Tag Archives: duchess of cornwall

An Evening With Royal Correspondent Robert Jobson

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Frost joined royal correspondent Robert Jobson at the wonderful Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living. Robert was on top form and had lots of amazing stories on Princess Diana, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, James Hewitt, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their son, George, and the Queen and Prince Phillip. Have a listen for some good Royal gossip and find out if Prince Harry and Cressida Bonas will get back together and other great gossip.

prince william turns 30. Kate middletonWe also found out that the Royals were never snobbish towards the Middletons, Robert described it as a ‘Daily Mail Myth’.

Robert Jobson is one of Britain’s leading royal commentators, dubbed the ‘Godfather of Royal Reporting’ by the Wall Street Journal. He is also Royal Editor of the respected London Evening Standard.

A best-selling author and award-winning correspondent, he has been at the forefront of royal reporting for a quarter of a century and is now a familiar face for viewers around the world as a royal correspondent for ITV Daybreak, Sky News and NBC’s Today Show in the USA. Now back in London, following his presence in New Zealand and Australia during the recent royal tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, he will be speaking about the ‘new royal family’ and the next chapter of their modern day fairytale.

Grosvenor House Apartments is unique in the capital, combining the services of a top five-star hotel with the discretion, comfort and security of a private Mayfair residence. This event is being held as part of its ‘At Home’ Events Programme, designed to introduce residents to the best of a luxury London lifestyle by treating them to private evenings with high profile personalities and experts in the fields of design, fashion, music and the arts.

Thousands descend on streets of London as Hero Ride raises funds for Help for Heroes

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Thousands descend on streets of London as ground-breaking Hero Ride raises crucial funds for Help for Heroes

The biggest cycling show of support for our wounded this country has ever seen concluded today as over 1,300 Hero Ride cyclists crossed the finish line at Horse Guards Parade to fundraise for Help for Heroes.

 

help for heroesMembers of the public and Help for Heroes celebrity Patrons lined The Mall in support of the annual event, which has seen riders from all corners of the country stage fundraising bike rides, meeting en masse in Blackheath this morning before riding together into central London.

 

The 2013 Hero Ride cyclists, led by over 150 wounded veterans and service personnel from the UK, USA and Canada, paused to pay respects at the Monument to the Women of WW2 before riding in formation along The Mall towards Admiralty Arch to reach the finish line at Horse Guards Parade.

 

The 2013 Hero Ride then culminated at Horse Guards Parade with a military celebration including performances from The Games Maker Choir and The State Trumpeters.

 

The participation, public support and fundraising from the 1,300 cyclists is expected to see around £1million raised, with the total to be confirmed over the coming days. The funding will provide direct practical support to those who have suffered injuries in recent conflicts, as well as their families.

 

Hundreds of organised bike rides have taken place in the lead up to today’s finale. The first was the Big Battlefield Bike Ride which saw 300 cyclists ride over 350 miles from Paris to London. The large group of fundraisers were waved off by the Duchess of Cornwall at Les Invalides when they set off on Tuesday 28 May.

 

In another gallant feat, the Dawn Raid cycle challenge saw 250 cyclists leave the Help for Heroes Tedworth House Recovery Centre in the early hours of this morning. The riders pedalled 90 miles through the night, departing at 2am in order to meet with the other cyclists at Blackheath for the final ride in to central London.

 

The 2013 Hero Ride also saw a ride come down from Edinburgh, which included a triple amputee who cycled the 420 mile journey on a handbike. Another ride made up of wounded, injured and sick troops from Help for Heroes run Recovery Centre in Colchester also joined Hero Ride.

 

Bryn Parry, Co-Founder of Help for Heroes who joined the Paris to London leg of the 2013 Hero Ride, said: “This year’s Hero Ride has seen over one-thousand cyclists finish on the streets of London in the biggest national demonstration of support for our wounded heroes.

 

“I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone involved with Hero Ride to make this wonderful event take place. The people that deserve the most thanks are the cyclists themselves, who have put in their own time to train and fundraise for this event – all in the name of our wounded heroes.

 

“With the withdrawal from Afghanistan just a year away, it is easy to think the job is over but actually the battle has just begun. Challenges such as Hero Ride, and the many more we will have in the future will allow our support to continue, for life.”

 

Paralympian and Help for Heroes Patron Jon Allan-Butterworth, who was severely injured in a mortar attack whilst serving in Iraq in 2007 and has been supported by the charity since, said: “Help for Heroes is a charity that has supported me so I understand exactly how the public’s support and fundraising is used to help wounded troops – in my case it has literally changed my life and I am immensely grateful.

 

“Today has made me very proud to be British and I want to say a huge thank you and congratulations to everyone that has taken part in Hero Ride, no matter how big or small their participation, every single person has made a difference. All of the effort and the fundraising by every cyclist today will be translated into support for our troops.”

 

Help for Heroes Patron and Hero Ride participant, musician James Blunt, said: “Every single person that got on a bike this week or fundraised for Help for Heroes deserves a very big thank you and a well done. It’s been amazing today to see such a large group of people, from every background, coming together in support of our troops and it is my pleasure to be involved.

 

“I have no doubt that this event will have resulted in large amounts of donations for Help for Heroes and this money will be used to provide crucial support – so thank you.”

 

Help for Heroes Patron Lorraine Kelly said: “Today has been such a wonderful show of support to our wounded. Hero Ride has become even more poignant since the awful events that took place in Woolwich and all of the riders deserve a massive well done for playing their part in fundraising for such an important charity.”

 

Help for Heroes Patron and professional road cyclist Mark Cavendish, who was in London today to support the riders including his fiancé Peta Todd as they crossed the finish line, said: “I definitely know about how much training has to go in to a cycling event like Hero Ride – you have to be dedicated and all of the cyclists taking part today have a great cause in Help for Heroes that they’re fighting for.

 

“Every person involved in Hero Ride deserves a huge congratulations and well done for such a great achievement for a brilliant cause. I’ve seen how Help for Heroes use donations to provide outstanding support for our troops and everyone’s effort here today will only add to this support.”

 

Lord Seb Coe, showing his support for the charity, said: “Help for Heroes is known for the incredible support it gives to our wounded troops and we must all work together to maintain this support for many years to come.

 

“The charity is successfully aiding the recovery of thousands of injured servicemen and women, with ‘sport in recovery’ playing a vital role in this process. Help for Heroes has been able to provide adaptive sports through the recovery process for over 1,500 individuals and this work has led to many injured troops progressing into elite sport and we hope to see many of them competing at the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.”

 

Hero Ride activity was not just taking place on the roads, Virgin Active health clubs across the country have been offering the opportunity for members to get involved in their local club’s Hero Ride activity, such as group static cycle events or boot camp training sessions, with all funds raised being donated to Help for Heroes.

 

For anyone wishing to donate to the Hero Ride, text ‘RIDE’ to 70900 to donate £5 to Help for Heroes. You will be charged £5 plus your standard network rate. Mobile Text Telephone helpline: 01494 750 500.

 

To register interest for future Help for Heroes fundraising challenges and the 2014 Hero Ride, please visit: www.helpforheroes.org.uk

 

 

Have you paid for the Royal Wedding?

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It’s the Royal Wedding soon – 29 April 2011. Have you bought your tea towel? Have you paid £3 for a bottle of Kiss me Kate from your local Weatherspoons pub?

If you haven’t yet then you need to be quick, the economy needs you! If conservative estimates are correct, £1bn could be injected into the economy as a consequence of this wedding, but it needs you, the consumer, to get out over the bank holiday weekend and spend like your children’s centre or maternity unit depended on it.

Of course that doesn’t matter much because the wedding will cost £5bn to the economy anyway, making the whole occasion a loss to the tune of £4bn – hey but it’s worth it, right? It’ll be the most expensive day that the nation has taken off for a long time but who hasn’t taken a sneaky day off before at the expense of a day’s wages (and a taxation loss of a few hundred frontline police staff)?

I suppose it would be a bit rich to ask either of the families to pay up. The Middleton’s, despite much fuss being made of Kate’s maternal family lineage, which includes coal miners from Byker (as in Byker Grove, I cannae believe that man), are worth £30m. True, that wouldn’t be able to re-pay the loss to the UK economy for an extra bank holiday, but it could’ve at least contributed to the cheesey pineapple sticks and cocktail sausages.

And the other family, the Royal Family, the most Royal of all UK families. They have a bit of cash lying around to see that Kate and Bill’s special day is, er, special, don’t they? Prince Charles, through entrepreneurial ventures, is worth something close to £36m himself. And if that’s the case, why does it matter that in 2009 the Royal Family cost the taxpayer 7p more than in 2010. It’s not a saving, it’s an insult.

The Civil List, which effectively is the Government subsidy for the family (around £38m a year), pays for Royal staff and transport. The Crown Estate says that 70% of that sum goes on staffing costs. But how much do they cost, if you consider that it cost the taxpayer £14,756 for the Prince of Wales to take the Royal Train from London to Cumbria to launch a Red Squirrel Survival Trust. Or consider that it cost £85,700 in charter flights to get him and the Duchess of Cornwall to Italy and Germany in 2009.

Those are some significant staff costs.

But – a big but – they are worth every penny for the money they bring to the economy. The Crown Estate estimates £304m. It doesn’t say exactly how, and I’d love to see some breakdown figures. I’ll give it a guess though: tourism and trade. Though France doesn’t have a Monarchy, and they’re doing okay aren’t they?

Not just okay. France is the second largest economy in Europe, fifth largest in the world and has been growing consistently since 2009. Wow. France attracted 78.95 million foreign tourists in 2010, making it the most popular tourist destination in the world. Their tower – the Eiffel tower – is the most visited paid monument in the world.

So France can do international trade well, and receive tourists without making losses literally all over the place. I’m not liking the sound of this, but perhaps there is no point having a Monarchy. But how do we tell them that?