Free Republic

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday he would like to give the king of Spain a hug when he visits Europe next week, but the outspoken leader, referring to a diplomatic spat last year, said he will not shut up.

Bayonetted and shot by drunken assassins, the slaughter of the Russian royal family shook the world. Now a new book reveals in compelling detail the horrifying final days of the Romanovs. As the light faded, a train halted in the siding near the remote railway station of Lyubinskaya on the Trans-Siberian railway line.

Russian Orthodox Churches have been holding services to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the murder of their last royal family. Processions were held in Moscow as well as the site of the killings - the city of Yekaterinburg near the Ural Mountains. Officials have re-affirmed that DNA tests on bone and teeth fragments discovered in a shallow grave a year ago belong to two of the children of former Russian Tsar Nicholas II. Crown Prince Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria were killed along with their parents and sisters by Bolsheviks on the morning of July 17 1918, but the whereabouts...

News   July 17, 2008, 4:55DNA confirms Tsar’s family remainsDNA results have confirmed that remains found near Ekaterinburg a year ago belong to Prince Aleksey and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of the Romanov family. The announcement comes on the 90th anniversary of the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family by Bolsheviks.On Wednesday, church services are being held across Russia to remember the tragic event. The last Tsar of Russia and his family were shot in the early hours of July 17 1918, less than two years after the abdication of Nicholas II, in the Urals city of...

"A Defense Department DNA identification lab has helped bring to a close a near-century-old mystery, laying to rest a search for the remains of two children executed alongside the rest of the family of Russia’s last czar." "Now, the lab has again helped the Russian government by identifying the remains of those two children, found last year in a shallow grave about 70 feet from the larger gravesite."

Seventeen women have been taken by police from a luxury hotel in Brussels amid allegations that they had been enslaved by an Arab royal family. Police officers and officials from Belgium's Labour Audit Authority raided the Conrad Hotel, the city's most prestigious and the preferred choice of many national leaders during European Union summits, on Tuesday evening. The operation was triggered by the apparent escape of a maid who was among 20 servants working for the widow of a senior royal figure from the United Arab Emirates and her four daughters who have rented the entire fourth floor of the...

A deal to build Britain's biggest ever aircraft carriers is expected to be sealed today. The Ministry of Defence is poised to sign contracts worth around £3 billion for two 65,000-ton ships. The Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales will be built at Govan in Glasgow and Rosyth in Fife, as well as Portsmouth and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. Measuring more than 300 yards in length, the ships will have a flight deck the size of three football pitches and space for 40 aeroplanes. They will be similar in size to the QE2 and are more than three times the...

Are the ices of the Arctic north about to melt away for good? Rami Abdelrahman gets the views of a range of Swedish researchers. Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is one of a number of Scandinavian royals making for the Arctic archipelago on the Swedish ice-breaker Oden this weekend to participate in an event to coincide with and promote International Polar Year. But will there even be a need for such ice-breaking vessels in years to come? Many commentators would have us believe that glaciers and ocean ice are about to go the way of the dodo. Upon their arrival at...

<p>HONOLULU (AP) — Surrounded by royal guards and the occasional tourist, Her Majesty Mahealani Kahau and her government ministers hold court every day in a tent outside the palace of Hawaii's last monarch, passing laws and discussing how to secure reparations for the Native Hawaiian people.</p>

President George W. Bush (R) walks with Queen Elizabeth, followed by his wife Laura (obscured) and Prince Philip in the St George's Hall, Windsor Castle, southern England June 15, 2008 President Bush speaks to the press following a meeting with Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson (L) and Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness following their meeting at Stormont Castle in Belfast, June 16, 2008. US president George W. Bush meets members of the PeacePlayers international Basketball Group at Loughview integrated primary school, as he ends his visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland, Monday June 16, 2008. PeacePlayers International-Northern Ireland...

The President and First Lady were in France this morning and attended the morning service at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Paris. The First Lady visited the Marie Antoinette Exhibit at The Grand Palais. Later in the day AF1 flew into Heathrow where Marine One took them on what is about a 10 minute flight to Windsor Castle where they landed on the East Lawn where they had tea with the Queen and Prince Philip. According to FNC George W Bush is only the second President to have been afforded the honour of an invite to Windsor...

LONDON (June 14) -- Britain's Princess Eugenie has been reprimanded by her school after being caught frolicking naked on college grounds, it was reported Saturday. The 18-year-old daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah Ferguson, was apprehended for her involvement in end of term "high jinks" at the exclusive Marlborough College, west of London, the UK Press Associated said. A royal source told the Press Association: "It was nothing more than high jinks at the end of term in May. A group of them were reprimanded and that's the end of the matter." The tabloid Sun newspaper reported...

Women face being turned away from the Royal Enclosure during Royal Ascot if their skirts are too short or if their dresses have straps less than an inch wide. Visitors who display their midriff or wear off-the-shoulder tops or halter necks will also be ejected on the orders of the Queen's representative, the Duke of Devonshire. The duke, the chairman of the course, has clarified the strict dress code for next week's event in guidance sent to all 80,000 Royal Enclosure badge holders. The code dictates that only "formal day dress" is acceptable and that ladies must wear hats or...

The UN Human Rights Council said the UK must "consider holding a referendum on the desirability or otherwise of a written constitution, preferably republican". The council has 29 members including Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Sri Lanka. It was the Sri Lankan envoy who raised concerns over the British monarchy. The resulting report said Britain should have a referendum on the monarchy and the need for a written constitution with a bill of rights.

Dubai: Roped in for a massive project to create 99 paintings on Arab culture by Qatar royal family, eminent painter M F Hussain, in self-exile after drawing the ire of Hindu outfits for his works, insists that art is India's "soul" and has the depth that is lacked by the West which has only "junk culture" to offer. In the last 60 years, India has emerged as a major force in many fields, including art, the 92-year-old artist said after inauguration of an exhibition in Omani capital Muscat. In India, art has a unique position. "It is our soul, a...

The recent visit by Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to Turkey was hailed as a great success. The 82-year-old British monarch won favor with the local people by describing Turkey as a "confident and dynamic democracy" and praising close ties between Ankara and London. She underlined British support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union, showed respect for the past by visiting the tomb of modern Turkey's secularist founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in Ankara and for the present government by covering her hair when she visited an ancient mosque in Bursa and listened to a reading from the...

Gotta love PETA. Just gotta love ‘em. Well, not really. One of the animal rights group’s more obscure pressure campaigns involves trying to convince the Queen of England to give up the natural black-bear fur hats that Buckingham Palace guards have worn for 200 years. Because — y’know — British monarchs have always responded so well to public pressure from nitwits. Are black bears endangered? Nope. The species covers most of North America. And black bear populations are growing in Canada, where Her Majesty’s funny hats come from. So what’s the big deal? PETA hates people who wear fur. And...

Bahrain names Jewish ambassador Ms Nonoo is a businesswoman with homes in Bahrain and London Bahrain's king has appointed a Jewish woman as the country's envoy to the United States. Houda Nonoo said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini" and that she was not chosen for the post because of her religion. She is believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador. Ms Nonoo, 43, has served as a legislator in Bahrain's 40-member Shura Council for three years and is head of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch. "It is a great...

Archaeologists at the University of Sheffield have revealed new radiocarbon dates of human cremation burials at Stonehenge, which indicate that the monument was used as a cemetery from its inception just after 3000 B.C. until well after the large stones went up around 2500 B.C. The Sheffield archaeologists, Professor Mike Parker-Pearson and Professor Andrew Chamberlain, believe that the cremation burials could represent the natural deaths of a single elite family and its descendants, perhaps a ruling dynasty. One clue to this is the small number of burials in Stonehenge´s earliest phase, a number that grows larger in subsequent centuries, as...

Ramhormoz graves may be Elamite royal burials: experts TEHRAN, May 20 (MNA) -- A team of archaeologists studying two graves discovered in the city of Ramhormoz in southern Iran said that they bear their remains of a girl and a woman who were most likely members of an Elamite royal family. The team led by Arman Shishegar was assigned to carry out a series of rescue excavations in the Jubji region of the city in Khuzestan Province in May 2007 after the Khuzestan Water and Waste Water Company stumbled on two U-shaped coffins containing skeletons of a girl and a...

WINDSOR– The eldest grandson of the Queen married his Canadian fiancee Saturday in a private ceremony at Windsor Castle. The bride was whisked to the castle's 15th-century St. George's Chapel in a state Bentley, and stepped out wearing a tiara lent to her by her mother-in-law, Princess Anne. Kelly was led up the rain-stained steps of the chapel by her father Brian, her flowing white train held up by bridesmaids in light green dresses, including Peter's sister Zara Phillips. She emerged Phillip's wife, clutching a bouquet of white flowers as she and her husband got into a tartan-lined carriage drawn...

"Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, front right, wearing a head scarf, listens as an Imam reads verses from the quran during her visit to the Ottoman era Green mosque in Bursa, western Turkey, Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II began her first visit to Turkey in 37 years on Tuesday, praising the predominantly Muslim country's role as a bridge.""Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is helped on with her shoes as she exits the Green Mosque in Bursa, Turkey."

Wageningen - The annual Liberty Parade marking Liberation Day in 1945 has been held in the Dutch town of Wageningen. Around 1,300 veterans, including 200 from World War II, filed through the city centre. Some 100,000 spectators lined the streets despite the high temperatures. At a ceremony early in the afternoon Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende kicked off 13 liberation festivals across the country. The festivities will end with an outdoor concert on the river Amstel in the capital which will be attended by Queen Beatrix.

120 soldiers of the Royal Malay Regiment have become the first all-Islamic Company to provide a British monarch's ceremonial guard. Report by Shell Daruwala. RMR soldiers during Changing of the Guards The Royal Malay Regiment soldiers with Members of the Welsh Guards during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace on Friday 2 May 2008 [Picture: Sergeant Mick Howard RLC] At Buckingham Palace today, Friday 2 May 2008, red jackets and black bearskins were replaced by pristine white tunics, brocade 'sampins' and gold-banded 'songkoks', when the Malay Regiment changed guards with 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.

Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly London, May 2, 2008 / 02:16 am (CNA).- A woman engaged to a member of the British royal family has renounced her Catholic faith to maintain her fiancée’s position in the line of succession.The Times Online reports that Autumn Kelly, 31, was received into the Church of England.  She is to be married to Peter Phillips, Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest grandson, on May 17.British monarchs and their heirs are barred from becoming or marrying Catholics according to the 1701 Act of Settlement.  Phillips, who is currently eleventh in line to the throne, would have...

Prince William has made a secret visit to meet British troops in Afghanistan. The prince, 25, who has been awarded his RAF pilot's wings, flew a military transport plane for part of the journey from the UK to Kandahar. He spent three hours with UK service personnel at the airfield on Monday before returning to the UK. A Clarence House spokesman said the Prince of Wales and the Queen had given their permission for the confidential trip, which he declared a "success". The prince flew in a C-17 Globemaster plane which left RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, on Sunday and...

Japanese Royal Tomb Opened to Scholars for First TimeTony McNicol in Tokyo for National Geographic NewsApril 28, 2008 A rare visit by archaeologists to a fifth-century imperial tomb offers hope that other closely guarded graves in Japan might soon be open to independent study. This month a group of 16 experts led by the Japanese Archaeological Association released results from their February visit inside Gosashi tomb. The event marked the first time that scholars had been allowed inside a royal tomb outside of an official excavation led by Japan's Imperial Household Agency. Archaeologists have been requesting access to Gosashi tomb...

IN a departure from Belgium’s usually reverent treatment of its royalty, the illegitimate daughter of King Albert II is about to publish a book attacking him for disowning her. The autobiography of Delphine Boël, an artist, will be published next month and coincides with an exhibition of her work expressing bitterness towards the king. Some are accusing her of an anti-royalist plot to undermine a divided country but Boël, 40, insists that her grievances are merely a family matter. “We’ve never had a big-time daddy-daughter relationship,” she said last week in her Brussels studio. “The last time I saw him...

The Queen has cancelled a party to mark her diamond wedding anniversary because she felt it would be "inappropriate" to hold a lavish celebration with the country on the brink of recession. Guests at the party, which was due to be held at The Ritz this weekend, would have been served champagne from crystal-studded bottles and dined off tablecloths covered with sparkling jewels. But with her subjects facing rising bills and falling house prices, and the banking system paralysed by the so-called "credit crunch", the Queen has decided that the celebration would be regarded as insensitive. Her highlighting of the...

Now that you mention it, I can see the similarities. The brittle, bottle-blonde hairstyles, steely personalities and the ability to inspire both deep antipathy and ardent affection in their respective populaces. So perhaps the news that Hillary Clinton and Camilla Parker-Bowles also share a common ancestor should come as no great shock. The Democratic candidate and the wife of the heir to the British throne are ninth cousins once removed, according to a newly-released study by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The pair are both descended from Jean Guyon and Elisabeth Couillard who lived in Quebec back when it...

King Carl Gustaf XVI has announced that the lights will be turned off for an hour at royal castles on Saturday. The King has announced the royal intention to respect Earth Hour, a campaign by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to highlight energy use and climate change. Ulriksdal Castle and the King's home Drottningholm Castle will join Stockholm Castle in the centre of the city in cutting the lights at 8pm on Saturday. The King is honorary chair of the WWF in Sweden. WWF's Earth Hour campaign is expected to be respected by a large number of households across the...

Gordon Brown is to consider abolishing the Act that prevents Roman Catholics marrying into the Royal Family or becoming king or queen, in a move that could lead to the disestablishment of the Church of England. The Government signalled that it would look at abolishing the 307-year-old Act of Settlement because it is "antiquated" and discriminates against a section of society. The commitment came during a Commons debate on proposed constitutional reforms, which would also require the Prime Minister to secure MPs' approval for war. Under the 1701 Act, monarchs are forbidden to become or marry Catholics. Traditionally governments have...

It's taken nine months, but now the political crisis in Belgium appears finally to have been resolved. Following a final, marathon round of negotiations, a coalition agreement has emerged which has the - somewhat hesitant - approval of the five parties which will form the country's next government. With that agreement finalised, the next step will follow swiftly with the swearing in this Thursday, 20 March 2008, of the members of the new cabinet by Albert II, King of the Belgians. At the point, current caretaker Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt will make way for his successor, Flemish Christian Democrat politician...

Half a century ago this week, a strange ceremony ended. I was among the last 400 girls arriving at Buckingham Palace to make our formal curtseys to the Queen. It was the usual wild March weather, cold winds ruffling our full-skirted silk dresses, our mothers in their furs and our moustached fathers wore top hats as we lined up by the railings, gaped at by waiting crowds kept at a discreet distance as if in an Ealing comedy. The scene had been made poignant by the recent unexpected announcement from the Palace that these would be the last presentations. We...

Tomorrow, after returning from the velvet opulence of the luxury yacht that was their floating refuge for eight days, Charles and Camilla will be back home and enjoying the spacious comforts of Highgrove, where he can disappear thankfully into his garden and she can be alone . . . at last. Oh dear. No one told the Duchess of Cornwall just how suffocating life at sea in a relatively confined space with the Prince of Wales was going to be. She returns from their Caribbean tour a wiser, but somewhat disillusioned, woman. It certainly wasn't the smiling and curious West...

Prince Harry learns why 4th is first A call comes in from somewhere in the desert. A Joint Tactical Air Controller on the ground in Afghanistan's Helmand province needs air support. He and his comrades are taking fire from a trench line. * Hundreds of miles away, Capt. Ben Donberg can hear the gunshots. He is the command pilot on the other end of that call. His F-15E Strike Eagle and another, both assets of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's 4th Fighter Wing, are on their way -- "very, very fast." * Back on the ground, "WIDOW 67" waits. He...

The Prince and Princess of Asturias, Don Felipe and Doña Letizia, held five minutes of silence at noon today in Barcelona in memory of the assassination of the Socialist ex-counselor of Arrasate, Isaías Carrasco. The Prince and Princess of Asturias together called a meeting of the council of municipalities and other institutions to condemn the assassination by ETA of Isaías Carrasco this last Friday and to offer solidarity with his family, for whom they interrupted their visit to the Council of Municipalities, which they had inaugurated today in the Catalan capital. Meeting with the Prince and Princess were the Minister...

Freemasons open a lodge at Buckingham Palace... but the Queen isn't amused By SARAH OLIVER - More by this author » Last updated at 23:59pm on 8th March 2008 Comments A Royal Mason: The Duke of Kent is the organisation's Grand Master A branch of the Freemasons secret society is being formed by members of the Royal Household and police who protect the Royal Family. And their decision to call it The Royal Household Lodge has put them on a collision course with Buckingham Palace – as has their plan to co-opt the royal cipher – EIIR – for their...

It was Peace Day in Kingston but that meant nothing to Donny Hall's killers. Just before 4pm, the 20-year-old resident of Rose Town, one of the most violent places in Jamaica, was getting ready to join the Peace parade in the city's centre when he was murdered in a hail of 9mm bullets. Hall had planned to hand out T-shirts urging an end to the gang violence which has wrecked his community. Only in December gunmen blew his foot off in a shooting that killed a friend. Now, just minutes before this week's parade was due to start, the same...

"Good Morning America" co-host Chris Cuomo joked on Monday's show that Britain's Prince Harry "has been over in Afghanistan fighting because he's expendable." Fellow host Robin Roberts appeared somewhat shocked by the comment and sputtered, "What did you say?" Cuomo, who was previewing an ABC special on the royals, didn't back off his assertion and reiterated, "It's true. The reason that Harry is allowed to be in Afghanistan is because he's not the heir to the throne. William's not allowed to be there." -snip-

Prince Harry is back in London after a short-lived stint on the frontlines in Afghanistan. The prince was pulled out of the war zone after a media leak blew the cover on his deployment in Afghanistan since December. Second Lieutenant, Prince Harry was welcomed at an airfield outside London by his father Prince Charles and brother Prince William. He returned after serving only 10 weeks with British troops in Afghanistan, after the foreign press leaked news of his secret deployment. The prince is far from happy at being dragged back from the front. ''At the end of the day if...

LONDON (AFP) - Prince Harry, who has been fighting the Taliban on the front line in Afghanistan, admitted in an interview released Thursday that he sometimes wishes he was not a privileged, well-known royal. Speaking to reporters before he left for the war-torn country in an interview that was supposed to be held back until his safe return, the 23-year-old said he hoped that he would be treated as "just a normal officer". And asked whether, following an about-turn by Britain's top military brass that meant he would not be posted to Iraq last year, he ever wished he was...

A defiant Prince Harry is flying back to Britain determined to return as soon as possible to front-line duties in Afghanistan. Before he boarded his flight the 23-year-old second Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry was moved from his base, only 500 yards from Taliban enemy lines in the volatile Helmand Province, to a secret and secure location after his presence in Afghanistan was leaked on an American web site. The Prince of Wales and Prince William will meet Prince Harry when he arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Taliban insurgents have threatened to step up attacks on British forces...

He looks more like a film star than a Prince, let alone a serving soldier - but this is Harry enjoying a lighter moment on operation in Afghanistan. Riding a spluttering motorbike, he looks like a boy with a new toy as he careers across the desert, laughing as he goes. "No brakes! No brakes!", the Prince shouts as he digs his heels into the dirt to stop the vehicle, which he had found abandoned moments earlier. Harry, 23, a Cornet - or Second Lieutenant - in the Household Cavalry, has been playing his part in the war on the...

Prince Harry may be returning from the Afghan frontline to a hero's welcome, but he seems far from happy with England, notably life on the media frontline, according to remarks released Friday. The Ministry of Defence said the 23-year-old was being pulled out of Afghanistan "immediately" after a US website breached a media blackout on his presence in the violence-scarred southern province of Helmand. Officials have praised the British media for strictly adhering to the embargo on reporting Harry's deployment, which came after he was unable to go to Iraq last year due to concerns for his security. But Harry,...

Prince Harry was tonight preparing to pull out of Afghanistan as the Taliban threatened more attacks in the face of what it has described as "aggression against Muslims". According to a Taliban spokesman, the prince's presence in Helmand province is a direct sign of the British Royal Family's stance against Muslims and warned it would merely encourage further insurgent attacks against British soldiers. Zabihullah Mujahid said: "Prince Harry's presence in Afghanistan encourages our fighters to launch more attacks on British forces. "The Royal Family is now directly participating in the aggression against Muslims." Mr Mujahid also suggested the British are...

Army heads are to decide whether Prince Harry can continue his deployment in Afghanistan after news broke of him on the front line against the Taleban. The Ministry of Defence has not said how much longer the 23-year-old royal will be on active duty in Afghanistan. Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, is deciding whether Harry can stay in the country. There are fears the prince, nicknamed "the bullet magnet", could now become a prized target for the Taleban. Harry, who is third in line to the throne, has spent the last 10 weeks serving...

Emergency plans to extract Prince Harry from Afghanistan were being drawn up last night after the news leaked that he had been on a secret combat tour in Helmand province since before Christmas. After being denied the chance to serve with his unit in Iraq, the third in line to the throne was deployed in Afghanistan in mid-December. He has been working in Helmand province as a Forward Air Controller – responsible for providing cover for frontline troops – and has been personally involved in clashes with Taleban guerrillas.

Buckingham Palace it definitely is not. Far from the home comforts most of us would take for granted, Prince Harry tasted life on the front line in Afghanistan and found he was in his element. "It's bizarre," he said. "I'm out here now, haven't really had a shower for four days, haven't washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal." On his arrival in war-ravaged Helmand Province just before Christmas, he spent time on the ground at Forward Operating Bases Dwyer and Delhi in the far south of the province. Even by military standards conditions were austere...