2011 The Year in Review

2011 has been a busy year for Monaco and the Princely House of Grimaldi. In January, Prince Albert visited the Middle East, the Circus visited Monaco and Princess Caroline showed how good you can look at 54 (provided you are blessed with the proper genes). In February Princess-to-be Charlene returned to her native South Africa and did some swimming for charity and Prince Albert talked about the environment. In February the Prince came to the United States but later in the month tragedy struck with the passing of Princess Antoinette, Baroness de Massy, who had celebrated her 90th birthday only the month before. Monaco went into mourning and the Casiraghi Trio carried the proverbial torch at the Rose Ball which the senior members of the family did not attend. Before the month was out the Portalis Institute made the Sovereign Prince an honorary doctor. Sounds nice doesn’t it? “Our Prince, the doctor”. In April, Charlene officially joined the Roman Catholic Church (being an Olympic swimmer, swimming the Tiber was surely no chore). Prince Albert II and Charlene visited Ireland, the homeland of Princess Grace’s Kelly ancestors and later Prince Albert and his bride-to-be attended the grand royal wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton in London (taking down notes the whole time I’m sure).

The month of May saw Prince Albert jet down to South America and saw racing fans from all over the world gather in Monte Carlo for the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix. In June the Sovereign Prince visited Estonia and Charlene was named Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics. Albert and Charlene were featured on their own new stamps, Charlene appeared in Vogue magazine and the wedding preparations reached a frenzied pace. In July the big day came as Charlene Wittstock officially became Princess consort of Monaco in a fantastic, open-air wedding in the courtyard of the Princely Palace. Despite the efforts of a few malcontents and some stunning examples of yellow journalism, the day was a great success. The royal houses of the world were well represented and the people of Monaco were front and center to see the day many thought would never come, when the bachelor Prince of Monaco finally married. After the wedding the couple were off to South Africa for some Olympic business and later a secluded honeymoon. Princess Stephanie carried on just fine on her own at the Fight AIDS Monaco summer gala and later an upset Prince Albert took aim at the disreputable practices of the gossip-peddlers in the media who had tried so hard and so unsuccessfully to spoil his wedding day. One French magazine editor at least responded with reason and maturity -nah, just kidding, he actually called for Monaco to be invaded and taken over by France. That should show everyone just how credible he is!

In August, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta (of which Albert is a member) came for a visit. The new Princely couple made a grand splash at the Red Cross Ball and a long-time anti-Monaco blogger (with an obsessive hatred of the Prince and all of his friends) was given a judicial smack-down by the French legal system. His effort to sue the entire country of Monaco was thrown out by the French court in September. Also that month, Prince Albert visited the Caucasus nation of Georgia followed by a visit to Mother Russia itself for an environmentalist conference in Archangel. Princess Stephanie, along with daughters Pauline and Camille visited Russia in September as well for the “Contest of the Circus Arts” at the Tenth International Youth Festival. Princess Caroline was busy in October, honoring the choreographer Robert Wilson who produced a musical on the life of Princess Grace and handing out the awards for the Prince Pierre Foundation. The President and First Lady of Croatia came to visit the Palace, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene went to Nepal and, in one of my favorite stories, a drunken Frenchman was sentenced to six days in jail for insulting the Sovereign Prince when the bar he stumbled into would sell him no alcohol. After sobering up the man apologized and said he was really quite fond of our Albie so we’ll let it go at that.

November had plenty of the usual appearances, visits, award ceremonies and the like for the Grimaldis. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene made their first trip to the United States as husband and wife, Princess Stephanie gave some nosy photographers an eye full on vacation and the Monegasque all came out for National Day to celebrate six years on the throne for Albert II. In December, Princess Stephanie put in extra duty for the week of World AIDS Day, Prince Albert attended an environmentalist conference in South Africa and Princess Charlene inaugurated her own charitable foundation which will focus on children followed by a happy round of the usual Christmas traditions. All in all, 2011 has been a great year for the Grimaldi family and the monarchy of Monaco. There was the occasional unpleasantness but, in the end, Prince Albert prevailed over his antagonists. The loss of Princess Antoinette was, no doubt, the lowest point but, given her age and infirmities, hardly unexpected. The crowning event, without question, was the Princely wedding, a glamorous and happy occasion many thought they would never see. Despite their detractors, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene have gotten off to a great start and in a year in which most of the rest of the world has known one crisis after another, Monaco has sailed on relatively unscathed with her Sovereign Prince at the helm, his new Princess by his side and with Caroline and Stephanie, each in their own unique way, serving their country, serving others and supporting their brother as only they can. Overall, a good year. Here’s hoping 2012 will be even better.

Happy New Year wishes to one and all and thanks for reading
Mad for Monaco.

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!