For those who didn’t see the splendid five-part BBC documentary Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work, Amazon has the DVD out tomorrow, Monday.

Amazon.co.uk is offering a 40pc reduction at a value price of only £14 (around $27).

The documentary was shot by RDF Media for the BBC and caused a furore at the press launch when the Queen was said to have “stormed out in a huff” from a photoshoot with American star photographer, Annie Leibovitz. The footage actually showed her walking briskly into the session.

Some very senior executives lost their jobs in both RDF and the BBC before the matter was finally resolved and a re-edited version agreed with Buckingham Palace.

The scene — now shown in the correct sequence — is the first to be shown in Episode 1 of the series.

If you are at all interested in British Royalty — and you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t — this is a must have collectors’ item. The DVD also has a bonus of half an hour of unbroadcast material, so contains around six hours of truly sumptuous viewing.

Let’s hope the extra footage has been cut in the right order.

We haven’t heard much news about Kate Middleton lately, so it’s interesting to hear she’s rather put out by Prince William’s proposed motorbike trip down Africa in June.

The idea, obscurely named Operation ER+Queen (something to do with Easy Rider and Steve McQueen), is that Princes William and Harry will bike 1000 miles down the length of Africa to Lesotho and South Africa in aid of Harry’s charity for African children.

Today’s Mail on Sunday has the following passage : “A friend of Harry’s said: ‘Chelsy has been helpful and encouraging about the trip.

‘She has travelled a lot in South Africa and hopes she and Harry might have some time together out there once he has completed the journey.

‘Kate Middleton, on the other hand, is rather put out by the whole thing.

‘She feels excluded because she can’t help in the same way Chelsy can and is annoyed William is choosing to spend some of his valuable leave away from her.’ ”

So there is some tension there. But this trip is so full of dangers, it may not happen.

If we can believe yet another story about Kate Middleton, the U.S. People Magazine website is carrying news of a denial by Mario Testino that he will be employing, or training, Kate Middleton in March.

Here’s an extract :

Contrary to press reports, aspiring photographer Kate Middleton isn’t teaming up with Mario Testino. In January, reports in respected British papers (including The Telegraph) claimed Prince William’s girlfriend would begin working in Testino’s New York studios in March.

“She’s s not! She’s not! I don’t know where that came from,” the photographer told PEOPLE Monday night at a Burberry/Vanity Fair exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery, which included Testino’s famous shots of Princess Diana. “I promise you, she’s not.”

Okay, we get the picture.

This only goes to show how little faith we can put in the current rash of odd stories doing the rounds about breakups, exotic travel plans (why would a Prince advertise his travel plans in advance?), and other weird tales.

Of course, we don’t even know if this rebuttal is true, although it does have the ring of accuracy to my ears.

Sanity, sanity, where art thou, sanity.

Thanks to Susan P. Taylor for the tip.

Prince William tucked into what must be the biggest naan bread on the planet during a visit to a curry restaurant in York on Wednesday. William and 47 friends ran up a bill of £1300 ($2600), matching the size of the offerings.

A family-sized naan bread at the Saffron Desi restaurant in York

The restaurant had been expecting a group to arrive but staff were amazed when the Prince and his RAF colleagues turned up in such numbers.

The owner said: “As soon as he walked in I met him and said, ‘Welcome to Saffron Desi’ — I was amazed, shocked. I shook hands with him and asked him what he would like to drink. He ordered a bottle of Strongbow cider. I then told the kitchen that Prince William was here. The customers were going crazy.”

The Prince apparently ordered the £8 ($16) house special, a mild chicken curry called “Royal Delight”. How could he resist?

He was said to have roared with laughter when one of the huge naan breads was brought to his table. Mr Nisar added, “He said, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe these naans are so big. I’ve never seen anything like it’.”

Gwen Turner was having a meal with her boyfriend Steve Brierley when the Prince arrived. “We couldn’t believe it when we realized it was him.”

Mr Nisar said that William had been very polite. “Myself, my chef and all the staff are proud to have served him.”

William is reported to have had just three small bottles of cider with his meal. Maybe his wild Mahiki days are over.