Monegasque twins baptised

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.

Two heirs in two minutes for Monaco

At 5.04 p.m. on Wednesday 10 December Princess Charlène of Monaco gave birth to a princess, who will bear the name Gabriella Thérèse Marie. However, as Monaco is one of the monarchies which still have male-preferred succession, Princess Gabriella lost her position as hereditary princess after only two minutes, when Princess Charlène gave birth to a prince, who has received the name Jacques Honoré Rainier.
Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, who were born at the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco, are the first legitimate children of Sovereign Prince Albert II. While Prince Jacques received the traditional title for the heir to the throne, Marquis of Baux, Princess Gabriella was created Countess of Carladès.
The name Jacques has been borne by one previous ruler of Monaco, Jacques I, born Count Jacques Goyon de Matignon of Thorigny in 1689. In 1715 he married Princess Louise-Hippolyte of Monaco, who became the second female Monegasque ruler when her father Antoine I died in April 1731. However, the Sovereign Princess herself died at the end of the year and was succeeded by her husband, who reigned for nearly two years before abdicating in favour of their son Honoré I. Prince Jacques died in 1751 in his Paris residence, Hôtel de Matignon, today a very well-known address as the official residence of the French Prime Minister.
The name Honoré has been borne by five sovereign princes of Monaco, while Rainier was the name of the thirteenth-century founder of the dynasty and his son as well as of the new-born children's paternal grandfather, the late Sovereign Prince Rainier III.

Heir to Monaco expected

The princely court of Monaco has announced that Sovereign Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène are expecting a child at the end of the year. Prince Albert, who is 56 and came to the throne in 2005, married the former South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock, now 36, in 2011.
The Principality of Monaco still operates with male-preferred succession, meaning that the child, if a son, will be heir apparent and eventually succeed his father, but if it is a girl she will only be heiress presumptive and will be bypassed by any younger brothers she might have.

First grandchild for Princess Caroline of Monaco

The Monegasque court has confirmed that Andrea Casiraghi and his Colombian fiancée, Tatiana Santo Domingo, became the parents of a son on Thursday. The name of the child has not yet been revealed.
Andrea Casiraghi is the eldest child of Hereditary Princess Caroline (aka the Princess of Hanover), born of her marriage to her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi, who died in a boat accident in 1990.
Andrea Casiraghi is second in line to the throne of Monaco, following his mother, the heiress presumptive, but as his son is born out of wedlock, the baby is not in the line of succession.

Le privilège du blanc

Pope Francis’s inauguration mass in Rome today was a good opportunity to observe one of the intricacies of papal etiquette, namely what is known as le privilège du blanc (the privilege of white).
Women are generally expected to wear black in the presence of the Pope, although not all follow this guideline (for instance, Queen Margrethe wore grey last time she visited the Vatican). But since an unknown date there has been an exception made for the wives of Catholic kings, who have been allowed to wear white in the Pope’s presence.
In former days, this included the Empress of Austria-Hungary as well as the queens of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bavaria, Belgium and Poland (but apparently not the Queen of Saxony, probably because the country did not share the royal family’s Catholic faith), but after the disapperance of most European monarchies the privilege of white today extends only to the Queens of Belgium and Spain, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and female captains regent (i.e. heads of state) of San Marino.
Other female members of royal families (except Italian princesses, I believe) and Catholic wives of Protestant monarchs (such as Máxima of the Netherlands will be when her husband ascends the Dutch throne on 30 April) do not have the privilege, which also does not extend to the wives of sovereign princes. Or at least it did not do so until recently.
While her mother-in-law, Princess Grace, always wore black when meeting popes, Princess Charlène of Monaco wore white when she and Sovereign Prince Albert II were received in an audience by Pope Benedict XVI on 12 January this year. The Vatican Press Office subsequently stated that “in accordance with prescribed ceremonial of the Vatican for Catholic sovereigns, the princess was allowed to dress in white”.
However, Princess Charlène wore black at the inauguration today, and the Princess of Liechtenstein was not present, so it seems unclear whether the privilege has really been extended to the wives of Catholic sovereign princes. The Queen of Spain was also absent, but the Queen of the Belgians and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg both wore white.
However, it might also be noted that there have been occasions when ladies enjoying the le privilège du blanc have chosen not to make use of it, the most recent example I can think of being the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, who wore black the last time she and Grand Duke Jean were received by Pope John Paul II before the Grand Duke’s abdication in 2000.

Official guest list for the Monegasque princely wedding

The princely court of Monaco has now released the official list of guests attending the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock today and tomorrow. Among the guests listed are:
- King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (Queen Silvia will also attend)
- King Juan Carlos I of Spain (who it has earlier been reported has declined his invitation) [did indeed not attend]
- King Albert II of the Belgians [accompanied by Queen Paola]
- King Letsie III of Lesotho
- Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg (Grand Duchess Maria Teresa will also attend)
- President Nicolas Sarkozy of France
- President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland [accompanied by his wife Dorrit Moussaieff]
- President Mary McAleese of Ireland
- President Michel Sleiman of Lebanon
- President George Abela of Malta
- President Christian Wulff of Germany
- President Pál Schmitt of Hungary
- Maria Luisa Berti and Filippo Tamagnini, Captains Regent (i.e. heads of state) of San Marino
- Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad of Bahrain
- Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium
- Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima of the Netherlands
- Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
- Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein [accompanied by Hereditary Princess Sophie]
- Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
- Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden
- Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg
- Prince Edward of the United Kingdom, Earl of Wessex and his wife Sophie
- Prince Michael of the United Kingdom [accompanied by Princess Michael]
- Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz of Belgium
- Princess Meriem of Morocco
- Princess Soukaïna of Morocco
- Prince Faisal of Jordan [accompanied by Princess Sarah]
- Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium
- Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark
- Prince Carl Philip of Sweden
- Princess Madeleine of Sweden
- Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand
- Prince Henri of France, Count of Paris [accompanied by his wife Micaela]
- Margrave Maximilian of Baden [accompanied by Margravine Valerie]
- Prince Karim Aga Khan IV
- Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples [accompanied by his wife Marina]
- Ex-Empress Farah of Iran
- Princess Ira of Fürstenberg
- Prince Leopold of Bavaria [accompanied by Princess Ursula]
- Prince Duarte of Portugal, Duke of Braganza [accompanied by his wife Isabel]
- Ex-Crown Prince Aleksandar of ex-Yugoslavia [accompanied by his wife Katherine]
- Princess Margarita of Romania [accompanied by Prince Radu]
- Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia
- Prince Carlo of the Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro [accompanied by his wife Camilla]
- Hereditary Prince Bernhard of Baden [accompanied by his wife Stephanie]
- Prince Emanuele Filiberto and Princess Clotilde of Savoy, Prince and Princess of Venice
- Luis Alfonso de Borbón, self-styled Duke of Anjou
- Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia [accompanied by his fiancée Princess Sophie of Isenburg]
- Grand Duke Georgij Mikhailovitsj of Russia
- Bernadotte Chirac, former first lady of France
- King Leuro Molotlegi of Bafokeng

More guests for Monegasque wedding

With only two days to go before the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock most of Europe’s royal houses have announced who will be their representatives.
The Swedes will apparently be the only royal family out in force by sending King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine. The Bernadottes have a quite strong connection to the French Riviera, where the King owns a summer house in Sainte-Maxime, which earlier belonged to his late uncle Prince Bertil. The Swedish royals have therefore been rather frequent visitors to the principality and Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian were among the few foreign royals who attended the wedding of Princess Caroline and Philippe Junot in 1978. The late Sovereign Prince Rainier III was even a Knight of the Seraphim, an order which had been given him as far back as 1949, shortly after his accession to the throne, by King Gustaf V, who used to holiday on the Riviera.
The ties between the Norwegian royal family and the Monegasque princely family are of a more recent date, but as earlier mentioned Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will represent their country.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark is, like the groom, a member of the IOC and will be joined in Monaco by Crown Princess Mary and his brother and sister-in-law, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie.
The Luxembourgian grand ducal court has confirmed that Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume will be present (at least at the religious blessing on Saturday). The Dutch royal website does not say anything about Dutch attendance, but obviously Queen Beatrix will not be present as she has engagements in the Netherlands on Friday and Saturday.
King Albert II of the Belgians is mentioned on the incomplete list released by the Monegasque court on 24 June, and I suppose this means that Queen Paola will also be in attendance.
I have not been able to find any official confirmation about British guests. Princess Anne might be an obvious choice as she is also a member of the IOC, but the Daily Telegraph claims to know that the Earl and Countess of Wessex will represent Britain in Monaco (they also did so at the enthronement ceremonies in 2005).
The Spanish royal family will not be represented as King Juan Carlos has declined his invitation, giving as his reason that he is still recovering from a knee operation. The King of Spain never attends royal weddings abroad anyway, but usually sends Queen Sofía and/or the Prince and Princess of Asturias to represent him. However, it seems he will send no representative this time. Relations between the King of Spain and his Monegasque counterpart are said to be cold after Madrid’s failed bid for the 2016 Olympics.
Several non-royal heads of state will also be present, headed by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, President Mary McAleese of Ireland, President Christian Wulff of Germany and President Michel Suleiman of Lebanon. They will be joined by other VIPs, including José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Count Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee.
The celebrations will begin tomorrow morning with a concert by the Eagles in the Louis II Stadium. The civil wedding, which is the legally valid one, will take place in the Throne Room at the Princely Palace at 5 p.m. on Friday, followed by a buffet in the Palace Square and a reception and concert on the Port.
On Saturday the religious blessing of the marriage will take place in the Courtyard of the Palace, before the Prince and Princess depart to leave the bridal bouquet at the Sainte Dévote Church. In the evening there will be a dinner and a ball at the Opera.

Scandinavian guests at Monegasque wedding

The Danish royal court has now announced that Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie will all attend the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock next weekend.
It has earlier been confirmed that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will represent Norway, while the Swedish royal family will be out in force: King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine.
It is interesting to note that neither of the three Scandinavian royal websites has managed to give the groom his correct title. On the Norwegian he is called “H.F.H. Prins Albert ll av Monaco”, ignoring the fact that he succeeded to the throne six years ago and is thus now “fyrst Albert II”; on the Danish website he is called “H.K.H. Fyrst Albert II av Monaco”, making him a Royal Highness rather than a Serene Highness; while the Swedish website, which initially referred to him as “H.S.H. Prins Albert II av Monaco” (again it should have been "furst Albert" and the prefix HSH does not exist in Swedish), has since changed that to “H.H. Furst Albert II av Monaco”, promoting him from a Serene Highness to a Highness.

Charlene Wittstock joins the Catholic church

In a press release (external link) about the forthcoming wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock the princely court of Monaco yesterday announced that Wittstock has now joined the Catholic church.
Most monarchies have laws which imposes certain religious restrictions on the head of state and those in line of succession. This does normally not extend to consorts (although anyone in line to the British throne will lose his or her succession rights upon marrying a Catholic), but several royal brides have chosen to convert upon marriage, among them the three daughters-in-law of Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who joined the Lutheran church before their weddings. Here in Norway we have on the other hand had three queens in a row which did not belong to the Lutheran church.

Princess Antoinette laid to rest in Monaco

Today the funeral of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, who died last Friday, took place in the Cathedral of Monaco. As well as her two surviving children, Christian de Massy and Elisabeth-Anne de Massy, and her other closest family members the funeral was attended by Sovereign Prince Albert II and his fiancée Charlene Wittstock, Princess Caroline and her four children, and Princess Stéphanie. Apparently no members of foreign royal families attended.

Crown Prince and Crown Princess will attend Monegasque wedding

On Friday the Royal Court in Oslo informed the news agency NTB that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit have received and accepted an invitation to attend the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock.
The dates and the venues for the wedding have been changed several times, but the latest is that the civil wedding will take place in the Throne Room of the Princely Palace at 5 p.m. on 1 July, followed by a religious blessing in the Courtyard of the Palace on 2 July at 5 p.m.
Press photo courtsey of Sølve Sundsbø/the Royal Court.

At the road’s end: Princess Antoinette of Monaco (1920-2011)

Two weeks of court mourning have been announced in Monaco following the death of Princess Antoinette, the Sovereign Prince’s aunt, at the Princess Grace Clinic in Monaco last night. Princess Antoinette turned 90 on 28 December last year.
She was the eldest of the two children of Princess Charlotte and Prince Pierre and was born while her great-grandfather Albert I was still on the throne of Monaco. Her younger brother, the future Sovereign Prince Rainier III, was born in 1923. Their grandfather, Sovereign Prince Louis II, took care of their upbringing after their parents separated in 1930 and because of Princess Charlotte’s 1944 renouncal of her succession rights, Rainier succeeded his grandfather on the throne in 1949, with Antoinette becoming the principality’s first lady, a position she was reluctant to cede to her sister-in-law Grace in 1956.
Relations between Princess Antoinette and her brother were not always the easiest. She had spread rumours about his previous girlfriend being infertile and taken part in plots which aimed at making Prince Rainier step aside for her benefit. Later her second husband would lead her on, arguing that there was no reason why she as the eldest child should have been surpassed by her younger brother. She did however have to content herself with being granted the title Baroness of Massy.
Princess Antoinette herself had three children - Elisabeth-Anne in 1947, Christian in 1949 and Christine in 1951 - by a married man, Alexandre Noghès. Following the birth of their third child the Princess and Noghès eventually married, but it ended in divorce after three years. In 1961 the Princess remarried Jean-Charles Rey, a lawyer who was also President of the Monegasque Council of State. That marriage was dissolved in 1974 and in 1983 the Princess took as her third husband the former ballet dancer John Gilpin, who sadly died only six weeks later.
Relations between Princess Antoinette and her brother easened with the passing of the years and she became a permanent fixture at the great events of the small principality, such as the National Day on 19 November and the Red Cross and Rose balls. In recent years her public appearances have however been few.
Princess Antoinette’s youngest daughter, Christine de Massy, died from leukemia in 1989 and the Princess is survived by her two eldest children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The Princess’s body will be taken to the Princely Palace, where she will lie in state for several days. Her funeral will take place at 10 a.m. on 24 March in the Cathedral of Monaco.

On this date: Princess Antoinette of Monaco turns ninety

Today is the 90th birthday of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, Baroness of Massy, the aunt of Sovereign Prince Albert II and sister of the late Prince Rainier III.
She was born on 28 December 1920, in the reign of her great-grandfather Albert I, and was the eldest child of Princess Charlotte and Prince Pierre, né de Polignac, who had married earlier that year after Charlotte, the illegitimate child of Hereditary Prince Louis and an Algerian laundry maid or cabaret artist, had been formally adopted by her father and raised to princely rank. Her brother, Rainier, was born in 1923, but their parents separated in 1930 and the children’s grandfather, by then Sovereign Prince Louis II, took charge of their upbringing.
Hereditary Princess Charlotte renounced her rights to the throne in 1944, meaning that Rainier succeeded to the throne when Prince Louis died in 1949. As Prince Rainier was still unmarried, Princess Antoinette became the principality’s first lady. She remained so until Prince Rainier married Grace Kelly in 1956 and is said to have resented relinquishing the position. It is commonly known that Princess Antoinette and Princess Grace did not get along.
Antoinette herself had begun a relationship to a married man, Alexandre Noghès, with whom she had three children – Elisabeth-Anne in 1947, Christian in 1949 and Christine in 1951 – before marrying him. The marriage lasted only three years and in 1961 she remarried the ambitious lawyer Jean-Charles Rey, who was also President of the Monegasque Parliament.
Princess Antoinette had taken part in intrigues against her brother already in 1955, spreading rumours that Rainier’s then girlfriend was infertile and plotting to make him step aside in favour of her and her son. During her second marriage she was led on by Rey, who argued that she, as the eldest child, was the rightful sovereign of Monaco. Needless to say the relationship between Prince Rainier and Princess Antoinette was strained for a number of years.
The Princess and Jean-Charles Rey divorced in 1974 and nine years later she remarried the ballet dancer John Gilpin, who died from a heart attack six weeks after the wedding. Her youngest daughter Christine died in 1989.
Since the funeral of her brother in 2005 Princess Antoinette, who lives in Éze, has made few public appearances and in recent years she has ceased attending the great annual events in the principality such as the Red Cross ball, the Rose ball or the National Day celebrations.
The coming year is by the way expected to see several 90th birthdays among senior European royals: Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg will turn 90 on 5 January, followed by Prince Philip of Britain on 10 June and the ex-King of Romania on 25 October.

Prince Albert changes wedding dates yet again

The website of the princely court of Monaco has now launched a wedding section (external link) which suggests that Sovereign Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock have yet again changed the dates for their wedding. Originally planned for 8 and 9 July, it was subsequently moved to 2 and 3 July. The website now says that the civil wedding will take place in the Throne Room of the Princely Palace at 5 p.m. on 1 July, followed by the religious blessing of the marriage in the square in front of the Palace at 5 p.m. on 2 July.

Prince Albert changes wedding dates

The princely court of Monaco yesterday announced (external link) that the dates for the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock have been changed from 8 and 9 July to 2 and 3 July - this so that the wedding will not clash with the IOC meeting in Durban.

Monegasque princely wedding set for 8 July

The princely court of Monaco today made known the wedding dates for Sovereign Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock. The civil wedding, which is the only legally binding one, will take place at the Princely Palace on 8 July next year, while the religious blessing of the marriage will be held the following day.

Various news and impressions from London

I have recently been in London, where there are several good exhibitions worth seeing this summer. The highlight is in my opinion “Victoria & Albert: Art & Love” at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, an excellent exhibition which explores Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s interest in the arts – what the arts meant to them and what they meant to the arts. The exhibition is on until 31 October.
At the Victoria and Albert Museum there is currently an exhibition on Princess Grace of Monaco, titled “Grace Kelly: Style Icon”, which shows dresses, hats, shoes, handbags and jewellery worn by the film star-turned-princess. It closes on 26 September.
Also at the V&A was the exhibition “Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill” about Walpole’s neo-Gothic country house, which will soon re-open to the public at last after years of restoration work. This exhibition ended on 4 July.
In London this week and the last weekend have been marked by the so-called “Master Paintings Week”, which concluded with great art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and other auction houses and art dealers. Much great art to see at the sales exhibitions, including works by Rubens, Franz Hals and Turner – a landscape by the latter was sold for nearly £ 28 million to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Also on show at Christie’s was the Althorp Attic Sale – mostly junk sorted out by Lord Spencer while cleaning up the attic of Althorp House, but also some interesting items. To accompany the sale Lord Spencer has also written a richly illustrated article for this month’s issue of The World of Interiors.
Last Thursday (1 July) was the 49th birthday of Lord Spencer’s late sister Diana, Princess of Wales. Daily Mail ran a picture of their sisters, Lady Jane McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, looking distinctively elderly, the youngest one entirely grey-haired, which made one reflect on the passing of time. Outside Kensington Palace several floral tributes to the Princess had been left at the gates (second photo).
Also worth noting on the art scene is the announcement that Charles Saatchi upon his retirement will donate the Saatchi Gallery and its collection of contemporary art – some 200 works estimated at £ 25 million – to the British nation. The complete permanent collection will be shown in 2012 at the gallery, which is located at the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea (first photo), and may thereafter also be lent to other galleries. Mr Saatchi has decided that upon his retirement the gallery’s name will change to the Museum of Contemporary Art, London (MOCA London).

Prince Albert II engaged to Charlene Wittstock

The princely palace in Monaco has today announced the engagement of Sovereign Prince Albert II to Charlene Wittstock, a South African former swimmer and teacher. No date for the wedding was announced.
The future princess of Monaco, Charlene Lynette Wittstock, was born in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe on 25 January 1978. Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock was first seen together in 2006 and she has recently accompanied him to a number of official events, including the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel in Stockholm on Saturday.