Painting a rosy picture of the family firm

lifted the nation's spirits.

LIKE Alice, the Windsors are at it again -- trying to prove We Are A

Good Thing. Vale annus horribilis. On Wednesday Prince Charles, whose

sons are down for Eton, aligned himself with the Chevenix-Trench faction

-- smacking children was a good thing, he decreed -- returned to basics,

condemned the fanaticism of the politically correct, and had the

temerity to urge ordinary people to stand up to the intimidation of

self-appointed experts and tell them they had got it wrong.

It was part of the image improvement exercise he has been engaged in

during the run-up to the celebrations in July of the 25th anniversary of

his investiture as Prince of Wales. Some warmed to his sentiments,

particularly Conservative back benchers, others wondered about motes and

beams, not forgetting carbuncles and glass houses, while royal

commentator Anthony Holden said devastatingly that the Prince was

seeking yet again ''to establish himself as the voice of the London taxi

driver''.

Hardly had the Prince stopped talking to regional newspaper editors

than Buckingham Palace announced that his estranged wife was to become

the Red Cross royal. The Princess of Wales is to be the sole British

member of a 12-strong advisory commission which will help the Red Cross

cope with an unprecedented increase in its workload caused by the

world's current overabundance of tribulations.

It was said to be ''a real working appointment'', and ought to allow

her the same kind of worthwhile work opportunities that the Save the

Children Fund offers the Princess Royal. Buckingham Palace said Princess

Diana had no intention of returning to public duties, but given that her

private life has remained very public, having a proper job to do, rather

than a royal one, seems a good idea.

No sooner had the news that Princess Diana, saved by the gallant

owners of Hello! magazine from an unwanted career as a page-three girl,

following her bikini top falling off in view of some lurking paparazzi,

was returning reluctantly to the limelight, than we had news of a royal

wedding. Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones is to marry her long-time companion

Daniel Chatto, also an artist, later this year. The couple are the

acceptable face of the Firm since they neither lay foundations stones

nor launch ships but work for a living. And there is, of course, Prince

Edward and his Sophie waiting in the wings.

Weddings, babies to come, jobs to be done, and a return to

conservative basics in one fell swoop -- it was just like the good old

days when one could count on royal happenings to lift the spirits of the

nation in times of trouble, just as the Romans used to provide bread and

circuses for the plebs.

Nor did it end there. Today at Windsor -- seat of the great fire, the

damage caused by which the Queen is paying for, helped by the receipts

from opening the palace to her subjects -- a new exhibition opens of

paintings collected privately by the Duke of Edinburgh. It is designed

to show his artistic side and hitherto unpublicised aspects of his

formidable personality, as well as to add to the castle's attractions

this summer, which have been somewhat depleted because of that fire.

Scotland will get to see it too. After it closes in September it will

move to Holyrood and perhaps also to Balmoral, although there are

problems about finding a suitable exhibition space there. This is the

first time the Duke's private collection has been raided in this

fashion. Over the past 40 years he has acquired about 1500 paintings and

objects of art, of which 42 items, mostly pictures, are contained in the

exhibition.

Admission is included in the #8 castle admission fee and, just to make

things easier for the tourists overwhelmed by Windsor Castle's riches, a

new scheme is being introduced to allow them to pop out for a snack

between attractions without having to pay for readmission.

THREE paintings from Holyrood bought by the Duke at the annual

exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy -- he is a regular visitor and

buyer, having acquired 125 works over the past four decades -- are

featured, as are pictures from his collection of wildlife paintings,

including some geese landing in the mist by Peter Scott, work by

Australian artists, and seascapes, one of which shows his old yacht,

Bloodhound. It opens with a bust by Vincent Apap, just to remind the

public what the collector looks like, and a Conversation Piece by Felix

Topolski, a royal favourite, which shows him in the artist's studio.

The Scottish paintings are hung in the private rooms at Holyrood and

consist of a gorgeous flower painting, Cape Primrose, by Marysia

Donaldson, wife of the Queen's limner in Scotland; Cock and Hen, a

blurry oil by Robin Philipson, there to show the Duke's taste in modern

art; and Morning Light, Banffshire by James Orr, a particularly pleasing

landscape, all grey-green moorland colours. Family talent is

demonstrated by a watercolour, Tower and Trees, by the Duke's father,

Prince Andrew of Greece, and his travels by paintings by Sidney Nolan,

Rex Batterbee, and Terence Cuneo. It is all very charming and very

quirky.

His role as patron is demonstrated by a selection of pictures from two

series he commissioned from Alan Carr Linford: one of the Thames in

1949, the other of Windsor in the early 1950s. There are bird pictures,

a handsome rendering of Chi Chi, the Giant Panda, one of the Australian

Noisy Scrub Bird, a threatened species the Duke of Edinburgh helped

save, and signed drawings by Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali. The latter

also presented the Prince with a book whose flyleaf is inscribed to

''the Duke of Edinburg, risspectfulli, Salvador Dali''.

As a piece of image building the exhibition is impeccable. Who could

resist admiring a collector who, while travelling in South-west Africa,

popped into an exhibition by a local painter, Armin Sander, and emerged,

just like any punter, with a picture called African Buffalo. The beast

has exactly the sort arrogant regal expression on its face found in the

Family portraits.

* Prince Philip: A Personal Collection. Windsor Castle until September

11, and thereafter at the Palace of Holyrood House. Catalogue #10.95.