London: For the first time in 40 years, Queen Elizabeth II will skip the Commonwealth summit to be held in Sri Lanka in November, deciding to send her son Prince Charles instead for the biennial event. 87-year-old Queen will miss the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for the first time since 1973, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday.
"I can confirm that the Queen will be represented by the Prince of Wales. The reason is that we are reviewing the amount of long-haul travel that is taken by the Queen. As a result of that, she won't be travelling to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting later in 2013", a spokesman said.
This year's CHOGM has been mired in controversy, with campaigners including Amnesty International calling for not holding the summit until an investigation is carried out into alleged human rights abuses in the final six months of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.
Britain is facing pressure to lead a boycott of the meeting, with Canada indicating that it will not attend unless specific criteria are met. However, Buckingham Palace said the Queen's decision not to attend was not related to the political situation in Lanka....
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04:15 PM, May 07, 2013
News of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy and her hospitalisation has generated a media frenzy all over the world with minute to minute updates about each and everything that one can imagine. In what is being called "the best international scoop so far" by the Australian press, announcers Mel Greig and Michael Christian from radio station 2Day FM managed to convince hospital staff to put them through to...
03:37 PM, Dec 06, 2012
London: Longest-waiting heir to the British throne Prince Charles for the first time has expressed his feeling of "running out of time", showing signs that he is more eager than ever to be king. In a series of remarkably candid comments, 64-year-old Prince Charles hinted that he feared his legacy as king would be cut short as he has already waited for 60 years of his life to succeed Queen...
04:26 AM, Nov 26, 2012
New York: Kate Middleton is pregnant and the royal couple is "planning to make an announcement" next month, a close friend of the duchess has claimed. Thirty-year-old Kate, has been on pregnancy watch since she and Prince William, 30, tied the knot in April 2011. After all the scrutiny, the Duchess and the Duke of Cambridge may make a baby announcement next month, Jessica Hay, a former roommate of Kate's,...
03:21 PM, Nov 20, 2012
Auckland: Police say they caught a New Zealand man before he had a chance to throw a bucket of horse manure over Prince Charles and his wife Camilla during a royal visit to the Pacific nation. Castislav "Sam" Bacanov, 76, pleaded not guilty in an Auckland court on Tuesday to planning a crime in a public place. He has agreed under his bail conditions to keep at least 500 meters...
05:33 AM, Nov 13, 2012
London: Prince Charles is "extremely angry" after his security staff failed to alert him about an Indian-origin man whose presence on the royal barge with Queen Elizabeth on Sunday's river pageant sparked a controversy as it was revealed that he had been previously jailed for sex offences. Harbinder Singh Rana, who was a guest on the Royal Barge for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration apparently at the invitation extended by...
08:56 AM, Jun 09, 2012
London: Prince Charles is "extremely angry" after his security staff failed to alert him about an Indian-origin man whose presence on the royal barge with Queen Elizabeth on Sunday's river pageant sparked a controversy as it was revealed that he had been previously jailed for sex offences. Harbinder Singh Rana, who was a guest on the royal barge for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration apparently at the invitation extended by...
07:41 PM, Jun 08, 2012
London: A 52-year-old Sikh, who was jailed in 1986 for posing as a doctor and sexually assaulting women, was a guest among many VIPs on the Royal Barge during Queen Elizabeth's River Pageant. British media identified him as Harbinder Singh Rana, who was jailed in the 1980s for sex offences. Posing as a doctor, he performed internal examinations and administered injections to many women. Rana served four years in prison,...
08:42 AM, Jun 08, 2012
London: Four days of nationwide celebrations during which millions of people have turned out to mark Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne conclude on Tuesday with a church service and carriage procession through central London. The 86-year-old British monarch will cut a lonely figure as the Diamond Jubilee draws to a close, however, after her husband of 64 years, Prince Philip, was taken to hospital on Monday with a...
08:14 AM, Jun 05, 2012
London: Viewers of BBC Scotland were on Thursday pleasantly surprised when Prince Charles appeared on their screens to present the weather, and cracked some jokes in the process. He delivered the lunchtime weather bulletin when he and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the BBC's Glasgow office. BBC Scotland is currently celebrating 60 years of operation. Prince Charles appeared initially to fiddle around the 'clicker' which is used to change the...
10:08 PM, May 10, 2012
London: The BBC is reportedly training all its news presenters how to announce the British Queen's death in case of the 85-year-old Monarch's demise. The Corporation was heavily criticised in the wake of the death of the Queen Mother in 2002, after veteran news reader Peter Sissons went on air in a grey suit accompanied with a burgundy tie. So, in a bid to avoid gaffes, staffers are now undergoing...
01:50 PM, Nov 01, 2011
London: Britain's Prince Charles on Monday lamented the end of the "Harry Potter" books and movies when he met a group of school children, a media report said. The Prince of Wales said the end to J.K. Rowling's series of books on the boy wizard's adventures was "awful", the Daily Mirror reported. The eighth and final film adaptation "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" released last week. Charles...
07:29 PM, Jul 11, 2011
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08:17 PM, May 09, 2011
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04:45 PM, May 09, 2011
It is the big day as Prince William and Kate Middleton walk down the aisle at Westminster Abbey. Wish the royal couple on their special day.
09:01 AM, Apr 29, 2011
London: Prince William will wear the red uniform of Colonel of the Irish Guards when he marries girlfriend Kate Middleton on Friday, royal officials said. William, who is commissioned in all three of Britain's armed services, was expected to wear a military uniform as is traditional at royal weddings and was appointed as Colonel of the Irish Guards in February. His father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, chose Royal Navy attire for...
08:34 AM, Apr 29, 2011
London: Each step has been rehearsed, each flower meticulously arranged, the aisle of Westminster Abbey transformed into a flowering avenue of trees. With just hours to go before his wedding to Kate Middleton, dedicated royal watchers camped outside got an unexpected surprise - a visit from Prince William. The 28-year-old groom-to-be emerged from his residence on Thursday night to greet the hordes of well-wishers gathered along the processional route. Dressed...
07:57 AM, Apr 29, 2011
Boston: Prince Charles may have been waiting a record 59 years as heir apparent to the British throne but Karin Vogel, the last in the line of succession, will have to wait for nearly 5,000 royals to die for her to become the Queen of England. Vogel, 38, is a direct descendant of Sophia of Hanover, an obscure German princess from the 18th century. She is the last person in...
12:36 PM, Apr 28, 2011
