They say women do things differently. That is amply proved by the blossoming relationships between the Queen, Sarah Brown, and Michelle Obama, wife of the US President.

By contrast, Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have often seemed icily distant.

Andrew Alderson is reporting that the Queen agreed to a request from Mrs Obama for a rare guided tour of Buckingham Palace during a visit to London last week with her two daughters, Malia, and Sasha.

They were shown around the Palace and its 40 acres of gardens on Wednesday, their final day of a sightseeing trip to the capital.

The Obamas were also shown around 10 Downing Street, historic home/office of British Prime Ministers by the PM’s wife, Sarah Brown. Michelle is said to have established a close friendship with both Sarah and Her Majesty during the G20 summit held in London in April.

The tour of the Palace was believed to be a birthday treat for Sasha Obama, whose eighth birthday it was. Reports say they were warmly greeted by the Queen at the end of their hour-long visit.

“According to insiders, the Queen and Mrs Obama have become confidantes after finding they share a number of interests, including a fondness for the countryside, gardening and clothes. The Queen and Mrs Obama hit it off when President Barack Obama and his wife were on an official visit to Britain for the G20 summit.”

Apparently, the two women affectionately hugged each other during a photo call.

“Such intimacy from the Queen towards a foreign dignitary is believed to be unprecedented. … Before saying their goodbyes in early April, the Queen was overheard telling America’s First Lady: ‘Now we have met, would you please keep in touch?’ ”

Reports say the Queen and Michelle have exchanged letters and spoken by phone.

“… informed sources are convinced that the friendship will be lasting, despite the significant age difference between the two women, the Queen is 83 and Mrs Obama is 45, and their very different levels of experience and backgrounds.”

Despite the view that the Obama Presidency would be distinctly anti-British, it’s actually turning out to be very different. We excuse the President’s natural distaste for Gordon Brown, of course.

So Prince William and Kate Middleton attended a polo match over the weekend and *gasp* he put his arm on her shoulder in a gesture of affection (pictured).

This is a couple who have been in and out of “going out” for so long, you almost have to be of the Queen Mother’s generation to remember when it all began.

Nowadays, they are spotted together two or three times a year, usually at polo or shooting parties. Their public appearances go round in circles without ever getting anywhere. It’s a bit like watching one of those everlasting film loops on the 24-hour news channels.

What is the real story behind this sporadic romance that would never make the pages of Mills and Boon? Sometimes I think even they don’t really know where it will end. They act like a couple whose early romance has spluttered out, but are so comfortable with each other, they can’t bring themselves to end it completely.

When the Prince finished his military training last year, it was generally assumed he would settle down and help out the family firm, especially his elderly grandmother. Visions of a glittering Royal wedding became the norm in the media and beyond.

Then, William surprised everyone, including Kate and his minders, by signing up for a long stint as a helicopter pilot in the RAF. Incredibly, his brother, Prince Harry, also sank his future in a similar role with the Army. We now have the second and third-in-line to the Throne training to fly helicopters in hazardous circumstances for years to come.

While I can understand Harry wanting to see action, it doesn’t make sense for his elder brother also to seek harm’s way. The Armed Forces can’t be that short of helicopter pilots that a whole generation of Royal heirs have to be drafted in.

While the Queen is sensibly rationing her daily workload, and the Prince of Wales — now the oldest occupier of that title in history — is not the sprightly youth he once was, it is inexplicable that the Monarchy’s future, the younger Princes, should absent themselves when the Queen needs them most.

This loop will run and run. I suspect most of us are bored stiff with it already.

William should take care that the public don’t forget about him entirely, hardly recognizing the man when he finally ascends to the Throne, a stranger to his people.

John Evans

Leading us into the year 2009 is an intriguing new book on the British Monarchy by an avowed Irish republican.

You might think that it’s bound to be critical, even abusive. However, this particular Irish republican just happens to be Mary Kenny, an excellent journalist and author with an always sensitive but nevertheless robust view of the world.

She writes admiringly about the Monarchy through the times of Irish unrest and heaps praise on our present Queen. It’s an interesting point of view from an unusual perspective.

Mary Kenny has written a pre-publication article about her book in the Daily Telegraph. Here’s an excerpt:

Perhaps it takes someone with a genuinely republican background to appreciate the value of the British monarchy. I was brought up in Dublin as an Irish nationalist, and I retain that stamp of Irish patriotism. I am proud of the constitution of the Irish Republic, a pioneering document in 1937. … I came to my appreciation of the British monarchy sideways, through examining the historical archives of the role played by the British monarch in Anglo-Irish relations over the 20th century.

I don’t know about you but I shall get my order in early at Amazon.

Finally, a very happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year to all our Readers.

Crown and Shamrock: ­Love and Hate between Ireland and the British Monarchy will be published in spring 2009.

Read the article here.

Outgoing American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, often described as a concert-level pianist, played a farewell recital for the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Condoleezza Rice entertains the Queen at the Palace

She was accompanied by Louise Miliband, the wife of Foreign Secretary David Miliband, herself a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra. They played Brahms with three other LSO members.

The Secretary of State apparently expressed a wish to play for the Queen before leaving office at the end of the Bush administration. She was invited to use the Monarch’s music room at the Palace.

Afterwards, the Queen presented Miss Rice with an audio recording of the recital as a gift.

Here’s a link to a short video of the occasion:

Link to Condi video