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Keeping up with a royal’s love of sailing, King Juan Carlos of Spain participated in the 27th King’s Cup – a premier yachting competition at Palma de Mallorca, near the Balearic Islands.
While the British royals are known for their horse sports, royals in Europe – including Norway and Sweden – prefer sailing as their sport. Juan Carlos once competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics in the discipline.
Also seen in Palma, were the King’s little granddaughters, Princesses Leanor and Sofia, who were with their parents, the Prince and Princess of Asturias. They were joined by Queen Sofia, herself a former Olympian.
A key al-Qaeda leader is calling for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to be killed after the King held an interfaith dialogue earlier this month in Spain.
“Hurrying to kill this wanton tyrant (King Abdullah) who has announced himself to be a leader of atheism would be among the most pious acts,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said in a video posted on Monday on Islamist websites often used by al Qaeda supporters.
The message follows the groundbreaking Saudi-sponsored interfaith conference in which King Abdullah called on followers of the world’s major faiths to turn away from extremism and seek reconciliation.
“The call for a rapprochement of religions issued by the (Saudi) tyrant … is an integral part of the overt Crusader war against Islam and Muslims,” Libi said. He likened King Abdullah to a “corrupting fountainhead” that had to be buried.
“This in fact is a call to turn one’s back on Islam and … to look for commonalities with Judaism and Christianity so whatever the three agree on would become the new modern religion which would be allowed to be propagated,” Libi said.
Abu Yahia al-Libi, who escaped from Afghanistan’s Bagram prison in 2005, says “bringing religions together…means renouncing Islam.”
The Madrid gathering aimed to draw Muslims, Jews and Christians – as well as leaders of other faiths - closer together and isolate those who use religion to justify violence or intolerance. It was the first time Saudi Arabia, where non-Muslims cannot practice their faith openly, had invited Jews to such a meeting.
Doctors are warning that intense media coverage of Japan’s Crown Princess Masako could be worsening her stress induced illness. 
“There is a possibility that repeated questions on matters such as the reasons why Crown Princess Masako is not accompanying the crown prince on overseas visits will aggravate (her) medical condition,” a team of doctors treating the princess said, according to Kyodo News agency.
The doctors asked the media for “consideration” in reporting on Masako’s health, according to the Asahi and Sankei newspapers.
Masako, who married Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993, has been suffering from a stress induced ailment. She has been rarely seen publically in recent years, and has not accompanied her husband on royal tours – such as most recently to Spain last week.
Before his departure to Spain, the heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne asked the public for better understanding of his wife. He says Masako is doing her best to overcome her illness.
Pressures to produce a male heir and to conform with the ancient traditions of palace life are believed to have contributed to the Crown Princess’ illness.
Kate Middleton has flown out of the UK to reunite with her beau, Prince William, who will be ending his stint in the Royal Navy.
These past two months has been the longest the couple of five years has been apart.
“Kate has missed him massively. She will be hoping her sailor has a little energy left in the tank for her,” a friend says.
Kate and Willd have been keeping in touch through e-mails and phone calls.
It is said that the couple will vacation for two weeks on the island of Mustique – a site they have done their R&R before. It will be their third trip together this year. The first was a skiing trip to Kolsters, then in May, to Mustique.
Mindful of the row over his use of an RAF helicopter to take him to his cousin’s stag party earlier this year, Clarence House stressed that William has paid for all his flights to and from the Caribbean.
Prince William will have a busy 2009 – a time when he completes his stint in the military and begins life as a full time royal.
It is being reported in the Telegraph and the News of the World that the 26 year old prince will be, quite literally, an apprentice in the ways of the government and the judiciary of the UK.
“Prince William’s main aim for 2009 is to gain a general understanding of how the country operates regarding the legislature, the legal system and the great offices of state,” said a senior royal aide.
As part of his government work, William is expected to take part at different Whitehall departments and being shown the inner workings of government by privy councillors including former Prime Minister John Major.
The future king also is expected to become a senior representative of the Queen - as in tour the Commonwealth, get involved in running royal estates, and do more charity work.
It is said that Prince William wants to carry on the work of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and the environmental work of his father, Prince Charles.
The point of this apprenticeship is prepare William to be King.
“It is a very different world to when the Queen ascended the throne and she wants him to be prepared for what is to come,” says a royal aide. “William too wants to make sure he is ready for any challenge is thrown at him.”
Working as a full time royal next year might delay the long awaited marriage between William and long time girlfriend Kate Middleton. But it may be for the best.
A Buckingham Palace source said, “How can he show Kate what to do if she becomes a princess if he doesn’t know what he is doing himself?”
For the second time in his stint with the Royal Navy, Prince William has been involved in a drug operation.
He was on a a Lynx helicopter as it chased and shot at a speedboat suspected of shipping cocaine from South America.
It turned out the boat was not carrying any drugs. The three crewmen were passed to Colombian authorities.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said, “(Prince William) witnessed the firing but wasn’t involved in it. He then returned to ship to resume his normal duties as officer of the watch.”
William, who is on secondment to the Navy, was involved in a seizure of cocaine worth £40m earlier this month.
The prince, an Army officer in the Household Cavalry regiment, is spending five weeks on the frigate as part of his Navy placement aimed at preparing him for his future role as head of the armed forces.
Tensions were eased as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and King Juan Carlos of Spain warmly greeted each other, months after the Spanish King famously told the Venezuelan leader to “shut up” at last year’s Ibero-American Summit.
The two heads of state shook hands outside of the King’s summer residence on the island of Majorca. Chavez even joked “why don’t we go to the beach?” to the smiling monarch.
But the outspoken Venezuelan leader failed to give the monarch a hug, after saying on his weekly television show last Sunday he would like to.
At a later news conference in Madrid on Friday, Chavez said the king had given him a T-shirt depicting the incident where the king yelled at Chavez, “why don’t you shut up?” when Chavez interrupted a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the summit in Chile.
“We caused a furore with that event. It (the T-shirt) is a good souvenir, to laugh at for the rest of our lives every time we see it,” he said
Tensions arose between Spain and Venezuela after the incident. Chavez later threatened to review diplomatic and business ties with Spain, a major investor in the OPEC nation, and demanded a public apology from Juan Carlos.
At the same time, the King’s outburst became the quote of the moment througout Spain – becoming a popular ringtone on many a Spaniard’s cell phone.
But this time around, all was well.
Chavez is in Spain for a brief meeting with Prime Minister Zapatero and a working lunch to discuss business ties between the two countries, possible collaboration on energy and immigration.
Click here to view a video of today’s meeting
This summer, tourists will get to look at an actual banquet at Buckingham Palace.
While not seeing the actual banquet hall – its actually the ballroom converted into a banquet – it gives the public an idea of what a banquet looks like at one of the world’s most famous royal palaces.
“I think it’s such a sumptuous sight that everyone will just gasp in amazement,” says the curator Kathryn Jones, “It’s a spectacle that’s worth seeing. Only a tiny minority of the population will have been invited to one so giving everyone else the chance to experience the event was one of the ideas behind doing the exhibition.”
Almost everything is set up as if it were a real banquet - with an enormous dining table laid out with hundreds of pieces of rare cutlery, glasses and table decorations.
The silver-gilt plates come from George IV’s grand service and have been used for special occasions since the 1800s. The cut crystal glasses on display date back to the Queen’s coronation. There will, however, be no food to dine on.
The Queen has held 97 state banquets during her reign – with 77 of them held at Buckingham Palace.
The exhibit will run from July 29th – Septembr 29th.
To view a video of this click here
It’s a day at the beach for the Danish Crown Princely couple, Frederik and Mary, and their two young children, Christian and Isabella. Having recently explored the tranquil shoreline around Skagen – a harbour town at the Denmark’s northernmost point - this time they were in the coastal community of Blokhus, 80 miles to the south
Prince Christian splashed around in the water and ran around the sand dunes as watched by his father Crown Prince Frederik – while Crown Princess Mary kept an eye on little Isabella who was practicing her baby steps.
Later this summer, the royal couple would visit Mary’s native Australia. It would be their first trip there since the spring of 2007.
Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan visited Spain’s Expo 2008 on Sunday, where he gave a speech in regards to solving water resources for the future.
The Expo was held in the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza. Naruhito was accompanied by Spain’s Economy Minister Pedro Solbes. The Crown Prince was a guest of honor for the Expo’s “Japan Day”, which included the theme of “water and sustainable development,” an issue of longstanding interest to the Japanese heir.
In his speech, Naruhito described the problem of water resources as the “greatest challenge facing humanity.”
“The earth is a planet of water and human beings exist as a result of it,” he said.
Naruhito went on the urge the world to look to the past to see how our ancestors handled such water problems as flooding and droughts. The Crown Prince pointed out that the world’s ancestors did not have the use of modern technology to deal with those issues.
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