Today Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, the twins born to Sovereign Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène on 10 December, were christened in Monaco's Cathedral.
The children wore christening gowns from Dior and the godparents were Diane de Polignac Nigra and Christopher LeVine Jr for Prince Jacques and Gareth Wittstock and Nerine Pienaar for Princess Gabriella. Christopher LeVine Jr is the son of the only surviving child of Princess Grace's sister, Lizanne Kelly LeVine, and as such Prince Jacques's second cousin, while Diane de Polignac Nigra is a granddaughter of Thérèse de Polignac, who if I am not mistaken was a second cousin of Sovereign Prince Rainier III, making Prince Jacques's godmother his fourth cousin. Gareth Wittstock is Princess Charlène's brother, while I assume Nerine Pienaar is a friend of hers.
Princesses Caroline and Stéphanie attended with their families (the former as usual without her estranged husband), while the only foreign royals to have attended seem to have been Prince Charles and Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, who are friends of the children's father.
Thank you for the info about Jacques' godmother. it really started to seem like no one knew who she was.
ReplyDeleteAbout Christopher Le Vine Jr. I'd say that judging by the photos he must be a son of Prince Albert's cousin. I think I saw the person that was Prince's best man (ie the cousin) in the church but the godfather was much younger.
According to Point de Vue, she is the granddaughter of Thérèse de Polignac, and consulting a genealogy of the Polignacs I found that Thérèse's mother was Diane de Polignac, whose father Guy was the brother of Prince Pierre's father. (Thérèse's father Henri de Polignac was himself a third cousin of Prince Pierre).
DeleteAh yes, you must be right about the godfather - I should have realised that his age and the "Jr" meant that he must be the son of the eponymuous cousin.