Princely Couple at Papal Inauguration

The Princely couple at prayer. These are the best photos

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene give polite praise as Pope Francis passes

The Princely couple were seated next to another Albert II, the King and Queen of the Belgians. Queen Paola couldn't resist snapping a photo on her smart phone as the Pontiff went by.

Pope Francis greets the applause of the congregation

HSH Princess Charlene taking communion. King Albert II seems very interested but Queen Paola seems a little bored.

Princely Couple in Palau

TSH Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco are currently on an official visit to the island Republic of Palau. On Monday, the Sovereign Prince met with President Tommy Esang Remengesau and the Princess consort met with the first lady. Palau, a republic in Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean, is not unknown in Monaco as previous President Johnson Toribiong visited the Principality in 2012.

New "Green" Jet for Monaco

They do not call them the "jet set" because they take the train everywhere. Yesterday, HSH the Sovereign Prince, HSH Princess Charlene and HRH Princess and son Pierre Casiraghi were at the airport in neighboring Nice, France for a ribbon-cutting of the Prince's new private jet, complete with a spiffy Grimaldi coat-of-arms on the side. The new Princely private jet is valued at about 50 million euros, a Dassault Aviation Falcon 7X and will be used for state trips by the Princely Family (think of it as a much more modest version of President Obama's Air Force One). It can fly 11,000 km without stopping for gas and, because Prince Albert II is an environmentalist who means it (and doesn't just pay lip-service to 'cash in' on the cause like some people) he has started a special humanitarian fund to off-set the carbon footprint of his new jet. So, everyone wins, everyone is happy. It will be housed in a special shelter at the Nice Airport by means of a special contract with Monaco since, unfortunately, the Principality is not large enough to have an airfield.

Monaco Goes Welsh

In honor of St David's Day, the patron saint of Wales, TSH Prince Albert II (wearing a really awesome Welsh flag necktie) and Princess Charlene attended a special charity evening organized by Mark Thomas, President of the Monaco Wales Association at the Salle Empire, Hotel de Paris, on Friday, March 1. The money raised by the event will benefit the Princess Charlene Foundation. Many athletes, predominately rugby players, were on hand and there was musical entertainment with a special performance by the 65 members of the Treorchy Male Choir. A great evening to celebrate all things Welsh and Welsh-Monegasque friendship. I hope they sang 'Men of Harlech' at some point (love that song).