Royal romance ends

British newspapers devoted page after page yesterday to speculation over why Prince William's romance with Kate Middleton (below, with William) ended, with one saying Queen Elizabeth had told him "we don't want another Diana." An official spokesman for William, elder son of the late Princess Diana, said: "We will not discuss the prince's private life." Britain's best-selling Sunday newspaper, the News of the World, said the queen had told the second-in-line to the throne at a secret "royal summit" not to rush into anything he might regret. Friends of William, who met Middleton in 2001 while at university in Scotland and began dating her in 2003, dismissed suggestions there had been any family summit or that his grandparents had told him to end the romance. Middleton, the eldest child of middle-class entrepreneurs who had won plaudits for her dress sense and poise, was widely thought to be Britain's next queen. The Sunday Telegraph said it was William's father, Prince Charles, whose ill-fated relationship to Diana rocked the royal family, who had told his son not to keep Middleton hanging on if he had doubts about the relationship. The Sunday Mail said Middleton, the daughter of a former air line stewardess, did not have a sufficiently upper- class background to become queen. The Sunday Mirror said she had raised eyebrows by saying "toilet" instead of "lavatory" and by not addressing Queen Elizabeth properly on their first meeting. (Reuters)

The Rev. Al Sharpton has stepped up his security detail after he received threats in response to his campaign to have radio shock jock Don Imus fired for making racist remarks. "We have received several threats that we consider serious," Sharpton told the Daily News in Sunday's edition. "I have been stabbed once, so we don't take anything too lightly." He was referring to a 1991 incident when he was stabbed in the chest during a protest in Brooklyn. Charlie King, acting executive director of Sharpton's National Action Network, said that someone called the civil rights leader's radio show Saturday on WLIB-AM, threatening to "hunt him down and shoot him like an animal." The police confirmed that they had an increased presence in the vicinity of Sharpton's church in Harlem and his staff. Sharpton became one of Imus's most vocal critics after the veteran broadcaster used a racial slur while referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team. (AP)

"Disturbia," the teenage thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, beat the Will Ferrell comedy "Blades of Glory" as the top film in North American theaters over the weekend, taking in $23 million in ticket sales, according to estimates. "Blades of Glory" fell to the No. 2 spot with $14.1 million in sales after holding first place for the previous two weeks, according to reports Media By Numbers LLC said yesterday. (Bloomberg)

Producers of the new "Barbarella" production think Sienna Miller (inset) is perfect for the update of the 1968 fantasy flick that turned Jane Fonda into a star and film icon. That and the fact that Miller's a whole lot cheaper than Angelina Jolie, who reportedly wanted more than $12 million. The new script is being written by British screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who has penned the last three Bond films. (London's Daily Express)

Two diaries written by Anna Nicole Smith in the early 1990s failed to sell at an auction in Dallas this weekend, but are now available for a minimum bid of $25,000 each, the auction house said yesterday. "We have a buy-it-now situation," said Doug Norwine, the director of music and entertainment memorabilia at Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas. There were at least two bidders on the diaries, but both pulled out of the auction that ended Saturday. Among their concerns were allegations by Smith's lawyer-turned-partner, Howard K. Stern, that the diaries had been stolen and should be returned to her estate, Norwine said. "They just got cold feet," he said. The diaries from 1992 and 1994 cover a range of topics, from Smith's love of octogenarian oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II to concerns about her eating. (AP)

The Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, which gave singer Ricky Martin his start, is coming back as part of an "American Idol"-style reality show. Dozens of Latino teenagers showed up for auditions Saturday in Miami, the Miami Herald reported. Judges included Johnny Wright -- the music manager behind New Kids on the Block, 'NSync, and the Backstreet Boys -- and Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough. Seven boys from auditions being held around the country will be picked to film the series "The Road to Menudo," airing next month on MTV Tr3s, MTV's bilingual Latin-American channel. (AP)