Latest news with #Prince Philip
The Sun
3 days ago
- The Sun
The world's ‘most remote island' is 336 miles away from neighbours, has 2 languages, a volcano & home to Brits
THE world's 'most remote island' is home to just 35 people, and is 336 miles away from the nearest inhabited location. There is no airport on the island, which can only be reached by a two day boat trip. 6 6 Pitcairn, is the only inhabited part of the Pitcairn islands, which also consists of islands named Henderson, Ducie and Oeno. The island was formed from a volcano, with the island's main settlement, Adamstown, lying within the volcanic basin. Population descended from British mutineers Those who live on the island are descended from nine British HMS Bounty Mutineers and 12 Tahitian women. The island is a British Overseas Territory, meaning that King Charles III is the monarch, despite the UK being 8,942 miles away. Neither the King or his mother, the late Queen, have ever visited the island; however, Prince Philip stopped at the tiny settlement in 1971 whilst voyaging on the royal yacht Britannia. Members of the community rely on making money from honey, tourism and agriculture, with the New Zealand dollar used as the main currency. Four times a year, supply ships arrive from New Zealand, which 3,106 miles away from New Zealand from the islands. World heritage site In 1988, the island was, which is home to a wide variety of birds nad marine life, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Polynesians were the first to settle on the islands, but they had abandoned them by the time Europeans arrived in the 1600s. Portuguese sailor Pedro Fernandes de Queirós was the first European to discover the island in 1606. Remote paradise island where you could move for free but Brit colony comes with dark past and is almost impossible to find It was then discovered again by a 15-year-old crew member of the British warship HMS Swallow in 1767, Robert Pitcairn, whom the islands are named after. In 1790, nine mutineers from HMS Bounty and 17 native Tahitians set fire to the boat and settled on the islands. The boat can still be seen underwater in Bounty Bay, and these are the settlers that today's residents are all descended from. They lived in isolation on the island for 20 years, until Pitcairn was discovered by American whalers in 1808. 6 Smallest territory in the world Soon after this, other ships arrived on the island, and brought the settlers supplies from Britain. During this period, the population began to grow, with ships travelling between the US and Australia using the island as a port call. Pitcairn saw a peak population of 233, but this has declined over time, with many choosing to migrate to New Zealand. As of 2023, there were just 35 residents on the island, making it the the smallest territory in the world in terms of permanent resident population. There are two official languages spoken in Pitcairn, English and Piktern, which is a mix of English and Tahitian. Despite its tiny population, the island still has a church, a tennis court and a museum, which displays artefacts from the HMS Bounty. Cruise ships often visit the island, which today is governed by Ioan Thomas, Britain's High Commissioner to New Zealand. Life on Pitcairn may sound peaceful, but the island's immigration website reveals: "Life on Pitcairn will not be for everyone. "The island's isolation and small size at times make life on Pitcairn physically demanding and challenging. "Residents need to be able to turn their hand to a wide range of tasks, and handle difficulties with pragmatism and creativity." 6 6
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Inside the British royal family's most scandalous summer vacation spots
Like anyone else, the royals love to let loose on a glitzy getaway. The British royal family's summer vacations are typically kept private. But over the years, their go-to destinations have made headlines. And it turns out they don't just go to Balmoral, their Scottish estate, to reflect and spend time with loved ones. "There have been many incidents of royal recreations which have raised eyebrows in the past," Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital. "In the 1950s, Prince Philip regularly went on sailing trips to New Guinea, Ceylon and Malaysia for three months at a time, allegedly with female secretaries, leaving the queen alone in London." "Balmoral was always the official favorite for the royals and the queen chose [to spend] her last days there," he shared. "[But] there were many [past] stories of girls rushing up to [the former Prince] Charles in skimpy bikinis when he was a bachelor visiting Australia." Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams pointed out that Prince Harry's escapades in Sin City are still legendary. "Prince Harry's naked cavorting in Las Vegas was the perfect advertisement for the city – 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,'" Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital. "[The city] reportedly benefited from the publicity enormously." Harry wrote about his 2012 trip to Las Vegas in his explosive 2023 memoir "Spare," Vanity Fair reported. According to the Duke of Sussex, after a night of gambling and boozing, his pals invited a group of "dodgy" women to his luxurious suite. "I suggested we up the stakes," Harry wrote, as quoted by the outlet. "How about a game of strip pool? Enthusiastic cheers. Ten minutes later I was the big loser, reduced to my skivvies. Then I lost my skivvies. It was harmless, silly, or so I thought." WATCH: PRINCESS DIANA'S BODYGUARD LEE SANSUM RECALLS HOW YOUNG PRINCE WILLIAM AND PRINCE HARRY REACTED TO THE PAPARAZZI The photos from the night were posted on TMZ. And while Harry was expecting his father, King Charles, to reprimand him, he was "gentle, even bemused." "He felt for me, he said, he'd been there, though he'd never been naked on a front page," Harry wrote. "Actually, that was untrue. When I was about 8 years old, a German newspaper had published naked photos of him, taken with a telephoto lens while he was holidaying in France." But several royal experts agreed that Harry wasn't the royal family's most well-known for escapades across the pond – it was the late queen's younger sister, Princess Margaret. Her lady-in-waiting's husband, Lord Colin Tennant, spent vast amounts of his fortune on transforming Mustique, a tiny island in the Caribbean, into a party resort for the rich and famous. He gifted Margaret a 10-acre plot of land on the island. "Princess Margaret's scandalous affair with 'toy boy' turned wannabe disco star Roddy Llewellyn also unfolded on Mustique," Vanity Fair reported. "In 1976, photos of the couple frolicking on Mustique (Llewellyn wearing Union Jack swimming trunks) were published in The News of the World, hastening Margaret's separation from equally unfaithful husband Antony Armstrong-Jones." Over the years, other royals have found themselves in hot water. Vanity Fair reported that the "most notorious vacation mishap in modern royal history" took place in 1992. Sarah, Duchess of York, who had separated from Prince Andrew, was soaking up the sun in St. Tropez with her beau, financier John Bryan. It was there where paparazzi snapped photos of Bryan sucking on her toes while she sunbathed topless. Sarah and Andrew's divorce was finalized in 1996. "Recently, there haven't been any scandals," British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. "But back in 2012… the topless photo scandal involving Kate Middleton… was considered in such poor taste that the media has stayed away from such [stories] in general." In 2012, the French magazine Closer and the local newspaper La Provence published photos taken with telephoto lenses of the future Princess of Wales sunbathing topless with Prince William at a château in France, Glamour magazine reported. According to the outlet, the couple sued and were later awarded $118,000 in damages by a French court. While the royal family's vacations don't always take place during the steamy season, they are known for letting their hair down when duty doesn't call. According to Vanity Fair, the Prince and Princess of Wales, now parents of three young children, also enjoy embarking on family trips to Mustique, the Isles of Scilly, the ski resort of Courchevel in France, as well as Jordan, where Kate spent a part of her childhood. "By all accounts, Prince William and Catherine are such upstanding royals that they simply aren't involved in any scandals," Fordwich added. For William and Harry, Africa has been a destination for love. Prince William proposed to Kate in Kenya in 2010. Harry and his then-girlfriend, Meghan Markle, traveled to his beloved Botswana in 2017. "I gave her my best Botswana pitch," Harry wrote in "Spare," as quoted by Vanity Fair. "Birthplace of all humankind. Most sparsely populated nation on Earth. True Garden of Eden, with 40 percent of the land given over to nature. Plus, the largest number of elephants of any nation on Earth. Above all, it was the place where I'd found myself, where I always re-found myself, where I always felt close to – magic? If she was interested in magic, she should come with me, experience it with me." Since the couple tied the knot in 2018, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reportedly vacationed in Costa Rica, Canouan in the Caribbean, as well as Elton John's home in Nice. "We look forward to hearing how they vacation in their reported holiday home in Portugal," said Fitzwilliams. Harry is said to have bittersweet memories of the south of France. In July 1997, his mother, Princess Diana, was photographed in St. Tropez on the Jonikal, Mohamed Al-Fayed's yacht. A month later, the Princess of Wales died from injuries she sustained in a Paris car crash at age 36. According to the outlet, Diana was known to use her getaway during the last year of her life to bargain with paparazzi, who were eager to take photos of her in stylish swimsuits. It's been said that Diana wanted to show the public that she was free after her divorce from Charles was finalized in 1996. "There was much laughter, horseplay, the norm whenever Mummy and Willy and I were together, though even more so on that holiday," Harry recalled in "Spare," as quoted by the outlet. "Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven. The weather was sublime, the food was tasty, Mummy was smiling." In recent years, Charles appears to be focusing on cost. While he still maintains his late mother's tradition of spending his summers in Balmoral, Buckingham Palace announced that the king will end 156 years of service for the Royal Train. The palace noted it costs too much to operate and would need a significant upgrade for more advanced rail systems. "It is a pity this did not happen in the 1990s," said Fitzwilliams. "The Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997, should have been saved... It was famously used for the royal family's summer holiday when Queen Elizabeth could relax at her beloved Balmoral. This became a rite of passage for members of the royal family." "A royal favorite was the Britannia," chimed Turner. "It was one of the few times the queen was seen to shed a tear when it was decommissioned due to cutbacks in finances."
