CURRENT EDITION: May, 9th 2001

(1) Sophiegate's next victims may be Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

With 'Sophiegate' now in its sixth week, there are growing signs that the scandal will precipitate widespread changes at Buckingham Palace. The SUNDAY TIMES reports this week that Prince Edward will be forced to choose between his business career and Royal duties paid for through the Civil List. In addition, the paper suggests, Prince Michael of Kent and his wife, the former Austrian Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, will be asked to forfeit their virtually rent-free grace-and-favour apartment (nicknamed 'the Dolls' House') at Kensington Palace as a result of the review into working practices of minor Royals instigated by the Queen. The paper claims that the Queen has accepted this, as has a reluctant Duke of Edinburgh, who is stated to have been previously opposed to any enforced changes to working Royals. The couple, who own an eight-bedroom mansion in Gloucestershire valued at 1.6m pounds, are described by the paper as the biggest losers in the proposed shake-up recommended by Lord Luce, the Lord Chamberlain, who is conducting the review. Unlike other tenants at Kensington Palace, the Prince and Princess do not perform any Royal duties but were given the free apartment in 1979 by the Queen. Since 1994 they have contributed 3,500 pounds a year towards the maintenance of their palace residence, which the SUNDAY TIMES values at a 10,000 pounds per week rental on the open market.

On Monday, the tabloid DAILY EXPRESS ran a double-page spread on the story and noted other property perks handed down to the Queen's children and Royal cousins in rental deals that are so sensitive that, according to a Palace spokeswoman, they 'would not be repeated now'. Also living rent-free at Kensington Palace are the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, who receive money from the Queen's Privy Purse for their Royal duties; Princess Alice, the Dowager Duchess, now a frail and ailing 99; The Duke of Kent (Prince Michael's elder brother) and his Duchess, who are paid from the Privy Purse for their Royal duties; the now ailing Princess Margaret; and various court functionaries. Prince and Princess Michael, who have recently been criticised by the republican GUARDIAN newspaper for alleged free-loading and exploitation of their Royal titles, can expect little sympathy from the British press if they are forced to move out of Kensington Palace. The DAILY MAIL commented on Monday: 'The Kents aren't popular. They have no Royal duties. No one's going to die in a ditch defending their corner. But it is outrageous for them to occupy such a large apartment in Kensington Palace for less than it would cost to rent a lock-up garage in central London.' The DAILY EXPRESS followed this on Tuesday with the acid comment that Prince Michael and his wife, together with the Duke and Duchess of Kent, are Royal 'dead-wood'. Calling for judicious pruning from the Queen, the paper said: 'The public neither loves, wants nor respects them.'

[There will be much more on this story in the May edition of our print newsletter, THE ROYAL REPORT. To subscribe, email us at join@royalreport.com with your name, address and preferred payment method.]
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(2) Parliament to launch far-reaching inquiry into the Monarchy

On the day that PM Tony Blair went to Buckingham Palace to ask Her Majesty to exercise Her Royal Prerogative and dissolve Parliament, the TIMES reported that the House of Commons is poised to launch a far-reaching investigation into the powers of the Monarchy. The paper stated that the Commons all-party Public Administration Committee plans to shine a spotlight on many of the perceived anachronisms of the Queen's role in the British constitution. Labour chairman Dr Tony Wright (MP for Cannock Chase) is said to want the sometimes controversial Committee to consider the constitutional position of the Crown in the Queen's Speech (outlining the government's legislative agenda at the annual State Opening of Parliament), the Royal Prerogative, and the Privy Council, reporting weekly to the Sovereign on legislative progress. The paper suggests that perceived inadequacies in the Queen's review under Lord Luce following 'Sophiegate' have been the catalyst in prompting the Committee's action, and that with a newly elected and most republican House of Commons in centuries, MPs will seize the chance of examining the role of the constitutional Monarchy. On Monday, Tony Wright told the paper: 'The Palace missed a golden opportunity to reform its own affairs by bringing in someone from outside to conduct this enquiry. I want my committee to look at the whole machinery of the Crown, the powers of the Queen's Prerogative, the Queen's Speech, and the role of the Civil Service.' The Committee, which is Labour dominated, has no legislative authority but, as the TIMES notes, provides a platform for republican critics of Monarchy and it will have the capacity to embarrass the Royal Family, something the paper claims Tony Wright is very keen to do. The TIMES points out that the dreaded prospect of MPs intervening to try to dictate reform was raised within the Royal Family when the Queen was deciding who should chair the 'Sophiegate' enquiry. Lord Luce's appointment is seen as having been a victory for traditionalists within the Palace (led by Prince Philip) over the reformers (led by Prince Charles and Princess Anne). The Palace is said to be anxious that Lord Luce deliver his review before Prince Andrew leaves the Royal Navy in July to take up his controversial post as an expenses-paid ambassador for British trade and industry overseas.

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(3) A new public image for the Duke of York

The Duchess of York features in the tabloid DAILY EXPRESS enjoying a day out at Disneyland Paris with Princesses Beatrice, 12, and Eugenie, who was celebrating her 11th birthday (postponed from March so that her schoolfriends could join her at the theme park). An onlooker is quoted as saying that 'Fergie was clearly having a great time. She was very relaxed, talking with everyone, and her daughters were having the time of their lives.' The tabloid stressed that Prince Andrew was noticeable by his absence. He had jetted off to Miami after an official appointment in New York and missed his daughter's birthday treat despite Sarah's entreaties. An unidentified Palace source told the paper: 'He was due to go with the Duchess and the girls, but at the last minute told her he had private arrangements. He has basically left her on the lurch.'

The newspaper report fuelled criticism of the Prince's partying lifestyle just after the tabloid MAIL ON SUNDAY had published a double-page spread article on the his ex-wife's campaign to clean up the Duke of York's playboy reputation. The tabloid described a meeting of influential New York figures attended by Sarah and Prince Andrew; Barbara Walters, the US TV interviewer; Tina Brown, Editor of a society magazine; Howard Stringer, Chairman of Sony Corp; media baron Mort Zuckerman; and telecommunications entrepreneur Lynn Forester. The meeting was arranged by Lynn Forester's husband, banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, a longtime friend of the Royal Family. The paper described it as the first stage of the Duke of York's rehabilitation after a disastrous six months in which his un-Royal behaviour - and choice of demi-monde companions - caused intense embarrassment to the Royal Family. A friend of the Duchess of York told the tabloid: 'It put the Prince in a room with the kind of people with whom Fergie and his other advisers would like to see him socialise with when he comes to America as Britain's trade ambassador.' The friend continued: 'Fergie and a lot of other people who love Andrew believe that his friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein [her former lover] has become really dangerous...' American journalist Liz Smith, who was at the meeting, was full of praise for Prince Andrew in her MAIL ON SUNDAY interview: 'He was very friendly and amusing and he is movie-star attractive, and I think he is going to become very well liked. He really is making a remarkable recovery and I think he is well on the way to rehabilitating himself, like Fergie, as a solid citizen.'
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(4) PLUS...

--The Prince of Wales has made a secret dash to his favoured Greek monastery on Agion Oros, the Holy Mountain, the DAILY TELEGRAPH reported on May 8. He is staying at the 12th-century monastery of Vatopedi for a few days to meditate and work on an exhibition of paintings for charity, according to the paper, which noted that the Palace and British Embassy in Athens had hoped to keep the visit a secret. He was seen however as soon as he arrived by private jet at the northern port city of Kavalla, where he boarded the yacht of his friend Mr John Latsis for the sea journey to the ascetic monastic community. This is the Prince's second visit to the monks of Agion Oros.

--An unexpected and intimate spotlight has been thrown on the love life of King Edward VIII when he was Prince of Wales. Some 260 passionate love letters written by him to his mistress Freda Dudley Ward are to be auctioned on June 6, Saturday's TELEGRAPH announced, describing the recipient Freda, who was the wife of a Liberal Member of Parliament, as Edward's first great love. On May 8 the tabloid MIRROR published excerpts from the letters showing the Prince's disenchantment with his Royal role as heir to the Throne long before he chose to abdicate in 1936 over another love, Mrs Wallis Simpson. Writing in 1919 on his departure for his official tour of Canada, the Prince wrote: 'Just a teeny line from your broken-hearted little boy to say au revoir...God! how I'm dreading Canada.' A year later, on his official visit to Australia and New Zealand, he wrote: 'The more I think of it all the more certain I am that really the day for kings and princes is past, monarchies are out of date, though I know its a rotten thing for me to say and sounds Bolshevik.' Noting early signs of Edward's reckless passion that precipitated the 1936 Monarchy crisis, the paper quotes from a letter written to Freda in 1918 shortly after their first meeting: 'Mon amour, I swear I will never marry any other woman but YOU...I want to die young and how marvelously divine if we could die together.' London auctioneers Bonham & Brooks expect the letters to fetch up to 20,000 pounds.