Royal

Britain's Prince Andrew has been asked to testify under oath about allegations he "sexually abused" a teenager.
Lawyers acting for Virginia Roberts - a 31-year-old woman who claims she was a "sex slave" to the prince's former friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when she was just 17 - wrote to Buckingham Palace through an intermediary law firm last week to ask the 54-year-old royal to tell his side of the story after their client claimed she was forced to have sex with him three times.
The letter, addressed to 'Your Royal Highness', was accompanied by a picture of Andrew with his arm around Virginia's waist in 2001 when she was 17.
It said: "This letter is a formal request ... to interview you, under oath, regarding interactions that you had with Jane Doe No 3 beginning in approximately early 2001. Jane Doe No 3 was then 17 years old.
"The interview could be conducted at a time and place of your choosing, and with your co-operation, I believe the interview could be completed in two hours or less."
It is signed by Jack Scarola, an attorney acting on behalf of Ms Roberts' two main lawyers, Bradley Edwards and Paul Cassell.
The letter asked for a response by January 19 but Buckingham Palace wouldn't say if there had been a reply or whether the prince had consented to be interviewed.
The note was submitted with court papers in Florida by Virginia, and the woman also gave a sworn affidavit in which she said Buckingham Palace's previous denials of her accusations were "false and hurtful".
She also revealed she referred to the prince as "Andy" and again insisted they had had sex.
She said: "I did have sexual contact with him [Prince Andrew] as I have described here - under oath.
"Given what he knows and has seen, I was hoping that he would simply voluntarily tell the truth about everything. I hope my attorneys can interview Prince Andrew under oath about the contacts and that he will tell the truth."

Chris Evans had a royal appointment with the Duchess of Cornwall yesterday (20.01.15).
The BBC Radio 2 presenter visited Duchess Camilla at Clarence House to discuss her support for his children's short story contest '500 Words'.
The Duchess - who is married to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles - is a long-time supporter of literacy initiatives and has agreed to allow the final of the competition to be held at St. James' Palace, where 'The Chris Evans Breakfast Show' will broadcast live.
Those selected as the 50 best entrants in the contest will be invited to the grounds of the palace, where a final six will be chosen and have their work read out by a famous actor.
Camilla, 67, is also set to attend a special "story laboratory" to mark the launch of the competition - which is open to children under the age of 13 - at West Park Primary School in London.
Budding authors can enter their works of fiction, which must be no longer than 500 words, through the Radio 2 website.
The judging panel includes 'Top Gear' presenter Richard Hammond and writers Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman.

Britain's Prince Charles has had his name reinstated on the side of a cable car.
The 66-year-old royal's name was removed from the ski lift at the resort of Klosters in Switzerland and replaced with the name of its sponsor M&G.
However, after much campaigning from locals and British tourists - who were proud of the royal connection - the Prince of Wales' name has now been reinstated on the side of the vehicle, HELLO! magazine reports.
The heir to the throne's moniker is now etched on to two of the resort's bright red cable cars in a bid to make up for the upset.
A source shared: "His name has been elevated to the upper cable car, which is altogether rather fitting. I am not sure if His Royal Highness is aware yet but I know he will be delighted."
Prince Charles has been skiing at the resort for a number of years but was last seen there in March 2013 and is thought to have given up the sport because his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, is less skilled on the slopes and reportedly suffers from vertigo.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex has been officially confirmed as vice-patron of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Trust. The 50-year-old royal will now deputise for the Queen as vice-patron of the charitable foundation, which was created to mark the 60th anniver...

A scientist claims Britain's Prince Charles tried to "silence" him.
Professor Edzard Ernst - a controversial scientist and leading critic of alternative medicine - describes how he lost his job at the University of Exeter because of what he claims was royal influence, in his new book 'A Scientist In Wonderland'.
The German-born professor set up the UK's first chair in complementary medicine at the academic institution in 1993 but was met with criticism following his outspoken views on alternative therapies such as homeopathy.
Ernst publicly attacked a draft report by economist Christopher Smallwood, that had been commissioned by the Prince of Charles, in 2005, resulting in the vice chancellor of the University receiving an official letter of complaint from Clarence House citing a "breach of confidence".
The professor claims the following year saw him subjected to interrogations, "dozens of cross-examining emails and letters" and "treated as guilty until proven innocent".
According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Ersnt said of the story of the book: "I was innocent, but all support broke down. My unit of 20 co-workers was systematically destroyed."
However, he has not bowed down to the alleged suppression and openly criticises the heir to throne in a chapter titled 'Off With His Head'.
He writes: "Prince Charles has continued to promote alternative medicine indefatigably, often showing himself unwilling or unable to distinguish between real health care and blatant quackery, between medicine and snake oil, or between the truth and some half-baked obsessions of his own."

Damian Lewis looked to Britain's Princes Harry and William for inspiration when playing King Henry VIII.
The 43-year-old actor portrays the notorious monarch in new TV drama 'Wolf Hall' and admits he drew on the young royals' attempts to live a normal life when preparing for the role.
He said: "I have actually on occasion found myself thinking about Wills and Harry; wanting to normalize your life as much as possible.
"I see in Henry a desire for normality, and as he started to lose his waistline, and lose his athleticism, he surrounded himself with what can only be described as a Bullingdon Club of handsome men who were ten years younger than him."
The 'Band of Brothers' star also believes Henry - who is known for having had six wives, two of whom he had killed - is a misunderstood and misrepresented character.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I would advocate for Henry as a man who was surprisingly tender, loving, generous, personable and extraordinarily talented in many different areas.
"An extraordinarily impressive man. With a tendency to murder."
Meanwhile, Damian recently received his OBE from Prince William, who informed him he was a huge fan of political thriller series 'Homeland', in which he starred as Sergeant Nicholas Brody.

Britain's Prince Charles has had more sporting injuries than Amir Khan.
The 66-year-old royal met the boxing professional at an event in Sunderland in northern England today (20.01.15), and spoke with him about the wounds he sustained when he regularly played polo, before he gave up the sport in 2005.
The sportsman said: "We had a bit of a chat about boxing and we had a chat about his polo and how many injuries we'd had.
"He'd had more injuries in that than I have in boxing. It shows you can get injured in all sports."
A badly broken arm, shoulder bone and rib along with numerous back injuries are among the traumas the Prince of Wales has suffered from playing the competitive sport as well as from fox hunting.
Aside from immediate treatment to soothe his pain, he has also had a metal plate inserted into his arm and had surgery on cartilage in his knee.
The prince was chatting to the 28-year-old fighter at an event promoting a National Citizen Service project encouraging teenagers to teach older people about social media, with Amir showing him his Twitter page, which has over 1.5 million followers.
Speaking about the future monarch, Amir added: "He is a very nice guy. I have met him two or three times before and he seems like a boxing fan."

Britain's Prince Charles is looking to hire someone to run his Twitter account.
The 66-year-old royal and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, have had a job advert placed on a number of websites including Gorkana and LinkedIn in an effort to hire a digital engagement officer.
The job description reads: "The Household of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are recruiting for a Digital Engagement Officer, based at Clarence House.
"The Digital Engagement Officer will assist the Head of Digital Engagement in delivering online and web based digital information and communications."
Candidates wishing to apply for the role will be responsible for the "daily maintenance and development of HRH The Prince of Wales' website", "ensuring that all digital communications support Clarence House's communications strategy", "communicating via the Clarence House social media channels on a daily basis" and "producing analytic reports as required".
However, Charles and Camilla, 67, are looking for the best possible candidates and have laid out a number of necessary skills and qualifications.
The advert continues: "To be successful, candidates must be educated to degree level or equivalent, and have proven journalism and online communications work experience.
"Candidates must be creative with an eye for design and presentation, have an interest in, and a degree of experience of web design, content management and latest developments in the online world and social media."
Those who believe they have a "diplomatic manner, good news sense" and "experience of video and picture editing" have until February 16, 2015 to apply.

Britain's Duchess of Cambridge can feel her baby "moving all the time".
The 33-year-old royal is expecting her second child with husband Prince William and she's confessed the baby is likely to be a lively one as it's constantly kicking her.
She said: "It's moving all the time. I can feel it kicking now."
However, Duchess Catherine - who has 18-month-old son Prince George with William - admits she and her husband have not yet found out whether they are having another boy or a little girl.
Martina McDonagh, 17, a wheelchair bound pupil at the Jack Tizard School in White City who met Catherine at the official opening of Kensington Leisure Centre, said: "I told her I hoped it was a girl but she said she doesn't know yet. She said it was moving around a lot."
The Duchess and her family have been gifted a lifetime membership to the leisure centre, where Prince Harry and William learned to swim before it was redeveloped, and are hoping to teach Prince George there too.
Tim Ahern, the council's Cabinet member for environment and leisure, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "The Duchess of Cambridge was talking about Prince William learning to swim here and she said she hoped Prince George can come learn here too."