A few years ago, Radio One, Britain's national pop music station, announced that, on the next week's breakfast show, the special live studio guest would be Prince -- or, as he still was back then, the Artist Yet To Be Formerly Known As Prince. This was quite a coup, for the diminutive pert-buttocked rock star is notoriously interview-shy. So, on that morning, as the stretch limo pulled up, hordes of fans and paparazzi crowded the pavements outside Broadcasting House. The girls screamed and the flashes popped, even though the man himself couldn't be glimpsed behind the entourage of the usual pony-tailed leathery heavies in satin tour jackets who hustled him inside. "Welcome to the studio, Prince," said the disc jockey. "Is it okay to call you Prince?"
"Oh, absolutely," said Prince, and you couldn't help noticing he didn't sound terribly African-American.



"And is Prince your full name?"



"Well, actually," he said, "my full name is Prince..." He paused. "...Edward." It was all a delightful spoof! A set-up between the radio station and the Queen's youngest son, born third in line to the Thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, and sundry other places. His Royal Highness The Prince Edward, an Artist Very Formally Known As Prince. Outside in the street, the fans were a bit miffed: after all, they'd expected a bona fide Minneapolis Prince famous for his "Purple Rain," not a bargain-basement Windsor Prince famous for his mother's reign. But Prince Edward and his new chums at Radio One all agreed that it was a spiffing wheeze.



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