When prince was a frog

Kate Middletons commoner status stirs up Britons old class divide
LONDON - Since the royal Engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton, one word describing the bride-to-be has stood out more than any other. She may be beautiful, graceful and fabulously rich, but Middleton is still a “commoner.” Technically, the label fits. The 28-year-old daughter of former airline workers made good is not of noble blood and, hence, considered a commoner in the British tradition of class distinction. Yet the wide use of such an archaic and, to some, pejorative...

Snub for Obamas as Royal Sources Reveal They Will Not be Invited to Prince William's Wedding
© Getty Uninvited: Royal sources have revealed that President Obama and his wife Michelle are not going to be invited to the Royal Wedding as it is not classed as a state occasion American President left off the guest list as it is not a 'state occasion' Royal couple eager to ask ordinary citizens to attend rather than VIPs Heads of State who may attend include Nicolas Sarkozy and wife Carla Bruni President Obama and his wife Michelle will not be invited to Prince William's Wedding next...

The Obamas Royal Wedding Invitation is (NOT) in the Mail
Michelle is simply devastated. The moment she heard that Prince William had set the date for the royal Wedding of the century to his loving Kate, Michelle began preparing her adorable outfit to wear to the nuptials.  Kicking hubby to the corner where he could sit with the dog, Michelle dashed out of the White House with six cars of police escorts to her local Walmart to buy just the perfect rhinestone-studded hooker belt to cinch over her pot belly and show off her eensy-weensy boobs to the...

Prince William & Kate Middleton Make First Public Appearance Since Engagement Announcement (PHOTOS)
Prince William and Kate Middleton made their first public appearance since the announcement of their engagement on Saturday night, stepping out to the Thursford Christmas Spectacular in aid of the Teenager Cancer Trust in Fakenham, England. The BBC reports that all money raised from the evening will "go towards the £2.5m [$3.9 million] cost of building the first specialist cancer unit for Young People at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge." The couple was invited to the event by Prince Will...

William and Kate's first royal visit
Kate Middleton has joined Prince William on an official royal Engagement for the first time. The prince was guest of honour at the Teenage Cancer Trust event in Norfolk. The BBC's Nicholas Witchell reports. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date Web Browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling styl...

William and Kate at charity gala
Kate Middleton and Prince William have made their first public appearance together since they announced their engagement last month. The couple attended the Teenage Cancer Trust charity Fundraising gala in Thursford, Norfolk. Miss Middleton, wearing a black and white dress and a fitted black jacket, walked by the prince's side as the couple arrived for the event. The couple will be married at Westminster Abbey on 29 April. The prince was guest of honour at Thursford Christmas Spectacular wh...

Prince William, Kate Middleton at fundraiser
LONDON - Kate Middleton made her first public appearance Saturday night since announcing her engagement to Prince William, joining him at a Cancer charity Fundraising event in Norfolk. It marked a transition for Middleton as she made the first of what are expected to be many public appearances for a variety of good causes. Middleton, 28, is not officially part of the royal family until her marriage April 29, but this week she joined Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the family's inner cir...

Kate Middleton Prince William wedding souvenirs get royal approval
Kate Middleton and Prince William: The three souvenirs — a tankard, plate and pill box — each feature the couple's entwined initials, the prince's coronet emblem and the date of the Wedding — April 29, 2011....

Official royal wedding souvenirs not likely to be a hit: Experts
The official royal Wedding China has been released just in time for Christmas. But experts say the plates, pillboxes and mug won't likely be a hit because they don't bare a picture of Prince William and his bride-to-be, Kate Middleton. "It doesn't matter that these bone China items have been approved by Kate and William, the most popular collectors' items have faces on," Ron Smith, who runs the website commemorabilia.co.uk, told The Sun newspaper. "The good quality ones with portraits on are wha...

The 10 best places for a royal stag or hen party
The sandy paradise of Goa. (Neil Setchfield/LPI) Where Prince William and fiancé Kate Middleton will stage their stag and hen parties has been the subject of much speculation. For William, murmurings of his plans suggest anything from a shooting weekend in Scotland to a night of clubbing in London. For Kate, rumoured locations include London and Berkshire. Royal stag and hen parties should be affairs of style and adventure, and they create the perfect excuse to round up your mates and get o...

Extra, Extra
Flickr user Tim Schreier Remember to follow Gothamist on Twitter and like us on Facebook. From the Gothamist Newsmap: shotes fired on 8th Ave & 138th Street in Manhattan, a fire at Amsterdam Ave & W 63 Street in Manhattan and a stabbing at 3rd St & Driggs Ave in Brooklyn. No heat in your apartment? The Daily News to the rescue! Prince William was allegedly not so princely when he broke up with Kate Middleton for a while, telling her, "Do you know who I am! No one tells me what to do. I do what...

Kate Middleton steps out in Temperley - Wedding cups and plates approved - Wedding coin approved
If you’ve been feeling frustrated by Kate Middleton’s wearing her clothes inside buildings, away from cameras, join the club! All we’ve seen of her since the engagement have been the official engagement photos. On Saturday, she finally went out — dressed in an outfit! — to a charity event with Prince William. She wore a dress from Temperley’s fall 2009 collection that seems to be a non-runway look in keeping with her put-together, bland Fashion sense. She play...

Prince William, Kate raise cancer funds
Published: Dec. 19, 2010 at 12:37 PM LONDON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton have made their first public appearance since the announcement of their engagement, British officials said. The couple attended a Christmas variety show Saturday to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust, Sky News reported. Joking with onlookers, William told a group of teenagers dressed as elves they had "cool hats." The soon-to-be bride smiled, but said nothing. William was the guest o...

Prince William approves wedding souvenirs for sale (AP)
LONDON – Britain's royal Wedding is still four months away, but the first official Memorabilia went on sale Monday — a range of Wedding China personally approved by the couple. Prince William's office said the items had been commissioned by the palace department responsible for the royal family's art collection and made in Stoke-on-Trent in central England, a traditional center for British ceramics. The three souvenirs — a tankard, plate and pill box — each feature the ...

Royal wedding: souvenir china unveiled
Prince William and Kate Middleton's official range of Royal Wedding China has gone on sale at the Royal Collection shops just in time for Christmas....

The commoner
According to newspaper reports, Prince Williams’s upcoming nuptials to Kate Middleton are facing criticism from some royalists within the British monarchy. The reason? She is too common. Yes, despite being particularly beautiful and having more family than Midas, Middleton doesn’t come from royal stock. In fact, she has some coalminer’s dust on her lineage, as they say in Old Britannia. (One of her ancestors actually worked in a coalmine.) We have royal families in America, too. The Bus

Report: The Obamas Aren't Invited to the Royal Wedding, Either
If you're reading Mr. and Mrs. Obama, we know exactly how you feel. Britain's Daily Mail is reporting that the Obamas didn't make the cut for next April's royal Wedding in London. As the event isn't a state occasion, it's believed that the couple feel no need to send out invites to heads of state, preferring instead to ask ordinary citizens and charity workers to fill the 2,000 seats. That said, it's rumored that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni will be asked, which migh...

U.S. students crossing the pond for college
When Adelaide Waldrop learned that she had been consigned to the wait list at each of the four universities she wanted most to attend, it was as if all the excitement had drained from her collegiate quest. Then she remembered her wild-card school: the University of St. Andrews, the medieval cobblestone campus in Scotland. Now Waldrop, of Silver Spring, is a St. Andrews sophomore, one of a growing number of American Students who enroll at top-ranked British universities, which offer the prest...

'Princess-in-waiting'
In his latest book, William and Kate: A Royal Love Story, New York Times bestselling author, Christopher Andersen reveals a colourful side - and some well-kept secrets - of both Kate and William and their courtship. The following is an excerpt from the book, in stores Dec. 21. In September, 1995 at the age of 13, Kate enrolled at Downe House, an exclusive all-girls boarding school. The next several months were the unhappiest of her young life. In the school's cliquish environment, Kate found it...

Yvonne Yorke: 'Princess Catherine'? Queen Considers Unprecedented Title
As I reported on November 18, two days after the royal Engagement announcement, if Prince William doesn't receive another title before his marriage, his bride will officially become "Her Royal Highness, Princess William of Wales," not "Princess Catherine." The sons of the monarch traditionally receive a dukedom or an earldom when they get married, such as Prince Andrew who was made the Duke of York on the morning of his Wedding. Therefore, his bride Sarah Ferguson became Duchess of York, rathe...

Soldier from Virginia dies in Afghanistan
Sean Cutsforth grew up in Northern Virginia, entered college on a Baseball Scholarship and attended for three semesters, his wife said. Then he joined The Army. "He just told me one day that he thought it was the right thing to do," said his wife, Ashley. And so Sean R. Cutsforth, 22, the left-handed pitcher who had attended High School in Prince William County, became a soldier in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Spec. Cutsforth died Dec. 15 in Afghanistan's Ghazni prov...

U.S. program to deport criminal illegal immigrants has deported high percentages of noncriminals in
Source: TWP Despite vows by the Obama Administration to focus its Immigration enforcement efforts on criminals, a quarter of those who have been deported through a program called Secure Communities had not been convicted of committing any crime, government statistics show. And that percentage was vastly higher in some jurisdictions, including Prince George's County, where two-thirds of the 86 undocumented immigrants were not criminals. The Prince George's rate of noncriminal Deportation was the...

Prince William approves wedding souvenirs for sale
LONDON - Britain's royal Wedding is still four months away, but the first official Memorabilia went on sale Monday — a range of Wedding China personally approved by the couple. Prince William's office said the items had been commissioned by the palace department responsible for the royal family's art collection and made in Stoke-on-Trent in central England, a traditional center for British ceramics. The three souvenirs — a tankard, plate and pill box — each feature the co...

Prosecutor arrested on drunken driving charge
A Prince William County prosecutor has been arrested on drunken driving charges. Fairfax County police say 32-year-old Douglas Marshall of Haymarket was stopped at 3 a.m. last Saturday on Interstate 66 near Centreville. Marshall is an assistant commonwealth's attorney for Prince William County. Police say Marshall showed signs of intoxication and refused a breath test. Inside Marshall's car, police say the officer found an open beer can and a prescription bottle with one pill of Percocet, a cont...

Prince Harry & Bettina Wulff Take The Stage On Saturday Night (PHOTOS)
Prince William wasn't the only British royal to step out on Saturday night. His brother Prince Harry attended the "Ein Herz Fuer Kinder" ("A Heart for Children") Charity gala in Berlin, where he was awarded the "Gold Heart" for his commitment to charity. So who handed out Harry's honors? None other than Germany's First Lady Bettina Wulff. She wore a black gown with knotted detailing at the neckline. Take a look at pictures of Prince Harry and Bettina and tell us what you think of Bettina's lo...