Their aides bizarrely refused to say where the royal family had stayed during their secret holiday, other than to say it was in the French Alps. But MailOnline can reveal tonight that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have enjoyed their break in the pretty Alpine village of Courchevel (bottom left). The upmarket resort within the popular Les Trois Vallées ski region is known for attracting A-list celebrities and royals. Film star Brigitte Bardot helped to put it on the map in the 1960s and David and Victoria Beckham are regular visitors. A tourist officer worker said they 'believed' William and Kate were there, while locals said the couple were seen lunching at a local mountain restaurant (top left). Royal aides also refused to say whether they flew there on a commercial flight or by private jet. However a senior royal source said it was a holiday that they 'booked and paid for themselves'.

Over the past couple of years the Palace has become increasingly aggressive about trying to control what is and isn't said about the royals, writes PIERS MORGAN. It has pretty much tried to forbid the British press picturing William and Kate anywhere but on official duties, a privilege no other figure in British public life expects, even if some of them would quite like it. But now they have gone a significant step further. Today, it was revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed a secret skiing holiday in the French Alps with their children Prince George, two, and 10-month old Princess Charlotte. They invited just one member of the press, a favoured photographer from the Press Association, who took a number of pictures of the family on the slopes. Pictured (right): Princes William and Harry with their mother Diana during a 1992 skiing holiday to Austria.

Counter-terrorism officers stormed Heather Exley's £155,000 semi-detached house (inset) in Liversedge, West Yorkshire, in April 2014 and found improvised hand grenades (top right), ammunition (left and bottom right), explosive material and improvised detonators. Leeds Crown Court heard that after she was charged the 45-year-old then flew to Thailand to undergo gender re-alignment surgery while on bail. Robin Frieze, representing Exley, said his client had been going through the process of transitioning from a man to a woman for five to six years. Police said Exley's hoarding of the explosives posed a clear danger to a residential area but officers admit they still do not know what her motivation was for storing the items.

As every parent knows, getting two tired youngsters ready for bed can be tricky. So, imagine preparing two exhausted baby elephants with a combined weight of 246 kilos (around 38st) for lights-out. But an imaginative vet came up with a solution. He provided these traumatised orphan Asian elephants - Rupa, just three months old, and Aashi, 11 months - with cosy pyjamas and night socks, pictured main and bottom right, to help them sleep. And as these charming pictures of them contentedly sleeping next to each other show, the custom-made bedclothes have worked wonders. Both elephants were separated from their mothers soon after birth. Missing maternal warmth and affection, they struggled to sleep on the cold concrete floor of their rescue centre near Kaziranga National Park, north-eastern India since arriving with injuries, inset. But the pair are certainly starting to feel more at home, even found of the occasional nightcap, bottom left.

Families of Iraqi Kurds have become the first to arrive in France's new camp of wooden shelters (top) built for £2.4million. Around 150 new residents were photographed tramping through mud (bottom left) as they made their way to the camp from another site nearby where 1,000 people have been living in miserable conditions. Built by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in opposition to the French government, the 200 heated wooden cabins also feature proper toilets and showers. The move is part of a plan to improve living conditions for refugees living in squalid conditions in northern France, with many still protesting over what they call a denial of their human rights (bottom right).

Adam Johnson's victim was perfectly aware of what he wanted when she clambered into his car. Not only that, but she was the one going back for more, writes KATIE HOPKINS. But now, thanks to a bit of healthy overdramatising of the affair and the baying mob on Twitter, she is the victim. Adam Johnson (pictured with his ex-girlfriend Stacey Flounders at Bradford Crown Court) was only ever guilty of being stupid. If you stick to the line that Johnson is a paedo and a child abuser, you are increasing the risk that true vermin preying on pre-pubescent boys and girls will never be caught.

From his posture and funny little sayings to the way he sneezed and lost his temper, there had always been one or two things about her husband that reminded Alex Doyle of her father-in-law, John. But it wasn't until John opened the door to Alex one evening dressed in the exact same 'at home' outfit her husband Russell favoured that she realised how startling the similarities were. Standing on the doorstep was John, 69, wearing tartan pyjamas with a grey hoodie over the top. A slightly eccentric choice of leisure wear, but made all the more bizarre by the fact that Russell, 45, had just taken to wearing that very combination.

A man took revenge on his ex-girlfriend, Melisa, by wiping her entire phone after she refused to return it claiming it was a gift. He then contacted her mother demanding payment for the phone. The angry SMS exchange between the man and his ex-girlfriend and her mother has been posted online.

A teenager has been found guilty of killing fellow pupil Bailey Gwynne (right) at school in an argument over biscuits. The stabbing happened at Cults Academy in Aberdeen, Scotland, in October last year. Today, a jury at the High Court in Aberdeen found the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, guilty of culpable homicide. He has been cleared of the murder charge, which he had denied. It took the jury one hour and 40 minutes to return their majority verdict. Bailey's mother, Kate Gwynne (inset), looked heartbroken as she left the court today. Pictured (left) is the prison van, containing Bailey's killer, leaving after the trial ended.

As the cover girl of the April edition of Tatler, all eyes are suddenly on Lady Amelia Windsor. However, as a set of images taken in 2013 reveal, the granddaughter of the Queen's cousin, has always enjoyed posing for the camera. A photo-shoot from the impossibly glamorous 'Bal des Débutantes' in Paris sees a then 18-year-old Amelia pouting while wearing a beautiful Elie Saab dress. (Pictured: Lady Amelia in 2013 wearing an Elie Saab dress ahead of 'Le Bal', a key date in the high society calendar)

He's next in line to the throne, while she was once very much pop royalty. And Prince Charles, 67, and Geri Horner, 43, were reunited on Monday for the Prince's Trust Celebrate Success Awards at the London Palladium, almost 19 years after they first shared a cheeky encounter at a concert gala for the charity.

A jury has awarded Erin Andrews $55 million in a lawsuit over a secret nude recording taken of her in a hotel room. The sportscaster's civil lawsuit had sought $75 million in damages from the owner and operator of the Nashville hotel where she had been staying in 2008 when the video was recorded - and later posted online. West End Hotel Partners, which owns and operates the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University, claimed the responsibility for the crime lay with Michael David Barrett, who used a hacksaw to tamper with her room's peephole. 

Wendi Deng's arm was seen entwined with that of her chaperone Charlie Siem, who is 17 years her junior at the age of 30, as they sat in the front row of the Giambattista Valli show at Paris Fashion Week (left). Eton-educated Mr Siem, born to a Norwegian father and British mother, is a top UK young violinist and is signed to Sony Classical. He is also said to be Britain's youngest university professor. Miss Deng was in Paris with the contemporary classical violinist and model shortly after her 84-year-old billionaire ex Rupert Murdoch walked down the aisle with Jerry Hall, 59, on Saturday (right). The former couple's daughters Grace, 14, and Chloe, 12, were bridesmaids at the lavish Central London wedding. Miss Deng's 14-year marriage to the tycoon ended in 2013 amid reports about her infatuation with former prime minister Tony Blair.

Oscar was born on March 2 weighing just over 8lbs and will be third in line to the Swedish throne. The new photo (right), the first official portrait of the young prince, comes after his parents released a hospital photo last week (left). Prince Daniel was seen crying tears of joy as he announced his son's birth to the press last week, adding that they had kept the sex of their new arrival a surprise until he.was born.

The all-female Yorkshire Rows team ended up revealing more than expected when they joined BBC Breakfast this morning to talk about their record-breaking trip across the Atlantic. Eagle-eyed viewers spotted that one clip of the foursome at sea briefly showed Helen Butters, 45, naked from the waist down. The accidental flash was not missed by viewers, particularly men, who took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

The unidentified driver climbed on top of the vehicle after crashing into another car on Highway 290. Police were called to the scene after witnesses said a pedestrian had been hit by a car. When they arrived they saw the woman undress before clambering onto the truck. She was taken into custody after rescue crews managed to handcuff her and bring her down. Aerial footage showed the woman sitting, dancing and standing at various times on top of the big rig's cab. Firefighters moved a truck with an aerial tower next to the big rig try to talk to the woman. However she was then seen spitting on at least one official who was standing on the truck's platform.

Witnesses said the abusive man (pictured in the top left frame) had told the couple to 'speak English' and 'go back to their own country' before he was challenged by members of the public. One of the outraged bystanders who confronted him said his behaviour was 'unacceptable in this country and this day and age'. The subtitled footage, which emerged yesterday, was filmed on a tram in Manchester.

Lana Rae Meisner was shot in the head at her home in Studio City, Los Angeles, after reportedly calling police to say husband Randy was threatening her with a BB gun. Randy said she accidentally shot herself and police are treating the incident as an accident. Surveillance cameras reportedly captured Lana's grisly last moments and footage will be reviewed as part of an investigation into her death. The couple, who had been married for 20 years, are pictured left. Pictured right, randy is seen on the left with Eagles bandmate Glenn Frey in this 1973 snap.

EXCLUSIVE: MailOnline joined elite Bedouin Israeli soldiers close to the tense border with southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, to learn some of the ancient secrets used to track down modern terrorists. Crucial to their ability to spot signs of danger is a keenly-honed sense of what 'belongs' in their environment.

The This Morning host broke down while interviewing the parents of 15-year-old Matthew Garnett, who has spent six months in a secure psychiatric unit which was supposed to be a short term option.

Last week it was revealed that a knife recovered at O.J. Simpson 's former LA estate was kept as a 'souvenir' by retired cop for up to 18 years. 'C'mon man, if I had buried it why didn't the cops see the ground had been dug up,' O.J. told fellow prisoners in the lunch line at Lovelock Prison, where he is incarcerated. 'They were all over that place like flies for weeks. It's complete bulls**t.' A 15-inch stiletto knife owned by Simpson was considered by prosecutors in his criminal trial and compared with the victims' stab wounds but there was no trace evidence on the weapon. O.J. ranted that the LAPD are just a bunch of pathetic racists.

Dave and Declan Casey, both 29, married at Finnstown Castle, Dublin recently. The pair surprised their guests with a spectacular wedding dance medley. It starts with a more traditional tear-jerking ballad before a sudden change in tempo. The pair show off their moves to Journey's Don't Stop Believing, Michael Jackson's Black Or White, YMCA and the more traditional Irish tune The Hills Of Donegal, to name a few. In the full version of the couple's dance, the grooms speak to the camera about their love for one another. Declan says: 'He makes me laugh every day and I try and make him laugh as well.'

Yves Saint Laurent's Autumn Winter show at Paris Fashion Week was full of eighties-style glamour and paid homage to club kids from the decade. Designer Hedi Slimane sent models down the catwalk in studded leathers, (from left to right) Sesame Street-coloured furs and puff ball skirts in metallic tones as well as huge angular shoulder. Peroxide blonde hair was slicked back and bold red lipstick was paired with heavy black eyeliner and a bleached brow.

Mohammad Baraka, 20, has stunned crowds in his hometown of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip by pulling off amazing feats of strength including pulling a large water tanker with a rope around his chest (pictured) and another with his teeth. Another stunt saw friends drop knives on to his stomach from the height of one metre (pictured inset). It has led to him earning the reputation as the strongest man in Gaza and being nicknamed 'Samson' and 'The Incredible'.

The taxi driver calmly drives down a street in Hong Kong before a cleaner flings himself at the vehicle. Dashcam footage captures Mr Lee, who says he was 'possessed by a ghost'. Stunningly the 39-year-old did not suffer any serious injuries. Speaking to local media after the incident the man denied the suggestion he carried out the headbutt to get financial compensation...

The man is seen in a photo of the incident reaching out his arm in front of the boy, who seems distracted by a smartphone in his hands, as the bat flies through the air just inches from the young fan's nose and eyes. Another image of the bat flying midair - taken just a split-second later - shows the bat clearing the boys head as its violent force causes it to spin 180 degrees. The Pirates won the game 9-6 at the Braves' spring training stadium in Florida, part of the Walt Disney World resort complex outside Orlando.

Rolling across a 213-feet-high viaduct in the Alps, the red carriages of the Bernina Express stand out against snowy backdrops in Switzerland such as the Landwasser Viaduct (main), Albula valley, Graubünden (inset left) and the Schmittentobel Viaduct in Schmitten (inset right). Italian photographers Marco Bottigelli, 34, and Francesco Vaninetti, 36, travelled on the train and photographed views from their carriage. They then disembarked and captured images of the train as it journeyed through Schmitten and Filisur in Switzerland.

The car offers a choice of driver-controlled or vehicle-controlled operations. In driver mode, the car indicates the ideal driving line and speed; in autonomous mode, the steering wheel retracts and the driver and front-seat passenger can turn to face each other.The company unveiled the Vision Next 100 at ceremonies Monday for the company's 100th birthday at Munich's Olympic Hall.