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.

What are Prince William’s motives for choosing the RAF over Kate Middleton?

Whichever way you look at it his motivation for deciding on four more years in the military is hard to read. The choice is made more puzzling by his apparent sudden change of mind.

Just a few weeks ago William seemed set to spend 2009 learning about constitutional affairs, interspersed with some Royal engagements and other duties. Although it was never explicitly spelled out, most observers had pencilled in a summer wedding with Kate Middleton.

Then, anonymous voices claiming inside knowledge began to put it about that marriage had been postponed for 18 months at least. No reason was given, which made the claims less credible at the time.

Last week the absent bits of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place. William had decided to train for the RAF’s Search and Rescue unit and was intent on becoming a helicopter pilot on active duty around Britain’s shores and wild places.

So what were his motivations, and how does Kate feel about his apparent desertion? The obvious reason is that he enjoys the excitement of service life.

It may also be true that he views marriage as a millstone round his neck. However much he likes being with Kate, it may simply be “the institution, stupid”.

It’s possible that only one of these motives is the real one. Which one would be interesting to know. There’s a lesser probability that both figured in his decision, in which case maybe the French Foreign Legion would be a better choice.

If the first reason is the primary cause of his sudden change of heart, it holds up to the world that he may never be ready to settle down into the boring routine of marriage and Royal duty — at least until he is considerably older.

An even longer life for his grandmother, and an extended reign for his father, might be very welcome to the reluctant Prince.

I’m also beginning to think that Kate may share those views, although not to the extent of being separated from him for the best part of four years.

She may recognize that you have to swallow some bad stuff in order to realize your dreams. As a middle-class female she probably has a better grasp on the realities, like the necessity to compromise a little and settle for what you get.

William, though, as a Prince born to greatness and worldwide fame, may just believe he can have it all without any diversions down unwanted paths and alleyways.

There’s a disconnect somewhere here. Let’s hope neither of the two personalities in this affair gets hopelessly hurt.

It may be that a Christmas announcement is still in the schedule for a May or June wedding next year. In which case the trajectory remains intact. But some sources are warning this is not so, and normal life has been postponed in the foreseeable future.

Since the future of the Monarchy rests on their shoulders, it would be of great assistance if someone known and credible explained the reasons behind this radical change of tack to the great British public.

Do you sometimes get the feeling you are being led a merry dance, or up the garden path and down an Irish country mile? That’s what the wedding of Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly on Saturday at Windsor, is beginning to feel like.

The wedding has been full of contradictions from the moment it was announced.

First, it would be held at Windsor, but then it was moved to Scotland — to the church at Balmoral. Now it’s back at Windsor again in St. George’s Chapel and with a full complement of Royal guests.

Then we were assured that Peter would renounce his rights of succession to the Throne, as his bride-to-be is a Roman Catholic. But hold on, Autumn will now renounce her Catholicism instead.

The situation has not been much clearer over the girlfriend duo either. Chelsy Davy wasn’t invited at first, but Kate Middleton was. Now Chelsy is invited but Kate won’t go.

Prince William would be a supporter (best man), then an usher. Now he’s going on holiday. His change of mind is alternatively given as a reluctance to see Kate upstage Autumn, or as a gesture against the pre-wedding publicity.

Could all this be a deliberate ploy to keep the press and public guessing, or is the whole wedding a fiasco worthy of Gordon Brown?

Peter is known for being an intensely private man with few pretensions. The wedding, we were told, would be low-key and mostly off-camera. Now the couple has sold the wedding to Hello! magazine, which published a 20-page spread last week. Hello! also has some rights to exclusive pictures of the wedding itself. The fee is reported to be £500,000 ($1m).

It does seem to be a strange way to organize what is, in all but name, a Royal wedding at Windsor in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Or might they be delayed on their return from a State visit to Turkey?

Anything could happen between now and Saturday. We’ve got our ears to the ground. Both of them.

The Press Association has reported that Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan for 10 weeks. The news was leaked by The Drudge Report and reluctantly confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.

It seems likely that Harry will be recalled, as he will now become the one and only target of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The PA report states :

Prince Harry has been fighting the Taliban on the front line in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer has spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in war-ravaged Helmand Province.

The deployment had been cloaked in secrecy under a news blackout deal agreed across the UK media to prevent details reaching the Taliban and endangering Harry and his comrades.

But the arrangement has broken down after news was leaked out on the US website the Drudge Report.

As part of the deal a group of journalists had visited the Prince in Helmand on condition that details would only be publicised once he was safely back in the UK.

The deal was arranged after Harry’s planned tour to Iraq last year had to be cancelled because of a security risk sparked by publicity.

After the disappointment over Iraq, when Harry was due to work as a Scimitar light tank troop leader, he retrained as a battlefield air controller known as a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) with a view to going to Afghanistan.

He flew out on December 14, two months into the current winter tour.

He spent several weeks working in Garmsir in the far south of Helmand Province, operating just 500m from front line Taliban positions. He has since left Garmsir to work in another part of Helmand Province, details of which can not be reported for security reasons.

There is no immediate steer from the Ministry of Defence on the future of his deployment.

Let us hope they move him to a place of safety. After 10 weeks, he deserves his medal.

Update: ITN’s Political Editor is suggesting that Harry’s deployment is now over. Everyone is amazed they managed to keep it quiet this long. He was due to stay until April, but will return home a hero having fought on the front line and controlled aircraft movements over various battlefields.

ITN has lengthy interviews with him on the ground. He seems fit, happy and glad to be there. The Queen and Prince Charles have said how proud they are of him, and Prince William has written to him saying how proud their mother would be at this moment.