Anna Nicole Smith: "Money is the root of all evil!"; prince says he had lunchtime trysts with Anna, utters "S-word" on CourtTV!!

Judge Larry Seidlin, the jurist presiding over the hearing to determine who takes possession of Anna Nicole Smith's remains, declared that money is "the root of all evil" this morning in Florida.

We are compelled to say, no truer words were ever spoken in an American court of law. Not even Houston attorney John O'Quinn, who's representing the mother of Anna Nicole Smith, raised an objection.

The judge, pictured here, who we understand hails from the Bronx, appears to be trying his best to wade through the legal tangle over Anna Nicole's corpse, but he's beginning to show the strains of the judicial burden, commenting that he was up til 4 in the a.m. fretting over doin' the right thing.

Meanwhile, Anna's mom, Virgie Arthur, appeared to score some points today to refute the idea that she was a devil mother.

In recalling the early years of her daughter, she was asked to describe her famous daughter's personality.

"She was sweet, she was funny, she was very funny. She loved frogs. Frogs were her favorite thing, even as she gold older. She was a tomboy, but she was sweet. She was loving. Her brothers and sisters will tell you they got to do all kinds of things together. She was a good child."

She also testified, "She was a comedian. She loved to make you laugh."

Among their activities were outings to Candyland Park, she testified.

As well all know now, Anna Nicole, by all accounts, fell into the abyss of drug abuse, which led to her being estranged from her mama, a retired Harris County sheriff's deputy, and the rest of her blood family.

Be that as it may, Virgie wants to bury her daughter in Texas, and apparently also disinter the body of Anna Nicole's son and bring him back to the Lone Star State too.

Upon cross examination by the attorney for Virgie's adversary, the lawyer Howard K. Stern, she insisted she has not received any money from the news media, even though Stern's lawyer tried to get her to admit someone, presumably a media organization, is footing her hotel bill.

There's also an invoice floating around requesting payment from a tabloid TV show for some video and pictures that presumably were acquired from Anna's kinfolk in Texas; Virgie conceded a video at the final resting place of her grandson was taken by her sister in-law.

The judge, however, wouldn't let that questioning go on to long, which is when he made the "money is the root of all evil" sidebar comment, but not before Virgie said Howard K. Stern, her daughter's lawyer and purported lover, is the only person profiting off her dead daughter.

"That's why he wants her body!" she testified.

(Virgie, by the way, got into law enforcement by working in a donut shop. She got to know the Harris County officers who frequented the establishment, who told her the department paid the women officers as much as the men, so she applied and embarked on a 28-year law enforcement career.)

Virgie had the courtroom weeping when she recounted visiting the grave of her grandson, Danny (Anna's son), who was buried in the Bahamas. The boy is in an unmarked grave and no one at the cemetery would tell the woman where her grandson was interred. When Virgie insisted, a caretaker led her over to an unmarked plot and indicated the burial site was where some flowers lay. The flowers, she said, contained a note from Larry Birkhead, who says he's the father of Anna little girl, Dannielynn.

BUT HOLD THE PHONE!

Prince Frederic von Anhalt, pictured here with his wife Zsa Zsa Gabor, says he may be the dad.

The prince, who says his grandpa was some kinda German royalty, did a phone interview with CourtTV to defend his entrance into the fray.

He told Ashleigh Banfield that he had luncheon dates with Anna whenever she was in LA and had relations with the blonde bombshell about 15 months ago.

(They never had night-time dates, he added, which may or may not bring to mind the classic "soft country radio" song, "Afternoon Delight.")

The prince is 59 and says he wants custody of Dannielynn if she is indeed the product of his seed, and he insisted it has nothing -- NOTHING! -- to do with any moneys that may be forthcoming as a result of the probate fight over the estate of dead Houston gazillionaire J. Howard Marshall, Anna's first (and apparently only) husband.

Furthermore, the prince shot down rumors that Zsa Zsa will divorce him if he turns out to be the dad of the lil' tot.

"They're full of shit!!" he declared (on TV no less!). "She'll get over it."

(to be continued as events warrant)
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UPDATE: 1:20 pm CST
Interested parties viewed the body of Anna during the lunchbreak...
Howard K Stern expected to testify this afternoon...a legal pundit on CourtTV suggests a "private party" could surreptitiously collect a DNA sample of Mr. Stern from a restaurant plate (since Howard won't volunteer one to satsify the paternity question of Dannielynn) ...
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update: 3 pm

Anna's mom is in bed, metaphorically speaking, with Splash Media, so her motherly motives may not be as pure as she would have us believe. Zowie!

David Lee, a journalist with Splash, is a "close family friend," and is only acting as a friend, Virgie insisted on cross examination, but the retired sheriff's deputy admitted Splash flew her and her sister in-law Elaine Tabers, from Houston to the Bahamas to visit the grave of Daniel, Virgie's grandson. That graveside visit was videotaped and ended up on TV, so it was apparently sold for a fee, but Virgie said she had nothing to do with the transaction. Wink-wink. The journalist Lee also went with them on the plane trip, and he's also been with them in Florida this week and accompanied them on the trip to the morgue to see Anna's corpse this afternoon.

She hasn't received any other remuneration, she said, but it looks like her sister in-law has ...

Two years ago, Virgie said her sister in-law sold a video of Anna and her then-husband Howard K. Marshall (now dead) but she insisted she didn't know how much it fetched. Mizz Tabers worked for Howard and Anna back then, Virgie said.

But this purported pecuniary interest may pale in comparison with the wheeling and dealing wrought by Ann's lover/attorney ...

Now,

HEEEERe's HOWARD ...

For his part, Howard K. Stern says Entertainment Tonight has been "very good friends to us" Howard testified.

Yup. They chartered a plane and flew him from Florida to the Bahamas after Anna died, he said.

Of course, he gave them an exclusive interview on the plane and at the house in the Bahamas, and for that, there was a fee involved ... but the exact fee was not disclosed by Howard, though he said it was "substantial."

During the couple's 3-day stay in Floridy, Anna didn't leave the hotel room, Howard testified, and he wasn't with her when she died, he said, though they shared a hotel room.

After Anna died, her will was faxed to his attorney, Christa Barth, Howard said.

But the date on the fax was Feb. 3 -- 5 days before Anna died! asserted attorney O'Quinn.

Howard insists the will wasn't faxed on Feb. 3.

O'Quinn smiled, and Howard said, "You can smile all you want. I'm positive."