Royal Family

The most enduring and romantic legend of the Russian Revolution -- that two children of Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, survived the slaughter that killed the rest of their family -- may finally be put to rest with the positive identification of bone fragments from a lonely Russian grave.

If France ever decides to call off its revolution and go back to having a king, the line to the throne could begin at the doorstep of a genial, plump Indian man with a name as outsized and incongruous as the massive fleur-de-lis over his porch. Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon would answer the doorbell, and the call of duty, if the French nation needed him. A restoration of the monarchy in France is, of course, improbable.

The developer of the $2-billion Grand Avenue project announced Friday that a sovereign fund controlled by the royal family of Dubai is investing a significant amount in the Frank Gehry-designed development, which includes residential housing, a five-star hotel and upscale shops and restaurants, all built on publicly owned land. The fund, known as Istithmar, will provide the developer, Related Cos.

More than 10 years after the deaths of Britain's "people's princess" and her lover in a Paris car crash, the few who believe Princess Diana was deliberately killed continue to press their case in a coroner's inquest now in its fifth month. The inquiry, highlighted by a series of new details about Diana's loves and the last minutes of her life, has riveted a nation that after a decade had seemingly sated itself on Diana headlines.

In this idyllic Himalayan country that measures progress by its "gross national happiness" index, the stoplight just didn't cut it. Residents here in the capital complained that Bhutan's one and only automated traffic signal was too impersonal. It got taken down. Now, a white-gloved police officer gracefully directs motorists. A lone man in charge: That's what most Bhutanese want when it comes to how their entire country is run, not merely a single intersection.

Nepal's deposed king left this city's main palace Wednesday night to begin life as a civilian in the newly declared republic. Former King Gyanendra said he handed in his royal scepter and crown of peacock feathers, yak hair and jewels to the Nepalese government as he left his home in the capital for one of his former summer palaces on a forested hill on its outskirts.

It was an open-and-shut case. Kuwaiti cops showed up at the dealer's house and seized more than 22 pounds of cocaine and 165 pounds of hashish. The suspect was accused of drug trafficking and, a few months later, sentenced to death. But the convicted drug dealer, Talal Nasser al Sabah, was no ordinary Kuwaiti -- he was a member of the Persian Gulf kingdom's ruling family.

Britain's Prince William and Prince Harry set off Saturday on a grueling 1,000-mile motorcycle rally in South Africa to raise money for charity. The pair joked that they had a wager on who would tumble from his bike the most during the eight-day off-road adventure.

AS a maharajah's son, Manvendra Singh Gohil grew up in a bubble of prestige and privilege, surrounded by hangers-on who treated him so reverentially that he was 15 before he crossed a street by himself. So the public snubs and rejection of the last nine months have been a new experience. Yet the mild-mannered Gohil couldn't be more content.

Hundreds of heirlooms once owned by the former Greek royal family sold Wednesday for $14 million, Christie's auction house said, despite appeals from the government in Athens to halt the sale. The most expensive item on the first day of a two-day auction was a pair of massive silver Victorian pilgrim flasks, which sold for $1.1 million, the London-based auction house said in a statement. The sale continues today.