* Royal duties: Prince Charles, playing in...

* Royal duties: Prince Charles, playing in weekend charity polo matches in Florida, granted a royal kiss to an impetuous Briton who rushed up to him. Charles’ appearance at the polo tournament raised up to $200,000 for Friends of Conservation, a wildlife preservation group. The prince heads now to Washington to indulge in his other favored sport--architect bashing. Disappointed fans are still fighting over nonexistent tickets to Wednesday night’s $250-a-plate, black-tie gala of the American Institute of Architects.

* Attic Find: A collector has paid $55,000 for a letter by George Washington in which the former President thanks an author for dedicating a book to him, but admits he hasn’t read it. Charles Hamilton, a New York handwriting expert and autograph dealer, said that the letter, dated Aug. 15, 1798, was recently discovered in an attic trunk in Cincinnati. In it, Washington thanked the Rev. Jonathan Boucher for sending him a copy of “Causes & Consequences of the American ‘Revolution.’ ”

* Question Authority: Timothy Leary is urging everyone to raise a little rabble. The former drug guru, who now works with a computer software company and is on the lecture circuit, doesn’t promote drug use anymore but says people shouldn’t be too trusting and docile. “Force (leaders) to expand their brains by questioning their motives and intentions,” he said in a talk at Fresno State University. “Not only is it fun to question authority, it keeps the Establishment honest.”

* Harvard Hurrah: Atsuko Chiba, the late Japanese columnist, was honored Monday by Harvard University, which established a fellowship in her name. Chiba--a 1968 recipient of a Nieman Fellowship, a grant for a mid-career study program for journalists--died of cancer in 1987. She spent her last four years writing a weekly column for Yomiuri Shimbun entitled “Living With Cancer,” which gained her a national following in Japan.