Harry, who was embroiled in controversy earlier this year after a video was released of him describing an Asian member of his platoon at Sandhurst as "our little Paki friend", has praised the courage of ethnic and indigenous people who fought for Britain in the Second World War.

The third in line to the throne was forced to undergo race equality awareness training with the Army after his blunder, filmed in 2006, was made public.

Now he has displayed a newfound understanding of the little-known history of the role that non-white troops have played in Britain's military history in a book published entitled Under One Flag, which tells their story in the Second World War.

"The immense courage and selfless dedication of indigenous and ethnic peoples of what was then the British Empire deserve to be celebrated by us today," the 25-year-old Prince wrote in the foreword to the book, which is

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She famously chided Prince Philip for complaining about photographers taking pictures of them when they were newlyweds having fun in Malta in the late 1940s, saying “Philip, they’re only doing their job. Now you’ve married me, you’ll have to lump it.”

In 1969 she even invited the television cameras into film a seminal fly-on-the-wall documentary about the Royal Family in public and in private.

Now, however, she and her family have joined the tiresome bandwagon of celebrities seeking to stop any media coverage of them that is not on their carefully-controlled terms, invoking their so-called right to privacy.

In the past couple of weeks lawyers for the Royal Family have threatened media organisations twice, warning them, first, to stay away from Sandringham while the royals are there this autumn and winter . 

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Earlier this week, the Daily Express told how Blackpool Opera House was building a new royal toilet suite for the Queen in case she needs a comfort break during the Royal Variety Show at the seaside theatre in seven weeks' time.

The £4,000 royal flush will replace a previous water closet installed for the Queen's last visit to the theatre in 1955. But that loo has never been used by the Queen - or anyone else for that matter.

The royal WC is hidden away in a private corridor just off the Circle Bar, which will be reserved for the Queen and invited guests.

Lynda Baker, the manager at Blackpool Opera House, explained that it is only part of a face-lift being carried out in advance of the monarch's visit.

"We've actually redecorated the first two floors of dressing rooms, and some of the auditorium and the circle bar," she said proudly.

What the theatre does is obviously its business but Buckingham Palace

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As ministers and their opposition counterparts start to soften up public opinion to prepare the electorate for the inevitable cuts in hospitals, schools, and the Armed Forces, the Royal Family is lobbying for a big increase in the amount it receives from taxpayers.

The £7.9 million per year that the Queen receives from the Government each year to cover her duties as head of state has stayed frozen since 1990, after low inflation and, it has to be said, a palace efficiency drive created a large surplus thanks to an over-generous settlement agreed by the then Prime Minister John Major.

That surplus is now about to run out and senior palace aides hope to secure a significant increase, in addition to all the other grants the royals receive (making the total annual bill officially £41.5 million and unofficially nearer £200 million if security and other costs are added) when a new deal comes into place in 2011.

But can that be justified when vital services, such as schools and hospitals, are likely to be facing big cuts by then and we are contemplating abandoning Trident or our new aircraft carriers?

Predicta

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The character traits that made him so impetuous and quick to make mistakes that got him into trouble have been turned to his advantage, according to those who know him well.

Harry, who is currently busy wooing his former girlfriend Chelsy Davy in an attempt to revive their romance, wears his heart on his sleeve in most aspects of life and, with him, what you see is what you get.

But the impetuousness that resulted in him wearing an ill-advised Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party or drunkenly confronting paparazzi outside nightclubs has been refined, honed into an intuitive way of thinking that makes him quick to assess problems and solutions.

It is something that - according to his instructors at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire - has turned him into a naturally good Army Air Corps helicopter pilot. But that intuitiveness is also helping to make him an important asset to the Royal Family.

When he is undertaking charity work, whether meeting wealthy potential donors or terminally ill children, it is easy to see how quickly he makes the connection with people and puts them at their ease. A quick joke, a winning

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