Prince celebrates 64th birthday

Prince Charles is celebrating his 64th birthday at Government House in Wellington, New Zealand with 64 others who were also born on this day.

The Royal cake is made up of 64 smaller cakes to create one big grid cake.

An anti-monarchist who planned to throw horse manure at Prince Charles and Camilla has been ordered to stay away from the royal couple by a New Zealand court.

Sam Bracanov, 76, was arrested in Auckland - where the royal couple are currently visiting - and pleaded not guilty to preparing to commit a crime.

Bracanov was ordered to stay 500 metres away from the Prince of Wales and his wife as part of his bail conditions and will re-appear in court later this month.

Outside the court, he told reporters he would have thrown manure at Charles and Camilla had he not been arrested, saying: "I make it liquid like porridge. I would have done it."

The anti-monarchist has protested against the royal family in the past. In 1994, he was convicted and fined for spraying air fresheners at Prince Charles to "remove the stink of royalty".

Prince Harry has phoned home from the front line in Afghanistan three times, the Prince of Wales revealed during a reception in Sydney for Australian servicemen and women.

The Prince chatted to Major Karl Reynolds, from 19th Chief Engineer Works, and a group of his military colleagues at Garden Island, home to the Royal Australian Navy's largest Pacific Ocean base.

Maj Reynolds, 33, who returned home to Kincumber near Sydney in July after a six-month deployment in Afghanistan, said: "He was talking about the Apache and what a lethal bit of kit they are - once the Taliban see it they disappear.

"And he was also saying he had received calls from his son, he said he had phoned three times.

"It's good Harry is phoning home, it's so easy to do now with the internet, a letter is always good but you can't beat a call home."

The Duchess of Cornwall gave a little girl an unusual piece of advice today - try kissing a frog.

While visiting Kilkenny Primary School in Adelaide, Camilla joked about the tale of the Princess and the Frog when she met a group of children looking after tadpoles.

The pupils explained the frog's lifecycle to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess and how they planned to introduce some tadpoles into their school pond.

Camilla told seven-year-old Maisha, "There's a fairy story about a frog. You have to try kissing it very hard and see what happens".

The Duchess of Cornwall's mother lost about eight inches in height after developing osteoporosis, and became so bent over she was unable to digest her food properly before she died in 1994 aged 72.

Camilla told an audience at Government House in Melbourne:

The Duchess of Cornwall cuddled a koala today while on a trip to Government House in Adelaide, Australia, with the Prince of Wales.

Camilla cradled Matilda, a nine-month-old orphan, and said she wanted to take her home.

While the Duchess seemed smitten, Prince Charles joked about the koalas' reputation for having weak bladders when he was handed four-year-old Kao, saying, "Something ominous will run down."

Koala rescue volunteers Warren and Rae Campbell brought the animals for the royal couple to meet.

The couple offered them to the Prince and Duchess, with Camilla saying to Charles as she gestured to Kao, "You take the big one, darling".

The animals were wrapped in cloth pouches and as Camilla held Matilda she joked, "They've got their nappies on".

The Prince said of his koala, "I can't see this one at all, he's looking down all the time".

The Duchess of Cornwall has spoken about how osteoporosis devastated her family as she highlighted the fight against the debilitating condition in Australia.

Addressing a leading charity in Melbourne, the Duchess described how she watched both her mother and grandmother die from the crippling bone disease.

Camilla asked for a reception to be held with Osteoporosis Australia so should could get the message of prevention across to the public.