Prince

It's probably best to get the puns out of the way first. Such as: A house fit for a king. Or: Your home would be your castle. Barbara Greenfield has heard them all. It's part of the territory when you're selling the home of a prince. Greenfield is the real estate agent for 702 Washington Square, the home owned by Marco Borghese, an Italian prince, from a family that traces its noble lineage to the 13th century. Borghese, who ran an imported-leather business, bought the Hargrave Vineyard in Cutchogue, Long Island, N.Y., in October.

A new 19-minute video starring Kim Basinger and Prince is being released this week. Called "Scandalous Sex Suite," it posits the concept that a saxophone-backed hot romance could actually exist between the rock star and movie star. After all, the two did meet while making Batman, and talk's been spread that they have been "dating. " The video has little dialogue but lots of giggling, gasping, panting, breathing and other emotional sound effects. Next week, Basinger enters hardball divorce negotiations with unhappy husband Ron Britton, who, according to a source, wants a multimillion-dollar settlement or he'll start naming the guy who's really been dating his wife.

I don't play video games, so any pre-awareness of "Prince of Persia" comes from my addiction to pop-culture Web sites. That puts me dead center in the wider audience that the studio needs to make "Prince of Persia" a movie blockbuster. To ensure that, they hire an over-serious A-list actor like Jake Gyllenhaal to elevate multi-platform pablum (what used to be called a B-movie) into mass-market gold. It's worked before, but putting Tobey Maguire (a nerd) in a superhero movie about a nerd ("Spider-Man")

A share of Philadelphia blue blood was bought by European royalty yesterday. One-third of the venerable Philadelphia-based brokerage firm, Butcher & Singer, is now in the hands of Johannes Fuerst von Thurn und Taxis, one of the world's richest men and an honest-to-goodness prince whose family lineage and fortune can be traced back to medieval Europe. Nicknamed "Johnny TNT" since his youth, the 61-year-old West German Thurn und Taxis bought the interest in Butcher and Co., parent of Butcher & Singer, for $20 million.

He came and he conquered. Now, on the macabre cover of the new album by the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, you'll find the tombstone dates for Pre-Symbol Prince (1958-1993). Well, don't give away all your purple to Goodwill just yet, because Prince lives! On "Come" (Warner Bros., 1/2), which is the last studio album he recorded as Prince (although tons more tunes remain locked in vaults), he takes U back 2 a time when his music and his nomenclature were much simpler.

After pushing the elevator button, Prince, 12, begins on his favorite subject: the weather. He feels that he's lucky today because it's raining and, besides, he has the day off from school. We get to the sixth floor at the Adoption Center and walk to the window to survey our kingdom. Prince is delighted to see a tree growing out of a crack in a tar roof. I wonder aloud how it got there, and he says, reasonably, that spring's here and it's magic. We sit at a long table and draw with crayons and felt pens.

That Batman is incredible. In two-plus hours of lavish Hollywood fantasy, the Caped Crusader takes care of what ails Gotham City, blurs the distinction between good and evil, and gets the girl besides. Now Batman - or, more accurately, Batman, the film that has grossed more than $200 million - is credited for reviving Prince's career as well. Faster than you can say "comeback," Prince, the funk visionary whose popularity had waned in recent years - has been vindicated by the marketplace, his status as pop idol restored.

Is the sun setting on the Purple Empire of Prince? Or can the pandering popster rise again, like Phoenix from the ashes, with his most commercially attuned new album "Diamonds and Pearls"? The signs of a desperate man are impossible to miss. In recent weeks, the diminutive demigod of pop has been reduced to merciless pandering to the peons - baring his tush on MTV's Music Video Awards, performing for free with his surprising new group (The New Power Generation) at a bunch of radio industry conferences - just to grab attention for the album package.

"Under the Cherry Moon. " A comedy-drama with music starring and directed by Prince. Featuring Jerome Benton, Steven Berkoff, Alexandra Stewart, Francesca Annis. Introducing Kristin Scott-Thomas. Based on a screenplay by Becky Johnson. Photographed in black & white by Michael Ballhaus. Music by Prince and the Revolution. Running time: 98 minutes. Warner Bros. release. In area theaters. The difference between the superstar's first two films is that "Purple Rain" is a psychological/autobiographical glorified rock video starring Prince and the Revolution, while his new one, "Under the Cherry Moon," is a movie starring Prince, period.

Prince is no stranger to raised eyebrows - it's no accident that his publishing company and fourth album bear the name Controversy. And now a bit of a furor has arisen over the portrait that adorns the cover of his new album, Lovesexy. The photo is a coy sideways shot of Prince, reclining in the nude on huge white lilies, with his hand spread across his chest and his left leg poised at an angle that hides his penis. One of the flower's pistils, however, serves as a fairly blatant approximation.

BEBE NEUWIRTH doesn't do the fluffy stuff. Neuwirth's stance makes sense to anyone who only knows her as Lilith, the icy, monotone psychiatrist and eventual wife of Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane — the iconic role that made Neuwirth famous on the beloved sitcom "Cheers. " But it means something different when it comes to compiling songs for her cabaret-style shows, like the one which Neuwirth will perform tonight at the Prince Music Theater, "Stories with Piano #3. " For those shows, the fluffy stuff means the songs that Neuwirth doesn't deem emotionally hefty enough.

The privileged world in which Prince Edward grew up, a world of palaces, polished silver and nobility's obligations, could not have been further from that of the students at Girard College, where hardship — both financial and emotional — are among the criteria for admission. But Thursday, when Edward visited Girard, the distance between him and the students who greeted him was easily bridged with handshakes, friendly banter, and some gentle ribbing. His motorcade of Land Rovers and Range Rovers drove through the boarding school's black iron gates at 12:30 p.m., greeted by hundreds of students in burgundy and gray uniforms, lining the circular drive, cheering, and waving handmade paper American and British flags.

H ERE'S WHAT will be making news in Philly this week: CITY HALL The British are coming! Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, will pay a royal visit to Philadelphia on Thursday to mark the 60th year of his mother's rule. The prince - who is seventh in line for the throne - will plant a tree at Girard College and tour Independence National Historic Park before attending a private dinner at the Restaurant School. If you want to catch sight of the blue blood, he is scheduled to arrive at Girard College at 12:30 p.m. and tour Independence Park at 5 p.m. COMMON PLEAS COURT Ex-cop to be tried for murder For the second time this year, a disgraced ex-Philadelphia police officer will go on trial for first-degree murder.

So far, 2012 is being very, very good to Michaela DePrince. The 17-year-old dancer — born in Sierra Leone and raised in Cherry Hill — appears in the April issue of Marie Claire and will be the subject of a spread in a forthcoming Teen Vogue. She's a major part of the award-winning documentary First Position, about talented young ballet dancers competing at the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix, that opens nationwide on May 11. And on Tuesday night, she'll appear on ABC's Dancing With the Stars, performing a pas de deux with Adé Chiké Torbert — who came in fourth in the seventh season of So You Think You Can Dance — as British pop star Natasha Bedingfield sings "Wild Horses.

A BRITISH PRINCE will pay a royal visit to Philadelphia at the end of the month. Nope, not William or Harry. Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, is coming to the city on April 26 and 27 for a series of events to mark his mother's 60 years on the throne, the city announced Tuesday. And Mayor Nutter is delighted. "This is a high honor for us here in Philadelphia," Nutter said. "I'm looking forward to meeting Prince Edward, strengthening our ties.

Nope, not William or Harry. Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, will be in the city April 26 and 27 for a series of events to mark his mother's 60 years on the throne, the city announced Tuesday. Mayor Nutter said he was delighted. "This is a high honor for us," he said. Edward will meet with students from Girard College, Science Leadership Academy, and Valley Forge Military Academy who have been honored by the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program, which was established by Prince Edward's father, Prince Philip.

DEAR ABBY: I'm dating a hard-to-find kind of man. He is my Prince Charming except for one thing. He's a racist. I have asked him not to say demeaning things about people of other races because it upsets me. Most of his friends are like that, too. When he meets someone of a different race, he's polite and friendly, but when he sees someone walking on the street, he makes derogatory comments. I'm considering breaking up with him over this. Am I overly sensitive? - Too Sensitive in Texas DEAR TOO SENSITIVE: You're not overly sensitive.

URBAN RENEWAL is complicated, rife with backroom politics and big-business interests, accusations of class and racial prejudice. Planners tout lofty goals, sometimes attainable, to win project support. Meanwhile, they're displacing communities that had been intact for decades, even centuries. Here in Philadelphia, the ever- expanding reach of the University of Pennsylvania has often been at odds with its University City neighbors and even the student body. As a Penn student myself, I was active in Save Open Space (S.O.S.)

Prince Philip , 90, made his first public appearance Sunday at Sandringham estate after undergoing an emergency coronary procedure two days before Christmas. The estate, in rural Norfolk, housed Philip, wife Queen Elizabeth II , and the rest of the royal family during the holidays. The otherwise quiet area was swarmed with media Tuesday after news broke that a woman's body was found Sunday in a remote part of the estate. Police are treating the case as a murder, but had yet to reveal any details.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE brought sexy back to the Marine Corps Ball on Saturday night. Keeping a promise he made back in July (which in celebrity terms was forever ago), the "In Time" star got in sync with the arm of U.S. Marine Cpl. Kelsey de Santis , who asked Justin to be her date via YouTube - the Marine Corps version of Match.com. As befitting the occasion, Justin wore a tux to the affair in Richmond, Va. WTVR reported that a Marine wife said Justin "posed for pictures" and seemed normal.