Princess Anne says Queen did 'exactly the right thing' after Princess Diana died by keeping Princes William and Harry in Balmoral - and praises her parents Touching moment security guard who 'spontaneously' stopped to play songs in honour of the Queen teams up for impromptu duetĬould William and Harry be reunited once again? Palace to discuss plans which could place warring princes next to each other at Queen's funeral or only a truce? Bombshell text from William to Harry sparked an unexpected show of unity after Queen's death Meghan's chat with teenager revealed: Duchess told royal fan her name was 'beautiful' and appeared amazed she had waited for two hours to greet royals 'Granny, I'm forever grateful to you': Prince Harry issues statement 'celebrating the life' of the Queen - remembering their 'cherished memories'

Meanwhile, Government attempts to bolster public confidence by increasing compensation for customers of failed banks ran into stiff opposition from the industry yesterday.Ĭhancellor Alistair Darling wants to increase the compensation cap for lost savings from £31,700 to £50,000 or even £100,000.īut the British Bankers' Association said that if its members were forced to finance the change, they would retaliate by introducing less generous interest rates on loans and savings to protect profits. The study by marketing firm Teamspirit indicated that 46 per cent had no faith in high street banks, while 48 per cent said they had lost confidence in building societies. The ramifications of the Northern Rock crisis remain more widespread, however, with a survey showing that nearly half the public no longer trust banks. News of a potential takeover on the cheap made it a bad day for Northern Rock's shareholders, who, in addition to discovering they will miss out on a dividend, also saw their shares sink a further 8.9p to a record low of 163.1p. The group would probably try to buy Northern Rock's mortgage book at a discount, in the hope of making a profit if interest rates come down.

Mr Ruiz-Mateos, who heads a group of Spanish investors keen to buy up a large chunk of Northern Rock shares, has written to the lender's chief executive Adam Applegarth to express an interest in acquiring control of the bank. He was eventually cleared, although not before turning up to court one day dressed as Superman and on other occasions punching and throwing a cream tart at a Spanish minister he blamed for the collapse of his wine company. One of the bank's suitors is known to be Jose Maria Ruiz-Mateos, a flamboyant Spanish entrepreneur who fled to Britain in the 1980s as he fought charges of smuggling, fraud and tax embezzlement. Northern Rock also announced that it has received 'a number of approaches' - including the possibility of an offer for the whole company - and was in preliminary discussions with several parties. Ministers had thought the £60million total payout inappropriate so soon after the Bank of England had been forced to bail out Northern Rock with an estimated £2.9billion after its lending crisis. The mortgage lender confirmed it had bowed to Government pressure by scrapping next month's 14.2p interim dividend. Troubled Northern Rock has refused to pay a dividend to its suffering shareholders - as it emerged that a controversial Spanish wine tycoon is trying to buy the bank.

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