Aaaand another round.
Need a better structure though so we’ll go by country this time.
Belgium
What’s it with the interest in the House of Austria-Este? Luisa Maria is still in school, I doubt you’ll find much of her anyway, safe for a few shots with her family. Joachim is just out to school and will either start studying in the fall or be enrolled in the royal military academy of Belgium. Maria Laura is studying and probably currently in Asia. Amedeo is still working for Deloitte in New York City; I don’t know which branch or what his job description is. I don’t really have that kind of stalker tendencies. Laetitzia is too young to make an appearance on this blog, save for shots with her family. Astrid is doing the working royal thing, Lorenz shows up when it’s required and elsewise he’s doing his own thing, he has an actual job (probably not 9 to 5 though).
Lorenz, Amedeo and Maria Laura were given titles as princes/princess of Belgium by royal decree in 1991, while, or shortly before, Astrid was pregnant with Joachim. Until then, they were only archdukes and archduchess, which means Lorenz and Amedeo are theoretically in the succession to the Austro-Hungarian throne (and pretty high up, too will likely go up further due to deaths and some fighting within the family about proper marriages). For Maria Laura the title would have had no consequences, as no one can need an archduchess as bride these days anymore (lucky for her, she can do what she wants). While I have read the decree itself, I can only speculate on the reason for it. Philippe was still unmarried and didn’t look like he would marry any time soon, the succession was running through the male line and that seemed wrong for a modern country… I wouldn’t know. Speculation and more input on this are welcome.
Okay… Dear Amedeo, if you want to send me a message, just do it. I’m not the rabid fangirl type; actually, I probably have less respect for your status and your title than even your colleagues. But please no placing cryptic search queries that aren’t search queries by a long shot. Seriously.
Denmark
I have absolutely no idea if Prince Joachim and Prince Frederik are on good terms. The fact that Fred told Joachim only at a very recent photo shoot that his wife is pregnant seems to suggest otherweise, but I really couldn’t tell.
Prince Joachim very very likely speaks fluent French. His father is originally French (and his Danish is horrible say the Danish people so I would guess he speaks French with his children) and his wife is French. The assumption that he does speak French is reasonable. As for Fred, I know he does because I’ve seen footage of him and Guillaume chatting about some sports event or other – in French.
It is still being denied that Princess Mary had fertility treatment, but with her advanced age and her somewhat too thin figure, I wouldn’t be surprised. While I don’t think it was ivf or icsi, I suppose she might at least have been on ovulation stimulating drugs.
Uhm as for Mary and her…reputation as a golddigger, well. My opinion? When the young royals were in Sydney for the Olympics, she checked out who was available, first had a little tryst with Nikolaos (I’m not at all sure if this is just rumours of what actually happened but as I’ve heard it from several sides so far, let’s treat it as a fact), before figuring out Fred was the bigger number. As she’s been flaunting ‘her’ money for the past few years, clothes and jewels, and she’s not at all interested in doing any actual work, I suppose it’s safe to say I consider her a gold digger, yes. Being a princess is not all dresses and tiaras, it’s actually pretty damn hard work.
Greece
Seems like more people are noticing Prince Philippos now. He’s a bit young for me (currently, give it ten years and he’ll be perfectly acceptable *g*), but I can already see he’s gonna be hunky. No idea on the girlfriend bit, sorry. As for photos, hope for the wedding. With any luck, we’ll get a few good shots of him and Theodora both.
Luxembourg
I’d ask who Princess Catherine is, but I would only do that because I’m too lazy to get the family tree out now. As she’s not of the current generation, she must be historical, or potentially nonexistent. Either way, I have nothing on her.
Still no girlfriend for HGD Guillaume, nor is it known of he’s gay or bi or straight. We he could be gay, he has enough brothers left to take care of succession issues at the very least ^^; (yeah I’m pragmatic, sue me :-P). He’s not engaged though, that much I’m sure of (at least not officially, what he does in private, who knows).
Okay so by “Crown prince Guillaume bathing” I hope you mean swimming in the sea, and not in the bathtub with a small yellow plastic duck. Seriously, that would be wrong. Anyway, there are pictures of Guillaume swimming trunks and playing volleyball in the sea from a couple of years ago, I don’t have them though (and I’m not going hunting for them). So I assure you can can relax…which doesn’t mean he gets to it often. Félix and Henri at one those pictures too, btw. If you find them shoot me a line ;-).
Monaco
I’m serious: Charlotte Casiraghi is not pregnant. Gosh, if Charlotte’s had known what she’s doing she might not have shown up with that baby bump at the shower. Neither is Tatiana Santo Domingo, btw.
Andrea has made himself somewhat rare the past few weeks, but he’s still in Paris, doing his internship at the embassy of Qatar. So I suppose there’s no reason to show up, at the moment he should see to get his training finished so they can use him, sooner rather than later.
People, when you google for “prince of monaco naked” I do hope you mean the Casiraghi brothers and not Albert.
Which brings us to something that also was a query and thank you for that: Andrea, Charlotte and Pierre do not hold princely titles. They are descended from the Grimaldi dynasty through their mother, and the title of prince and princess was, at the time of their births, only hereditary by the male line, rather than the female. Prince Rainier could have given them princely titles, but all sources agree that Caroline didn’t want that. for good reason, too, because growing up a prince or princess puts way too many obstacles in your way, especially in a small country like Monaco. Further, they would have been members of the princely family of Monaco (which they are currently not, no matter if Andrea is heir to Caroline or not), which might have brought complication in terms of later inheritance from their father. Caroline and Stefano must have agreed on this pretty early on. As for Alexandra, she is a princess, but she’s a royal highness, rather than a serene highness, and she got the title from her father, rather than her mother. Prince Ernst August of Hanover is a royal highness as the heir to the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
Now, dynastically speaking (I know, annoying, blabla), the Monegasques should put Alexandra on the throne and let the line run through her, in another generation or two the houses won’t care that much that they were originally only princes. Won’t happen, but could be interesting.
As for Andrea’s status as heir to his mother, should it come to pass that he will be Prince of Monaco, he will adopt the name Grimaldi and be made that. Easy as that, really. Has lots to do with constitution and house law.
Sweden
Someone else has noticed, I’m delighted! Yes, Carl Philip has put on a lot of muscle since spring. Not so much that it would be unnatural, but enough to make a difference. He looked pretty bad back in April, enough that I was a bit worried about his health, but since then he’s on a steady increase. I first really noticed a couple of weeks ago, when King Carl Gustaf was at the races with Per Gessle. CP had his arms over the rails in one picture and I was a bit woah. Good though, suits him well.
I refuse to talk about Sofia again, I think I’ve everything that needed to be said on Wednesday.
General stuff / Undefinable
Royals who wear sashes over their chest wear orders. When abroad, a royal will either wear the highest order of his own country that he had been presented with (by the sovereign) or the highest order of the country he is visited, that he has been presented with (by the sovereign). HGD Guillaume was wearing a Luxembourgian order at Princess Victoria’s wedding, while his father was wearing a Swedish one.
Orders are usually presented at state’s visits or the like (or upon marriage, see Prince Daniel) and consist usually of two parts: The sash and attached batch and a star to be pinned to the chest. When someone possess more than one order, they wear the sash of the highest one of the country of origin or the visited country (depending on what they have) and only the stars of the others. How the sash is worn (left to right or right to left) and where the star is pinned (most often left chest) depends on the specifications of the order.
Not only royals can have orders, but usually foreign politicians visiting are presented with the, too. Not only monarchies do have orders but most republics do, as well.
Fred and Princess Victoria are not only cousins but you can be sure that they have a sibling-relationship to each other. Vikkan has a younger brother in Carl Philip, but you can be sure she has older brothers in Frederik, Haakon and Willem-Alexander at the very least. Hurt her and you have three crown princes on your doorstep wanting to beat you within an inch of your life (that said, Daniel is a very very brave man).
And uh…jacobite leather waistcoat? Anyone want to enlighten me? (I’ve talked about Sophia’s theoretical Jacobite claim to the throne of Britain, but where does the waist coat come from? Several times, too Oo)
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Young, Hot and Royal 
