...for September 2002

Sept. 21, 2002 -

• Wills Joins War on Deadly Solvents
  
  PRINCE William has backed a father's bid to wage war against shopkeepers who sell deadly goods to children.
  
  John O'Brien's son Lee was just 16 when he died from sniffing lighter fuel in January this year.
  
  The father, from Methil in Fife, was horrified to discover how easily youngsters could get hold of the killer solvent and other toxins in shops.He launched a campaign to force the Scottish Parliament to bring in new laws to stop the sale of solvents, alcohol, cigarettes and knives to children.Now his battle has been backed by Prince William.
  
  In a touching letter, the Prince told John: "I was so saddened to hear about the death of your son.
  
  "What you are doing is a worthwhile cause and I wish you every success."
  
  Papermill worker John launched the Lee O'Brien Solvent Trust after his son's death. It already has the backing of actor Dougray Scott and snooker champ Stephen Hendry.John, who visited Lee's grave to mark his 17th birthday yesterday, said: "Nothing could be better than receiving support from the future king. It was a great boost."
  
  The 47-year-old added: "You are supposed to be 18 to buy alcohol and solvents yet youngsters can buy them easily in shops.
  
  "It's just a case of irresponsible shopkeepers putting profit above the lives of young people.
  "Butane gas sold over the counter kills around 80 British children every year, 10 per cent in Scotland."
  
  John plans to present 100,000 signatures to the parliament and is confident the prince's backing will help his campaign.He is also urging council leaders to get behind the petition and calling for tougher court action against those who supply the deadly solvents.Fife MSP Marilyn Livingstone is putting a motion to parliament demanding action.
  
  She said: "There is so much support for a change in the law that I've no doubt we'll be successful.
  
  "What we need is more signatures for the petition and for other parents who have lost children to get behind the campaign."
  
  

Sept. 14, 2002 -

• PRINCE Harry yesterday publicly hailed the courage of his tragic mother Diana for the first time. And—speaking movingly on the eve of his 18th birthday today—he announced he intends to take up her legacy of helping the world's needy.
  
  The royal teenager said proudly: "She had more guts than anyone else. I want to carry on the things she didn't quite finish.
  
  "I've always wanted to—but before I was too young."
  
  Princess Diana's younger son—just 12 when she died in the horrific Paris car crash—made his firm pledge in his first interview. This week, Harry has been walking in his mum's footsteps, making his first solo public engagements. He chatted to a brave young cancer victim, belted home a blinding soccer goal—and balanced a bucket on his head, just like his gran and great-gran had before him. When Harry met leukaemia patient Samantha Ledster, 11, at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital on Thursday, he was hauntingly like the ‘People's Princess'. Perched on the edge of Sam's bed, he chatted with her for 10 minutes in a ward for which his mother helped raise millions. The scene echoed many big-hearted hospital visits by Diana— including one to a four-year-old cancer patient called Camila in Harrow, North London. Great Ormond Street was especially important to Diana, who remained their president even after shedding most royal duties after her divorce from Prince Charles. Lesson And Harry was deeply touched when the hospital presented him with a photo of her during a visit.
  
  Afterwards Samantha, of Watford, Herts, said: "I never thought I'd be here with Prince Harry."
  
  Her mum Emma declared: "It really made Samantha's day."
  
  During his visit, Harry also toured the hospital's kidney unit, opened by Diana on her final official visit on Valentine's Day 1997. There he met Michael Anderton, 15, who has to spend four hours, three times a week, hooked up to a dialysis machine. Michael told him: "You have to just get on."
  
  The prince also spoke to North London kidney patient Fred Ayisi, 17, who showed him a picture of his family on his digital camera. In the interview, Harry hinted at his anger that Diana's memory had been recently tarnished by her former minder Ken Wharfe. The ex-police inspector chose the fifth anniversary of her death last month to launch a seedy biography betraying her secrets. "She wasn't remembered in a way I'd have liked," admitted Harry.
  
  And he revealed that he has been contemplating public life since his mum's death in 1997. It was the fifth anniversary and his own coming of age that made him pick up her fallen baton. "It wasn't just a one-off thing," he insisted. "I've wanted to do something like this for a long time—especially after my mother died.
  
  "She got close to people and went for the sort of charities and organisations that everybody else was scared to go near, such as landmines in the Third World. She got involved in things no one had done before—Aids for example."
  
  Harry also promised to buckle down to his studies during his last year at Eton College. Last week the News of the World revealed he had failed important A/S level exams at school. Pals had feared his pot-smoking and underage drinking could have ruined him forever. But yesterday he vowed that those wild days were finally behind him. "That was a mistake and I learned my lesson," he promised. "It was never my intention to be that way." Harry says his mum would have wanted him and big brother Wills to carry on her work.
  
  "But I've got to settle down to my A-levels first," he pledged.
  
  Harry visited three other children's charities during his hectic round of engagements. He said: "It was quite difficult at first, being younger and not as experienced as some of the people I was meeting.
  
  "I've seen my mother do it so many times. She was so good at it."
  
  But Harry got his chance to show what he was good at—SOCCER —when he went to join Premiership players at West Ham's Upton Park ground in East London. He watched them work with local youngsters who use the club's facilities as long as they attend classroom sessions too. The prince was offered a shot from the penalty spot with Hammers' player Anton Ferdinand—Man United ace Rio's brother—in goal. But Anton did not have time to move before Harry's shot rocketed past him into the back of the net. As everyone stood open-mouthed, Harry said modestly: "I don't know. Somehow I just curled it."
  
  Later he joked about England soccer manager Sven Goran Eriksson, asking: "Any word from Sven? Has he called?"
  
  Ferdinand, 17, said later: "He was going on as if he couldn't hit a ball but then he smashed it into the top corner. I couldn't get near it."
  
  Harry also took a turn in goal and had been there only two seconds before a boy of 14 blasted a shot at him. Crossbar "That was a bit harsh!" the prince said as Remy St Hilaire fired the ball a few inches above his head, hitting the crossbar.
  
  After the kickabout, Arsenal fan Harry was presented with two West Ham strips—one signed by the first team, the other emblazoned with his name and the number 18. Another of the club's rising stars, Mark Nobel, 15, urged Harry to "do a Winterburn"—referring to defender Nigel Winterburn's switch from Arsenal to West Ham. But Harry's crowning moment came later when he joined a class of East London schoolchildren learning about life in the developing world. They were told how youngsters have to carry four litres of water on their heads for two miles a day because drinking water is so scarce. And Harry was persuaded to balance a bucket on his head. His gran the Queen, her late sister Margaret and the Queen Mum had done the same thing for photographers 25 years ago while larking around on holiday at their Balmoral estate in Scotland. Harry warned: "I'll soak everyone." Then he winced: "It's going, it's going." But he held on to it.
  
  The Prince revealed his dad was a driving force behind his plan to follow in his mum's footsteps. He explained: "He's encouraged me to take an interest in her work."
  
  Charlesis holding a private birthday dinner for Harry today at his estate in Highgrove, Gloucs. He is clearly glad the youngster survived some rocky teenage years to come of age ready to take on public life...just like Mum. Comment: Page Six
  Harry had started his visit with a private briefing in the hospital chapel, where a bust of Diana is on display. Later, hospital chief executive Jane Collins showed the prince an area near the entrance and told him:"On the anniversary of your mother's death, we put flowers there. She was a great friend to us." She presented Harry with a framed collage containing a picture of Diana holding a young patient and copies of two plaques commemorating parts of the hospital she had raised money to build. Harry, said later:"It was the hardest to take, with all the kids having their treatments, but seeing them so cheerful was something I had not expected.
  
  "It can't be easy spending so many hours on a dialysis machine, and you could not fail to have so much admiration for them," he said.
  
  At another visit Harry-who once dabbled in pot-smoking-came face-to-face with drug addicts, homeless children and abuse victims. Harry had been asked to when he visited a drop-in centre run by charity Kids Company in Camberwell, south London. The prince toured the centre with one of the founders and DJ Zoe Ball, who supporfts Comic Relief which supports the group. Harry met some of the 400 children who come to the centre to escape broken homes or life on the streets, and receive counselling. Most of the visitors have been involved with drugs and crime, and some have shocking stories of childhood abuse. In a lorry converted into a mobile exhibition, Harry children's artwork which he later described as "quite disturbing".
  
  At times it seemed like a grim reminder of Harry's own visit to a drugs rehab centre after he admitted smoking canabis. A poem scrawled on a wall describes a nine-year-old boy's experience with his father-"You break promises, you break arms, you break glasses, and then you cover it all up"-and ends: "Stop stop stop! It's enough!"
  
  Next to it is a lifesize wire and papier mache model entitled Devil Father, the faceless man having red horns and grasping a model of a terrified child around her neck. Prince Harry said:"It was quite disturbing. Zoe Ball and myself agreed it was like a haunted house.
  
  "This was people who have had difficult lives expressing themselves as they saw it, even if that was not in a nice way."
  
  The prince also saw the centre's recording studio, where budding singers can make demo CDs. Jessie Nunes sang Lean On Me for Harry in a duet with another girl. The prince was presented with a CD of songs recorded at the centre. Harry said later:"All the kids were great and were obviously working really hard to get on with their lives and pick themselves up."
  
  Harry chatted to at least a dozen of the children at the centre and laughed as they insisted on posing for endless photographs with him. On his way out, a group of girls giggled as one called out:
  "You're pretty cute for a white boy!"
  
  Lauren Brown, 17, explained afterwards: "Because he's cute, that's why.
  
  "I've never been with a white man so I'm shocked to find him so cute."
  
  Lauren added: "I thought he was very handsome. I never knew he looked like that at all."
  
  

Sept. 14, 2002 -

• Prince Harry has asked for money made on the sale of his special 18th birthday photos to go to one charity. The charity called Merlin is not well-known, but they help save millions of people affected by wars and disease in countries like Africa and Afghanistan. The photos have been taken by Princess Diana's fave fashion photographer, Mario Testino, to celebrate the Prince charming's birthday on Sunday.
  
  In them, Harry looks very cute with a mop of strawberry-blond hair. One shot shows Harry in an unbuttoned shirt and in another he looks dapper in a suit. In the third, the polo-mad Prince relaxes on a fence in his sports gear. And what do you think a Prince gets for a b-day pressie? His very own coat of arms of course!
  
  It's his own crest with a lion and unicorn, either side of a shield, topped by a coronet and smaller lion.

Sept. 14, 2002 -

• Prince Harry has spoken for the first time of his determination to keep alive the memory of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales. The prince, who celebrates his 18th birthday on Sunday, has vowed to "finish" his mother's charity work saying she had "more guts than anybody else".
  
  Princess Diana campaigned against landmines In an interview to mark his coming of age, he said he wanted to follow in her footsteps and admired the way she reached out to the vulnerable. "The way she got close to people and went for the sort of charities and organisations that everybody else was scared to go near, such as landmines in the Third World.
  
  "She got involved in things that nobody had done before; Aids for example," he said.
  
  Prince Harry, whose mother was killed in a Paris car crash just three weeks before his 13th birthday, hit the headlines earlier this year when it was revealed he had been drinking under-age and experimenting with cannabis. He says that sort of behaviour is now behind him. "That was a mistake and I learned my lesson. It was never my intention to be that way."
  
  The young prince, who is third in line to the throne, carried out his first solo engagements last Thursday in London - meeting drug addicts, homeless children, and those who suffered abuse. He also paid a special visit to meet children suffering from leukaemia at Great Ormond Street hospital in London. Prince Harry said he was 15 or 16 when he first considered following in his mother's footsteps. "I always wanted to do it, but especially after my mother died.
  
  "The fifth anniversary of her death was important because she wasn't remembered in a way I would have liked."
  
  The prince is believed to have been upset by a book written by former royal bodyguard Ken Wharfe about Diana's private life and romantic affairs. He said he would have liked to emphasise more positive aspects of his mother's life. "I want to carry on the things that she didn't quite finish. I have always wanted to, but was too young."
  
  His first duties included a trip to West Ham But he admitted that his first solo public engagements had been quite daunting without the support of his father and brother. "It was quite difficult at first, being younger and not as experienced as some of the people I was meeting," he said.
  
  "I have seen my mother doing it so many times and she was so good at it."
  
  Prince Harry has also posed for seven portraits to commemorate his 18th birthday, with Diana's favourite photographer, Mario Testino. Proceeds from their sale will go to Merlin, a small charity that funds health care in developing countries. 'Quiet birthday'
  
  Although Prince Harry is beginning to raise his public profile, he turned down his father's offer of a big birthday bash, preferring instead to celebrate at home in Highgrove, Gloucestershire. He said: "I don't actually like being the centre of attention.
  
  "Plus, there's all the organisation I would have to do, and I've got school the next day. So it will be a quiet day at home with my father and my brother - my family."
  
  Academic work means the prince, who started his final year at Eton last week, will take on charity work gradually. He may possibly take a gap year to travel after his A-levels, before university or the armed forces.
  
  

Sept. 14, 2002 -

• After almost 18 years playing the cheeky younger brother, Prince Harry took the role of leading man yesterday as a series of official photographs were released to mark his coming of age. The portraits, shot at Eton College by his mother's favourite photographer, Mario Testino, show that Prince William is not the only member of the family to be blessed with film star good looks. The impish grin which defined Prince Harry's childhood persona now turns out to be a confident, manly smile, revealed as the Prince posed informally for Testino in an open-necked shirt. Testino, who has made his reputation from making beautiful subjects like Kate Moss or Elizabeth Hurley appear even more so, was struck by Prince Harry's transformation from gawky child to young man. "I tell you, I have quite a few girls in my office and they were beyond themselves. I've never seen them like that," he said. "For a 17-year-old, he was pretty incredible. I was expecting him to be shy but he seemed very secure in himself.
  
  "He's very lucky. He's tall and very good looking, with a fabulous smile. He's charming and has eyes that are a little bit curious - always looking for something new and interesting. It's a great quality."
  
  It is that same quality of exuberance, however, that has led to Prince Harry's teenage experiments with alcohol and soft drugs being used to decorate the front pages of several tabloid newspapers in recent months. Prince Harry's image makeover has therefore not been confined to Testino's photographs, the proceeds of which will go to a little-known humanitarian charity called Merlin which was selected by the prince. As part of the growing up process, Prince Harry's coming of age was also marked this week by visits to several charities, including Great Ormond Street children's hospital, an organisation that was close to his mother's heart. He also visited West Ham United and met young offenders involved in an education project organised by the club, and Kids Company, a children's charity operating in Camberwell, south London. Merlin, which funds health care in Third World countries, was said by royal aides to reflect Prince Harry's desire to take up similar causes to his mother. "I wanted to help a small organisation. Merlin is like that and not well known, and that's why I chose it," the Prince said.
  
  Despite this new seriousness, Prince Harry can be seen playing his more natural role of jester during the photo shoot with Testino, at one point turning the tables on the photographer by whipping out a camera of his own. Testino, whose pictures are said to confer instant "global glamour" on their subjects, captured a new radiant, relaxed Diana, Princess of Wales shortly before her death in 1997. The story goes that the photographer, having ordered the Princess to kick off her shoes and remove her jewellery, danced a silly jig to make her laugh. He needed no such tricks get the best out of Prince Harry. Last year he was invited to photograph the Prince of Wales at Highgrove, his country home in Gloucestershire. The Prince posed with his rare hens and liked the resulting portrait so much that he decided to use Testino again. Until these images, Prince Harry was defined in the popular imagination as the forlorn 12-year-old walking manfully up the Mall behind his mother's funeral cortege. Five years on, Testino said he found a bright, together young man. "He came across as a perfectly normal teenager. He has a lot of humour. There's a quick wit, a very English wit. His father has it too, and you can see his mother's influence. It's a pity she's not around to continue that, but thank God he had her for the first 12 years of his life."
  
  Testino, however, took no credit for Prince Harry's extravagantly gelled hairstyle which, to put it politely, has "intrigued" some fashion experts. "A haircut can make or break, it's incredible how. I brought a hairdresser along but Harry had already done his own hair," said Testino. "I was quite impressed how he got that look. We didn't turn him into that, that's how he arrived. We didn't change his look at all."
  
  Prince Harry's progress to adulthood has not always been smooth. He was said to have been deeply affected by the loss of his mother so soon after his parents' very public and messy divorce. Princess Diana openly described her younger son as "the naughty one" but recent childish mischief - Harry once climbed the parapets of Kensington Palace and pelted a policeman with snowballs - developed into adolescent boorishness.
  
  Even making allowances for teenage excesses, the reports of Harry's excessive drinking and offhand and arrogant behaviour with pub landlords and staff painted him as a "hooray Henry" with thoughts for little else but himself. Family friends have often hinted that Prince Charles, perhaps conscious of not burdening his sons with the royal protocol that suffocated his own childhood, has shown a tendency to over-indulge his younger son. After the tabloid revelations, Prince Charles ordered Harry to attend a rehabilitation clinic for a day, but many suspected this was more for the benefit of a critical media than a renewed determination to curb Harry's excesses. However, if Royal aides are to be believed, Prince Harry, who is young for his years, is now said to be "growing up" and coming to terms with the demands placed on him by his royal status.
  
  It is not clear what the future holds - the results of interim AS exams were said to be disappointing - but if he obtains the grades he is expected to go on to further education, possibly in Cirencester to study land management.
  
  

Sept. 11, 2002 -

• Prime Minister Tony Blair has led the country in mourning its own loss of life in last year's September 11 attacks at an emotional memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral. Prince Charles and Prince Harry and senior figures of church and state also joined relatives and friends of the 67 British victims as some 3,000 rose petals rained down from the cathedral's dome to honour the dead on Wednesday. Some relatives of the Britons who died -- the highest death-toll of any nation other than the United States -- were in New York, while others chose to spend the day quietly. Relatives of one victim, Nigel Thompson, gathered at a favourite beauty-spot of his in the northern Peak District. Friends of another, Rick Rescoria, went south to celebrate his life with a commemorative brew of beer in Cornwall. The Queen led the public tributes. "Every person who was lost that day was someone very special: a son, a daughter, a father, mother, husband, wife, loved one or valued friend," she said in a special message.
  
  The British victims, mainly financial sector workers, were among the 2,811 who died when two hijacked planes slammed into New York's World Trade Centre towers a year ago. In work-places and homes across the nation, Britons fell silent at the time the first plane struck a year ago. "The image from outside is the single dramatic moment, the crash out of a clear sky, but what we are going to remember from inside is the chaos, dark and dust," incoming Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said. Williams, who will lead the world's 70 million Anglicans from October, was in New York when the planes struck. At the U.S. embassy in London, a ripped and dirty Union Jack rescued from the rubble of Ground Zero was handed to Britain in a token of U.S. appreciation for British support. "It is a rich symbol of endurance and of the strength of the British people, and of the pain and agony gone through that day," New York police officer Lieutenant Frank Dwyer said.
  
  U.S. Ambassador William Farish praised "the government and people of the United Kingdom, America's truest friends". Blair forged a close personal relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the attacks. That has heightened the possibility of Britain figuring on hit-lists for would-be attackers. The country's police -- 28,000 patrolled London alone -- admitted the nation was vulnerable but said there was no specific evidence of attacks planned. Police believe the threat comes not only from groups like al Qaeda, the radical Muslim organisation blamed for last year's attacks, but also from lone gunmen or rogue guerrilla organisations hoping to win global attention. Mainstream Muslims, who feel their faith has been demonised, opened mosques to the public in an attempt to educate Britons. "Remember September 11 was an act of abomination against people of all faiths," Inayat Bunglawala, of the moderate Muslim Council of Britain, told Reuters.
  
  Veteran left-wing campaigner John Pilger struck a dissenting voice, saying "polite, grey-suited extremists in Washington and London" had exploited September 11 to push their agenda. But a mood of sombre solidarity came through loudest, with the mass-circulation Sun declaring: "Side By Side We Mourn".