ROYAL NEWS: AUGUST 1999

Last updated: September 1st, 1999

August 4th
Queen Mother Elizabeth of Great Britain celebrated her 99th birthday. She hosted a lunch for her daughters Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, and also grandchildren and great-grandchildren were joining the party at Clarence House, the London residence of the Queen Mother. Two salutes -41 guns then 65 guns- thundered across London. The Queen Mother made her traditional walk about in a sunshine yellow outfit and was greeted by cheers of many people. She received bouquets and gifts. After the Welsh Guards marched past Clarence House and played 'Happy birthday to you' the Queen Mother rode in a golf buggy to meet more crowds before going inside her house again.

August 5th
The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles go on holiday together with the Prince's two sons William and Harry. They are going to sail on the Mediterranean Sea.

August 6th
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark seems to have a new girlfriend. According to the German newspaper her name is Kirstin Ödum (24) and she studies in London. Frederik visits her as much as he can. The Danish Billed Bladet say they went on vacation to France together and her name should be Bettina Odum (23). What's in a name!

August 8th
The Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, has been blotched with text. The offenders are still unknown. The text was a protest against the clearing of the occupied Gutmann Villa in Potsdam, which will be sold soon. The text was removed from the Palace as soon as possible.

Schlössernacht (night of the palaces) in Potsdam on August 21st. Palaces and parks will be open between 5:00pm and 2:00am. There will be lots of music and food. The past centuries will be evoked.
Potsdams Schlössernacht

August 13th
According to a newspaper there is something going on between Willem-Alexander Prince of Orange and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. Her parents should have asked him to prolong his visit to Stockholm to go to a party with Victoria, and he should have agreed.

Princess Caroline of Monaco and Prince Ernst August of Hannover gave a party at their house near the Austrian village of Grünau in honour of the solar eclipse last Wednesday. Two guards received the instruction to remove the photographers Horst and Alfred Sternberger, who were beaten by the guards while Prince Ernst August was watching.

August 14th

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden sealed the completion of a bridge with a hug and a kiss. The 7,8 km long bridge over the Öresund between the Danish capital Copenhagen and the Swedish town Malmö finally connects the two countries over land. Now also Scandinavia is connected with the European continent. The Danish Queen Margrethe II and the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf will open the bridge for cars and trains on July 1st, 2000.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands opened the exhibition 'Onder den Oranjeboom' (Under the Orange tree) at the Oranienburg palace in Oranienburg, Germany, which reopened its gates with this excellent exhibition after a few years of restoration. The Queen and her husband Prince Claus were welcomed by more than 2000 people, including some Dutch (and myself). Under the invited guests who were able to attend the opening in the palace was Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia. The exhibition will stay in Oranienburg until November 14th. From December 16, 1999, until March 20, 2000, the exhibition can be seen in Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

August 15th
A Greek-Cypriot man has threatened the Prince of Wales with a harpoon during the Prince's vacation in the Mediterranean Sea area. The Prince was unhurt.

Although it rained some 500 people attended the reception in the garden of Vaduz Castle, Liechtenstein, on the National Feastday. The hosts of the reception were Prince Hans Adam II, his wife Princess Marie, Hereditary Prince Alois and his wife Sophie, and Prince Maximilian. Hans Adam II in his speech said that this was the last National Feastday of this millennium. He also declared again that he soon after the start of the new millennium will appoint Prince Alois as his regent.

August 16th
The Oranje-Nassau Museum in Baarn, the Netherlands, is going to move to Het Loo Palace in the future.

On a charity ball the Princess Royal, Anne, wore a dress she already wore in 1973 at a party in Berlin, Germany.

Prince Stephan Leopold zur Lippe and his wife Maria will get their third child in October. They already have two sons: Bernhard Leopold (1995) and Heinrich Otto (1997).

August 22nd
Prince Faisal bin Fahd (54), the oldest son of King Fahd of Saudi-Arabia, has died of a heart attack. He died in the afternoon of August 21st in Riyadh's King Faisal Hospital hours after he was admitted with heart problems. Prince Faisal was not in line for the throne. King Fahd's younger brother Abdallah is heir to the throne. Prince Faisal was Minister of Sport. Arab dignities, including the Jordanian crown prince Hamza, arrived in Riyadh for the funeral on August 22nd. King Fahd didn't return from his holiday-house in Spain for the funeral of his son.

August 24th
The leaked final report into the car crash in which Diana Princess of Wales died on August 31st 1997, is due to come out later this month. It reportedly clears the photographers who were following the car of manslaughter. However it criticises Dodi Al-Fayed for his handling of the security arrangement.

August 25th
Two people died. Anne Princess of Bavaria née de Lustrac, widow of Prince Heinrich of Bavaria (1922-1958), died in an accident in Milan on August 16th. She was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on September 28th, 1927. Her late husband Prince Heinrich was a half-brother of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, who's son Franz is now the Duke of Bavaria. Prince Anthony Radziwill, first cousin of John Fitzgerald Kennedy jr, died on August 10th. He was buried on August 13th in Easthampton.

August 27th
King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda (45 or 43) married Sylvia Nagginda Luswata (38) in the Anglican Cathedral of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. It was the first royal wedding in 50 years in the country. The 600-year old Kingdom of Buganda came to an end in the 60's, but was restored a short time ago by the president of Uganda, although now the Kingdom only has a ceremonial function. The groom lived in England for years, didn't finish his study at the University of Cambridge and had several jobs, before returning to Uganda. The British-born bride lived the last 20 years in the USA where she was educated to be a public relations expert. She was an employee of the World Bank. The bride and groom invited some thousands of guests to join their wedding party. Some ten thousands of people were invited for a reception in a sports stadium. The people in Uganda were thrilled to have this wedding in their country. Now they wait for the first child. The King already has a child with a former girlfriend, which relationship never has been official, although everybody knew about it.

August 28th
Prince Joachim and Princess Alexandra of Denmark became the proud parents of a healthy boy. He was born in the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen at 11:52am. The baby weighs 2655 grammes and his length is 48 cm. Prince Joachim himself cut through the umbilical cord Billed-Bladet said.

In the Netherlands there are many speculations about a new girlfriend of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. He should want to marry a Miss Herzog, who's parents live in Argentina, but are German. A former potential wedding candidate, jonkvrouwe Vanessa Loudon married today with Janus Smalbraak, a friend of Willem-Alexander. They married in Leende, and had invited about 1600 guests for a party on De Valkenhorst, which was transformed into a Magic Eastern Dessert Kingdom (party in the oasis).

August 30th
Thousands of people placed flowers at the gates of London's Kensington Palace and Althorp House to commemorate the eve and night of the second anniversary of Princess Diana's death. There were fewer bouquets than last year. No official ceremonies are planned to mark this day. The royal family will be at Balmoral castle, and will attend a church service on Sunday. Meanwhile singer Elton John said during a concert in Leeds, Great Britain, that it should be about time that there will come a monument for Princess Diana. He got the applause of about 10.000 people who visited his concert after he said it.

The Dutch play 'Wilhelmina. Je Maintiendrai' about the life of the late Queen Wilhelmina, broke all after-war records, by attracting 125.000 visitors during the first theatre-season. It is now beginning its second season.

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his girlfriend, yet named by a newspaper as Maxima Herzog from Argentina, joined the wedding of Vanessa Loudon and Janus Smalbraak together last Saturday according to the same newspaper. How does this sound: Crown Princess Maxima or Queen Maxima; never heard such a combination before!

August 31st
Saxony and the royal house of Saxony (Wettin) have come to an agreement about compensation after two years of negotiations. For 23,6 million DM Saxony buys more than 1000 pieces of art, among them the throne of King August the Strong, many paintings, furniture and Meissner porcelain. The Wettin family has the right on about 15000 pieces of art from Dresden’s collections. The pieces of art, which are not bought by Saxony, will be given back to the royal house of Saxony.

The newest on the new girlfriend of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The Volkskrant finally seem to have turned up with the right name. Her name is Maxima Zorroguita, 27 or 28 years old, from Buenos Aires in Argentina. Despite other rumours she is 100% Argentinian. She has studied economics in New York and seems to work now for a bank in New York. Her father has been Minister of Agriculture around 1980 during the military regime. She thus is from a good family. She has (dark) blond hair. According to Argentinian sources, the NOS-news said, the relationship is serious. The Dutch Government Information Service denies all rumours. The newspaper tells that Maxima introduced the Prince to her family during a skiing-holiday in Bariloche, Argentina, some time ago, as her fiancé. They told the family after three days who the young Dutchman really was.


Royal News: July 1999. Last updated: Augustus 16th, 1999.