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The King and Queen of Jordan took time off from affairs of state to walk the red carpet in Paris, for the premiere of the new 007 movie, “Quantum of Solace.”
Joining them was their eldest daughter, Princess Iman.
Dressed in a champagne dress and white cardigan, the 12 year old princess seems to have taken after her mother in terms of style and in looks. The Queen herself looked every bit the fashionista in a salmon colored, sleeveless dress.
The royal trio mingled with Daniel, his striking fiancee Satsuki Mitchell, Bond girl Olga Kurylenko and new Bond nemesis Mathieu Amalric.
Some royal watchers noted it was odd for a King and Queen to attend a movie premiere, especially one that is not in their country. Perhaps this is something new, as royals increasingly are seen as celebrities and jet setters, as well as heads of state.
A new biography on the Queen of Spain has sparked controversy over her comments about same sex marriage.
The book, “The Queen, Close Up!” by journalist Pilar Urbano – which coincides with the Queen’s 70th birthday – quotes Queen Sofia criticizing the issue.
“I can understand, accept and respect people of a different sexual orientation but why do they feel proud about being gay? Should they ride on a parade float and come out in protests? If all of those of us who aren’t gay came out to protest we would halt traffic.
“If those people want to live together, dress up like bride and groom and marry, they could have a right to do so, or not, depending on the law of their country, but they should not call this matrimony, because it isn’t. There are many possible names: social contract, social union”.
Gay and Lesbian groups in Spain are asking the Queen to retract her statements.
Referring to Prince Felipe’s marriage to divorced journalist Letizia Ortiz, the State Federation of Gays, Lesbians and Transsexuals president Antonio Poveda said: “Many mothers of gays and lesbians are going to ask why the queen understands that the prince would marry a divorced woman, but she can’t understand why other mothers wouldn’t want that same happiness of marriage for their children.”
Late on Thursday, Spain’s Royal Household released a statement on behalf of the Queen saying she made the comments in a private forum.
It said she “profoundly” regretted the lack of precision in the words attributed to her and the “ill-feeling and upset” they may have caused.
Spain has been allowing gay marriages since 2005. Although it is a predominately Catholic country, less than half practice the faith.
The Queen’s comments come after her husband, King Juan Carlos, spent years walking a thin line between political involvement and neutrality.
Just days after returning from their trek across Africa, Princes William and Harry both attended the premiere of the latest James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, in Leicester Square in London. The royal duo looked sharp in their matching tuxedos, most likely making their female fans swoon at the sight of that.
It was a time for the brothers to see the new 007 movie, but also honor those who really are at Her Majesty’s Service.
Before entering the theatre, William and Harry met with the dozens of war veterans who waited outside for the royal brothers.
The aim was to raise more than £500,000 from the evening for two military charities, The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes.
“The princes chose these two great causes because they are linked to Remembrance Day, but most importantly because they want to make the point that this is a film about a British action hero, but the money is going to our country’s real heroes who put their lives in the line of fire day in, day out, in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said a Clarence House spokesman.
 William and Harry spent thirty minutes chatting with the servicemen and women while the stars of the new James Bond film waited patiently inside.
Once the princes got to the stars, there was a lot of joking and charming.
Prince Harry noticed Daniel Craig was wearing a sling, who injured himself doing his own stunts. Harry asked him, “What the hell happened to you? Tough day in the office?”
This is the first royal engagement William and Harry attended together. This is also their first movie premiere attendance since going to the Spiceworld premiere in 1997. That they went to with their father, Prince Charles.
King Mohammed VI spent Tuesday helping build up the port city of El Jadida, 190 km south of Rabat. The works were a university campus, a new port facility and a wastewater plant. All three cost millions of dollars. 
The first stop for the King was to the university site, where the university of Chouaib Doukkali was extending its campus. The extension will include a multidisciplinary university, a national school of trade and management (ENCG), a national school of applied sciences, and creating new study tracks (engineering, offshoring, and tourism). The new campus will have a capacity of 1,134 beds.
Next, King Mohammed moved on to the port site, where he launched developmental works for fisherman, many whom do traditional fishing.
This project will help modernize hosting and marketing infrastructure of traditional and coastal fishery in the city and promote the port’s competitiveness, notably through endowing it with a modern hall that respects international hygiene standards, in addition to various facilities for fish wholesalers.
Financed by the department of Fisheries, the project is expected to improve the living and working conditions of fishermen, as it provides for literacy classes and awareness raising actions.
After the port, the King lastly went to lay the foundation stone for a wastewater pretreatment plant and an ocean outfall. Both are meant to clean up the coastline of El Jadida in addition to the seaside station of Sidi Bouzid, as part of efforts to make El Jadida an important tourism destination through environment-friendly programs.
The plant and outfall cost a total of $41 million.
The Thai government announced plans to block websites they deem inappropriate and offensive, on Monday. 
Those websites include any that criticize Thailand’s revered King, Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The communications ministry has received more than 1,000 complaints about Web sites that are deemed offensive to the royal family, minister Mun Patanotai said, but declined to give details about them, saying the issue is “sensitive.”
“Revealing them would encourage Internet users to visit them,” Mun told reporters, adding that the ministry’s gateway will initially target mostly sites that violate lese majeste laws. “But it can also monitor and block pornographic or terrorism-related sites.”
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, but has severe lese majeste laws, mandating a jail term of 3 to 15 years for whoever “defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the Regent.” Actual prosecutions are relatively rare.
“There is a growing number of websites that attack the monarchy, and the ministry is consulting to buy a blocker that costs between 100 and 500 million baht (2.8 and 14 million dollars),” said Mun.
“More than 80 percent of these websites are from overseas,” he added.
Thailand made headlines around the world last year when it blocked the popular video-sharing website YouTube after clips appeared to mock the King.
80 year old King Bhumibol is extremely popular in Thailand, and is seen as rock in a country that has been experiencing political turmoil recently.
Anti-government and pro-government groups clashed in Bangkok in the past month. Anti-government groups wear yellow to symbolize their loyalty to Bhumibol.
The royal family has been trying to remain neutral, but a few weeks ago, Queen Sirikit attended the funeral of a young protestor who died in the clashes.
The King and Queen of Spain are on a three day state visit to the South American country of Peru.
The meaning of this trip is to strengthen bilateral alliances between the two nations.
Upon arriving in the capital of Lima, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were greeted by President Alan Garcia and his wife Pilar Nores.
After being welcomed, President Garcia privately met with the King as well as the ministers, vice ministers of foreign affairs and ambassadors from both countries. Once the meeting ended, the strategic association agreement was signed between the two countries.
The point of the association agreement is to increase ties between Spain and other countries. Already, Spain has signed the agreement with Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.
“The bilateral relations between Peru and Spain will be stronger and much more intense after a strategic alliance agreement is signed between both countries,” said Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Antonio García Belaunde.
García Belaunde explained that this was the main reason the King and Queen came to Peru, stating this agreement would open the doors to political discussion, assistance and advice between the two nations.
According to Spanish sources, the strategic association alliance is a pact that favors the development of institutional, political and economic relations and speeds up the processing of other agreements still pending.
After their three day stay in Peru, Juan Carlos and Sofia will go to El Salvador for the 18th Latin American Summit. There, talks will be about the global financial crisis, but also youth and development.
Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, have arrived in Japan for the start of their 10 day tour of east Asia.
The visit to Japan was timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce. 
“We are here to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between both our countries,” Charles said in an interview with the public broadcaster NHK at the British embassy here after his arrival.
He said he was particularly interested in “going to some of the more rural areas of Japan which I’ve always wanted to see and never had enough time on previous visits”.
This is Charles’ first visit to Japan in nearly twenty years. The last time he came, he was with the late Princess Diana. The two were in Japan for the coronation of Emperor Akihito.
Charles and Camilla were greeted by Crown Prince Naruhito at the Tokyo International Airport. Later tonight, there will be a dinner for the royal couple with the Emperor and Empress Michiko.
Another reason the Prince of Wales is in Japan, is to discuss enviromental issues. Prince Charles is very active in global warming issues, and voiced his concern as the world faces a credit crunch.
“If we don’t pay very careful attention to the environmental challenges we all face, then it will be even more difficult, I think, to recover in the future our economic well being.”
The Prince is expected to give a speech tomorrow at a science museum about the environment.
In the speech, to an audience of business leaders and politicians, he will reflect on the joint work already being done by Japanese and British scientists, and emphasize the important steps which the big G8 countries need to take in the fight against climate change.
After five days in Japan, Charles and Camilla will move on to Brunei and Indonesia – although the Duchess of Cornwall is not expected to accompany her husband to Indonesia. She is to fly back to the UK because it is said she cannot handle hot weather. Also, she will have to prepare celebrations for Prince Charles’ 60th birthday in the coming weeks.
Prince Harry hopes to follow in his older brother and uncle’s footsteps, and become a helicopter pilot in the British military. If he gets the chance, Harry may be able to serve in the military as he did earlier this year when he was deployed to Afghanistan. 
Harry is to attend a four-week “grading” next month to determine whether he is suitable for the Army Air Corps helicopter pilot training course, his Clarence House office said.
If Harry is successful and is accepted for the training, it could take up to two-and-a-half years to complete the course and learn to fly Gazelle, Lynx or Apache helicopters.
Harry, 23, already has passed the initial aptitude tests, the statement said.
“I’m impressed by the fact that Prince Harry has put himself forward for this,” defence analyst Paul Beaver said. “This is a difficult job.
“The training is difficult, the rate of failure is between 50 and 60 per cent – so there’s an opportunity here for embarrassment. However, he’s got the guts to say, ‘I’m going to do it.’ “
His older brother, Prince William, already has been trained in flying and landing Apache helicopters. The heir to the British throne will be begin training to be a rescue pilot in the Royal Navy next year.
The princes’ uncle, Andrew, Duke of York, flew a Sea King helicopter during the Falklands War for the Royal Navy.
Their father, Prince Charles, also qualified as a helicopter pilot in 1974, and flew missions from the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.
Clarence House said Harry, third in line to the British throne, chose to try out for the helicopter unit because his tour of duty as a troop leader with the Household Cavalry is finished.
Harry is a second lieutenant with the Blues and Royals Regiment.
Since secretly serving in Afghanistan for 10 weeks earlier this year, Prince Harry has been trying to get redeployed, saying he feels there is still work to be done in Afghanistan. But for security issues, that dream has not come true.
Royal brothers William and Harry ended their eight day motorcycle trek across South Africa on Sunday. The treacherous journey was all in the name of charity, as well as a good ol’ joyride. 
The princes received bumps and bruises along the way, but no doubt enjoyed themselves.
Trip organiser Simon Smith from Global Euro said the two were “outstanding” riders.
“They were both fantastic riders and didn’t run from anything. They asked us to treat them as one of the group and that’s what we did. They mucked in chores and shared a beer and food round the BBQ. They were outstanding companions.”
He said the princes both paid the £5,000 fee but declined to say if senior members of the royals helped out with sponsorship.
 During their journey, William and Harry stopped by villages, meeting with the local children. The children are the ones who will be benefitting from the charities the royal duo’s money and work were going towards. William and Harry even took time to play football with local villagers.
During the trip they rode through mountains, gorges, scrubland, dry river beds and coastline in a journey across the Eastern Cape, South Africa’s poorest province. The trip raised money for three charities, Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund, UNICEF and Harry’s Sentebale charity in Lesotho which helps orphaned children. Around £1,500 of the fee was divided between the charities which organiser hoped would amount to £310,000.
The ending of this journey was to be marked with joy for William and Harry, but it is being mired in controversy. First off, some naysayers see the trek as a simple excuse for the brothers to go for joyride, and ignore their royal duties.
But the biggest controversy is being directed towards Sentebale. Reports are coming out that the charity is not funding the needs for disadvantaged children in Lesotho. Lydia Muso, of the Lesotho Child Counselling Unit (LCCU) which caters for 17 sexually and physically abused children, reportedly said that after initial help it had stopped receiving money from the Sentebale charity launched by the prince in 2006.
“They [Sentebale] have promised us 500,000 South African rand [£30,000] for the day-to-day running of this sanctuary for children. But none of the money has arrived,” said Muso.
A spokesman for Sentebale says it gave LCCU funds to help start it.
“This year we still plan to give 38,000 [pounds] to LCCU and spend a further 27,000 [pounds] on management and support training,” says Miguel Head.
He said one reason for Sentebale’s delay was because it was not satisfied with Muso’s initial request for funding to be paid directly into her own bank account.
Nevertheless, William and Harry are definitely proud of themselves for going on this much anticipated journey. And certainly, there will be charities that will benefit from it.
After a whirlwind tour of India, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria said good-bye on Friday, fulfilling a long time dream of seeing the subcontinent.
The last days of her tour of India was in Mumbai and Jodhpur. There, Victoria stopped by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and opened the day’s trade by knocking on the ceremonial gong.
Later, Victoria got a chance to meet one of India’s biggest celebrities, Amir Khan, an actor-director from Bollywood. Before leaving for India, the princess immersed herself in Bollywood films, and came to enjoy Khan’s work. The two met before attending a dinner in Victoria’s honor.
The next and last stop on the princess’ tour was in Jodphur. She got a chance to witness more of India’s lively culture there. But at one point, the crown princess doned a turban. This was seen as rather odd to those familiar with Indian culture, as women in India do not wear turbans; the men do. The Indian media did not make a comment about this, and  whatever was the reason for Victoria to wear the turban was not explained. But since no one complained, it probably was not a problem!
Victoria’s visit to India went very well, until the departure. According to Timesnow.tv, the princess was left waiting for officials to escort her to the Jet Airways plane at the airport in New Delhi. The officials then took her to the wrong terminal. When Victoria finally got onto the right plane, she was booed by waiting passengers. Jet Airways issued an apology, saying “The princess was taken to the wrong terminal by the government protocol personnel. The princess was carrying at least ten bags with her, which had delayed the flight. We on our part, have apologised to the princess.”
A good trip up until the last minute, but nonetheless, Victoria had a trip of a lifetime and she clearly enjoyed it!
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