SON OF PARKET BOWLES NAMED AS DRUG USER

The son of Camilla Parker Bowles - friend of Prince Charles - shrugged off
allegations about drug-taking as he went to work at the Cannes film festival
yesterday. Tom Parker Bowles (24) smiled at reporters as he left his hotel
in Cannes, where he is working as a film publicist for Dennis Davidson
Associates.

Reports in several Sunday papers claimed that he had admitted to a drugs
problem after being seen taking cocaine at a party.

Meanwhile, Prince Philip (77) feels like a "refugee husband" to Queen
Elizabeth and thinks the media have turned the royal family into a soap
opera, he said in an interview published yesterday. The Greek-born father of
Prince Charles told the Sunday Telegraph that his eldest son was a romantic.

He also said he could "see no point" in keeping in touch with the Duchess of
York, who is divorced from his second son, Andrew.

Madonna is likely to star in a loose adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel for
BBC Films.

With a budget of UKP12.5 million and an international cast, Kingdom Come is
an example of the BBC's new involvement in mid-budget feature films.

Madonna is on the verge of signing for the picture, which will be directed
by Michael Winterbottom.

Denise Van Outen made her Cannes debut yesterday.

She arrived in a speedboat at an exclusive jetty in the film festival resort.

The former Big Breakfast presenter is the star of one of the shorts making
up Tube Tales, a feature backed by Sky Pictures.

"It's called Horny, which is well suited to me!" she joked. "When I was a
teenager I used to wear a mini-skirt on the Tube to get attention from
schoolboys, so it was not a difficult role.

"I just have to flirt a lot. I will be seeing it tonight for the first time,
so I am very nervous."