Britain's Queen Elizabeth spoke yesterday of her joy at the engagement of her youngest son, Prince Edward (34), to Ms Sophie Rhys-Jones (33). The couple announced their engagement last week after a five-year friendship.
As she emerged from a church service at Sandringham, Norfolk, the queen said: "It's great news, isn't it . . . It's nice."
She was accompanied by the Queen Mother and the Duke of Edinburgh. The prince and Ms Rhys-Jones did not attend yesterday's service.
Meanwhile, Ms Rhys-Jones, who runs her own public relations agency, has told the queen she does not want to be a princess because of comparisons with the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
According to yesterday's British press, she resents media comparisons of her strong resemblance to the late princess and wants to be recognised in her own right. Since the engagement, Ms Rhys-Jones has been compared incessantly with Diana, who died in Paris on August 31st, 1997. The Sunday Telegraph said she had told the queen she did not want to become a princess when she married. Nor does she want to be known as Her Royal Highness The Princess Edward, which would be her official title - she believes it is old-fashioned to be known by her husband's name.
The solution would be for the queen to make Edward a duke - royal experts say the Dukedom of Cambridge is the most likely. The paper said Queen Elizabeth, who is said to be fond of her future daughter-in-law, may give Edward a dukedom, possibly that of Cambridge where he went to university. In that case, Ms Rhys-Jones would then be known as HRH the Duchess of Cambridge.
The investigation into the car crash which killed Diana, Princess of Wales, has concluded that no one should face criminal charges over the tragedy.
The official report, at the end of a painstaking 16-month inquiry, has absolved staff at the Ritz Hotel in Paris of any blame and lifted manslaughter charges against nine French press photographers and one despatch rider. Chauffeur Henri Paul was largely to blame and the crash was a result of "excess speed" and "poor control of the vehicle by the driver".