2010 Year in Review

So, what was 2010 like for the Princely Family of Monaco? Well, here it is in a nutshell: In January, Prince Albert talked about the environment. Prince Ernst August V of Hanover was photographed frolicking in the surf of Thailand with his paramour but Princess Caroline still testified on his behalf in Germany. Prince Albert talked about the environment, sent emergency aid to Haiti after the disastrous earthquake there and flew solo on St Devote Day. The UN declared 2010 International Biodiversity Year and Prince Albert talked about the environment. In February, Princess Stephanie turned 45 (hard to believe I know), the Monegasque fire brigade got a new commander and Prince Albert talked about the environment. The Prince and Charlene Wittstock attended the Winter Olympics in British Columbia where the Prince handed out medals to the winners of the Alpine Skiing Men’s Super-G event. Charlotte Casiraghi and boyfriend Alex Dellal attended the Love Ball London to benefit the Naked Heart Foundation and rumors of an engagement between the two again proved unfounded.

On March 4, Albert’s daughter Jazmin Grace Grimaldi turned 18. The Prince honored His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I for his efforts at improving relations between the Roman Catholic and East Orthodox Churches and Princess Caroline oversaw a charity fair in Monaco. Her husband, the Prince of Hanover was fined $270,000 for slapping a hotel owner in Kenya and Prince Albert paid a formal visit to the Republic of San Marino before participating in the 5th World Stars Ski Event in Turin. Princess Caroline stole the show at the annual Rose Ball which had a Moroccan theme as part of increasingly close relations between the two countries on opposite shores of the Mediterranean. In April the Sovereign Prince appointed his first Minister of State after new agreements took effect putting that power in his hands rather than those of the French government as had effectively been the case previously. Prince Albert visited Portugal, talked about the environment and congratulated the winners of the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters Tournament, presided over by cousin Elizabeth-Anne de Massy. The Credit Foncier Monaco Bank was robbed of 100,000 euros and Prince Albert welcomed the King and Queen of Sweden to Monaco for the 59th World Bade-Powell Fellowship event.

Pauline Ducruet celebrated her “Sweet 16” on May 4 and Prince Albert, Charlene and the Casiraghi trio were on hand for the Formula One Grand Prix. The Casiraghis hit the best parties at the Cannes Film Festival and the Prince visited his former ship, the French aircraft carrier “Joan of Arc” on which he served during his military service as the vessel was retired from service. Princess Caroline visited the new mommies at the Princess Grace Hospital for Mother’s Day. June saw Prince Albert talking about the environment, opening a whole week dedicated to environmental awareness in Monaco. The Prince and Charlene attended the 50th anniversary of the Monte Carlo TV Festival and traveled to South Africa to attend the World Cup. Jazmin Grace Grimaldi graduated with honors from high school and after attending the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden to Daniel Westling in Stickholm, Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock announced their own, long awaited engagement.

In July Princess Stephanie opened La Maison de Vie to care for victims of HIV/AIDS. Prince Albert talked about the environment and signed new fiscal transparency agreements with a number of countries. Pauline Ducruet competed in diving competitions in Finland and Princess Stephanie welcomed Prince Albert and Charlene to the gala dinner for her charity Fight AIDS Monaco. Prince Albert, Charlene and Princess Stephanie also made a ‘splash’ at the 62nd Red Cross Ball which had a luxury cruise theme. In August the Prince and Charlene visited the United States, checking in with a friend in Missouri and touring the “King’s castle” at Graceland. Monaco signed on to a joint Catholic and Orthodox effort to defend the Christian heritage of Europe and Pauline Ducruet competed in diving competitions in Singapore with her father, mother, siblings and uncle Albert cheering her on. The Prince talked about the environment and sent a financial aid package to Pakistan after devastating floods hit that country.

September saw Charlotte Casiraghi back in uniform as “Godmother” of Public Safety for the 50th anniversary off the Maritime Police Force of Monaco, Prince Albert and Princess Caroline opened the new National Museum of Monaco and the Prince was honored in New York City for his environmentalism and commitment to sport. He attended the Monaco Yacht Show, honoring a particularly “green” yacht and, yes, talked about the environment. Prince Albert went to India in October for the opening of the British Commonwealth Games, joined Princess Stephanie in Shanghai for the World Expo and later Charlene joined the Prince for the first time on an official visit when the couple traveled to Japan, meeting the Imperial Family and where Albert talked about the environment. In November, Charlotte Casiraghi and Beatrice Borromoeo strutted their stuff on the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival, Princess Caroline handed out the Princess Grace Awards in New York and Prince Albert celebrated five years on the throne of Monaco. Charlene made her first appearance on the balcony with the family on National Day, Louis Ducruet turned 18 and word came that Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit Monaco in early 2012. Finally, in December, Princess Stephanie continued her efforts, in person, on radio and television to raise awareness of and ease the suffering of AIDS victims. Princess Caroline attended the International Night of Childhood charity event at Versailles and Charlene joined the Grimaldi siblings in the official Christmas festivities for the first time this year. Finally, Princess Antoinette passed a milestone in Grimaldi family history when she turned 90 years old.

And that, my friends, was the Princely Family in 2010 in a nutshell. I hope you had a good year, I appreciate you keeping up with the blog and my sympathies to Mr. Mann, whoever you are. So long 2010!

MM Video: Christmas in Monaco 2010

MM Video: National Day 2010

National Day Gala Evening

Charlene, Star of National Day

Charlene Meets the Public

Charlene and Prince Albert greet the people

Princess Caroline, Princess Alexandra and Charlotte Casiraghi

Cousin Melanie de Massy, Princess Alexandra, Princess Caroline, Andrea and Pierre Casiraghi

Yep, caught a fish *this* big right out there in the harbor

The Princely Couple, beaming at the crowd.

National Day Thanksgiving Mass

The Princely Family at Mass

obligatory picture of the lovely Charlotte

Greeting the celebrants

Monaco's next princess greets the Archbishop

"Let's go dear we have to beat the crowd to the balcony!"

Red Cross Ball 2010

The 62nd annual Red Cross Ball was held today at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club of the Principality of Monaco, the biggest event on the Grimaldi's social calendar and the largest charity gala in the world. The special guest entertainment this year was Tom Jones and the "theme" this year was a luxury cruise.

HSH Prince Albert II arrived with his two special girls. Fiance Charlene Wittstock set a glamorous tone that has drawn mostly praise from observers. HSH Princess Stephanie turned heads with her fashion choice -reviews have been mixed, though in my very biased opinion I think she looks fantastic.

Other celebrities on the guest list included model/actress Victoria Silvstedt (a regular every year), singer Julio Iglesias, the ever-present and ever-ominous looking designer Karl Lagerfeld, singer Shirley Bassey, Baroness Tita Cervera, Tiziana Rocca, Isabell Kristensen, etc. Also attending was Prince Albert's former paramour and mother of his son Alexandre, Nicole Valerie Coste. I hope Charlene was properly prepared for that experience. Although Nicole has attended events at which the Prince was presiding before this was the first time she ever attended a formal ball. Sadly, once again, Princess Caroline was not to be seen, nor were the "Casiraghi trio" who lately have attended more often than not. Still, it was a very glamorous and successful event, as it usually is, Charlene seemed to handle all the extra attention very well and it is always great to see Princess Stephanie at such formal family events.

More on Grand Prix de Monaco

Charlotte Casiraghi tries to look fiercely gorgeous while Charlene Wittstock waves to the crowd.
Charlotte and Charlene - who will blink first?

Charlene Wittstock and Andrea Casiraghi

Charlotte hands out the second place trophy. Pierre gave out the 3rd place, Andrea the constructor's trophy and of course Prince Albert II presented the first place winner with his trophy.

Happy Birthday Prince Albert!

The date was March 14, 1958 when HSH Princess Grace of Monaco gave birth to an heir to the throne of Monaco, the 31st descendant of Otto Canella, the future Monegasque monarch. Bells rang across the principality and the canon at Fort Antoine fired a 101-gun salute to honor the new Hereditary Prince. HSH Prince Rainier III, the proud father, issued the following message to his subjects:

"You will imagine my great feeling and joy in announcing that the Princess, my beloved wife, has given birth to a Prince, who has been given the names Albert, Alexandre, Louis, Pierre this 14th day of March at 10:50 AM. I wish to share this joy with all who live on our soil, and especially with the Monegasques, who form around the Sovereign Prince a united family whose mutual affection has never ceased throughout the years."

Mad for Monaco joins with all the Monegasques and all fans of the Grimaldis and the Princely Family in wishing Prince Albert II a very happy 52nd birthday with best wishes for many more to come. Long live the Prince!

The Prince at the Olympics

Royal watchers will have spotted HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco at the Winter Olympics. It was the first I had seen of him there, and was really expecting to see more of him. The Sovereign Prince has had a long relationship with the games being a five time Winter Olympian himself in the bobsledding competition as well as being a member of the International Olympic Committee these days. The Sovereign Prince was at the Whistler Medal Plaza where he was given the honor of presenting the medals to the winners of the Alpine skiing Men's Super-G event. So far the United States has a comfortable lead in the overall medal count. The Principality of Monaco has sent athletes to compete in Alpine skiing (Alexandra Coletti), and bobsleigh (Sebastian Gattuso and Patrice Servelle). The Monaco bobsled team came in 18th, while Coletti ranked 24th in the ladies downhill.

A Solitary Prince on St Devote Day

Another year's Feast of St Devote has come and gone and much of the talk has been focused on who was not to be seen rather than who was. It was a very solitary Sovereign Prince Albert II attending the high mass and other of the day's festivities. Of course, few could question the absence of HRH the Princess of Hanover given all that she has been going through recently but it was rather disappointing not to see the Casiraghi trio -the young faces of Monaco's future or the smiling face of HSH Princess Stephanie. Their presence was not essential or required of course, but it would have been much more satisfying to see more of a family occasion made of the event. Aside from being patroness of Monaco, St Devote is also, after all, the special spiritual protector of the Princely Family. It is, perhaps, on such occasions as this that Prince Albert's lack of a family of his own is so especially evident. Events such as this seemed to have a different sort of feeling in the old days when Prince Rainier III, Princess Grace and the children were all on hand. One cannot criticize the lack of such a presence these days but it is noticed and felt nonetheless. Again, Princess Caroline's absence can be well understood, but given that in the absence of any heirs from Albert it is Andrea Casiraghi who will one day be Sovereign Prince of Monaco, his presence at least would have been a good sign that he is taking care to prepare for that eventuality. In any event, at least everything went off without a hitch and all can join in a prayer to St Devote for the continued protection and prosperity of the Principality of Monaco and the Princely Family. Vive l'Monaco!

Feast of Saint Devote

Today is the official feast of St Devote, patron saint of Monaco, and the festivities are well under way. Last night HSH Prince Albert II participated in the traditional ceremony which starts with a torch-lit procession ending with a small religious ceremony and blessing by the Catholic prelate of Monaco with the Sovereign Prince and others setting fire to a boat resting on a stake adorned with olive, pine and laurel branches at Port Hercules. This commemorates the events of 2,000 years ago when a boat carrying the body of St Devote was guided by the Holy Spirit to the port of Monaco and more particularly a latter attempt to steal the relics of St Devote which was miraculously stopped and the boat of the robbers burned. This morning the relics of St Devote will be brought out for veneration and the Princely Family will attend a Pontifical High Mass in honor of St Devote followed by a religious procession. To wrap it all up the usual fireworks display will be held tonight. Despite all the changes of the modern world the Catholic roots and traditions of Monaco are maintained. The boat burning ceremony is a slightly more recent touch being started in 1924 by HSH Prince Louis II. For more information on the life of St Devote and her history of veneration in Monaco read her post here.

2010 Is Here

Hope all the Monegasques and Grimaldi loyalists out there have all the best in 2010.