A Tiara of Princess Grace

The Royal Digest recently featured a post on the Van Cleef & Arpel's tiara of HSH Princess Grace of Monaco. Made in 1976 the Princess wore it only once for the pre-wedding festivities of Princess Caroline and Philippe Junot. Check it out.

A Less Glamorous Monaco?

Has Monaco become a somewhat less glamorous place than it used to be. Does it seem like there is a little of that old sparkle missing these days. Here are my thoughts on Glamorous Monaco, feel free to tell me yours.

Bastille Day

It is that time of the year again. The time when French republicans celebrate their bloody revolution that brought down the Kingdom of France and which saw the invasion and occupation of the Principality of Monaco. Having nothing new to say on this sad subject, I will merely point readers to some past posts on...

The Facts About Bastille Day

Bastille Day

HSH Prince Honore III

Princess Francoise-Therese

HSH Prince Honore IV

Prince Joseph of Monaco

Posts on the French Revolution

Bishop Louis-André de Grimaldi

Wikipedia (which must always be taken with at least a cup of salt) gave front page coverage to an article on Louis Andre de Grimaldi, member of the French aristocracy and a bishop of the Catholic Church who, in a number of ways, embodied both the good and the bad of the French clergy at the time of the outbreak of the French Revolution. He was actually the man who ordained Talleyrand (would that be considered a good thing or a bad thing these days?) but I will always give him some credit at least for refusing the oath.

Grace, A Symbol of Change Website

I only just now noticed, and I don't know how long it will stay up, but there is a website for the commemorative event "Grace, A Symbol of Change" (that is at http://graceassymbolofchange.org) for the 3-day event held from September 14-16 in memory of the passing of HSH Princess Grace of Monaco, under the patronage of HSH the Sovereign Prince, to remember the beloved Princess in every aspect of her life; as a social figure, an iconic actress and Princess consort of Monaco. It is very well done and available in English and French.

Grace Kelly: Engagement Party

Some great pictures and interesting info on this event at The Royal Digest (with a tug of the forelock to Tea at Trianon for bringing this great blog to my attention). What more can be said about Princess Grace that hasn't been said already? I'll simply repeat myself: never did a princess so live up to her own name.

Princely Wedding Replay

Available here if you missed it.

Princely Wedding Fever

Can't get enough coverage of the upcoming Princely Wedding? Here are some links to help you out:
Bunte Princely Wedding Site
TFI Official Marriage Site
Princely Wedding Facebook Page
Official Wedding Twitter Page
and of course
The Official Wedding Website

Wedding Website Online

The Princely Palace now has on-line the official wedding website for the upcoming marriage of Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock (hurray hurray). It does not have quite as much info as some others out these days but was put together mostly for the benefit of the press to aid them in getting everything in order to cover the event on the big day. It also has the new official monogram for Albert and Charlene, which I at least had never seen before. According to the website, the details on the big day are:

"The civil wedding will take place on Friday 1 July at 5pm in the Throne Room in the Palace of Monaco. It will be celebrated by Philippe Narmino, Director of the Judicial Services and President of the Council of State.

Philippe Narmino is the Ruling Family's Registrar.

The religious ceremony will take place on Saturday 2 July at 5pm in the Main Courtyard of the Palace of Monaco, where Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Barsi.

The gates to the Palace will remain open to enable some 4,000 guests to be seated for the ceremony, which will be broadcast on giant screens.

On this occasion, Friday 1 July and Saturday 2 July, will be holidays."

The website is available in French and English so have a look at Mariage Princier Monaco 2011.

Prince Albert Celebrates St David Day

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco joined Dame Shirley Bassey to celebrate St David's Day, the patron saint of Wales.

Blog Update

Readers will notice a new links table on the sidebar; a collection of websites, fansites etc devoted to Monaco, the Grimaldis or certain family members. So, if you are Mad for Monaco and have a Monaco or Grimaldi related website, webpage, fansite etc just leave a comment to let me know (including the web address of course) and I will add it to the table. Thanks for reading!