The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are the latest Brits to fall for the sartorial charms of US export J. Crew. Well, sort of...
BY Bibby SowrayView the Original article
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are the latest Brits to fall for the sartorial charms of US export J. Crew. Well, sort of...
BY Bibby SowrayThe Duchess of Cambridge met some of Britain's most promising Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls at the SportsAid fundraising dinner in London last night.
The Duchess became the organisation's patron earlier this year and in October visited the former Olympic Park to see young sportsmen and women taking part in workshops run by the charity at the Copper Box arena.
She wowed the young athletes when she stepped on to a volleyball court and played in a pair of towering wedges.
SportsAid is a charity which gives young athletes a financial boost and other practical help as they emerge on the international stage.
During London 2012 it helped 20 of the 29 Olympic gold medallists and 27 of the 34 Paralympic gold winners.
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07 Nov 2013Sport stars supported by the charity in the past include cyclists Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy, heptathlete Jessica Ennis, diver Tom Daley, wheelchair racer David Weir and Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds.
Before the evening was over Kate presented the One-to-Watch Award to Amber Hill, 16, who already competes with the senior British shooting team and is ranked fifth in the world.
This year at the world championships she smashed a junior world record with a score that equalled the senior world record.
Source: APTN and PA
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Telegraph TVNews VideoRoyal Family Video AdvertisementWhen James Pryce was asked to style the Duchess of Cambridge’s hair for her wedding and then tend to her locks on her tour of North America, he took advantage of his new-found fame by cutting his ties to Richard Ward, the owner of the Chelsea salon where he made his name.
Sadly, Mandrake hears that Pryce has not been able to retain his most famous client. “Richard Ward still cuts Kate’s hair and she has her colour done at the salon,” one of Pryce’s fellow crimpers tells me.
“Plus, she has her stylist, Amanda Cook Tucker, who blow dries her hair for events, but James has really been pushed out.”
Pryce took a job at Josh Wood Atelier, in Holland Park, where he now works part time. “He only works three days a week.
"When he went solo and tried to tour around the USA – he launched a Facebook page and Twitter account which featured hundreds of pictures of Kate and her various hairstyles to promote his business – obviously, that did not go down too well with the Palace at all.”
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23 Nov 2013Mandrake disclosed in 2011 that Pryce, who created the Duchess of Cambridge’s demi–chignon style for her wedding, had parted company with the salon that made his name. He had been a “creative director” at Richard Ward.
After the royal wedding, at which Ward had eight assistants to look after the hair of the Duchess and other members of the Middleton family, he said: “She’s been an absolute poppet. All the time. Really. I know you would expect me to say that, but she’s amazing. And that’s why we are going to be in safe hands with her because she’s just so amazing with people.”
Last month, this column reported that the Duchess had booked Joh Bailey, a hairdresser in Sydney, for the tour of Australia that she is planning to make with the Duke of Cambridge next year.
He is the same snipper who tended to the locks of Diana, Princess of Wales during her final visit to the Antipodes the year before she died.
Pryce declines to comment.
Read more from Mandrake here
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The Duchess is patron of school-based mental health charity Place2Be which is hosting the event in London's Canary Wharf.
Speakers include clinician and broadcaster Professor Tanya Byron, who will address the issue of cyberbullying and how young people can stay safe online, and Professor Stephen Scott from King's College London, who will talk about helping parents to raise well-adjusted children.
The Duchess will meet the experts, who also include head teachers and the founder of an addiction treatment centre, after listening to their speeches at the offices of Clifford Chance.
Place2Be supports 75,000 children in more than 200 schools in some of the most deprived areas of the UK. The issues it helps children to deal with include bullying, bereavement and family breakdown.
Catherine and Prince William attended the head offices of crime prevention charity Only Connect on a joint engagement on Tuesday.
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Telegraph TVUK NewsKate Middleton AdvertisementOnly Connect, a crime prevention charity that works with prisoners, former criminals and young people at risk of offending, had invited the royal couple to see their headquarters to learn more about what they do.
At a nearby Only Connect venue, OC Central, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were treated to contemporary dance performances by the group Dance United and had the opportunity to meet those connected to the charity.
During the visit, the Duchess of Cambridge revealed that Prince George is "growing up fast" as she accepted the gift of a personalised babygro from a young ex-offender.
The Duchess was wearing a brown Orla Kiely buttoned-down bird-print dress, which she had previously worn on an engagement at The Art Room in Oxford in February 2012, with brown suede ankle boots and brown tights, while Prince William had on a dark blue suit and purple tie.
During the visit, the royal couple watched workshops being carried out by complementary projects Handmade Alliance, which trains prisoners to produce textiles for British designers, and Bounce Back, which offers training and employment in painting and decorating for offenders at the end of their sentences.
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23 Oct 2013The Duchess watched volunteers Elise Johnson and Nasser Massadimi making bunting, and said to them: "Are you guys sewing on buttons? It looks very fiddly work."
She added: "It's quite therapeutic, isn't it?"
Sources: ITN/PA
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Telegraph TVUK NewsKate Middleton AdvertisementFour months after their son was born, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a problem familiar to any new parent: the constant need for bigger baby clothes.
During a visit to a charity for ex-offenders, the Duchess gratefully accepted a baby vest from a former burglar, saying it would come in handy because Prince George is “growing up very fast”.
The youngest member of the Royal family was left at home at Kensington Palace as the Duke and Duchess carried out only their third joint engagement since their son was born in July.
Inevitably, however, he was never far from their thoughts as they met reformed criminals at Only Connect in London.
Aaron Russell-Andrews, 22, who has started a career in acting after being helped by the charity, handed the Duchess a vest top sized three to six months with the charity’s logo and the name Prince George printed on it.
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07 Nov 2013The Duchess told him it would be “a very good fit as he is growing up very fast”, adding that “he’ll like it”.
Mr Russell-Andrews’s 20-month-old daughter Teegan was less generous, however, trying to grab the top back from the Duchess, who laughed and said: “They’re very demanding at this age.”
Teegan then burst into tears when the Duke of Cambridge started speaking to her father, but she was not the only one who seemed overawed by the occasion.
Andrew Brown, a former gang member, admitted after being introduced to the Duchess that he was “shaking” and that he was “a bit of a royalist”.
The Duchess, wearing an Orla Kiely bird print dress that she previously wore on an engagement in Oxford last year, spent several minutes chatting to Mr Russell-Andrews, from Camden, north London, who admitted to committing “a crime a day” as a teenager.
He said: “The Only Connect group saw me as vulnerable and I was referred from a youth club.
“They wanted to take me on a different path to a life of burglary and robbery.
“I’m so grateful they stepped in. It shows how far I have come, I’ve come a long, long way. This place means a lot to me.”
The charity has worked with 10,000 young people and hundreds of adult offenders and claims to have reduced re-offending by 50 per cent in those it has helped.
One of its trustees is Lady Jane Fellowes, the Duke’s aunt, who said she was “delighted” the royal couple had made the trip.
The Duke and Duchess also saw the work of several other groups working under the charity's umbrella. Karis Barnard, who runs the OC Central, helping ex-offenders in drama, dance and film, said: “The Duchess told me she’s not as good at poetry but her photography is her passion. If she's going to do anything artistic, it's that.”
The Duchess, meanwhile, met volunteers training ex-offenders to sew with a social enterprise called Handmade Alliance.
“Are you guys sewing on buttons? It looks very fiddly work,” she said to volunteers Nasser Massadimi, 20, and Elise Johnson, 23, who were busy making Christmas bunting to go on sale at the charity's pop-up shop in London's West End from Thursday.
Claudia Calvert, the workroom manager said the Duchess told her sewing was not her forte. “She was saying she's not very good at it because when she tries sewing the needle normally gets caught on the pin and breaks.”
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Children must be taught to grow and cook fresh ingredients from scratch as an "integral part" of the school curriculum, the Duchess of Cornwall has said, as she acknowledges the hobbies now face competition from "iPods and YouTube".
The Duchess, whose son Tom Parker Bowles is a professional food writer, said she wanted to “instill an excitement” in children about learning to cook and tasting British food.
She added knowing about food could be a “real advantage” for young people, even the traditional skills now had to “compete with iPods and YouTube”.
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13 Oct 2013Commenting in the latest edition of Country Life magazine, guest edited by the Prince of Wales, the Duchess made the case for British ingredients.
She added it was “tremendously” important for children to know how to grow food and could, arguing it should be an “integral part of their school education”.
In comments made alongside an article on the Harvest Festival, the Duchess also described her favourite British foods: free-range chicken, “spanking” fresh mackerel and “pert and perfect” asparagus.
“It is tremendously important to teach young people how to grow food and to cook as an integral part of their school education,” she told a special edition of Country Life magazine.
“And also to instill in them an excitement and love for the wonderfully diverse and delicious food we produce in this country.”
Speaking in support of British Food Fortnight, she added: “Learning to grow and cook your own food can be a real advantage, even if it has to compete with iPods and YouTube!
“I’m so delighted the British Food Fortnight competition has given children the chance to experience the joys of digging up potatoes they have grown themselves, picking runner beans and finding exciting recipes to cook.”
The Duchess has previously said teaching children to cook properly would ensure “our future is in safe hands”.
The Prince of Wales, who guest edited the magazine on the eve of his 65th birthday, used its pages to criticise large supermarkets for putting the “squeeze” on “battered” farmed by driving down prices.
His support for British farmers was echoed by the Duchess, who spoke out in favour of home-grown British ingredients.
“I’ve always loved food and really enjoy cooking simple dishes with the best British ingredients,” she said.
“That, for me, is what British food is really about; a chicken, that has lived a natural life, pecking and scratching about in the yard, roasted until golden brown.
“Or a spanking fresh mackerel, grilled until the skin is crisp, the flesh soft and sweet.
“The first British asparagus, pert and perfect, or a proper Somerset Cheddar, made with unpasteurised milk from the farmer’s own hand
“Food that follows the seasons, rather than the whims of the vast multinational food conglomerates.”
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It looks as if the fabled “Kate Effect” is doing the power of good to the maternity label Séraphine. It has just opened its third boutique on Marylebone High Street in central London.
At the launch event, Cecile Reinaud, the company’s founder and designer, told Mandrake: “We have been waiting for a long time for a shop to become vacant in Marylebone, and then, finally, it did. I think we got bumped to the top of the list because of the Duchess
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The Queen indulged her passion for all things equestrian when she met young riders from an inner city club.
The Duchess of Cornwall invited the Queen to the centre in Brixton, south London, that she has supported for a number of years. The visit was a rare joint event for the Queen and Camilla, who both share a love of horses.
Breeding thoroughbreds for racing is a passion for the Queen, who has seen her horses win classic races, while the Duchess is a keen rider.
Source: ITN / PA
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