Uncategorized 11:07 am
Not quite on the serious side, but in all honesty, there’s a few royal ladies who should print this out and pin it to the inside of their closets:
(Originally seen at Jezebel, yes why I’m reading feminist columns, they’re good for the occasional laugh and “only in America” headshakes.)
Monaco Andrea Casiraghi, Pierre Casiraghi 5:37 pm
Anyone seen the horrid qualifying accident of Perez? He seems okay, my commentators said he had only headaches. Amazoing, how padded these cars are these days. I’ve watched exactly two Grand Prix races the last ten or so years and those were in Monaco.
Anyway, after Pierre and Alexandra at football (and I have two more pictures of that, so cute), it seems Andrea made his way to Monaco as well. I knew he’d been there and done some boating, but as things stand, he’s also staying for the race. Anyway, he let his brother rope him into a promotional stunt for Pierre’s business, Monacair. And had fun, as it seems (if you consider jumping out of helicopters fun, I guess. *g*)
(The guy next to Andrea, he could totally be Carl Philip, couldn’t he? Fascinating. *g*)
And the two football pictures. I may sound like a perv, but damn, Pierre is looking good.
Also, I have to say, Andrea is looking good as well. Not sure what I’m thinking about his hair growing out again (most like him fuzzy, I thought the buzz cut was pretty interesting and looked fine), but he’s kept his weight and has a good complexion. Look at both boys chins, that’s very Casiraghi, both of them look like their father more and more, it’s scary.
Officially this was the “Peace & Sport” – Operation Poseidon, by the way and was attended by Prince Albert II as well.
We’ll see how much they party tonight and if they show up frazzy like last year or groomed to perfection (yeah, right). Looking forward to catching glimpses during the race.
Monaco Pierre Casiraghi, Princess Alexandra 10:35 am
I know I know, I said I wouldn’t be posting about the minors, because they have their own life and largely aren’t involved in the royal machinery yet, but! This is just too precious.
Princess Alexandra of Hanover, youngest daughter of Princess Caroline, participated in an AMADE charity football match with her older brother Pierre and uncle Albert (though I dunno if Albert actually played, hmm). These football matches take places annually, the princely team against the F1 team (the Grand Prix is this coming weekend and I’ll most likely even be around an internet connect to watch it! yay!), though I’m not 100% sure this is this and not another one. (Yeah complicated blabla, you want pictures, I know.)
(God Pierre, I adore you with that girl, seriously.)
So theoretically I should have titled this post Cutest not-a-princess ever!, because while Alexandra very definitely is a princess, she’s not because she’s in line to the throne of Monaco (which she is after her mother, brothers and older sister), but because she’s the daughter of the current Prince of Hanover (and all the titles that are attached to that) and also in line for the British throne. Like her siblings, Alexandra probably wouldn’t have received a princess title, if she’d not been born to the Prince and Princess of Hanover. The bestowing worked somewhat more automatic with them than with her siblings, because her father actually holds the title (she’s the daughter of a prince who also is a duke, hence she is a princess, her siblings are the children of a princess and a commoner, which means no automatic passing down of titles, this is the rat-assed, non-detailed, very very quick run-down explanation, not one relying on dynastics, if you want to bitch keep this in mind, ahem). That is why she asn’t Princess Alexandra of Monaco, but Princess Alexandra of Hanover.
We’ve seen Pierre quite often at these matches, I have pictures of him (and even Andrea) participating during different years. It’s for dun and charity, who could decline? But as far as I know, it’s the first time his youngest sister did as well, and after her figure skating exploits this winter, I guess we’re in for more try-outs these coming years. It’s great.
Alexandra and Pierre seem to be closest, which doesn’t surprise me. Pierre, with all his eccentricities, is destined to be….like that, if you get my meaning. Lovely.
Speaking of Pierre, we’ve seen him recently at an appointment with his uncle and with Princess Caroline, which surprised me a little. Considering Albert still doesn’t have children (although that might change in the coming years, not holding my breath there though, sorry), Caroline and Andrea are in line for the throne first, and we know that Andrea is currently around Monaco somewhere. Why Caroline chose to bring her younger son…
It seems peculiar, especially when we consider that Pierre has started to look in on the business side of things in Monaco, more or less taking up where his late father left off (with the help of his uncle on his father’s side). Interesting, interesting….
Belgium Prince Amedeo 12:37 pm
There’s been talk for a while about a written interview that a paper was going to do on HI&RH Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este, Hereditary Prince of Modena etc etc the whole list of titles. A written interview meaning no one actually talked to him but the questions were written out and he essentially sent them back (I suppose a few press offices in Laeken were involved, but that’s the gist of it, really; and yes, hence the headline).
Now it’s been dug up somewhere and a friend sent me the link the other day. And yes, the fact that they had to use a 4 year old picture is significant, imho.
Yes, it’s in French. No, I’m not going to provide a translation, mainly because while I can read French well enough and get the gist, my actual communication skills in it are crap. That includes translating. But if you need help, Google Translate is your friend.
Anyway, what it boils down to is: Boy is happy to be a private person rather than a working royal with a spotlight shone on him and overall, I can’t blame him for it.
In blog news, I’m currently in the preparations of moving house again (twice in less than a year, oh joy), so depending on things like actual moving date, a working internet connection and some other things, so updates will probably be spotty once more.
UK Prince William 3:21 pm
I find this slightly disturbing:
(bigger version kudos to Lara)
First seen on How To Date A Prince
(I know it’s theoretically wrong to tag this as Prince William still but the tag exists, changing it now is meh)
UK 2:40 pm
My lovelies!
Oh dear. What did I miss? Not much, apparently.
(Quick-ish rundown: No, I didn’t watch The Wedding and from what I’ve seen of it, I didn’t miss much either. Sorry to say, unlike everyone else I didn’t like the dress. I was open to liking it! For real! But the lace and the uh…bridal veil that looked like a piece of my grandma’s curtains really didn’t do it for me. And her makeup was too heavy again. *sigh* Most entertaining was Princess Beatrice’s fascinator though, poor girl.)
What I did miss, apparently, was this gem posted below. It seems it’s high time I got twitter and got myself ensconced into the world of hockey dudes on twitter, because this is probably the most hilarious piece of…I don’t even know, because it’s not news even, but maybe the most hilarious piece of dialogue to come out of this whole wedding mess (to be read from the bottom because I have no clue how twitter works):
The man plays for the Phoenix Coyotes on 4th line, for those of you who are hockey-inclined. And while the amount of his lady-friends might be slightly scandalous, he would still be a step up in reputation. Not sure I’m in favour of the match, but the idea? Is too good not to mention here.
No honeymoon period from the press though. I find it quite interesting how the tabloids are digging up the whole sex parties business at the moment, that was 2007 and has been widely publicized before this.
And to give this post at least some reason to truly exist, here’s the confirmation of what I’ve been saying all along:
Kate Middleton can forget private life, says Sir Jackie Stewart
She’s not doing herself any favours with the whole not-working-but-being-a-housewife number. Because a housewife she’s been for the past eight years, it was time she stepped up and pulled her weight. As that’s not going to happen, the press will have her for dinner and ask for seconds.
UK 5:45 pm
It seems I have to postpone my hiatus a couple of hours, because this came just in my mailbox:
As the United Kingdom prepares for the wedding of its future king – along with the celebrations around the extra public holiday that it brings – the marriage of William Mountbatten-Windsor (Homo sapiens) and Catherine Middleton (Homo sapiens) has made a rare appearance in the scientific literature.
In the latest issue of Cell editor Robert Kruger looks at similarities between the royal couple and recent biological developments.
“Although few can relate to William’s particular challenge of searching for a future bride amidst such an overwhelming number of would-be princesses, his problem was reminiscent of a dilemma that confronts transcription factors, which must scan extraordinarily long stretches of DNA to find appropriate targets at which to initiate gene expression,” Kruger notes.
Kruger also touches on the edgy ground of beheading, noting that one previous bearer of the name Queen Catherine met a nasty end with the literal loss of her head. However, he adds, for some species such travails are not fatal. Certain polyps can regenerate head structures after being sliced in half, due to the morphogenic protein Wnt3.
His piece goes on to discuss recent research on the ‘royal jelly’ that bees use to transform some larvae into queens, which reminds the author of Middleton’s rise from the English middle-class to the lofty status of royal. It also explores the biochemical factors underpinning monogamous relationships, which rather suggests the author is unaware of much of the recent literature and discussion on British royal marriages.
I’m not….exactly sure if I’m supposed to roll on the floor shaking with laughter or be worried about where tax money is going, if even science hits up on this. Because…well. No. The royal jelly (isn’t there a L’Oreal shampoo? Gelee royal? Didn’t they say it was the bee queen’s must have, too? I seem to recall tv commercials way back in the day when I used to own a tv). Yes. Indeed. *shudder*
Uncategorized 11:58 am
I added a small correction to the post on the “snub” with the Spanish wedding invitations.
Also, Harry is back from his Arctic trek, looking good.
And I will have to take a small break from my infrequent blogging. I have a lot of stuff happening at the moment and don’t want to flake out on expectations here. I also foresee a lack of internet connection in the near future, which complicates matters further. (Since I didn’t want to cover the wedding anyway it’s no biggie, though).
I’ll be back!
Belgium Prince Laurent 12:34 pm
I’m just going to put these articles here as links, this is as much as an overview for me as it is for you (and somewhere for me to have them all in place). Kudos to Marlene from Royal Musings for collecting them in the first place. If you go to her blog, she has some pretty nice commentary on them as well.
It’s King Vs Prince in Belgium’s Battle Royale
Belgian king angry over son’s Congo trip: palace
Belgium to set ‘strict new rules’ for Prince Laurent, or else he could lose his royal stipend
Belgian PM to lay down law to errant prince
UK Prince William 9:33 am
Inquisition over Prince William’s ‘snub’ to Crown Prince Felipe of Spain
Intentional or not, it’s something that shouldn’t have happened. Even if it was an oversight, should that be the case, someone should have caught this. That is, young William, why you use the resources available to you when tailoring a guest list. People who’ve done this for a couple of decades already usually know which way is up.
Correction: I have since been informed, thank you Marlene, that The Telegraph got it wrong and King Juan Carlos simply passed his invitation on (as he hardly ever attends weddings, we knew that).
Trouble is, and there I remain standing with my criticism, it’s been said that two invitations were sent to each of the royal houses. Now there’s a few cases (Spain, The Netherlands) where we always have a threesome doing these events, the Queen, the heir and the heir’s spouse (in the case of Spain because Juan Carlos doesn’t do these events, in the case of The Netherlands because Queen Beatrix is a widow). It would have been a good idea to consider this from the get-go, especially since the state visit Charles and Camilla conducted to Spain certainly wasn’t a spontaneous outing to visit friends across the channel.
Young, Hot and Royal 