Are The Royal Family Worth It?

So are the Royal Family worth taxpayer’s money? As the recession starts to bite and unemployment rises it’s worth asking if we really need an unelected had of state that cost every person in Britain 69p. Frost wants to open up a debate on the Royal Family. Love them or hate them? Frost came across the video below that made us stop and wonder; should we rejoice that we have a Queen?

With Prince William and Catherine Middleton making royalty cool again and becoming more and more popular it seems that the royal family are having a resurgence. Posh has become cool again. Maybe we need more fantasy in our lives and the royal family gives us that.

Did the video change your mind? Are you a royalist or republican? Let us know.

Prince William Praises Queen For Help Planning Wedding

A new book about the Royal Family has revealed that when Prince William was first handed his wedding list, he did not know anyone on it.

The book, called Our Queen also reveals that the Queen advised him to bin the official guest-list for his wedding to Kate Middleton and start again.

He said: “I came into the first meeting for the wedding, post-engagement, and I was given this official list of 777 names – dignitaries, governors, all sorts of people – and not one person I knew. They said: “These are the people we should invite”.

“I looked at it in absolute horror and said, ‘I think we should start again’. I rang [The Queen] up the next day and said, ‘Do we need to be doing this?’ And she said, ‘No. Start with your friends first and then go from there’. And she told me to bin the list.”

“She made the point that there are certain times when you have to strike the right balance. And it’s advice like that, which is really key, when you know that she’s seen and done it before.”

He also revealed that it was the Queen that insisted her wore his Irish Guards uniform for the wedding.

Royal Wedding: Zara Phillips Marries Mike Tindall

You wait years for a Royal Wedding and two come along at once. Zara Phillips has married Mike Tindall at a lavish palace reception.

The Queen’s granddaughter married in a private ceremony in Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk with the Queen, Kate Middleton and Prince William in attendance. The Duchess of Cambridge also accompanied her husband, and while this wedding didn’t have the scale of Westminster Abbey, more than 6,000 people turned up to watch sports star Tindall marry into the monarchy, including England coach Martin Johnson, his predecessor Sir Clive Woodward, Scotland’s coach Andy Robinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jonny Wilkinson.

For the fashionistas, Zara’s dress was created by the Queen’s favourite designer, Stewart Parvin, and the bride paid tribute to Scotland with thistles incorporated into her bouquet of white blooms.

The wedding reception is being staged in the grounds of Holyroodhouse, but their honeymoon is postponed as the newlyweds will be back at training this week. Zara, 30, will be competing in the Gatcombe Park horse trials, and Tindall, 32, is likely to play in the England rugby match against Wales next Saturday.

Michael Caine shared jokes with Queen


Sir Michael Caine once shared a joke-telling session with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

The 78-year-old actor portrays a 1966 Aston Martin in forthcoming movie ‘Cars 2’, which also features a vehicle in the likeness of the queen, and he thinks the monarch would love it because she has such a good sense of humour.

He said: “I think she’d react very well. She’s good fun.

“I sat next to her at a dinner once, and she suddenly turned to me and said, ‘Do you know any jokes?’ And I said, ‘Yes, but not many I could tell you, Your Majesty.’

“I said, ‘You tell me one while I think of one to tell you.’ ”

However, the veteran actor – who has appeared in more than 150 movies throughout his career -can’t remember the humorous retort she told him in response.

He added in an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “I can’t remember the joke she told me, but it was very funny. The Queen has an incredible sense of humour, a tremendous sense of fun.”

Rupert Grint Wants To Date The Queen

Rupert Grint has a crush on Queen Elizabeth.

The ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ actor – who shot to fame aged 11 playing Ron Weasley in the movie series – admits the monarch would be one of his two ideal women, along with singer-and-actress Juliette Lewis.

Asked which two famous women he would like to date, he said: “I think it would have to be the queen. She is [pretty foxy]. I sat in front of her at her 80th birthday, where we were asked to perform in a play, so that was pretty cool.

“My second choice would be Juliette Lewis, because she’s really cool and in a band.”

One celebrity the 22-year-old star does not find attractive is former ‘Hannah Montana’ actress Miley Cyrus.

He explained: “I’ve never really gone for those Disney girls.”

Rupert has never been in a relationship for longer than a few weeks, but is currently happy to be single.

He told Britain’s Glamour magazine: “I haven’t had any very serious relationships. The longest was probably less than a month. I’ve never had a one-night stand.

“I’m not really looking for anything at the moment. I’m so busy that it’s quite hard to commit.”

While Rupert insists he isn’t looking for love, the flame-haired star admits he has received a lot of attention from girls since starring in the ‘Harry Potter’ films.

He said: “The ginger community embraced me – put it that way.

“Walking down the street, I would get a lot of ‘ginger love’. I still do.”

This Month's Magazines: Pippa Middleton and Gwyneth Paltrow Cover Girls/ Updated

Here is the second in my monthly round-up, for July 2011.

Tatler has joined Pippa Middleton’s fan club and put her on the cover, the article on her inside weighs up her possible future husbands, and has a very good article on her and lots of pictures. It also let’s you know that Pippa does pilates at Pilates on the Go in Parson’s Green, and has a testimonial on their website.

Tatler also give the low-down on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s inner circle, who’s in and who’s out. Athina Onassis also has an article on her and multibillion-pound colossus Glencore has a four page article on them. Nathaniel Rothschild is one of their investors.

Tory Burch talks about what inspires her, Claudia Winklemann writes about her hatred of summer, Orlando had advice for your gap yah, Annabel Rivkin slams Made In Chelsea for making posh people look bad, and for not being posh at all.

One of the best article is their annual 100 most invited; The Middleton’s top the list, Natalie Massenet, Colin Firth, Nat Rothschild, Michael McIntyre, Dasha Zhukova and Liz Murdoch all make the list.

Tatler also has their first ever Hunting, Shooting & Fishing guide. Here at Frost we don’t hunt, but we love clay pigeon shooting.

Vanity Fair: Emma Stone is on the cover and talks about wanting to be a ‘covered up’ actress, but is on the cover in a bikini. Stone comes across well in the interview and states that she doesn’t want to make a career out of mere sex appeal. Ted Danson goes out to lunch, James Wolcott on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, There is a long form article on Groupon, one of the biggest growing business in history which will soon be worth $20 Billion.

There is an article to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11, there is also a very good article on Prince Andrew and his many troubles, but does let you know that he is The Queen’s favorite child, Elephants – which are sadly being hunted in their tens of thousands per year, and Catch 22 writer Joseph Heller. Jerry Lewis does the Proust Questionnaire.

Vanity Fair Jewellery has a supplement with a naked Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover. It has lots of good articles on the history of Gold, The Windsor’s crown jewels, Daphne Guinness and a calender with Paltrow, Thandie Newton, Natalia Vodianova, Olivia Inge, Olivia Palermo, Uma Thurman and Poppy Delevigne.

Marie Claire has Audrey Tautou on the cover, the shy actress manages to give nothing away in the subsequent interview. George Clooney talks about his activism in South Sudan, there are wedding night confessions, a good article on women who earn money from blogging, a piece on the rise of Posh as Toff mania grips Britain.

There are QR codes abound in Marie Claire, exciting if you have a smart phone,

There is lots of fashion of course, it lets you nail your festival look, there is an article on couples who fight over wardrobe space, an article on love addiction and JK Rowling’s life story. Harry Potter star Bonnie Wright also gives an insight into her world and Megan Fox gives her beauty secrets.

There is a free gift of lip gloss, but not if you are a subscriber. Bad form.

Vogue has Kate Moss AKA Mrs Jamie Hince on the cover and in a forties fashion spread inside, though nothing on her wedding (American Vogue have been given the rights) Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain and Lily Collins.

Jemima Khan writes about conquering her fear of flying to save a long distance relationship. Jemima is a very good writer. Miss V is as brilliant as ever, with lots of parties and pictures,

Of course there is lots of fashion and the forties look is in. Christopher Bailey talks about 10 years at Burberry and Mustique is the holiday destination of the year.

The girls of Downtown Abbey are in vogue and in couture, complete with interviews. There is also a tan special and Christa D’Souza on the quest of a perfect ponytail. Gemma Atterton gives her Style File and talks about how hard it is to find cloths to fit her curvy frame.

There is also a free supplement of the Runaway round-up for Autumn/Winter 2011.

Glamour has Jessie J is on the cover and there is a free Personal Horoscope book.

There is a very good article inside where Jessie talks about her sexuality, her stroke and drugs and alcohol which you can read more about on Frost.

There is articles on cutting calories, getting in shape and being body confident, lessons from online dating, Karl Lagerfield on Lily Allen’s wedding dress, article on sex dreams, how to nail a wedding gift, Katy Perry’s body secrets.

This issue also had Glamour’s Women Of the Year Awards, their prestigious annual event, with news and gossip from the night. A running gag about sleeping with Davina McCall’s husband is funnier than it sounds. There is also 30,000 sex secrets and how to become red carpet glamorous, as well as an interview with the Inbetweener’s boys. Celia Walden interviews Rupert Grint and the stars spill their festival secrets.

A very good, fun edition with lots of fashion, stories, advice and fun.

 

 

 

Kate Middleton and Prince William Heckled by Protesters in Canada.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are going to St Lawrence River on the third night of their tour of Canada.

The royal couple are going up river on board HMCS Montreal, a City Class Frigate of the Canadian Navy.
They will be surrounded by a crew of 225 for the 11 hour journey to Quebec. Although they have been given the most comfortable quarters, it seems incredibly unromantic for the newlyweds.

The couple will arrive in Quebec at 2pm BST and have been briefed about possible protesters and republicans.

The Quebec Resistance Network, which wants the province to become independent, have threatened to disrupt the visit where the couple will be given the freedom of the city. Previous royal visits have fared no better, being marred by violence between demonstrators and riot police. The Queen has not returned to Quebec City since protesters turned their backs on her and booed in 1964.

This comes after the Duke and Duchess facing their first organised protests against their visit to Canada on their arrival in Montreal on Saturday night.

Demonstrators had placards calling the couple “parasites” as they arrived at the world renowned Sainte-Justine university hospital. There were also lots of supporters to cheer the couple on. One of the main protesters, Guillaume Martin, told reporters: “We think the monarchy is something from the middle ages and we don’t want to pay for the trip.”

The Canadian government will be paying the £950,000 to host the couple, this amounts to only a few cents a head for the country’s population. The couple ignored the protesters and spent more than an hour chatting to child cancer patients inside the hospital.

Prince William welcomed the Canadians with; “Bonne fête, Canada, happy birthday,” in his speech.

Catherine Middleton had never been to Canada before, or America, which is also part of their tour.

Royal Wedding Attracts Over 1 Million Facebook Updates.

The Royal Wedding gathered world attention and a massive amount of Facebook updates. Read on for who was popular….

The Big Numbers

· Over a million people in the UK used Facebook statuses to discuss the Royal Wedding in the past 24 hours.

· During this morning alone some 684,399 status updates referencing the wedding were posted in just 4 hours in the UK – equating to an average of 47 mentions every second.

· Many people in the UK were so excited they couldn’t sleep, with just under 500 people updating about the pending nuptials per hour ahead of 8am

· Much has been said about the US obsession with today’s wedding – and this was reflected in our numbers – with greater numbers of American Facebook users posting updates than those from the UK – 1.953 million to the UK’s 1.004 million.

So who were people talking about?

· David Beckham’s arrival led to a surge in discussion – with 9,000 mentions of his name in just 20 minutes!

· Just under double the number of people were talking about David Beckham than Victoria Beckham

· The Queen and Prince Philip didn’t even feature in the top list of discussed people – and Prince Andrew was nowhere to be seen.

· Instead, we saw Harry’s position at number three and fledgling Royal celebrity Pippa Middleton at number 8

· Kate’s rebrand into ‘Princess Catherine’ has begun in earnest, with nearly 2,000 people mentioning her new name for the first time after the ceremony

· Prince Beatrice’s hat became the subject of a Facebook fan page – ‘Princess Beatrice’s Ridiculous Royal Wedding Hat’ (4000 fans) http://on.fb.me/lGyn7z

US versus UK

· Despite not featuring in the top ten list in the UK, in the US the Queen was the 14th most discussed topic – with a position in the list similar to that of Victoria Beckham in the UK.

Here’s the list for the UK:

1

Kate Middleton

131,385 mentions

2

Prince William

104,747 mentions

3

Prince Harry

64,107 mentions

4

David Beckham

22,421 mentions

5

Victoria Beckham

12,346 mentions

6

Elton John

12,283 mentions

7

Princess Diana

11,103 mentions

8

Pippa Middleton

8,619 mentions

9

Prince Charles

6,791 mentions

10

Princess Beatrice

4,439 mentions

11

Princess Catherine

1,928 mentions

12

Princess Eugenie

1,385 mentions

13

Guy Ritchie

290 mentions

And what got people chatting?

The dress…

· Speculation grew throughout the morning as to the designer of Kate’s dress; with references to Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, and Diana’s dress designer, David Emanuel.

o 13,120 mentions of Sarah Burton

o 7,863 mentions of Alexander McQueen

o 4,264 mentions of Emanuel

The hat…

· Samantha Cameron’s lack of a hat attracted a lot of attention – as she arrived at Westminster Abbey there was some 600 mentions of her total lack of hat…

…and the nose…!

· Tara Palmer-Tompkinson’s nose attracted a lot of discussion – with 2046 mentions in just 20 minutes!

Elton

· National treasure Elton John featured prominently in pictures from the Abbey – leading to over 12,000 mentions of him within status updates.

Where were people talking about the wedding?

· Thousands of people crowded the streets of London in order to see the event – and lots of them got closer to it by checking in to the key locations along the route using Facebook Places.

· Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey were most popular – with XXX and XXX people checking in.

New ways to interact with a Royal Wedding….

· ITN’s live stream was available on its Facebook Page with live comments: www.facebook.com/itn – It saw 3.5million streams + peaked at 110,000 viewers online.

· ITN used Facebook Questions to ask “who is the best dressed” and “where should they go on their honeymoon?” https://www.facebook.com/eonline#!/ITN?sk=questions

· CNN live streamed the event on its website with live comments: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2011/royal.wedding/live/

· ABC live streamed the wedding on its Page: https://www.facebook.com/abcnews as well as creating royal wedding polls: https://www.facebook.com/abcnews?sk=app_20678178440

· ITN, CNN and ABC incorporated live Facebook statistics into their TV broadcasts.

Facebook Stories

· Facebook Stories, an app that enables people to share their thoughts and views, saw thousands of submissions from more than 30 countries, in more than 20 languages