30th Anniversary of the Princess Grace Awards

Their Serene Highnesses Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene were in New York City for the big event...

The full details on all the winners can be found at the Princess Grace Foundation website.

Princess Grace Awards in New York City

HRH Princess Caroline of Hanover was in New York City on Wednesday to honor the winners of the Princess Grace Award which are distributed to those who have made a significant contribution in the areas of the arts and charity. This year the big winners were Mr. and Mrs. Denzel Washington. Most know Denzel Washington for his long list of acting credits, being an Oscar-winner and so on. However, he and his wife Pauletta have also been very active in helping a number of charities over the years with little fuss or fanfare. They have established the Gifted Scholars Program in Neuroscience which provides scholarships to medical students who have shown promise to go and study under Dr. Keith Black, chairman of the neurosurgery department at Cedars-Sinai. Denzel Washington has done a great deal of good for many people, without drawing attention to himself and the Washingtons are very much deserving of this award. Pauletta Washington told Bloomberg News, "We are so blessed, and we are blessed to be a blessing to others. That’s our family mantra about giving. The main thing is to have an appreciation for what we have, and we teach that to our children."

Tony Award winning theatre director Anna D. Shapiro was also honored Wednesday for her contributions to the arts, in this case the theatre. Princess Caroline was all smiles as she handed out the awards.

Remembering September 11

Before this month gets away from me I wanted to take a look back at Monaco's response to the 9-11 disaster in the United States. Obviously, this was an extremely emotional time for the half-American Princely Family. Due to the influence of HSH Princess Grace the United States and Monaco have enjoyed a very close relationship over the years, mostly through the Princely Family. The Grimaldis were stunned and horrified by the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the following month, October 2001, Prince Albert made the trip to New York to meet with people and witness the tragic aftermath. Prince Albert spent a great deal of time over the years with his American relatives on the east coast, he went to college in New England and after graduation lived and worked in New York City so the loss was very personal to him. Wearing his American flag tie and lapel pin and a New York Yankees ball cap to show his support the Prince met with Mayor Rudy Giuliani to express his sorrow at their loss, express Monegasque solidarity with the people of New York and the United States and to present him with a donation on behalf of the people of Monaco to deal with the disaster. After this meeting, as seen above, the Prince paid a very emotional visit to Ground Zero where the World Trade Center towers once stood. The support and friendship of the Principality of Monaco toward the United States is not forgotten and is still much appreciated and that friendship, bound up in the shared background of the Princely Family, will always endure.