It Just Can’t Be Avoided: Diana’s Spirit Lives On

Two Brit tabloids were bidding against each other, and a bit of Princess Diana memorabilia was on the docket.

In the end, however, the late princess’ sons, Princes William and Harry, were the beneficiaries.

The Daily Mirror spent the equivalent of $11,000 for a silver cup that Diana had won as a 15-year-old ballet dancer. It had been put up for bid by West Heath School, which closed last year due to declining enrollment.

“We felt it was right that this trophy should be passed to her two sons rather than to a stranger at an auction house, given the obvious sentimental value,” said Mirror editor Piers Morgan.

The newspaper plans to award annually a replica of the cup, plus $8,000, to a talented dancer in Diana’s name.

Loose talk

Macaulay Culkin, 17, announcing his engagement to actress Rachel Miner, 17: “We’re so happy and proud that we found each other at such a young age. We look forward to spending our lives together.”

These days, hers is a geriatric love story

Ali MacGraw turns 60 today.

He’s still stewing about his spoiled reputation

Just two days before the “Seinfeld” May 12 finale, Al “Soup Nazi” Yeganeh will appear on “Late Night With David Letterman.” Yeganeh, who complains that Jerry Seinfeld brought him unwanted attention, recently started selling his soups on cable television.

He’d invoke presidential privilege if he could

He may be “Lord of the Dance,” but Michael Flatley is merely a bad former boss to massage therapist Derry Ann Morgan, who is suing the former “Riverdance” high-stepper for wrongful dismissal. Flatley’s reaction: It’s “scandalous.”

She chastises Monica for going to work for Wendy’s

“Friends” will boast a royal look when Sarah Ferguson, aka the Duchess of York, makes a cameo appearance on an upcoming episode. The show, which has been shooting in London, is not to be confused with the duchess’ regular gig: doing Weight Watchers commercials.

That makes one new husband for every decade

Danielle Steele makes her living writing romance novels. In her spare time, she works hard to keep romance alive. The 49-year-old author just married for the fifth time. Groom Tom Perkins, 65, is described as a “venture capitalist.” The ceremony took place in San Francisco.

Burns takes a film tour of suffragette city

Ken Burns’ next film project will be women’s rights pioneers Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The documentary filmmaker (“Baseball,” “The Civil War”) received $200,000 in grants from the state of New York to make the film, which is set for broadcast in 1999.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster