People in the News

LONDON — Britain’s royal family welcomed the birth of its newest member Monday, a son born to Prince Edward and his 42-year-old wife, Sophie, Buckingham Palace said.

Edward — the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II — and Sophie, who are the Earl and Countess of Wessex, were "absolutely thrilled,” the palace said in a statement. The baby is the eighth grandchild of the monarch and her husband, Prince Philip.

The infant weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces and was delivered by Caesarean section Monday at Frimley Park Hospital outside London.

The couple’s daughter, Lady Louise, was born in November 2003.

When Edward and Sophie married in 1999, it was announced that their children would not bear the title of Royal Highness.

Diana inquest: Friend says princess wanted another marriage ’like a rash on my face’

LONDON — Princess Diana denied any intention of marrying Dodi Fayed in a conversation just a few days before the couple died, a friend testified Monday.

Lady Annabel Goldsmith, testifying at the British inquest into the couple’s deaths, said Diana had remarked that she needed another marriage "like a rash on my face.”

Goldsmith, 73, said she would never forget those words because they were the last she had heard from Diana.

Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed, has claimed the couple was the target of a plot directed by Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip — partly motivated, he alleges, by a desire to prevent Diana from marrying a Muslim.

Al Fayed says Diana and his son were on the brink of announcing their engagement when they died on Aug. 31, 1997.

French and British police blamed the accident on their driver, Henri Paul, based on evidence that he was over the legal alcohol limit and was speeding through a tunnel at more than 60 mph when the car slammed into a concrete pillar. Paul also died in the crash.

Goldsmith said Monday that Diana clearly was having a "wonderful” time with Fayed, reporting that she had "never been so spoiled.”

Reflecting on Diana’s comment about a rash, Goldsmith testified:

"I took it to mean that she was not serious about marriage to Dodi. She might have been having a wonderful time with him, I’m sure, but I thought her remark that she needed marriage like a rash meant that she was not serious about it.”

Other witnesses have questioned whether the romance had developed to the stage of an intention to marry.

Diana’s friend Rosa Monckton last week testified that it was "difficult to judge” the intensity of Diana’s romance with Fayed, but Monckton said "it was clear to me that she was really missing Hasnat” Khan, a heart surgeon with whom she had had an affair.

Monckton testified that Diana said nothing of an engagement during a telephone conversation on Aug. 27.

"She would have called me if she was going to do that,” Monckton said.

Monckton also disputed Al Fayed’s claim that Diana was pregnant. She said Diana had had her period during a holiday the two women shared in Greece 10 days before the princess died.

Chemical explosion reported at Fox News, New York Post building

NEW YORK — A small chemical explosion was reported Monday in the building that houses Fox News, officials said. One person was hurt.

The explosion happened at 10:39 a.m. on the building’s 45th floor, which houses the heating and cooling systems for the 47-story building.

"We have some sort of reaction between two chemicals that caused a slight explosion,” said fire spokesman Jim Long. There are no offices on the floor, but three floors were evacuated.

The building is the headquarters for NewsCorp and houses Fox News and the New York Post, which were unaffected.

Fox News is in the basement and continued broadcasting without interruption.

The injured person had cuts to the head, officials said.