Princely Wedding Replay

Available here if you missed it.

Preparing for the Big Day ... in London

The invitations have gone out and the final preparations are being made for the big wedding of HRH Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and Miss Charlene Wittstock are going to be attending, representing Monaco and the Princely House of Grimaldi. There was some speculation about whether or not Princess Caroline and wandering husband Prince Ernst August V of Hanover (a member of the extended British Royal Family) would be attending -that could have caused some uncomfortable moments. However, such things are considered and neither one was invited, which is, of course, more of a slight at Ernst rather than Caroline as the head of her family will be attending, but not the head of the Hanoverians, her husband. The last time Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst August attending a British Royal event was the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2002. When HRH the Prince of Wales and Diana were married in 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, HSH Princess Grace of Monaco attended the event as did the (then) Hereditary Prince Albert, so this event will have some extra significance for Prince Albert. On another sad note, the funeral of Princess Grace was the first official royal event for Diana as Princess of Wales.

Prince Albert II has said that he will be 'taking notes' on how William and Kate have organized things as he and Charlene prepare for their own wedding. As we have discussed before, Prince Albert is distantly related to the British Royal Family, being descended from the Kings of Scotland, through the marriage of HSH Prince Albert I and Lady Mary-Victoria Douglas-Hamilton. It also might be fun, on this occasion to take a look back at a past post: Britain and Monaco - Did You Know? listing some fun facts about the long ties, sometimes friendly and sometimes not, between Great Britain and Monaco.

Current Grimaldi Goings On

First off, on the rumors of marital trouble between the Prince and Princess of Hanover, the Princely Palace has said that the talk is simply tabloid speculation with no facts to back them up. I wish I could say that puts my mind at ease but all too often denials from the Palace do not seem to last long. I hope they are right but it still looks a little dubious with Princess Caroline living back in Monaco again (though that's always a good thing) and Prince Ernst remains absent. In other news HSH Prince Albert II (seen above) opened a new children's section at the Princess Grace Hospital and inspected newly installed equipment such as a new medical scanner. The Princess Grace Hospital sees more than 5,000 child-patients and the new neonatal unit is set to provide better services and convenience for the patients, parents and staff. That was September 16. Yesterday, the Sovereign Prince attended the presentation of a new film by the Cousteau foundation, shown by Jean Michel Cousteau, called "Return to the Amazon" at the highly esteemed Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. The museum was first opened in 1910 by Sovereign Prince Albert I, noted sailor and oceanographer.