* Royal: A vacationing Princess Diana, wearing...

* Royal: A vacationing Princess Diana, wearing a swimsuit dubbed a “Di-kini” and rubbing her skin with suntan oil, pushed the hostage drama off Britain’s tabloid front pages Wednesday. “Just Tan-tastic,” punned the Daily Mirror, which splashed telephoto pictures of Diana strolling on a secluded Corsican beach in her two-piece swimsuit.

* Not So Royal: The palace staff for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights because their royal employer refuses to give them a contract. The 50 employees have been trying to get an agreement since 1973, but it is unlikely they will strike. “The court’s staff is quite satisfied with their working conditions. They just want to know their rights,” attorney Jorgen Jacobsen said Tuesday in Copenhagen. The palace has issued no statement.

* Even Less Royal: Barbie dolls with those fairy-tale bodies soon may not measure up: A doll with more lifelike waist and hip measurements will hit the market in the fall. Cathy Meredig, creator of the “Happy to Be Me” doll, said recently in Minneapolis her doll “offers a more realistic body image to young, impressionable girls.” If Barbie’s figure were on a real woman, she would measure 36-18-33. Meredig’s doll would measure 36-27-38; she will have a shorter neck and she won’t have those tiny feet.

* Not Royal at All: Leona Helmsley, for years the persnickety queen in ads for Helmsley hotels, won’t be returning to print. She stopped appearing in them 1 1/2 years ago after she was convicted of evading $1.2 million in taxes. Now the ad agency that recently won a $3-million account for the six Helmsley hotels says the choice wasn’t theirs. “The decision was made internally by advisers to Leona,” said agency president Peter Yesawich.