Princess Anne, a member of the International Olympic Committee,  is one of the royals in Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games. She met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and his wife Liu Yongqing, along with about 80 world leaders, at a welcome banquet at the Great Hall of People on August 8, 2008.

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Buckingham Palace has denied reports that Prince Philip has prostate cancer. The London Evening Standard claimed that the Duke of Edinburgh was diagnosed with the disease in April, when he was treated for a chest infection at London’s King Edward VIIs Hospital.

Though the British royal family traditionally maintains their privacy over health issues, the report was seen as so damaging that a response had to given. A statement released by the Palace reads in part:

On this occasion, because the damaging story is being reported widely, the Duke of Edinburgh has authorised us to confirm that the claim made by the Evening Standard that he has received a diagnosis of prostate cancer is untrue.

We believe there has been a serious breach of the Duke of Edinburghs right to privacy and we will be taking this issue to the Press Complaints Commission.

I’m glad to hear Buckingham Palace nip this particular rumor in the bud. Reports of good health for all of the royals is always welcome news.

via Times Online

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Have you seen this clip? Zara Phillips has a starring, yet non-speaking role in this ad by Land Rover, in support of British eventing. In addition to a lame pick-up line, the clueless guy says this to Zara about “being a horse-rider”:

It doesn’t involve a lot of skill, you know what I mean? It’s like the horse does all the work. You just sit there and look pretty.

Well, it’s not very pretty, what happens in the end. lol

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Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary will root for Australia’s athletes at the Beijing Olympics …  unless they’re competing against the Danes.

The Australian-born princess and her husband Crown Prince Frederik are in Beijing, having arrived earlier this week. The royal couple attended a reception for the Australian Olympic team at the Sofitel Wanda today, August 7, 2008.

Princess Mary is confident that the Olympians from Down Under will give a strong showing at the Games.

“I’m sure the Australians will do very well at the Olympics as they always do,” she told the Seven Network at the reception.

“And I’m looking forward to following them, when they’re not competing against the Danes.”

via The West Australian

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As the Olympic Games in Beijing gets ready to begin, I’m sure we’ll see a number of royals in attendance. We already have an idea about who to keep an eye out for as photos start to come out of Beijing.

So far, I have the following royals with Olympic plans:

Monaco’s Prince Albert, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is already in Beijing (photo at Hello).

Britain’s Princess Anne, an IOC member, has also arrived (via 2008bimc)

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Crown Princess Maxima of the Netherlands

Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sofia

Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik, who arrived in China’s capital on August 4, 2008 (via M&C)

Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia arrived on Thursday (via 2008bimc)

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