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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Royal News Roundup

On the Russian front, HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna established the Imperial Women’s Order of St Anastasia and approved its statute on August 20. It is fairly uncommon, though not unheard of, for non-reigning royals to establish new honors but the head of the Romanov family has done so. The order is named in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia (martyred in 304 by Diocletian) and the first queen of the Romanov dynasty, wife of Tsar John IV, better known as Ivan the Terrible.

In southern Europe the Princely Family of Monaco was out last weekend celebrating the anniversary of the liberation of their country by American forces in World War II. Along with Prince Albert II was his future wife Charlene, Princess Caroline and daughter Princess Alexandra of Hanover, as well as cousin Elisabeth-Anne de Massy, daughter of Princess Antoinette. Across the Mediterranean in Spain HRH Princess Letizia of the Asturias is the subject of a new and scandalous unauthorized biography which accuses the Princess of being a republican, having a number of sexual scandals before her marriage, having an abortion, being an agnostic and so on. Unfortunately it is expected to be a best-seller.

Up in the Low Countries HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has been dividing her time this week between her grandchildren and dealing with squabbling party leaders as the efforts to form a government coalition continue. Crown Princess Maxima, meanwhile, attended a fund-raising drive for impoverished children in the Third World such as Peru, India and a number of African countries. Elsewhere, Princess Laurentien was reading to children as part of Literacy Week in a successful effort to break the world record for simultaneous reading (46,000 in total). Across the border HM King Albert II of the Belgians remains frustrated in his efforts to break the political deadlock that is preventing the formation of a government and increasing calls for the breakup of Belgium. No breakthroughs as yet. Finally, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg visited the Republic of Portugal to strengthen ties between the two countries.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden is currently in the United States (New York City) and is expected to stay throughout the fall working with the children’s charity founded by her mother. Rumors are already flying after seeing the Princess together several times with wealthy playboy Stavros Niarchos III, known for his family money, fast cars and lifestyle and long succession of celebrity ex-girlfriends. I hope Princess Madeleine knows better. Back home, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden handed out awards for Stockholm’s World Water Week, giving the annual Junior World Water Prize to two Canadian teenagers from Quebec for their inventive use of Styrofoam to clean up polystyrene waste. Meanwhile, across the Baltic in Denmark, HM Queen Margrethe II, Prince Henrik and family were out in force to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund of which Prince Henrik is patron.

In Great Britain HRH the Prince of Wales has been on a “green” tour promoting one of his favorite causes; environmentalism. Usually a “safe” cause to be associated with the tour has nonetheless caused at least a little bit of murmuring (not at all unusual) by those who think balk at the private jet - globe trotting class lecturing the little people on being so wasteful. HM the Queen was said to be less than pleased with a new book put out by former PM Tony Blair in which he said he lectured the Queen on the lessons that the Royal Family needed to learn surrounding the death of Lady Diana. Needless to say, a Prime Minister revealing anything at all about his conversations with the Queen is an extraordinary breach of established protocol and the way things are done in the UK. This week also saw the ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the Blitz and though there were no royals present there has been much thinking back about the calm leadership of HM King George VI on that occasion. A recent film starring Colin Firth about the efforts of the King to deal with his speech impediment is thought by many to be an Oscar contender.

Finally, jumping over to the Far East, HIH Princess Aiko of Japan has been missing quite a bit of school and even missed much of her first day back in class. Even during the opening ceremony the little princess stayed in the classroom with her mother Crown Princess Masako, not participating with the other students. According to the Imperial Palace the Princess is tutored privately when not in school but her problems have caused some (mostly traditionalists) to speculate that she may have inherited some of her mother’s notoriously debilitating stress-related adjustment disorder which has kept her almost completely out of public view for quite some time. Recent photos certainly show a different looking Princess Aiko from the exuberant child of several years ago. However, in happier news, on Monday HIH Prince Hisahito of Japan celebrated his 4th birthday. The Mad Monarchist wishes the future Emperor of Japan a very happy birthday!

1 comment:

  1. Please also see this Royal Website from HM King Simeon of Bulgaria who is very strongly advocating for the restitution of the Bulgarian monarchy.

    http://www.kingsimeon.bg/news/show/id/189

    ReplyDelete