ROYAL NEWS: APRIL 1999

Last updated: May 7th, 1999

April 2nd
On April 15 Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece, son of Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Maria, will be baptized at St. Sophia's Greek Cathedral in London. Prince William of Wales will be one of the godparents. The other godparents are the baby's uncle Prince Nikolaos, crown prince Frederik of Denmark, Felipe prince of Asturias, crown princess Victoria of Sweden, prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, princess Alexandra zu Fürstenberg (born Miller) and someone called Doris Robbs. After the christening there will be a private dinner at Claridge's.

April 6th
Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje can restart his work for the International Olympic Committee according to the Dutch government. The Prime Minister, Wim Kok, said that the crown prince can pay a contribution to the future of a new IOC.

April 7th
The last genealogical news for everyone who is interested in it. On March 15th, in Madrid, Spain, Fernando de Baviera y Mesia, a Spanish descendant of the Royal House of Bavaria, died aged 61. He was buried the next day in the presence of King Juan Carlos of Spain, his sister Margarita and her husband Carlos Zurita. On March 23 Prince Kardam of Bulgaria and his wife Miriam got their second son, Beltrán. He was born at the Clínica Ruber International in Madrid, Spain.

April 8th
The Duchess of York is to become the USA-spokeswoman for the pottery and china firm Wedgwood. She will only represent the Stoke-on-Trent firm that has a royal warrant from the Queen. She will get paid 500.000 English Pounds a year for the job.

Prince Heinrich von Hannover (37), youngest brother of Ernst August, will marry Thyra Donata Sixtina von Westernhagen (born in Oldenburg on August 14th 1973 as a daughter of Burkhard von Westernhagen and Uta Maria von Pape) on June 19 in Teistungen im Eichsfeld, Germany, where the family-estate of the bride's family is.

The website of The British Monarchy has been updated. New is the monthly online magazine Royal Insight.

April 9th
On July 1st Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales will take part in the opening ceremony of Scotland's first parliament for nearly 300 years.

April 12th
Accidents in the British royal family: On Saturday April 10th surgeons have operated on the left index-finger of Prince William, which he fractured before Christmas during a rugby-match at Eton College. He was operated under general anaesthetic at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. After the surgery William went home. It was made public that princess Margaret, not seen in public since February, scalded her feet while taking a too hot bath about one month ago. The accident happened at her holiday-house 'Les Jolies Eaux' at the Caribean Island of Mustique. She is still recovering and is taken care of by a nurse at Windsor Castle. As she is a little older (she is 68) the burns don't heal very quickly.

April 14th
Born on April 1st Zita, daughter of Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon de Parme and his wife Constance.

On April 11th Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, her husband Prince Claus and Crown Prince Willem-Alexander arrived in HongKong and started their eight-day state-visit to China the next day in Beijing. An earlier state-visit to China in 1989 was cancelled after the bloody student-demonstrations. Now the Dutch royals met the president of China and enjoyed a 10-course dinner at the beginning of the visit. On April 13th they opened an M. Escher-exhibition in the Forbidden City and had a meeting with Dutch people living in China. On April 14th Willem-Alexander visited the Chinese Wall.

April 15th
Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece has been baptized at the St.Sophia Greek Cathedral in Bayswater, London, today, under the eye of all of his godparents. On the right of the photo: Prince William of Great Britain.

April 17th
It has been made official that in March 1991 it was discovered that the Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander suffers from the disease of Besnier Boeck. This illness has something to do with the lungs and the defence system of the human body. It seems the disease has stopped in the first phase. The Prince needs to be controlled from time to time.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark broke the marathon record of the royals. He ran the Paris Marathon in 3 hours and 33 minutes and seems to be very fit.

April 19th
Queen Beatrix ended her state visit to China in rainy Hongkong. She spent the weekend at the country in China, and visited Shanghai on Friday. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander left on Friday and was visited during the weekend by Dutch speed skater Rintje Ritsma.

A man was arrested after jumping over the gates of Buckingham Palace. It was understood that he was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Sibylla Ambler and her husband baron Cornelius von Dinckelage got a daughter. Madeleine Charlotte Margaretha was born in Munich, Germany, on March 15th.

April 20th
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands ended a two-day visit to Albania. She went there as the vice-chairwoman of the Dutch Red Cross. She spoke with various delegations of the International Red Cross and with the Albanian president Mejdani. She also visited some centres for refugees from Kosovo, and cried when she told on TV how she was moved by what she saw there.

Hereditary Prince Alois and Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein got another son today. His name is Georg Antonius Constantin Maria, and he was born at the Spital Grabs.

April 22nd
Queen Elizabeth II concluded her state visit to South Korea by meeting British and Commonwealth veterans of the Korean War (50's) at a special royal garden party. In the earlier days of the visit the Queen and her husband watched a taekwondo demonstration and had tea in the cafetaria of Ewha University in Seoul. At her birthday on April 21st she was offered a 47-dish feast at the village of Hahoe, but she declined.

April 23rd
Princess Caroline of Monaco is learning the German language. She and her husband Prince Ernst von Hannover bought the house of designer Karl Lagerfeld near Paris. Caroline's son Andrea is visiting a school in the neighbourhood.

April 24th
A poster of the painting 'Clouds and violence' of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, of which 8000 copies were made for selling them, was sold out within 3 hours. The proceeds were for the people in Kosovo.

April 25th
The Prince of Wales joined a celebration of the 300th anniversary of the formal founding of the Sikh brotherhood in the Royal Albert Hall in London.

James Hewitt is said to be auctioning the newspaper rights to his memoirs of his five-year affair with Princess Diana. He is talking to the Mail on Sunday and the News of the World about selling the serialisation rights for more than 500.000 pounds, the Sunday Telegraph said today. It is understood extracts from Diana's letters will not appear in the memoirs.

April 26th
The Sultan of Selangor Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, a former school inspector and army major, has been installed as the 11th King (since 1957) of Malaysia in a glittering ceremony. Of the 13 states of Malaysia, 9 have royal families. They take turns to serve as king for a five-year term. The King is nominally head of state, but his powers are largely ceremonial. The real power lies by Prime Minister Mahathir.

April 27th
Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York has paid about $15.000 for a four-day course in Italian language. Her teacher was Michael Thomas from Los Angeles.

April 30th
In the Netherlands Queen's Day was celebrated. A special day as former Queen Juliana had her 90th birthday. The Queen, her husband, her three sons, her sister and husband with three of the four sons (one with wife), visited Houten and Utrecht this time. They enjoyed themselves very much. Prince Claus, the Queen's husband, stole the show. When the family had to cycle he gave lifts to nice girls, and later on made a dance with his brother-in-law Pieter van Vollenhoven. The crowd loved it.


Royal News: March 1999. Last updated: April 7th, 1999