Kathmandu, April 1 (IANS) It’s neither the romantic Mediterranean isle of Sicily nor scuba divers’ paradise Australia where Prince William and Kate Middleton will head for their honeymoon after tying the knot in Westminster Abbey April 29.
Instead, their destination is going to be Nepal, the land of the Buddha, Mt Everest and the Gurkhas, with whom William’s younger brother Prince Harry served in Afghanistan for a brief spell in 2007-08.
But before the paparazzi start a stampede buying tickets to Nepal, maybe they should consider other factors too.
Like, for instance, the fact that the Nepali newspaper that ‘broke’ the royal news did so on April 1, celebrated worldwide as All Fools’ Day.
That was the prank chosen by Nepali daily the Himalayan Times that began a tradition nearly eight years ago of publishing a page one ‘scoop’ in spring every year that, on closer scrutiny, turns out to be an elaborate April Fool trick.
‘UK royal couple to honeymoon in Nepal’ screamed the top story splashed on the front page Friday.
Claiming it was based on a report in the London Times, the daily also ‘quoted’ a ‘senior official’ at the British Embassy in Kathmandu as saying: ‘The embassy does not confirm or deny the high-profile visit.’
The royal honeymooners’ apocryphal itinerary included a stay in the lush Gokarna resort, famed for its golf course, and a trip to Hotel Everest View in the lap of the famed Mt Everest, which is also the highest hotel in the world located at a height of 3880m above sea level.
To make it seem more authentic, the April Fool report was accompanied by a bona fide one by a foreign news agency that reported Prince William will not wear a wedding ring after his marriage.
It was followed by a second report that said Nepal would now stage its own version of British reality show Big Brother, rechristened as Thulodai’s house, Thulodai meaning Big Brother in Nepali.
It was yet to be ascertained what impact Friday’s trick had on the gullible reader.
An earlier April Fool report by the same daily, claiming the mythical yeti had been finally captured, was swallowed by many, hook, line and sinker.
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)
