasingly fond of St Andrews and has built up a sizeable circle of friends who are expected to be among the guests at any Scottish bash. Those likely to be invited include the prince’s flatmate Kate Middleton, who famously wore a transparent lace dress during a university catwalk appearance, and the Hon Virginia Fraser, the only daughter of the Lloyds underwriter Lord Strathalmond. Both girls were among the guests at a shooting party hosted by the prince at Sandringham at the end of last year. Another Sandringham guest who could expect a birthday party invitation would be Natalie Hicks-Lobbecke, who is three years older than the prince.
  
  A spokesman for St James’s Palace said: "This is a private matter on which we cannot comment."
  
  

March 18, 2003 -

• Harry pals kicked out
  
  TWO of Prince Harry’s pals at Eton College have been booted out after being caught smoking cannabis.
  
  The upper sixth formers, aged 17 and 18, were hauled before head Tony Little after their housemaster nabbed them sharing a joint in a bedroom. The boys — months from taking A-levels — admitted breaching rules and their parents were summoned.
  
  A source at the £20,000-a-year school said: “Cannabis leads to instant exclusion and these two were caught red-handed.
  
  “Eton does not like to use the word “expelled” so the parents were politely asked to withdraw their boys and school them elsewhere, which they did.
  
  “They were caught Friday lunchtime and gone by the evening.” One of the lads is said to be among Eton’s brightest pupils.
  
  The source added: “It’s a terrible shock for his parents — he’s a brilliant scholar.”
  
  Both boys were in Hawtrey House and lodge 50 yards from Harry’s Manor House. The source added: “Harry will know about this — it’s gone round like wildfire.” In June 2002 The Sun told how Harry, 18 — also in his final year — missed out on being a prefect after he admitted smoking cannabis at Highgrove.
  
  He escaped expulsion because it happened in school holidays.
  
  

March 17, 2003 -

• Prince William intends to join the Welsh Guards once he has completed his studies
  
  Prince William is set to follow in his father's footsteps by pursuing a career in the military. Army sources have revealed that the young Prince intends to join the Welsh Guards when he finishes his university studies at St Andrews.
  
  The 20-year-old has apparently contacted Guards officers to tell them he wishes to join them after he has completed a year's training at Sandhurst military academy.
  
  He already has some knowledge of the regiment, as he spent three months with them in Belize during his gap year. And his family also has a long-running relationship with the Welsh Guards, of which his father Prince Charles is Colonel.
  
  William's younger brother Harry has also voiced interest in taking the military path in life. It is thought that he may follow his brother into the Welsh Guards once he finishes his A-levels at Eton.
  
  

March 16, 2003 -

• WILLS IS A LOYAL ROYAL AT TESCO
  
  PRINCE William has shown he is in tune with millions of other students - by signing up for a supermarket loyalty card.
  
  The 20-year-old future heir to the throne - whose personal fortune stands at around £22million - uses his Tesco Clubcard in the supermarket at St Andrews, Fife, where he is in his second year at university.
  
  The card gives him 1p back for every pound he spends - and he keeps a regular check on his savings.
  
  A royal insider said last night: "He was chatting the other day and laughing about how he has more points than some of his friends."
  
  Prince William is a regular shopper at Tesco and has no qualms about hauling his own carrier bags home. The Tesco store is a popular venue for students at St Andrews.
  
  

March 16, 2003 -

• HARRY DROPS AN A-LEVEL TO BOOST GRADES
  
  PRINCE Harry has dropped an A-Level amid fears he may not make the grades required to join the army.
  
  The young Prince, who is brilliant on the sports field but struggling academically, will now concentrate on just two A-Levels - which is all he needs to gain a place at Sandhurst officer training college. Harry, 18, has dropped history of art and will now study only geography and art. He has set his heart on joining the army and he wants to make sure he gets two good grades. He was stretching himself doing three A-Levels and his final grades may not have been too great. By dropping one he knows that he can follow his chosen career.
  
  "His father has concerns about him joining the army but Harry has talked to Charles at length and he has now come round to the idea," a source at Eton said last night.
  
  The move was agreed between Eton and Prince Charles after the wild-living Prince failed his geography A/S exam last 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. Prince Charles desperately wanted Harry to follow in his brother's footsteps and go to university, but he is now resigned to him joining the army. Harry will apply to the Forces in 2004 after taking a gap year out. The prince is expected to join the Welsh Guards, part of the Household Division of which Charles is colonel. Harry has been advised by Mark Dyer, a former captain in the Welsh Guards, who also acts as a confidant to Prince William.
  
  He has excelled in the combined cadet force at Eton, and he was recently promoted up to the rank of sergeant. He was also runner-up recently for the sword of honour - the award given to the best cadet of the year. His easy manner and ready humour have made him one of the most poular boys in his year at Eton.
  
  Two years ago Harry's drug taking would have automatically barred him from joining the Forces. But top brass relaxed the rules and recruits are now questioned about past involvement with drugs.
  
  Harry will join a long line of royals in the Forces. Prince Andrew reached the rank of commander in the Royal Navy and flew helicopters in the Falklands War. Prince Charles and Prince Philip also served in the Navy.
  
  Prince Edward trained for the Royal Marines but quit after finding army life too tough.
  
  

March 13, 2003 -

• William to take on bigger role
  
  RELATIONS between Fleet Street editors and St James’s Palace continue to deteriorate. There were signs last night that the Prince of Wales has already conceded ground to the Fourth Estate, which has been tormenting him over the lucrative sale of royal gifts.
  
  The word at Buckingham Palace is that Prince William is to be given a higher public profile this year to mark his 21st birthday in June.
  
  St James’s Palace complained on Monday to the Press Complaints Commission after The News of the World ran photographs of William on a shopping expedition in St Andrew’s, where he is at university, which breached the voluntary code in which newspaper editors pledged to give the Princes privacy while they are in full-time education.
  
  With editors complaining yesterday that the Palace had failed to meet its side of the bargain by providing photocalls with William, there will now be an interview with him, photographs and televsion access when he comes of age. He could also accompany his father on an official engagement. Which should keep the press quiet for the moment.
  
  

March 13, 2003 -

• WILLIAM'S ROMP IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS
  
  A RELAXED Prince William lounges back as a mystery girl scrawls the word "king" on his chest in lipstick. Or does he? If the shot had you doing a double take that's exactly what the people behind it intended.
  
  It was posed by a lookalike for the BBC2 satirical show Double Take, directed by Alison Jackson, who was behind a similar ad campaign for drink giant Schweppes. Others in the series include Prince Charles's partner Camilla Parker Bowles in a low-cut dress, posing astride a chair with a glass of champagne in hand.
  
  Prime Minister Tony Blair is shown larking about on a skateboard and former Tory Minister Edwina Currie is seen indulging in a spot of horseplay with her ex- lover, former PM John Major. One of the most memorable images appears to show England footballer David Beckham taking a hairdryer to his locks before a game, while pony- tailed goalkeeper David Seaman gives his hair some extra bounce with the aid of curlers.
  
  Jackson's Schweppes campaign featured, among others, a lookalike Cherie Blair pinching her husband's bottom.
  
  The pilot of Double Take won a BAFTA for most innovative programme and it is now back for a series, beginning on Monday.
  
  

March 10, 2003 -

• Harry's in peak form
  
  RUGBY nut Prince Harry proudly sports the red rose of England on his supporter’s cap yesterday as he watches the national side thrash Italy.
  
  Harry, 18, and pals laughed and cheered as Jonny Wilkinson and co romped to a 40-5 victory in the Six Nations Championship at Twickenham.
  
  Harry’s rugby trip came a day after he stole the show in a school play watched by the Queen — during which he pretended to PEE on his feet. The cheeky royal played drunken Conrade in Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing with his astonished gran looking on.
  
  An onlooker at Eton College joked: “It may not have been that difficult for Harry to play the role, bearing in mind his real-life boozing antics.”
  
  

March 9, 2003 -

• SO WILLS THE ROYAL SLIM SHADY PLEASE STAND UP
  
  POP-LOVING Princes William and Harry have snapped up tickets to see their foul-mouthed rapper hero Eminem - and the Queen is definitely not amused. Her Majesty is furious that her grandsons have booked £75 seats for the first UK gig of the bad-boy star's European tour. She was stunned when she learned that they know by heart many of Eminem's lyrics - such as Will The Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up - from hits strewn with four-letter words.
  
  The Queen banned 20-year-old Wills and Harry, 18, from playing the American rapper's records in Royal homes. But the brothers can't wait to see Eminem at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes on June 21. A Royal source said: "I don't think they are deliberately defying the Queen but she is most upset at them going."
  
  The Princes love the star's no-holds-barred stage antics - such as wielding a chainsaw at the opening concert of the Anger Management tour in Hamburg. The horrified Queen found out about the Princes' enthusiasm for Eminem when Wills was playing one of the 30-year-old rapper's CDs. She made it clear she hated all the bad language.
  
  William and Harry booked the most expensive tour tickets over the internet to be close to the stage. The source said: "They will be with five or six friends."
  
  A spokesman at St James's Palace said: "We never discuss the private lives of the Princes."
  
  

March 9, 2003 -

• Palace seeks "restraint" over prince photos
  
  A royal official says she would speak to the Press Complaints Commission after a newspaper published pictures of Prince William out shopping in St Andrews. The media has been observing a voluntary agreement to keep clear of the 20-year-old son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana while he studies at St Andrews University in Scotland.
  
  The five photos, published over two pages of the News of the World, show William with a bicycle and wearing a peaked cap and zipped fleece top during a shopping trip.
  
  "I recognise that Prince William is in a public place and he is over 18, but there are sensitivities about Prince William at St Andrews," a spokeswoman for Prince Charles' office at St James's Palace told Reuters. "I hope other newspapers will show restraint and not use these pictures."
  
  "Prince William has been at university for 18 months and been able to enjoy his university life. Hopefully he'll be able to continue doing that," she added.
  
  The spokeswoman said she would speak on Monday to the Press Complaints Commission, an independent body whose members include newspaper editors and representatives from outside the media industry.
  
  

March 8, 2003 -

• FREE WILLY
  
  Going out with no guard, shopping at Tesco, riding his bike, chatting with friends... at last prince gets simple life his mum always wanted.
  
  HE looks like any other student as he trudges back to his shared house loaded down with bags from the supermarket. In his college kit of jeans, fleece, trainers and a baseball cap, Prince William slips through the crowded streets almost unnoticed. It's the free, open life his mother Princess Diana longed to give him.
  
  In his second year at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, William keeps the pomp of royal life at arm's length. Even his Scotland Yard bodyguard seems nowhere to be seen as the prince wanders from the supermarket to his home in a rented terraced house and down to the local pub.
  
  A family friend said: "He just wants to be like everyone else. His father once asked if he wanted a valet and he laughed out loud."
  
  William has a part-time secretary and that's it. He has access to a fleet of royal cars and drivers, but happily nips around St Andrews on a mountain bike. His relaxed lifestyle means friends can stop and chat without any of the stiff formality usually associated with the royal family
  
  . "It's exactly the life his mother wanted for him. She would be very proud," said one family friend.
  
  As a youngster, William was taken on the Tube and buses and made to wait in line at McDonald's.
  
  The friend added: "His mother wanted him to have a taste of what ordinary people do day in, day out and she would be so glad that her lessons have stood the test of time."
  
  But in three months some of that precious freedom will start to ebb away as William turns 21 on June 21. When Prince Charles was that age he had been invested as Prince of Wales and had a full public life. The friend added: "William accepts things might change when he turns 21, but at that age his father was heir to the throne. William isn't.
  
  "He knows there could be 10, 20 or 30 years before he comes to the throne and he has to find a role for himself."
  
  
  
  

March 1, 2003 -

• GIVE £25 FOR WILLS BIRTHDAY PREZZIES
  
  ROYAL servants are furious after being ordered to stump up £25 each for Prince William's 21st birthday present, The People can reveal. Sixty of the Queen's senior courtiers were astonished to receive a memo demanding the cash from Alan Reid, the Keeper of the PrivyPurse. The staff, based at Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, St James's Palace and Windsor Castle, are angry that he specified the amount they were expected to contribute.
  
  None of them actually work for Prince William. Mr Reid, effectively the Queen's chief accountant who handles her finances, made the request last Tuesday.
  
  One senior courtier said: "We wouldn't have minded if he had just asked us for a donation. But to put a figure on it is really tacky. For all we know William will take his present and then just give it to his butler to sell off - like his father Prince Charles did."
  
  The senior servants each put £10 every two to three years into what they call a "slush fund". The cash is used to buy the Queen a present for her birthday every April 21. When the money runs out they then all contribute a little more so, there is always money in the kitty.
  
  They also used the stash to present the Queen with a silver horse to mark her Golden Jubilee last year. The disgruntled courtier explained: "We don't mind giving to the Queen because we serve her. And we all get fabulous presents from her too.
  
  "But we hardly ever see Prince William. We have nothing to do with him because he is not one of the real working Royals."
  
  William is looking forward to a lavish party with his university friends when he turns 21 on June 21. Even the top staffers who work in the royal palaces do not get a right-royal income.
  
  Many of them are on around £28,000 a year and resent being asked for money to hand over to the children of their boss. The £25 will also go towards the Queen's birthday present - but the lion's share is being earmarked for Prince William.
  
  The palace aide added: "That is what is really sticking in our gullet."