Outrage in some quarters - and guilty snickers in others today - following remarks by Dave Prentis, the head of the UK's biggest worker's union, Unison, who made a joke at his organization's annual conference comparing Kate Middleton to young mums who have babies to access welfare payments.

During his speech to delegates in Liverpool, Dave Prentis was arguing against cuts to welfare payment, saying: "In the tabloid press, so much is written about benefits abuses - young women having babies to get state hand-outs. But conference, that's enough on Kate Middleton."

Mr Prentis's joke went down a storm with delegates but was later downplayed by an official spokesperson as "a throwaway remark".

The birth of Kate and William's baby is expected to lead to a right royal knees-up, with analysts saying that $100m will be spent on food and drink to celebrate the birth of Its Royal Babyness.

Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), estimated that the arrival of the baby, due in July, could add more than $300m to the British economy.

He added, "There has been a lot of interest across the Atlantic as well, as the younger royals are very well thought of in the United States, so we are expecting good sales of souvenirs."

Although there is not an official line of new, curated baby goods, the Royal Collection already sells baby gear including  a baby sleepsuit modeled on a guardsman's outfit.

Charles Saatchi has admitted assaulting his wife Nigella Lawson, and accepted a police caution after a five-hour interrogation at a central London police station.

This morning, Tuesday, he told the newspaper for which he writes, The Evening Standard: "Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross station and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months."

His admission of assault came yesterday, after a day in which the multi-millionaire art dealer provoked outrage when he attempted to dismiss the incident as a 'playful tiff'.

Prince Philip looked cheerful this morning as he was discharged from hospital 11 days after he was admitted for 'exploratory abdominal surgery'.

Palace officials had originally estimated that the Duke of Edinburgh, 92, would be in hospital for two weeks, and today said that "the fact that he is well enough to leave hospital speaks for itself".

Buckingham Palace had said that he will now take a thrre month period of convalescence.

Sources at the palace told the Daily Telegraph that the Duke is "not expected to need any more treatment" for the mystery complaint and that "there won’t be any update on his condition."

William and Harry received an enthusiastic reception from this young fan, who squealed as she snapped the boyson her camera phone after a charity polo match at Beaufort Polo Club in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

As the royal brothers were leaving the field, she charged out in front of them, with her iPhone at the ready.

William and Harry played on opposing teams at the match, which Kate did not attend.

DNA testing has revealed that Prince William's great-great-great-great-great grandmother on Diana's side was Indian, meaning he will become the first British monarch of Indian ancestry.

The Indian connection is revealed in a splashy front-page story on The Times today - curiously the only paper in the UK not to have a massive story about the Murdoch divorce on the front page … wonder why that it is?

The Times reports that there is a unassailable genetic link between the Duke of Cambridge and a half-Indian woman, Eliza Kewark, who married Englishman

Theodore Forbes arrived in India in 1809 at the age of 21, working as a merchant for the East India Company.

Kate, sweetie, you really need to get some hem weights fitted to your clothes.

How many times can one Duchess get her skirts blown up by the wind and not invest in a little lead tape? The Queen's been doing it for yonks. And her Majesty wears big heavy pieces by Angela Kelly, that weigh a ton anyway, not the flimsy little high street numbers Kate favours.

Anyway, it happened again today, while Kate was smashing a champagne bottle on the hull of new cruise ship being launched in Southampton by US company Princess Cruises (un-fun fact: their parent company owned the Costa Concordia).

Mention Queen Victoria and her ghillie John Brown, and the minds of most royalists will automatically recall the film with Judi Dench in which Brown was memorably portrayed by Billy Connolly as a kind of gruff platonic Scottish lover of the bereaved Queen, who adressed her not as “your majesty” but “woman.”

However, according to, “Whisperers”, an authoritative new study of the influence of apparent spirit contact on the course of history from ancient times to the present day by Irish author J.H. Brennan, John Brown was much more than just a plain-spoken friend and shoulder to cry on – he was Queen Victoria’s medium, carrying messages to and from her dead husband Albert.

Brennan – who may be better known to readers with teenage kids as Herbie Brennan, the author of the New York Times best-selling series of the young adult fantasy books "Faerie Wars" – writes at some length about Victoria’s obsession with spiritualism and seances, which was very much of the age.

Could go either way, this one.

The first trailer of the new Diana film is out. The movie focuses on the last two years of her life and looks like it will probably not be highly complimentary about the papparazzi.

The Royalist has been told that Kate's baby is due in early July, while other media outlets are speculating on a July 13 due date.

Tomorrow is her last day of official work – no sniggers please, it’s exhausting stuff being the face of a modern monarchy, all those church services and all that hand-shaking - meaning that if the baby was due on 4 July, she would be taking a reasonably modern three weeks off work to make final preparations for the birth of her baby.

These are being hindered significantly by the fact that Kate and William's new apartment in Kensington Palace is not ready as planned.

Pippa Middleton was snapped snogging her new boyfriend stockbroker Nico Jackson after playing a game of tennis in London.

The future queen's sister, wearing a baseball cap and short white skirt, was photographed in quite a clinch with Nico, actually grabbing his butt as they made out in their sports clothes, fuelling rumours that the two, who have been dating for eight months, are planning to move in together.

Nico is sporty (his dad owns a ski-gear shop) and Pippa wrote recently in Vanity Fair about her love of tennis - seems like the game is even better when it's a love match too.

Is there anything handsome Harry can't do? A gay solider has written a book about his experiences of being out in the British army, including a remarkable story of how Prince Harry, who was his tank commander, confronted six soldiers who threatened to “batter” him, telling them to "back the f*** off".

Trooper James Wharton describes the Prince as "one of my greatest protectors", after he tearfully told him "I think I'm going to be murdered by the infantry,” the Mail on Sunday reported.

As he explained what had happened Harry had a “complete look of bewilderment” on his face and responded: “Right I'm going to sort this ---- out once and for all."

Yes, “Helicopter Rescue” is back for a second series and, call us cynical, but we can’t help feeling it’s got something to do with the star attached to the show, one Flight Lieutenant Wales, aka Prince William.

In tonight’s new episode, the BBC website tells us, “Flt Lt Wales flies the Sea King to rescue a young boy injured in a North Wales quarry; in atrocious weather, winchman Ed Griffiths rescues four students stranded on a cliff-edge in a wintry Snowdonia; and in an emotional reunion at RAF Valley, a young girl meets her rescuers almost a year after her horrific car crash in mid-Wales.”

In an interview, William says: “I don’t think there’s any greater calling in life.  To be able to see a son or daughter’s face when you bring their father or mother back from the brink of death and you watch them cuddle – it’s very powerful.”

Being laid up in a hospital bed for one’s birthday is bound to be a pretty miserable state of affairs for anyone, but for Prince Philip, a man who counts carriage-racing as a hobby and has always prized vigour and getting on with it as much as he detests “a fuss,” confinement to a hospital bed is likely to be a particularly unwelcome birthday gift. The Queen visited her husband this evening - carrying a birthday card -  and the palace issued a short statement saying that while he was 'comfortable' and 'in good spirits' he will take 'a period of convalescence of approximately two months" when he is discharged from hospital.

As a rule, the royals don’t visit each other in the hospital as it causes too much—that word again—fuss. But, like everything about the royals, this is changing too.

June, it seems, is a bad time to be Prince Philip. This time last year, during the Jubilee celebrations, he also spent much of his time in the hospital with a bladder infection after spending several hours on a barge in the Thames on a cold day as part of the ill-fated riverboat pageant. He had to make do with watching the bulk of the celebrations of his wife’s 60th year on the throne on television.