Bermuda, Britain’s oldest colony, is to scrap the Queen’s Offical Birthday holiday from next year. The ruling Progressive Labour Party has ordained a National Heroes’ Day on October 13 instead.

Many Bermudans are incensed by “the insult to our Sovereign” and over 2000 have signed an online petition to say so. Cameron Hollis, the organizer of the petition said, “Clearly, the removal of our Sovereign’s birthday as a public holiday is inexcusable.” He called the decision, “a blatant insult to Her Majesty.”

Curiously, while some former British colonies, including Australia and New Zealand, celebrate the birthday with a day off work, Britain itself does not.

The mid-Atlantic island has a population of 65,000. They normally celebrate the birthday with a bank holiday and a traditional military parade in June.

Some are saying that the new holiday will coincide with a prestigious golf tournament which has been awarded to Bermuda for two years.

The Roundheads are on the march again.

Prince William flew a heavy-lifting Chinook helicopter to the Isle of Wight for Peter Phillips’s stag party, it has emerged.

A Chinook Helicoper like William flew costs £35m ($70m)

He flew from RAF Cranwell to Woolwich Barracks in London to pick up Prince Harry before flying on to the Isle of Wight, following his Wings ceremony on Friday. The helicopter’s co-pilot then took the aircraft back to base.

All told the chopper saved the two Princes a six-hour journey through rush-hour traffic and a ferry journey.

Prince William’s RAF commanders defended the flight, claiming it had been authorized and that flying over London and open water was an essential part of his RAF training.

An RAF spokesman said, “Having spent a week under instruction with a Chinook helicopter Squadron Prince William flew a legitimate training sortie which tested his new skills to the limit. Flying at low level Prince William piloted the heavy support RAF Chinook helicopter through the busy London flying lanes to a helicopter landing site in Central London before departing the lanes to the South West, making a water crossing and an approach to a civilian airfield routinely used by Chinook Squadrons. His final flight tested his burgeoning flying skills to the full and he performed very well indeed.”

At the end of all that was a stag party in traditional outrageous style. William was no doubt also celebrating his major achievement of getting his Wings and flying the ultimate military machine to a right Royal party.

William’s future plans include embarking on an intensive course of Royal engagements to prepare for becoming a full-time working Royal in 2009. He will spend two weeks travelling the country on behalf of his charities and meeting members of the public.

The Prince is patron of 14 organizations and is described as being “keen to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in” by publicizing the charities’ work during May.

A stag do on the Isle of Wight with Prince William and Prince Harry, plus Mike Tindall and a couple of dozen other rowdies was never going to be a sedate affair for Peter Phillips.

Let’s put it this way, I’m glad I’m not one of them right now — Monday morning. At one point Peter was said to have gone AWOL, only to be found slumped in a shop doorway.

Asked later how he was coping with the weekend, he replied ruefully, “I’m still alive.”

Harry said, “It’s been an awesome stag do. It will just take us a while to recover.”

Peter is due to marry Autumn Kelly at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 17. It was probably well advised to hold the pre-nuptial bacchanal well in advance of the event. Let’s hope he recovers in time.

At some point a stag do should have a veil discreetly drawn over the activities of its participants, if only to preserve public decency. As an example, the Daily Mail piece contains more information than many of us might like to know, but read it here if you really want the gory details.

Updated 16.15 GMT : Contrary to earlier reports, Kate Middleton was at Prince William’s award ceremony at RAF Cranwell today. The BBC has some intimate footage of the golden couple walking along a corridor at the base. Kate looks stunning in her trademark white coat, and the pair seem every bit the fond, engaged twosome. The fact that they allowed such shots suggests their story is moving up a notch or two.

Prince William and Kate at RAF Cranwell

It was all over in an instant. Prince William walked up to the stage at RAF Cranwell and received his flying insignia from his father, the Prince of Wales — who himself had won it back in 1971.

After a four-month attachment with the RAF — normal officer-training takes four years — Flying Officer Wales gained his cherished Wings this morning. The training was to familiarize him with the ethos and methods of the flying service to prepare him for the role of Commander in Chief when he ascends the Throne as King. He also learned to fly fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

This wasn’t a Passing Out Parade as we saw at Sandhurst, more like a simple awards ceremony. A proud Kate Middleton watched with obvious delight from the floor, accompanied by William and Harry’s Private Secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton and their aunt Lady Sarah McCorquodale, who must have been relieved to attend something other than Diana’s inquest.

Prince Charles also bewinged 20 other students at the ceremony.

The night before, a dinner was held at RAF Cranwell, attended by both Princes and the Duchess of Cornwall, to celebrate the achievements of the new young flying officers.