Malaysian princes come to blows

The Straits Times – October 31, 2008 – By Leslie Lopez (South-East Asia Correspondent)

KUALA LUMPUR –

An alleged thrashing of a member of Malaysia’s royal household and his friends by the grandson of the Sultan of Johor and his bodyguards last week looks set to renew debate over the indiscretions of the royalty and whether they are immune from prosecution.

Concerts in Honour of Royalty

British violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky (left) will perform during the ‘‘Royal Celebration Concert’’ on Mon, Nov 3, while Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes will give a recital during the ‘‘Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata’’ concert on Sun, Nov 9. Both shows start at 8pm at the Thailand Cultural Centre.

Bangkok Post – October 31, 2008.

The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation presents two royal concerts to celebrate HM the King’s 81st birthday and to pay a tribute to HRH the late Princess Galyani Vadhana. The ‘‘Royal Celebration Concert’’ will take place on Mon, Nov 3 and the ‘‘Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata’’ on Sun, Nov 9. The showtime for both performances is 8pm and the venue is the Main Hall of the Thailand Cultural Centre.

The enduring legacy of Emily Post: Manners still matter

USA Today – October 13, 2008 – By Craig Wilson.

Emily Post has been dead nearly half a century. Many believe good manners died right along with the woman who gave us the ultimate book on etiquette in 1922.

ETIQUETTE KEEPS UP WITH THE TIMES

My, how times have changed. Just compare some “rules” from the very first edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette (1922) to the most recent version, the 17th, published in 2004.

Saudi to build its first women’s university

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah (C) launched the construction of the first women-only university in the conservative Islamic state of Riyadh October 29, 2008. The Princess Noura Bint Abdelrahman University for Girls will offer courses in subjects like medicine, pharmacy, management, computer sciences and languages that women find difficulty in studying in normal universities where strict gender segregation is enforced.

Reuters – October 30, 2008.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has launched the construction of the first women-only university in the kingdom.

Another tragedy befalls Nepal’s former royals

NewKerala – October 30, 2008 – By Sudeshna Sarkar.

Even as Nepal celebrated a clutch of festivals with fanfare, fresh tragedy smote the former kingdom’s deposed royal family with the last king’s son-in-law succumbing to a sudden heart attack.

Abhinesh Shah, 35, who had been joined to Nepal’s then all-powerful royal family in 2003 by marriage to Princess Sitashma, King Gyanendra’s niece, died Thursday in Kathmandu.

The remarkable letters by King George III to Prince William IV expected to fetch £20,000

King George III pulled no punches in berating his third son for his choice of company

The Daily Mail – October 27, 2008 – By Tamara Cohen.

It is rite of passage for every wayward teenager, receiving some stern words of advice from his father.

After getting himself into debt and cultivating some rather unsavoury friends, the young Prince William IV was no exception.

The only difference is that his father was King George III, who pulled no punches in berating his third son for his choice of company and even his bad manners, in a remarkable series of letters unearthed for the first time.

Lady Jane springs a surprise

The Daily Mail – October 28, 2008 – By Richard Kay.

As the well-brought-up daughter of the nonagenarian Duke of Wellington, Lady Jane Wellesley is naturally fulsome in the acknowledgements for her weighty new history of her aristocratic clan, A Journey Through My Family.

Top: Smitten, Lady Jane with Loyd last week. Bottom: Royal affair, Lady Jane Wellesley with Prince Charles in 1978

New videos

About Monaco (broadcasted on TMC)

- Monaco National Day, on the 19th of November 2008

This Week In Pictures (25.10 to 1.11.08)

Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand arrives for the opening ceremony of the Russian Fashion Week and presentation of her collection in Moscow October 28, 2008. The princess sashayed along a red carpet on Tuesday before launching her new clothes collection and kick-starting Russian Fashion Week with the snip of a ribbon. Russian Fashion Week which usually invites foreign designers opened on Tuesday in Moscow and will last till November 4.

Hermitage : The great museum of Russia

The Winter Palace

The Sunday Observer – October 26, 2008.

Most of you are sure to have visited the Colombo National Museum. This is the biggest and most important museum in Sri Lanka, while there are many other smaller regional museums in the country. A museum is a vital element to display a country’s history and heritage, and all countries have museums showcasing that country’s past grandeur as well as more modern scientific developments.