Buckingham Palace

Q: I am going to redecorate my living and dining room, and I'd like to change my style from casual country to something more sophisticated. Any usable ideas from the latest royal house to open to the public, or is it all too grand for commoners? Thanks.A: With home decorating the boom area in home sewing in the United States, perhaps the opening of Buckingham Palace will provide some trends, and the grand royal style of decorating will find its way "across the pond" to "the Colonies." The excitement of this first peek by tourists has piqued everyone's interest.

There is nothing like the death of the world's most-wanted terrorist to blow a royal wedding right off the front page. Will and Kate's helicopter had no more taken off from Buckingham Palace the morning after their wedding than U.S. helicopters were dropping Navy SEALS into Osama bin Laden's compound to kill him. We went from watching happy throngs waving Union Jacks in Trafalgar Square to watching happy throngs waving American flags at...

LONDON - Germans bombed it, anti-nuclear protesters breached it and a naked guy once even landed on its roof. But yesterday, Brett De La Mare added his name to the list of warriors, wackos and publicity seekers trying to make a statement at Queen Elizabeth II's London home, Buckingham Palace. The 36-year-old Australian, who wants to have a novel published, took to the skies in a $20,000 motorized paraglider in an apparent publicity stunt and swooped into the palace's forecourt, where armed police, who clearly were not amused, scooped him up and led him away.

President Bush declared Americans shocked. Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth was shocked. Former Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick expressed shock. According to press reports, world leaders from South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Canada said they were shocked, and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing sent a telegram to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressing shock. Officials of Micron Inc., the semiconductor company that has donated generously to the engineering department at Virginia Tech, said they were shocked, too. But I am not shocked.

In London, motorists shouted profanities at photographers outside Buckingham Palace. At the Paris hospital where Princess Diana died early Sunday, the epithets were worse: "Murderers," medical staff shouted at the men and women with cameras outside. And at the tunnel where the fatal car crash occurred, angry mourners scrawled red graffiti labeling paparazzi cowards.What had seemed a sort of game -- though an increasingly aggressive one -- changed early Sunday when probably the world's most photographed woman died after trying to elude paparazzi on motorcycles.

After the Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Gallery introduced admission fees a few years back, could Buckingham Palace be far behind?It took the convergence of fire at Windsor Castle, the soaring unpopularity of the royal family and the embarrassment of the exchequer faced with the Windsor repair bill to bring Queen Elizabeth II into trade like some common aristocrat.She will open her London home, Buckingham Palace, which belongs to the Crown and not to her personally, to tourists in July and August.

LONDON -- The British royal family was seeking reconciliation with its subjects.But Charles, the ninth Earl Spencer, had other plans during his funeral tribute yesterday to his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales.He aimed a broadside at the royal family when he said that Diana "needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic." Diana was forced to give up the title "Her Royal Highness" after she divorced Prince Charles last year.Spencer also said that as the "blood family" of Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, he and his two sisters pledged to continue steering the boys "so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition."

Then it's "Tommy this," an' "Tommy that," an' "Tommy 'ows your soul?"But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes," when the drums begin to roll.The thin red line is stretched thinner yet. Tommy Atkins, the quintessential British solder, is needed not only in Northern Ireland ("Tommy this") but now in Bosnia ("Tommy that") because the British government of John Major favors a large European peace-keeping force to protect supposedly safe zones for Muslims that are yet to be agreed upon. The Coldstream Guards get their turn at the duty Britain has already undertaken protecting convoys and such in Bosnia.

Pinhead waxed Doctors have put chess legend Bobby Fischer on a strict diet, believing he has been eating so much after emerging from years of seclusion that it was dulling his play, sources said. Rival Boris Spassky leads the series 2-1 with three draws. The seventh game of the $5 million match in a Yugoslav resort is scheduled for today.Two ballet companies cancel merger plansThe financially strapped American Ballet Theater and Joffrey Ballet companies, both located in New York, are launching separate emergency fund-raising campaigns after their boards voted not to merge.

LONDON -- With a brief speech and tearful walks among throngs of their grieving subjects, Britain's royal family rallied itself and its country on the eve of this morning's funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales.Queen Elizabeth II praised her former daughter-in-law yesterday as "an exceptional and gifted human being," adding that "no one who knew Diana will ever forget her."Meanwhile, Diana's sons, Princes William, 15, and Harry, 12, accompanied by her former husband, Prince Charles, made an emotional pilgrimage to her former London palace as Britons by the score bowed and wept.

LONDON - A group that advocates greater rights for fathers in child custody cases sent two of its operatives over the fence at Buckingham Palace yesterday, and one of them, dressed as Batman, scampered up a ladder to a ledge near the Queen's balcony, sparking a security alert and a tense standoff with police. Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family were said to be vacationing at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The intruder, identified as Jason Hatch, 33, unfurled a banner on the British monarchy's state residence that read "Super Dads Of Fathers 4 Justice, fighting for your right to your kids."

LONDON - Britain's capital is defined by the type of tradition President Bush saw on display yesterday, by the royalty with all its accoutrements, the brilliant red capes of the Guard of Honor, their tall bearskin headgear, the muscular horses of the Household Cavalry causing a clatter with their hooves while striding regally through the gilded gates of Buckingham Palace. What the president will not see during his stay here is the "real London," places such as Finsbury Park, neighborhoods where greasy fish-and-chips are not a tourist must-do but a standard lunch that invariably comes with dead-flat cider or a foaming pint of brew.

LONDON - The curtsy: A woman or girl lowers her body briefly, bending her knees and holding her skirt with both hands as the right foot is lifted and guided backward and to the left, ever so daintily. The head is bowed slightly in a sign of respect. Always, always she offers a smile. Sheila Bransfield, 58, from the Kent village of Acol, practiced the curtsy in her home this week, just as she was taught in school as a young girl - just in case, her teachers told her - and she ran into only one hitch.

LONDON - The office of Charles, the Prince of Wales, announced last night that it would investigate allegations about the royal intervention that ended the trial of Princess Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, Nov. 1 and subsequent charges that the prince covered up an alleged homosexual rape by a top aide and that his courtiers sold royal gifts. The rare look into the goings-on behind palace doors appeared to be an attempt to stem the tide of charge and innuendo against the royal family in recent weeks that has threatened to wash away the goodwill earned during the jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's 50 years on the throne.

LONDON - If Jerry Springer were looking in England for topics for his show, he'd find his best material these days not in the haunts of the economically deprived, but in the regal hallways - and apparently the bedrooms - of Buckingham Palace. "My Ex Had Sex In Front Of The Queen Mum!" "I'm Here To Break Up With My Royal Servant!" "The Butler Did It - Against Me Will!" It's been that kind of month for the royals. Driven by a newspaper war being fought with ferocious firepower, allegation after muddy allegation has been splattered against the walls of the palace, the royal family and its staff.

LONDON - A million people gathered at Buckingham Palace yesterday to declare, loudly and emotionally, their love for Queen Elizabeth II as she marked 50 years on her throne. A sea of people erupted in flag-waving and full-throated cheers as Elizabeth and her family appeared on the palace balcony yesterday evening, bringing to an end a four-day paroxysm of British patriotism. The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, appeared moved by the massive display of affection. After disappearing back into the palace, they emerged twice more and were greeted each time by roars of approval.

LONDON -- As the long week of mourning for Diana, Princess of Wales, grinds heavily to its climax, Queen Elizabeth II and her family find themselves further removed from many of her subjects than they have been for a long time.The breach grew from a widespread perception that the royal family has been indifferent to the death of the princess.No one knows how deep it runs, whether it is more apparent than real. Or whether it will worsen or be healed by the mass catharsis that Diana's funeral tomorrow is expected to effect.

LONDON - A million people gathered at Buckingham Palace yesterday to declare, loudly and emotionally, their love for Queen Elizabeth II as she marked 50 years on her throne. A sea of people erupted in flag-waving and full-throated cheers as Elizabeth and her family appeared on the palace balcony yesterday evening, bringing to an end a four-day paroxysm of British patriotism. The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, appeared moved by the massive display of affection. After disappearing back into the palace, they emerged twice more and were greeted each time by roars of approval.

LONDON - They arrived at a royal palace wearing tuxedos and soccer shirts, evening gowns and tight blue jeans. They sipped champagne, nibbled salmon roulade and waved red-white-and-blue Union flags. But most of all, 12,000 of Britain's royal subjects saluted Queen Elizabeth II, who threw open the gates of Buckingham Palace last night for a picnic and classical concert that began four days of festivities marking her 50 years on the throne. The queen's palace and back yard were transformed into a concert hall for the likes of soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

She was 25, a radiant young mother on a trip to Kenya with her dashing husband, when Elizabeth Alexandra Mary learned that her beloved father had died, and she had become queen of England. That was 50 years ago. And though the anniversary of her ascension to the throne -- Feb. 6 -- has passed, the celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee haven't. Most gear up this spring and last throughout the summer. The festivities will be marred by the recent death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the queen's younger sister, Princess Margaret, the glamorous and slightly reckless Princess Di of her day. Still, the show will go on. "The jubilee represents an opportunity for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to thank the people of Britain and the Commonwealth for their support over the past 50 years," a senior palace aide said.