Word: queen
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Both Charles and the Queen have instigated shakeups in their staffs and their activities. The Queen is bringing in a new director of communications at Buckingham Palace, and Charles appointed a new deputy private secretary, Mark Bolland, who has extensive media contacts and is a friend of Blair spin doctor Peter Mandelson. The Queen has taken to making George Bush-like visits to such places as supermarkets, McDonald's, even a pub; bucking some 800 centuries of tradition, she has also agreed to do away with primogeniture (in which the eldest son receives the title in favor of an older...
Some of these changes, but not all, can be attributed to the influence of Tony Blair. He continues to meet with the Queen weekly, but the idea that New Labour is "advising the palace on how to modernize themselves would be well wide of the mark," a Blair spokesman says. "Any decision about the future of the monarchy is a matter for the monarchy, not for the government...
Members of Charles' press office at St. James's Palace insist that much of this modernization began before Diana's death. Such popular decisions as trimming the Civil List (funds allotted by Parliament for royal family expenses) and having the Queen and Prince Charles pay taxes were initiated in 1992. But there is no question that in many ways Diana's absence has made life much easier for the royals. Charles can no longer be compared unfavorably to her and, says Seward, "they get their picture in the paper, and whatever Charles does causes interest...
...death Monday. Her somber young sons and the royal family prayed together, away from public eyes. Wearing black ties as a symbol of their mourning, Prince William, 16, and Prince Harry, 13, entered the tiny stone church near Balmoral Castle in Scotland flanked by their father, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and other royal relatives. William, the lanky physical embodiment of his mother, hung his head and was mostly shielded from the cameras. Harry showed no expression...
...left shoulder, a tall pine tree that has split into two trunks at its base. The dead lower branches have been severed, leaving large tan coins on the bark. But the tree flourishes near the top in an array of green fans that rise and fall like a queen's hand. All shades of green are displayed, many so subtle they have no names. Though I have looked at this tree for years, the sight of it always surprises me nicely...