It's A Girl !..but not a Princess yet

Not long ago we chided a Sydney columnist for gushing that Royalty, in the form of horse loving Zara Phillips, had attended the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Zara is a commoner as are all children born to those with Royal titles unless HM The Queen confers titles upon them.
Of course Her Maj usually does as a matter of course unless the parents decide otherwise as in Zara's case where her parents HH Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips decided to turn down the offer.
While a colonial writer and even a New York paper (as out pic shows) may be forgiven for making a common mistake, it's unacceptable for British newspapers who have also elevated the Duchess & Duke of Cambridge's newly born daughter to Princess status when, in reality she is a commoner at this stage. Talk about slack fact checking!.
Nothing is guaranteed in the world of Royalty where they ( and their handlers / courtiers) more than anyone judge the mood of the general public.
 Kate and William may just decide to accept no title for the new bub,
Time will tell but I'm sure she's a little princess in their eyes.


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Fairfax Fail : The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have both failed in the fact checking
department. Are we being pedantic?. I think not as this indicates how journalists these days fail to do the most basic fact checking.
Calling the new baby a "princess" is simply wrong until the Monarch confers a title upon her.
In fact she will not even strictly be a 'royal' unless she is given a peerage as well which is why her parents were created the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge which is also why her grandfather Prince Phillip was created the Duke of Edinburgh before he married the Queen so that she would not be marrying a commoner.
Last month with such sloppy fact-checking we had 2 large publishers killing of Australian actress Nell Campbell on the claim she was comedienne Tracey Ullman's mother.
# Even Whispers is less than perfect. We did forget that the recently born and now (created by the Monarch of Great Britain) Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Cambridge was a Lady from the word go. Being the daughter of a Duke & Duchess she is entitled to that title.
Critics again have attacked me for being pedantic which is nonsense. British titles are a powerful legal entity crafted over centuries of law making. The new Royal Princess could one day also be the Queen of Australia. We aren't a Republic yet (if ever) and it's sad that major media outlets in this country can display such ignorance. What other mistakes are they making?
It's remarkable that newspapers that lived and breathed the late princess Diana have ignored the fact that she felt the cruelest blow to her after divorcing the future King, Prince Charles was losing her Royal status.

Shock Nude Photo of Prince Harry- and he's a Hunk!

Two outrageous snaps of the Royals-the hunky abs of HRH Prince Harry and Mike Tyndall, husband of HRH Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips having it off with that blond in New Zealand.

They are of course pics from the brilliant photographer Alison Jackson who has a new book on Royal look-a-likes available here and at her website. Go to Alison's website for more fun.

Poppy, Paris, J.K & Anne

Poppy Montgomery

Press Association (c)

As Chancellor of Edinburgh University, Princess Anne was on hand too present Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling with a Benefactors Award.
Rowling donated $15M to the University to establish a new Multiple Sclerosis (MS)unit. Rowing is pretty generous with her donations but considering she has an $1B fortune she can probably afford to be. Her mother died of MS in 1990.  It was on a slow train journey that she conceived of the idea of Potter traveling to a Hogwarts. Which gives a whole new meaning to British rail delays.

Hilton giving the money while she was in Mumbai.PIC/SATYAJIT DESAI

Meanwhile Australian actress Poppy Montgomery is to play Rowling in an unauthorised bio-pic of the writer detailing her rise to fame from an impoverished single mum to the world's richest author.

And Paris Hilton has caused a family squabble when she handed a $100 note to a beggar in Mumbai. The unfortunate lady who handed it to her brother-in-law to exchange for local currency set off a fight that ended with the note being torn into pieces.

Paris just tweeted :

ParisHilton 

How can I reach this woman & send her even more in her currency? Can whoever interviewed her tweet me please? 

1 hour ago

 

See, even party girls have their little problems. 

Sharon Sargeant Special

A brown paper parcel lands upon the Shuttle's desk and a mid-year (July '11 to July '12) calendar is revealed. But what a calendar!.

It's the latest offering from one of Sydney's most popular party girls Sharon Sargeant and to say it reveals many of Ms Sargeant's charms is an understatement.

Apparently the calendars are selling like hot cakes and each one comes with a personal note signed by Sharon.

Regular readers may recall Ms Sargeant first came to prominence when it was announced that she and the world's most famous private eye Frank Monte had become engaged over a long lunch at the uber smart restaurant Ottos in Woolloomooloo, not so long ago.

Monte & Sargeant (Getty)

Then the paparazzi snapped her having suffered a wardrobe malfunction and partying in Potts Point with pals after attending a Lady Ga Ga gig while Monte was in the USA. Soon she was discovered gate crashing a porn convention in Las Vegas and was photographed dancing with one of America's reining porn queens Claudia-Marie (a strong constitution is needed if you dare visit her website).

Weeks later Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid splashed even more pics across their pages with Ms Sargeant pictured escorting the British Rugby Team (then touring Australia and accompanied by Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips and her fiance Mike Tindall) to a million dollar gin palace and waving them off as they departed for a harbour cruise accompanied by some scantily clad lasses. Rugby bosses scrambled to assure the public it was an innocent outing.

UK Sunday Mirror

More shocking news when the Daily Telegraph exposed Sharon as the owner of an escort agency. But there's more than  meets the eye to this gal. Sargeant later on-sold the agency for a tidy sum to an American corporation and was spotted recently tooling around Bondi Beach and Double Bay in a gleaming black Ferrari. a gift to herself from the sale proceeds.

Now Sharon, who has been learning some nifty dance routines along side Lara Bingle ( left with Sharon) has been hailed by no less than the US Army. The US 509th Airborne Infantry have invited Sharon to be their mascot for the year and supply the troops in Afghanistan with a series of patriotic photographs to keep morale boosted on the long and lonely nights.
Our snap above and opposite are censored versions of what our US allies will be feasting their eyes upon and the calendar contains similar.

And after one snap appeared on Facebook, a British army unit has requested the same !. But is it Prince Harry's unit ?. He's partial to blonde's. The mind boggles.


You can order Sharon's calendar here...and you could always send one to our boys in Iraq and Afghanistan .

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Z-Sydney super yachts.com

Read It Here First : it's been 6 months since the Social Shuttle revealed that the luxury floating palace Z-Sydney owned by media mogul and billionaire James Packer would soon be for sale and so it has come to pass as reported in today's Sydney Morning Herald. The shining tub has played host to many Hollywood movie stars when they visit Sydney including Tom Cruise, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. It's your for around $22M.

The Royal, her fiancee, the Love Boat and the footballer

Sharon Sargeant

The Social Shuttle attended a small lunch at the uber chic Otto's on  Woolloomooloo Wharf on Wednesday and over a few glasses of Bollinger watched a small tableaux unfold before us . At the next restaurant Mantra a long table of English footballers had assembled for a lively lunch.

Much food and fines wines were consumed by the hearty lads and soon an arrival caught our eye. Sharon Sargeant, former fiancee of the noted private eye about town Frank Monte and  recently outed as the  boss of the upmarket RedVelvet Escorts and Model Agency, walked brusquely down the wharf in a smart military style outfit to greet the footie players. Business cards were exchanged, happy snaps taken and mobile phones were running hot. Something was afoot.

Soon a gleaming gin palace glided into the wharf and by co-incidence moored next to the spanking new $8M vessel, Ghost owned by the clever young 'accountant to the stars' Anthony Bell who guides the financial affairs of most of the top local movie stars. Bell keeps Ghost permanently docked at Woolloomooloo with a staff of 3 in order to hold informal business meetings with clients like Russell Crowe who lives at the end of the wharf in a  2 story  penthouse.

sailing  into destiny

The Shuttle party finished lunch and ambled over to Ghost where we were to join a small party for an afternoon harbour cruise in honour of the  visiting  Chancellor of the  St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem, Dr John Talbot and wife Esme.

Mike & Zara

As we departed on Ghost the British footballers were now onboard the other vessel and several cheerful young lasses appeared from below, 2 in very fetching skimpy outfits-one in a g-string. We were close enough to exchange 'ahoys' and away we all sailed on our respective tours. Ringing in our ears were the parting words of one of the young ladies aboard the football express.." a happy ending is promised to all..." . What could she have meant ?.

The Royal?. Staying in the same party as our footie visitors at the Hotel Intercontinental, are Zara Phillips and her fiancee MikeTindall . While her mum Princess Anne has been doing Ascot, Zara has attended all the English team's matches in Australia, completely unnoticed. She wasn't aboard the Love Boat.

Fear and loathing in Prince Harry's favourite drinking haunt

Richard Buttrose

With the leaked news that the NSW police have set up the covert Strike Force Harbour to investigate clients of the millionaire drug dealer Richard Buttrose, trembling has been felt afar and phones are running hot throughout Sydney's well heeled eastern suburbs as news that his 'little black book' in the form of a mobile phone containing client's phone numbers is being examined.

Buttrose, the nephew of TV and publishing identity Ita Buttrose was arrested in a sting operation when he sold cocaine to an undercover officer in a bowling club cark park near the Lord Dudley Hotel in ritzy Woollahra in 2009. When his car was pulled over by police shortly after he was found in possession of bags of cocaine. Matters took a turn for the worse when detectives raided a Paddington apartment rented by Buttrose and found another 6 grams of the drug and $1.3M in cash hidden beneath floorboards.

It was common knowledge that Buttrose was "the man" who offered a steady supply of cocaine at all hours.

The Lord Dudley was Richard's local boozer and a favourite of society swells and rich youngsters and a regular drinking spot of Prince Harry and his royal cousins Peter and Zara Phillips who stay at the Vaucluse house of James Erskine, a friend of Princess Anne and a business partner of British theatre mogul Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Buttrose had been under investigation since 2008 but now detectives are probing his customer's identities that rumours say include film stars, musicians, a leading lawyer and a prominent member of Parliament although as owner of several popular restaurants there could be a perfectly innocent reason for anyone's phone number to be in Buttrose's phone.

Most who heard of Buttrose's activities thought it was just a matter of time before he was busted. He was encroaching on turf usually dominated by Middle Eastern and biker gangs and a newly emerging Russian mafia that has begun to proliferate in QLD's Surfer's Paradise. One tale tells of Buttrose being flown into Surfers by private jet to supply a group of Russian "entrepreneurs" eyeing the place as a potential investment town. Tales are flying thick and fast and it's difficult to tell what is fact and fantasy. We may never know the real tale because as Butttrose has pleaded guilty, there won't be a lengthy trial.

Along with Buttrose, 32 year old Nathan Lea, an heir to the Darrel Lea chocolate empire was also arrested and pleaded guilty to a low level possession charge, receiving a six month suspended sentence.

Buttrose has been singing like a canary in a bid to lessen what could be a long jail sentence. The National Crime Commission has confiscated $2.2M in assets from him. His lawyer Martin Luitingh told the court last Friday that his client's life was in danger both in jail and when he finally emerges and this should be taken into account when he is sentenced. The judge seems to buying none of this and has pointed to the amount of money Buttrose had made from his crimes.

Richard's father was the well liked investment advisor and banker Will Buttrose who appeared regularly on TV and radio giving money advice. He died of cancer in 2005. His aunt Ita was a close friend of Kerry Packer and editor of both the Sunday Telegraph newspaper and Australia's largest selling magazine the Women's Weekly before she retired to concentrate on raising funds for AID's research. An uncle was the public relations manager for the NSW police.

None of the Buttrose family are talking to the media but sister Lizzie, the close friend  of the late billionaire Dick Pratt's mistress Shari-Lea Hitchcock is said to be distraught at her brother's plight as she is particularly close to him. Richard Buttrose pleaded guilty to 2 supply charges and will be sentenced later this month.

Meanwhile, the drug trade continues unabated as the vacuum is filled almost overnight.

a soap saga

As per usual tSS beat other media sources to the arrest of Home and Away star Todd Lasance on alleged cocaine posession charges.

         Kit and Kaboodle, the uber smart Kings Cross club was also where that other Home and Away star Jodi Gordon had spent the night before she was found in the early hours cowering beside a bed at the Rushcutter's Bay home of an alleged bike club member. The chic apartment is a few doors from the Sydney home of former British chat show host Michael Parkinson. Gordon was in a confused state and told police that earlier in the night she had used cocaine.

               Gordon's 2 year affair with Channel 7 boss and heir of the Stokes billions, Ryan Stokes, ended shortly after the incident but tSS can report the pair have been seeing each other in secret in the past 2 months.

               Another tSS source tells us that there could be more drama for some celebrities and a prominent businessman as investigators sift through information provided by Richard Buttrose, the high profile Eastern Suburbs social figure and nephew of TV identity Ita Buttrose.

.               Buttrose was arrested in February this year after a police sting at the favourite Sydney drinking hole of royals Prince Harry and Princess Anne's daughter  Zara Phillips, the Lord Dudley pub in Woolhaha. Buttrose was released on bail only to be re-arrested after police raided an apartment he owned and found over one million dollars in cash there and a stash of cocaine police claimed was worth $3M. Buttrose pleaded guilty to the supply charges and is believed to have given exstensive information to police about the names found in his mobile phone.

            It's said the tremors of fear that ran through Sydney society over his arrest have put many on edge but despite police claims they had smashed the city's major coke supply source, the Kit and Kaboodle raid shows the easy access to the drug in dozens of nightclubs around the town.

           Ironically, Lasance's soapie character is an anti-drug campaigner and he was just about to travel to Hollywood following the successful of Avatar star and friend Sam Worthington.