Dean Rousewell, Royal Editor of the UK People Sunday Newspaper is claiming that “Prince William has been urged to hurry up and propose to Kate Middleton — because he’s wrecking her life.”

Unnamed “Royal aides believe 24-year-old Kate has been unfairly left in limbo by boyfriend William.

“And they want him to put an engagement ring on her finger within months so that she can be properly groomed and protected as the future Queen.”

The paper quotes a “highly-placed” aide as saying : “It is simply unfair to keep Kate waiting. The Queen loves her, Prince Philip loves her and so does Prince Charles. Everybody knows that William will not find a more suitable wife — yet still nothing has happened to put their relationship on an official footing.”

It claims this week marks the fifth anniversary of the pair’s first date while they were students at St Andrews University.

The source continues :

Throughout this time Kate has simply been William’s girlfriend. She is expected to wait patiently, maintain her loyalty and discretion, yet not develop her life in any way. She is being forced to drift while William continues his Army training at Sandhurst. William has said he doesn’t want to marry until he’s older, or has at least finished his Army stint, but that is so unfair on her. A number of senior figures in the Royal Household want him to do the decent thing and propose, so all the ‘Will he, won’t he’ pretence is at an end. That way the entire Palace machine can sweep into action to protect her. In a sense, being William’s girlfriend is also holding back her career progress. She does some work for her parents’ business, but she is a highflyer from a top university. She is being forced to allow her life to drift when she could be earning serious money with her impressive qualifications. She knows there is no point in climbing the ladder of the top professions if she has to jack it all in to be William’s consort. But that has left her with no clear role and an unfulfilling start to her twenties. The smart money, given that William is a decent guy and wants to do the best by Kate, is that he will listen and act within months. He doesn’t want to do anything that will risk losing her. And a woman can only wait so long.

Much of this material I’ve read before, so it seems new gossip has been padded out with old. How accurate it all is remains to be seen.

Helen Mirren as the Queen.

That at least is the overwhelming sentiment of the reviews for the new Stephen Frears film, The Queen set at the time of the death of Princess Diana.

The Queen herself is played impeccably by actress Helen Mirren, well known for her TV role in Prime Suspect. Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, she said: “I must say I slowly fell in love with her. It started off with, ‘Oh what the hell is this about?’ But as I researched her I fell in love and I never thought that would happen. My parents were very anti-monarchy and anti-class system, but you’ve got to separate your political views, call it your chip on the shoulder, and just look at the person … Having played an essence of the Queen, I’ve lost that chip on my shoulder.”

Her Majesty is definitely the flavour of the moment. Her enduring popularity was confirmed at all of the many 80th birthday celebrations earlier this year.

In a review of the film in today’s UK Sunday Times, Minette Marrin writes :

The more he [Frears] and his great leading actress came to know of the Queen, the more royalist they seem to have become. The result is that they have created a royalist film; it is practically a hagiography. The film The Queen will work public relations wonders for the House of Windsor. This is all the more astonishing because neither Frears nor Helen Mirren is the kind of person you would expect to have a single good word to say about the Queen. Luvvies tend not to be courtiers.

As Helen Mirren said: “I think of all the things the Queen has gone through, the psychological traumas of the war years, 10 prime ministers . . . but she’s had the same values, the values of duty first, self last, and that constancy is extraordinary . . . and of course those values are the ones we cherish today.”

There’s some intriguing in-depth reporting from Katie Nicholl in the UK Mail on Sunday today. Katie suggests that Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy may be approaching a reluctant parting of the ways.

The problem is that their lives are beginning to diverge so sharply that it’s hard to see how they could continue to keep up their long-distance relationship.

Chelsy will complete her business degree at Cape Town University in November and may opt to study for a postgrad qualification, which may not be based in South Africa.

Prince Harry will soon finish his Army training and, apparently, wants to be posted to Afghanistan, where his regiment The Blues and Royals are already undertaking some reconnaissance duties. This deployment could come as soon as next spring.

It seems they spent hours on the phone last week trying to reconcile their different situations in the aftermath of the armed robbery Chelsy endured in a Cape Town bar.

Chelsy’s parents have apparently asked a friend to scout out a property for her in London, where they believe she will be safer. However, according to the report, Chelsy insists she doesn’t want to live in Britain at all because, “it’s not the place for her”.

A source quoted says : “One of Chelsy’s family friends was in London looking at properties recently. Her parents have a house in Victoria but they wanted a place for Chelsy and her brother. However, Chelsy said no. She doesn’t want to be the centre of press attention, and couldn’t bear the weather.”

Of course, matters of the heart rarely follow the logical route and these sentiments could alter like the wind changing direction. But has clever Chelsy realized that there isn’t a long-term future in the relationship, and might she be taking the view that it’s better to make the break now than allow it to fizzle out over the next year or so?

The UK Sun newspaper is reporting that the much-trailed 007 bash at Sandhurst Military Academy produced more than one surprise.

Everyone expected William to turn up in smooth style as James Bond, while Kate would be dressed as Miss Moneypenny or a slinky Bond girl. The couple turned the tables, however, by reversing the roles.

Kate made her entrance in a wet suit with a toy gun, while the future King “squeezed his bulgy bits into an itsy bitsy pale blue bikini with Hawaiian-style flowers round his neck”, says the Sun.

The newspaper even prints a mock-up of how he might have looked. It’s under a copyright embargo, so if you want to see it, click here.

A Sandhurst source is said to have revealed : “William and Kate were hilarious. All night he pretended to pout like a Bond Girl, while Kate did her impression of Sean Connery. Everyone had expected him to turn up in a black tux and her in a ball gown. It’s not often you get to spend the evening with the future King wearing a bikini.”

The evening was attended, and therefore witnessed, by 200 guests.

The source added: “William is an excellent all-rounder. He may not be as physically strong as his brother Harry, but he has coped with sleeping in ditches just as well as the academic and classroom-based aspects of the training.”

All-rounder he may be, but hasn’t William learned the lessons of his brother’s escapades in fancy dress and being caught off-guard by a camera phone? If real pictures get out, won’t he be a laughing stock around the world? As a future Monarch, these pictures will haunt him. Why didn’t Kate restrain him on this? Or was it her idea?

Hasn’t Prince William gone way too far this time?