United Kingdom

* Prince Charles and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher open a new infirmary at the Royal Hospital Chelsea (via POW website)

* The Duchess of York is not ruling*  out getting back together with Prince Andrew. (via Hello!)

* Photos of Kate Middleton at the Geneva airport after a skiing holiday (at PopSugar)

* Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, has acute bronchitis and canceled engagements for March 26-27, 2009. (via POW website)

* Princess Anne is new Royal Patron of Edinburgh Zoo. (via Edinburgh News)

* Zara Phillips and her horse Toytown on the comeback trail to Badminton horse trials (via Telegraph)

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* Prince Harry’s shocking pink nails

* Queen Elizabeth disapproves of inaccuracies in ‘The Young Victoria’ movie

* Princess Eugenie’s gap year plans scrapped by Prince Andrew 

* Prince William and Kate Middleton to go on £40k skiing holiday

United Kingdom

* Questions for ‘workshy’ Prince William after he attends just 14 official engagements in a year – Prince William is criticized for the number of official engagements he fulfilled.  (Daily Mail)

* Prince William to move in with Kate? – The prince and Kate Middleton are said to be planning to move into a remodeled house near the Shropshire RAF base. (M&C)

* Prince Harry’s Imbruglia texts - Prince Harry sends text messages to singer Natalie Imbruglia. (M&C)

* Prince William criticised for "doing almost nothing" – A royal watcher alleges in a documentary that the prince does “almost nothing". (AFP)

* Princes pay respects to bushfire victims - Prince William and Prince Harry signed the official book of condolence for the victims of the Australian bushfires. (World News Australia)

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Happy happy birthday to the following royals, nobles and friends of royals!

February

23 - Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan (196)

24 - Prince Carlo, Duke of Calabria (1963)

24 - Arietta Morales y de Grecia (2002)

26 - Prince Ernst August of Hanover (1954)

28 - Lalla Khadija of Morocco (2007)

March

1 -  Lady Rose Windsor (1980)

1 - Timothy Laurence

source: The Royal Forums

United Kingdom

* Prince Charles reading Robert Burns poetry becomes online download hit - “The Prince of Wales recorded two of his favourite Robert Burns poems for the BBC Scotland audio project . He recited My Luve is Like a A Red Red Rose and My Heart’s In The Highlands.” (Telegraph)

* Princess Anne gets warm welcome at jail - “THE Princess Royal was given a warm welcome by staff and prisoners yesterday during her first visit to Castle Huntly Prison in 10 years.” (The Press and Journal)

* Prince Harry’s charity crisis - “Britain’s Prince Harry’s charity has been accused of failing to help African orphans.” (M&C)

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Happy happy birthday to the following royals, nobles and friends of royals!

16 - Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg (1991)

17 - Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg (1954)

17 - Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah of Brunei (1974)

18 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands (1947)

19 – Prince Andrew (1960)

21 - Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk of Bhutan (1980)

21 - Prince Amedeo of Belgium (1986)

21 - King Harald of Norway (1937)

21 - Count Carl Theodor of Ortenburg (1992)

22 - Katharine, The Duchess of Kent (1933)

source: The Royal Forums

United Kingdom

* Prince Philip tries to quash health fears with first public outing in two weeks - “The Duke of Edinburgh made his first public appearance for two weeks today in a bid to quash growing speculation about his health.” (Daily Mail)

* Princess Beatrice Gives Up Drinking Alcohol – “The royal - who recently had her $22,300 BMW stolen because she left her keys in the ignition - has quit alcohol in an attempt to "get healthy."” (AHN)

* Prince Harry tells Paris Hilton: Our midnight date is off - “the Prince, who recently split from his girlfriend of five years, Chelsy Davy, had planned to meet American socialite Paris Hilton last week.” (Daily Mail)

Europe (Non-U.K.)

* Juan Carlos welcomes Argentina’s Cristina - “Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner arrived in Madrid, Spain, for talks with Spanish businessmen, Spanish enterprises and Spanish politicians in an effort to improve bilataral relations.” (Royalblognl)

* Dutch Crown Prince Blogs About Antarctica Trip - “Holland’s Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Crown Princess Maxima are spending four days in the South Pole, in order to understand the work Dutch scientists and researchers do.” (RoyalNews)

Asia and the Middle East

* Crown Prince Naruhito arrives in Vietnam - “Crown Prince Naruhito arrived in Vietnam on Monday on his first trip to the country until Feb 15.” (Japan Today)

Happy happy birthday to the following royals, nobles and friends of royals!

9 - Princess Raiyah of Jordan (1986)

11 - Prince Katsura of Japan (1946)

11 - Princess Ayah of Jordan (1990)

12 - Prince Hussein Mirza of Jordan (1981)

13 - Princess Alia of Jordan (1956)

14 - Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein (1945)

source: The Royal Forums

* Queen and Duke cancel state visit - “The Queen has cancelled a state visit because of “other commitments”, not her age or the Duke of Edinburgh’s health, Buckingham Palace has said.” (BBC)

* Madoff Marketer Met With U.K.’s Prince Charles, Markopolos Says - “Bernard Madoff used high-profile recruiters to target royalty and wealthy Europeans including Britain’s Prince Charles, whistleblower Harry Markopolos said.” (Bloomberg)

* Crown prince hopes to enhance Japan’s ties with Vietnam - “Crown Prince Naruhito expressed hope Thursday that he will be able to contribute to enhancing Japan’s relationship with Vietnam on his first trip to the Southeast Asian country next week.” (Japan Today)

* Britain’s Princess Anne visits Kosovo - “Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, on Wednesday became the first British royal to visit Kosovo since the disputed Balkan territory declared independence.” (AFP)

* Princess Sirindhorn attends Delhi Summit - “Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn attended the inaugural session of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2009, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009.” (RoyalBlognl)

There are quite a few books about royalty, both past and present, that are due to come out in the coming months. You might want to keep these in mind to add to your reading list. Release dates are in parentheses.

• The Life of Mary, Queen of Sots: An Accidental Tragedy (Hardcover) by Roderick Graham; 542 pages; Publisher: Pegasus (July 27, 2009)
• Royal Portraits in Hollywood: Filming the Lives of Queens (Hardcover) by Elizabeth A. Ford and Deborah C. Mitchell; List Price $40.00 (April 15, 2009)
• Mary Queen of Scots (Scotties) (Paperback) by Elizabeth Douglas; 48 pages, published by NMSE - Publishing Ltd; 2nd Revised edition (February 28, 2009)
• Elizabeth The Queen (Paperback) by Alison Weir; 544 pages, Publisher: Vintage Books (February 24, 2009)
• From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 (Gutenberg-e) (Hardcover) by Jeri L. McIntosh; 400 pages; Publisher: Columbia University Press (February 15, 2009)
• The Secret Wife of Louis XIV: FranCoise d’Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon (Hardcover) by Veronica Buckley; 544 pages; Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (September 1, 2009)
• Now You Know Royalty (Paperback) by Doug Lennox; 192 pages; Publisher: Dundurn Press (August 24, 2009)
• Diana’s Secret London (Paperback) by Glenn Harvey and Mark Saunders; Publisher: John Blake Publishing Ltd (August 2009)

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