CURRENT EDITION: April, 30th 2001

(1) The Queen celebrates a low-key birthday

As the Queen celebrates her 75th birthday this weekend (it fell on Saturday, although official celebrations will not take place until June), the British press has had surprisingly little to say. After the recent series of critical stories about the Monarchy in a number of newspapers, both broadsheet and tabloid, the least Buckingham Palace press officers could have hoped for was a moment of cheer for the Monarch's achievement. In fact, the papers have found little to report. The tabloids noted that the Queen preferred to take a quiet day alone with her husband Prince Philip at Windsor Castle. Friday's DAILY EXPRESS - a mid-market tabloid recently taken over by a publishing baron whose fortune arose through pornographic magazines - made a front-page meal of the Queen's low-key birthday arrangements with the headline 'Throne Alone'. The report continued: 'The Queen will spend her 75th birthday without her children at her side and with clamour growing for a Royal overhaul.' The tabloid noted that only Edward was expected to visit (in the event, the Queen was also visited by her grandchildren Beatrice and Eugenie, according to later reports), and pointed to Prince Charles's absence as proof of a 'coolness' between mother and son. The paper went on to highlight a growing republican voice for abolition of the Monarchy in favour of a US-style presidency. It quoted a republican Labour parliamentarian, Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, as saying: 'The Queen is the best alternative at the moment until we have an idea of an acceptable head of state to be elected by the people. That could be a popular figure like Princess Anne. The hereditary principle is too much of a gamble.' Another 'leading' (but otherwise unidentified) Labour backbencher is quoted as saying: 'Of course it is ridiculous that we have an unelected 75-year-old head of state. But at the moment it is better than her standing aside for Prince Charles, which is even worse and would lead to the perpetuation of an out-of-date system.' Given the recent DAILY MAIL poll (published 14 April) showing a 70 per cent support for the Monarchy against a dismal 19 per cent for a republic alternative, republican activists may have a long wait for their presidential utopia. An editorial in the MAIL ON SUNDAY concludes: 'There is plainly a deep well of loyalty to the Queen and growing support for Prince Charles in his relationship with Camilla. Republicanism is going nowhere.'

(2) 'Sophiegate' enters a fourth week

The scandal over what the Countess of Wessex told an undercover reporter continues to provide editorial mileage for Britain's tabloids. The SUNDAY EXPRESS reports in an exclusive story today that the Earl and Countess of Wessex will be urged by the Queen to quit their sprawling Victorian redbrick stately home, Bagshott Park in Surrey. The paper claims that the advice is driven by the Queen's Private Secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, and supported by the Prince of Wales and his sister, the Princess Royal, who have expressed concern. An unidentified source is quoted: 'It is ridiculous that minor Royals like Edward and Sophie are running a house the size of Balmoral when there are just two of them.' The financial strain of meeting Bagshott's 'monstrous upkeep bills' are said to be too much for a couple with a reported combined income of 348,500 pounds. This sum could be pruned if a report initiated by the Queen for delivery in May, headed by the Lord Chamberlain, recommends that they retire from business affairs to devote themselves full-time to Royal duties. Saturday's DAILY MAIL detects a rift between Prince Philip and other Royals over 'Sophiegate' and the Palace's 'knee-jerk reaction' in setting up the Lord Chamberlain's enquiry in response to media pressure. A Royal official is quoted as saying: 'Other members of the family have been muttering that thanks to the Countess [of Wessex], all their futures are are now subjected to scrutiny.' Philip is reported to have 'intervened firmly on Sophie and Edward's side', putting him at odds with the Queen Mother and Prince Charles. The tabloid notes the close relationship between Prince Philip and his son and his daughter-in-law, whom he 'thoroughly approves of'. A 'close confidant' tells the paper: 'He's always been a sucker for blue-eyed blondes, but you can never tell with Philip - he started out liking Diana.'

Earlier in the week, an article by the former Royal aide Patrick Jephson in last week's SUNDAY TIMES - suggesting that Prince William's accession should be brought forward by the abdication of his grandmother and father in his favour - was ridiculed in Monday's DAILY MAIL. 'As subjects of HM we are a sad, bemused people in so many ways, but no one can say we don't have a sense of humour to tolerate these Ruritanian fantasies.' Meanwhile, in Saturday's DAILY MAIL the columnist Simon Heffer commented that 'There have been too many pygmy ministers presuming to tell our most experienced statesman [the Queen] how her family ought to conduct itself, and this must stop. If [Tony] Blair won't play by the constitutional rules of ensuring ministers keep the Queen and her family out of politics, then it is time for her Private Secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, to remind him of those rules in the most uncompromising terms.'

(3) Foot-and-mouth crisis hits Royal events

The UK foot-and-mouth epidemic is no respecter of Royalty. The tabloid MAIL ON SUNDAY today notes that Prince Charles has been banned from visiting farms on his trip to Canada this week. Fearing that he might inadvertently carry the virus that attacks sheep and cattle, the Canadian government has ruled that it is 'inappropriate for him to go near livestock' and claims that the Palace agrees. Although no one is claiming that either the Prince or any member of his St James's Palace entourage could be carrying the disease, this is such a politically delicate issue that an 'overly cautious approach' was agreed between the Canadian authorities and Charles. The Prince's trip is described by the tabloid as 'one of the most controversial visits in years'. Charles is carrying his attack against genetically modified foods (which he criticises on his website as 'potentially disastrous') to Saskatchewan, the Canada's GM Food Trials centre, where he will be arguing his case with farmers. The SUNDAY TELEGRAPH reports that precious herds of the Queen's deer - with bloodlines extending back to Henry VIII and the Middle Ages - are now thought to be at risk of the disease, thanks to a controversial government order to reopen Richmond Park, neighbouring Hampton Court Palace Park and Bushey Park in Hertfordshire. The Royal Parks had been closed to the public to protect the deer herds during the crisis. The closure was intended to last for 'weeks', but Park managers are reported to have been overruled by Ministers 'as part of the Government's attempts to show that the crisis is under control'. The paper reports a spokesman for the Royal Parks Agency as confirming that 'the U-turn had been ordered by the government Department for Culture & Tourism'. 'We are a Government Agency and we have to do what the Government advises,' the spokesman said. The Department, however, was anxious to deny responsibility in the face of angry criticism from animal-welfare groups and the British Deer Society, saying that ministers had not been involved in the decision and adding: 'We do not order the Royal Parks Agency around; we have mature discussions with it.'

One other casualty has been this summer's social season. The MAIL ON SUNDAY casts doubt on events at June's Royal Ascot race meeting. The tabloid notes that, as owner of the course through the Crown Estate, the Queen is anxious to proceed with the money-spinning week. It reports that she intends to cancel the daily Royal procession for horse-drawn open carriages from Windsor Castle down the course to the Royal Enclosure to comply with present emergency regulations. Britain's regional media continue to chronicle the rural ravages of the disease. Hard on the news that the Royal Windsor House Show had been cancelled, came this week's cancellation of the annual Royal Bath and West Show for the first time in 224 years apart from two world wars. It is the latest in a swathe of cancellations of Royally patronised rural events to be reported. Elsewhere, the regional press has been assessing the cost to the rural and allied economies of the cancellation of the Royal Show at Stoneleigh, the Royal Norfolk Show and its neighbouring Suffolk County Show, and the postponement of the Royal Cornwall, the Royal Ulster and the Three Counties Shows.

(4) Lost Queen Mother film footage to be shown

The SUNDAY TELEGRAPH reports today that lost colour film of the Queen Mother has been discovered in Britain, South Africa and Canada where it had lain forgotten in archives for over 50 years. It will be screened on television for the first time to mark her 101st birthday in August. Adrian Wood, ITV's archive film producer, is quoted as saying that 40 minutes of film were discovered from the then Queen's tour of South Africa and Rhodesia [Zimbabwe] in 1947 with her husband George VI and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Footage of the Royal couple's crucial 1939 tour of Canada and the US has also been discovered, showing the Queen Mother greeting Mounties and native Indians. Mr Wood is quoted about this film, which has never been seen in UK: 'The film captures a certain smartness, a certain look and charm that she had. She is so natural.'