The Rugby World Cup - What's a princess to do?

Plenty of princesses will find their man decidely distracted (and possibly, frequently drunk!), once the Rugby World Cup starts tonight. This evening, France (the hosts girls) play Argentina in what's not expected to be a close-run opener.

As for England, Scotland and Wales, well despite being reigning champions, us blokes are not that hopeful for England's prospects of winning anything but the wooden spoon. That means usual spoon holders Scotland can expect to go home totally empty-handed. Whilst Wales might just be the dark horse of the competition -- or not, as these predictions all too often turn out!

Throughout the two-month tournament, women nationwide should be prepared to listen to endless post-game analysis and provide emotional support and counselling in the (inevitable) event of (shock-horror) her man's team not winning. While men should prepare to sob into their beer glasses.

But what's a girl to do while all this nonsense of men chasing funny shaped balls is going on? I mean, there's only so much time you're going to want to spend squished in a pub full of large, animated, beer-stained men shouting at a screen. Well, we're running a survey sponsored by sister site www.pressies4princesses.co.uk to find out what women will be up to. Why not take part here?!

Meanwhile, here's some suggestions:

- Don't get lumbered with the kids
- Go shopping, as at probably 50% of shoppers (ie men) will be packed in pubs
- Indulge yourself some me-time. The spa anyone?

Anyone got any more to add?

How to wed a princess?

Ever wondered how to wed a princess? I have the answer - with a two week ceremony attended by 2000 guests in a 1,788 room palace!

The daughter of Brunei's wealthy Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah ("The Sultan of Brunei") got married last week. She exchanged vows with her 32 year old groom, Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Anak Khairul Khalil (or Khairul Khalil, for short), on Thursday.

Khairul Khalil has married into one of the wealthiest families in the world. In 1997, The Sultan, head of the tiny oil-rich state of Brunei, was reportedly the richest man in the World, worth some $40bn.

Despite her father's wealth, Her Royal Highness Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah actually works - she's Senior Environment Officer and Head of Planning and Management Division at the Department of the Environment, Parks and Recreation. She also benefited from a vocational education. The princess collected a BA (Hons) Administration and Public Policy from the University of Brunei Darussalam and an MA in Environmental Development from the King’s College, London.

So, a real princess with an exceedingly wealthy father, educated at a top UK university... you would expect this Khairul Khalil to be a fairly impressive character too, wouldn't you? Well, thankfully, he holds a BTEC Higher National Diploma in Building Studies (?) from the...erm ...University of Teesside (?!) and is currently the Assistant Executive Officer at the Prime Minister's Office.

Chaps, there's hope for us all yet!

An official account of the princess's wedding.

More Power To The Princess In Us All!

About five or six years ago, I started a business called pressies4princesses. It was during what the Queen would call my Annus Horribilis. Everything had gone wrong with a previous (unrelated) venture. I'd blown my savings. I only had a roof over my head by the grace of others. And, I was labouring on a building site in London where nobody spoke English. Quite the comeuppance for an (apparently) over confident marketing manager who'd turned down a promotion to 'do his own thing'. To say everything had gone horribly wrong was clearly an understatement.

Anyway, bad times bring out the best in you - or so they say. And, it was against this depressing backdrop that the idea for pressies4princesses (pressies') sprang to mind. You see, unlike a lot of chaps, I've always admired a bit of princessy behaviour. High maintenance equals high quality when it comes to fairer sex, in my humble opinion. Why be grateful? Why not demand a little more? 'Askers' definitely do get. Go for it girl, I say. And, besides I certainly had the perfect muse - my wife Rebecca.

So, I created pressies' with the view of helping other blokes meet the needs of these demanding, princessy types (whilst meeting my need to pay a mortgage). But, as it turned out, the girls in question liked the site as much as their menfolk; at least 50% of our orders are from women buying for girlfriends!

Anyway, I've lost count of the number of redesigns, shopping carts and sleepless nights since those early days, but one thing has been constant: my love of this little business of ours (it's a family affair nowadays). I love it when we get great feedback from a customer. And, equally, when we knock people sideways with our commitment to putting things right when they do go wrong. So, when I finally cottoned-on (years after most) that blogging could be means to communicate more with our customers, I lept in - with this post!

'Pure Princess' is the blog of pressies4princesses and a little more. I write the blog and run pressies'. I've called it something else, because I didn't want to limit myself to just bleating on about how great pressies' is. That didn't strike me as especially interesting - for you or I. Think of it instead as the alter ego. It's pressies' without the baggage of actually having to sell stuff. It's the slightly irresponsible sibling who's not trucked with looking after the inheritance. I might put a good word in and, of course, I'll want to tell you what's going on over there. And I also hope customers will use it to tell me what they think of pressies' and what they want. But, I want to enjoy myself here. And, I intend to do that by paying homage to all things princessy. Quite where that will take this blog, I don't know. I'm still working that out. But, above all, I'll strive to make it honest, entertaining and inclusive. And I hope you'll enjoy it too!