Is there time to get in one last non-Harry post before the spare heir sweeps into America later today?

I think there is.

What will Kate's baby's nursery look like? Here's the best guess of two esteemed interior designers, commissioned by design experts the RedBook Agency, one traditional and one a more modern magical interpretation,  using the interiors of Kensington Palace and the archive images of previous Royal nurseries as references.

As we probably don't need to tell anyone who visits this page on regular basis PRINCE HARRY IS LANDING IN WASHINGTON LATER TODAY!!!

Yes, the Prince is due to begin a seven-day visit to the United States in just a few hours from now (here's the schedule) and the first port of call is Washington DC where he will be supporting the work of HALO trust, the landmine clearance charity supported by his mother, Diana.

In Washington, he'll support a cause embraced by his late mother - landmines. When Diana called for an international ban, seven months before she died, a Tory minister accused her of being a "loose cannon".

The great virtue of a constituional monarch is that they say nothing, and have no opinion, and certainly no political ones.

Prince Charles, who appears to be the UK's new co-monarch, has plenty of opinions and has never been shy about sharing them. The 'meddling Prince' is famous for writing 'black spider' memos to government ministers which are rumoured to be attempts to interfere with policy.

The Times has reacted to the announcement yesterday that the Queen is to scale back her duties involving long-haul flights leaving her son to take on more of her job with a caustic editorial.

The British Royal Family don’t really ‘do’ change, so gasps of astonishment and pronounced intakes of breath today as Prince Charles accompanied his mother the Queen to the state Opening of Parliament today, the most important and symbolic constitutional event in the royal calendar.

The presence of Charles by her side – for the first time in 17 years – comes after yesterday’s revelation that she is cutting back on long-haul travel and is a clear sign that the Queen is now actively handing over many of her duties to Charles.

Charles and the Queen are effectively now sharing the job of monarch.

The Queen is to cut back on engagements requiring the use of long haul flights, Buckingham Palace said today, in an unprecedented announcement which may herald a new era for the Queen of semi-retirement, with Prince Charles taking over more duties. The first concrete evidence that the Queen really is to begin easing up on her hectic schedule of engagements came today, with the announcement from Buckingham Palace that HM will not be attending her beloved Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Sri Lanka in November as part of a wind-down of long-haul flying.

The decision is though to have been precipitated by the Queen's recent hospitilisation with symptoms of gastrointerits.

It will not have been taken lightly, but courtiers and family members who have been urging the Queen for years to take things easier will regard it as a positive step in safeguarding the 87-year old's health. The Queen has up till now consistently refused to cut back on publc appearances, telling courtiers: "I have to be seen to be believed."

Harry lands in America on Thursday, royal fans, and anticipation is building ahead of the trip.

The towns which Prince Harry will visit during his New Jersey tour stop next Tuesday have been announced - Mantoloking and Seaside Heights.

Harry had apparently wanted to visit the “hardest hit town in New Jersey,” hence the Mantoloking stop. The town’s Mayor George Nebel said that the young royal and Chris Christie - who has promised to keep the rowdy royal under control - will visit about ten homes before getting in the car and heading to Seaside Heights for a press conference.

Dame Helen Mirren has admitted that her choice of language when confronting a crowd of street drummers who were disrupting her performance of the play The Audience was more suited to the Duke of Edinburgh than the Queen.

Facing TV cameras when arriving for work last night, Dame Helen defended her actions, saying she would do the same again' but said she was a big fan of drumming and would attend the drumming festival that was beign promoted.

She wore a handmade T-shirt showing a drum with two drumsticks, drawn in black marker pen. On the back was the message: “Yes please! Just not outside a theatre!”
Dame Helen told waiting reporters: "I was very upset, I was very cross. I had just spent 10 minutes on stage trying to allow the audience to hear what I was saying, which was sort of impossible. I was steaming."

The Kate effect has caused a significant shrinkage in the capacity of ladies's purses, according to British bag designer Lulu Guinness.

Lulu says that as a result of Kate's penchant for being seen out and about with smaller-sized clutch bags, she herself is shrinking the size of her handbag designs to keep up with the inevitable shift in taste.

“If she’s done anything for the handbag, it’s the fact that she wears small clutch bags,” the designer tells The Daily Telegraph at the Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design opening party in Soho.

“Personally, I am making my clutch bags smaller next season, so they’re more delicate and ladylike, and that’s to do with her, I think.”

The Audience with Dame Helen Mirren playing the Queen is the best show in London right now—but she upstaged herself on Saturday night when she stormed out of the theatre to tell a troupe of drummers noisily playing in the street outside to 'shut the f*** up".

In full costume.

As one object of her ire, promoter Joe O’Leary, 32, who was at the drumming parade, told The Sun: “It was strange to see this little woman in tiara and pearls shouting like that. It’s not the behaviour you’d expect from the Queen.”

When people ask Kate Middleton, “Are you having a boy or a girl?” do you think she screws up her features and replies, “I hope so,” with a sarcastic face?

Probably not, because she's far too polite, but you wouldn’t blame the girl would you?

Then again, the British public do have a pretty good excuse for being so interested. Its not pure prurience. The sex of a first born royal baby has for many centuries been a constituional matter of pivotal importance to the future of the monarchy and the state, and although the laws of succession have now been changed, meaning that whatever the gender of the baby, it will become third in line to the throne after William, old habits die hard.

Despite rumours that Cressida was getting cold feet due to marriage pressure, Prince Harry was spotted by members of  London’s twitter army  out partying last night with his new girlfriend at London club Bodo’s Schloss – a highly ironic fake ski cabin attached to the Royal Garden Hotel, on the edge of Kensington Gardens, conveniently within swerving distance of Harry’s digs at Kensington Palace. Also sourcing info is the Royalists beloved online detective HWW.

Harry knocked back shots at the bar with other clubbers according to the social media sharers and partied the night away with his pal Tom Van Straubenzee. Attentive readers of the Royalist will recall that Van is the man to whose rescue Harry swooped when he heard him being mugged as he chatted to him on the phone. Tom, who is an investor in the club with owner Piers Adam, was with his fiancé, Missy Percy. Harry and William went to a local pub in the English countryside last weekend to celebrate their forthcoming marriage in what they told other drinkers was a stag weekend.

Bodo’s is rapidly becoming the venue of choice for the young royals. Earlier this week, 24-year-old Princess Beatrice partied at Bodo's in a tight, leather miniskirt. Beatrice completed her going-out ensemble with a cream sweater, bow belt and a plastic pink Zara clutch.

Why can't anyone paint the royal family just looking...nice?

The latest portrait of the Queen was unveiled at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff yesterday painted by artist Dan Llywelyn Hall.

Hall, at 32, is believed to be the youngest of 132 portraitists who have painted the Queen.

The new King and Queen of Holland have been raving, and in other musical royal news it has been revealed that Prince Harry’s Sentebale garden at the Chelsea Flower Show later this month will have a soundtrack.

Jinny Blom, who is designing the garden for the prince, tells The Telegraph, “He doesn’t like to encroach too much, but he did say it was lacking music."

It's unlikely to be Armin Van Buuren rocking the flower show, however.

I know! There is a headline the Royalist never thought he would write. But it's 100% true, as this euphoria-heavy video shows.

The new King and Queen of Holland proved their determination to preside over a younger, more dynamic monarchy by making their first public appearance as monarchs at a giant rave hosted by the much-loved king of cheesy Dutch rave music Armin Van Buuren last night.

If you look carefully, there's a brief moment where Queen Maxima starts to throw some shapes.

Only in Holland, folks.

The stresses of parenting have clearly taken their toll on this couple, the grey hair, the lines of worry and age.

But we hope that Kate and Will age more like fine wines, and do rather better than forecast in this projection, produced by the (republican?) folks at myvouchercodes.co.uk.