ROYAL NEWS: JANUARY 2001

Last updated: February 1st, 2001.

January 2nd
Doctors treating Princess Margaret of Great Britain are expecting results of medical tests they hope will help to diagnose her illness. Princess Margaret is resting at Sandringham after being bedridden over the Christmas and New Year period. It was said her condition would prove to be physical rather than mental. The Princess is expected to stay at Sandringham for the foreseeable future.

More than 70.000 people came to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo where Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan greeted the crowds from the balcony. The Emperor made a New Year's speech in which he said to hope for peace and happiness for the Japanese and the world.

In Amman, Jordan, Princess Maqbula, was buried. Princess Maqbula was the youngest daughter of King Abdullah I of Jordan from his second marriage to Princess Suzdil Hanum. She was born in Mecca in 1917 and married her distant cousin Prince Hussein bin Nasser in 1943. They had one son, Zeid, who himself has four sons.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will celebrate this year's Queen's Day on April 30th in Meppel and Hoogeveen.

January 3rd
Iran and Pakistan are fighting for a 2500-year-old mummy that has been found in the west of Pakistan one year ago. An Italian archeologist says that it is the mummy of Princess Rudomona, sister of Cyrus the Great. The sarcophagus contains an inscription that confirms that. It is also decorated with old Persian symbols. Now Iran has sent a team of archeologists to Pakistan. Iran says the mummy is part of the cultural heritage of the country and demands that Pakistan gives the mummy back.

Tests carried out on her suggest Princess Margaret of Great Britain may have suffered a further minor stroke, a Buckingham Palace statement has said. She already suffered a mild one in February 1998 on the Island of Mustique. Her condition is not life-treatening. She remains at Sandringham for further nursing care.

January 4th
The tumor that was removed out of Prince Bernhard's body was malignant one. According to the doctors the whole tumor was removed and they say there are no indications that there is more. The removal was the 50th operation in 89 1/2 year the Prince lives.

January 6th
The Prince of Wales has fractured a small bone in his left shoulder. He was thrown to the ground when his horse jumped unexpectedly during a ride with the Mey Nell Hunt in Derbyshire. Doctors put his arm in a sling and believe the injury will heal itself. The Prince is resting at home at Highgrove.

January 7th
Police were called to Windsor Castle on New Year's Eve after complaints from people celebrating on the streets below. It is alleged that royal guardsmen pointed what looked like rifles at passers-by while shouting "Happy New Year". The incident is being examined by the Army.

Queen Elizabeth II has told well-wishers that her sister Princess Margaret is getting better. She made the comment to members of a crowd of about 100 people who gathered as she left church at Sandringham.

January 10th
Princess Margaret of Great Britain has been admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London following a deterioration in her health. Her condition continued to give cause for concern and she has suffered a severe loss of appetite. She is expected to undergo tests which should determine whether she did suffer a minor stroke as suspected last week.

January 11th
With the placing of a four metres high obelisk the restoration of the sepulchral monument for Prince Willem of Oranje (1533-1584) approached its completion after more than four years. The restoration was necessary because the marble was affected by salt-crystals. In the spring the restoration will be finished.

Today Princess Vera Constantinovna of Russia died in Valley Cottage, New York City aged 94, being the oldest member of the Romanov family alive. Princess Vera was born in April 1906 as the youngest of the nine children of Grand Duke Constantin Constantinovitch and Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. Her father died in 1915, one of her brothers died in 1914 at the front and three other brothers were killed in a mine at Alapaievsk in July 1918. Vera escaped the Russian Revolution with her mother and some of her siblings. They first settled in Germany with the German family of her mother. Later Vera moved to the USA where she lived for years in an apartment of the Tolstoy Foundation in New York City. She has never been married.

January 12th
This evening Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje took part in the silent walk through Volendam, the Netherlands, that was held to commemorate the victims of a terrible fire that broke out in a pub in Volendam in the first hour of the year 2001. 10 Young people died, 180 were wounded - of them 118 are still in hospital (49 at the Intensive Care) in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Princess Margaret of Great Britain has made an enormous improvement her lady-in-waiting, Lady Glenconner, has said after she visited her in hospital. The Princess is now eating small meals. Lady Glenconner added that they had tea and that the Princess ate chocolate cake. Over the past few days both Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto have visited their mother several times.

January 13th
More than 100 museums and cultural institutes in Berlin and Brandenburg take part in the Prussia-jubilee 1701-2001. According to "Prussia 2001" only authentic places of Prussia-history have been invited. Highlights are the exhibition "Prussia 2001 - a European History" in Berlin-Charlottenburg and the presentation "Marks. A Voyage of Discovery through Brandenburg - Prussia" in Potsdam.

At 3pm Prince Nikolaus, youngest son of Hereditary Prince Alois and Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein, was baptised in the Cathedral of Vaduz by Archbishop Wolfgang Haas. Godfather of the little Prince, who was born on December 6th, was Alexander Hereditary Prince von Quadt zu Wykradt und Isny, cousin of Sophie.

January 14th
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain helped steady her mother who lost her balance on the last step of the gates of St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham after attending the church service. There were gasps of concern from a crowd of 300 well-wishers who had gathered outside, but Buckingham Palace later confirmed that the Queen Mother was unhurt.

Old ambassador at the Unesco, Mourik, has officially lodged a complaint against the members of the Argentinian military regime of Videla at the court of justice in Arnhem, The Netherlands. Among the members is Jorge Zorreguieta, father of Máxima, who was Minister of Agriculture at that time. Mourik holds the members responsible for crimes against humanity and torture. This way he tries to prevent that the Netherlands and the Royal House will be connected with an old member of such a regime by means of a marriage, in this case Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje and Máxima Zorreguieta.

On Wednesday the palace museum at the Oranienburg Palace, near Berlin, will be opened. During a concert the invited guests can walk around through the feast hall and the other rooms. Pieces of art from the history of the palace, among them paintings and furniture, can be seen from now on. The Oranienburg Palace was built for Louise Henriette, first wife of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, in 1651. Around 1700 it was enlarged by their son Friedrich I, who became the first King in Prussia in 1701.

January 15th
Today at 1pm Princess Vera of Russia was buried at the Novo De Veevo Russian Orthodox Cemetary after a service in the Russian Orthodox Church in Spring Valley, New York.

On Wednesday Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will hand over design-"art" from his own country to the Hamburg Museum for Art and Industry. The visit is the final highlight of the cultural year "Denmark to Hamburg". The most spectacular thing Frederik will hand over is a handmade luxuruous mahogany kayak by Jorgen Samson and Ole Gibsholm of the Firm Madsen & Struer Sprintboats Denmark.

On January 12th the first Habsburg baby to be born in Hungary in more than 50 years has been delivered in Budapest. Eilika, the wife of Archduke Georg, youngest son of Dr Otto von Habsburg, gave birth to a 3,8 kg girl. Mother and daughter are both healthy and in excellent condition. The name of the little girl has not been announced yet.

January 17th
Bad news for the British royal family. MP's have backed an almost total ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales in the last of three Commons votes. MP's voted by 387-174 for the ban following an impassioned commons debate on the Hunting Bill. The Bill will now go to the House of Lords for consideration.

January 18th
The civil wedding of Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands and his fiancee Laurentien Brinkhorst will take place on May 17th in The Hague. The religious wedding will take place on May 19th at the Grote Kerk in The Hague.

With a festal celebration and a service at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, Berlin and Brandenburg commemorated the coronation of the first Prussian King Friedrich I exactly 300 years ago. At the same time it was the opening of Prussia 2001. Also the Head of the House of Prussia, Prince Georg Friedrich, was present. More than 100 museums will have exhibitions in the coming months that show the various aspects of this period. Further there will be many municipal celebrations and festivals.

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is considering opening the grounds of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Holyroodhouse Palace for free pop concerts to celebrate her 2002 Golden Jubilee. The concerts could reflect popular music of the Queen's 50-year reign and feature artists like the three surviving Beatles, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey and Vera Lynn. The key event marking the 50th anniversary will be a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral in London on June 4th.

Princess Margaret of Great Britain is to leave hospital on Saturday after making good progress. She will return to Kensington Palace before going to Sandringham on Monday to continue her rest and recuperation.

January 19th
Paul Burrell, Princess Diana of Wales's former butler, was arrested yesterday at his Chester home by officers from Scotland Yard. He was being held in a Cheshire police station, was questioned and was released today. He was held on suspicion of theft of missing clothes belonging to the late Princess and a jewel encrusted model boat.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will visit Russia from June 5th to June 8th. The state visit should have taken place in 1998, but had to be cancelled because of President Boris Jeltsin's health. It will be the first Dutch state visit ever to Russia. In the 70s when she was a princess Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus paid a visit to Russia.

January 20th
In the evening Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands arrived at Sint Maarten, one of the islands of the Dutch Antilles. She will pay a four-day visit to the islands of Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba.

Pablo Nicolás Sebastián Urdangarín y de Borbón, the son of Infanta Cristina of Spain and her husband Iñaki Urdangarín, was baptised at the Palacio de la Zarzuela by Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, in presence of the Spanish royal family. His godparents were Prince Kubrat of Bulgaria and Princess Alexia of Greece.

In the Church of the Monastery in Bronnbach, Germany, Duke Paul of Oldenburg married Pilar Méndez De Vigo y Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg today. The witnesses were Duke Christian of Oldenburg for the groom and Princess Sibilla of Luxemburg for the bride. On this cold and freezy day the church, as usual, was not heated, and several guests confessed they wore extra clothes under their festive clothes. Among the more than 300 guests were many royals with as most important ones Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium. Further among others members of the families of Oldenburg and Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg were present, next to the Margrave of Baden, Hereditary Prince Gustav zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and his fiancee Elvire Pasté de Rochefort. After the service there was a short reception at the Bernhard Hall of the monastery. In the evening a huge ball was held.

January 21st
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain marked the death of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria 100 years ago at a special service. Also the Duke of Edinburgh attended. the Queen Mother attended the morning service while steadying herself with two walking sticks. Prayers were said at St Laurence Parish Church near Sandringham. There was also a service at St George Chapel, Windsor, to commemorate Queen Victoria's death.

Unidentified vandals, believed to be youth, entered the former royal estate at Tatoi, Greece, yesterday and broke or bent nine marble crosses on the graves of members of the royal family. Among the four graves on which the cross was broken was the one of Queen Olga of Greece, great-grandmother of King Konstantinos II. The graves of King Pavlos and Queen Frederika were not damaged.

January 22nd
The National Railway Museum of Great Britain has launched an appeal for funds to preserve the last surviving royal railway carriage used by Queen Victoria. More than £ 50.000 is needed to clean and repair textiles and materials which Queen Victoria chose for the London & North Western Railway carriage. The carriage, withdrawn from service in 1902, is on display at the York Museum.

January 23rd
The Swedish men's magazine Slitz chose Princess Madeleine of Sweden among the 100 sexiest Swedish women. She actually came in 5th place. Meanwhile the gay magazine QX voted her brother Prince Carl Philip the sexiest man in Sweden.

January 26th
Prince Sixte-Henri of Bourbon of Parma has been hospitalised in Santa Rosa, Argentina, following a serious car accident in which at least one person died. The prince has fractured his hip and a collar bone, and also has a fracture of the skull. He is in serious but stable condition.

The Scottish University St Andrews has become extremely popular among starting female students. Most likely the cause is the arrival of Prince William of Great Britain who will start studying history of art at this university after the summer holidays. The university has seen a 44% increase in applications, about 90% is thought to be from female fans of Prince William.

Thom de Graaf, leader of the Dutch Democrat Party, has said that the Dutch government can't stop Jorge Zorreguieta from attending an eventual wedding of Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje and his daughter Máxima, but because of the sensitiveness there should be a strive for such a presence of Jorge Zorreguieta that doesn't give offence. Nobody is benifited by a revival of the wedding of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus in 1966 with smoking bombs and fights. According to De Graaf the presence of Jorge Zorreguieta already comes up with the engagement. He said: "I think to remember that the parents of Prince Claus didn't attend the engagement either." (Netty: the mother of Prince Claus was indeed not there; his father had already died long before the engagement). How the protocol exactly has to pass off is the business of the court and the cabinet together. De Graaf further said according to him the relationship itself between Willem-Alexander and Máxima is not a problem for anybody.

January 27th
In the Hospital Cantonal in Geneva, Switzerland, the 94-year-old last Queen of Italy, Marie-José, died. She had been hospitalised since December 27th and died of a lung oedema. She was born on August 4th, 1906 as the daughter of King Albert I of Belgium and Elisabeth Duchess in Bavaria. In 1930 she married the later King Umberto II of Italy, who died in 1983. In May 1946 they became the last King and Queen of Italy, and were forced to leave the country after only one month of reigning. The monarchy was abolished. Out of the unhappy marriage one son and three daughters were born. The former Queen Marie-José further leaves several grand- and great-grandchildren. The burial most likely will take place on Thursday or Friday at the Abbey of Hautecombe, Savoy, France.

On January 24th Princess Victoire of Bourbon of Parme, aged only 43, died of cancer at the American Hospital in Neuilly, France. She had been divorced from Baron Ernst-Alexis von Gecmen-Waldeck, and is said to have been remarried to Carlos Rodrigues in 1995. She leaves her parents, Prince Michel of Bourbon of Parme and Yolande de Broglie-Revel, as well as her daughter Tatiana (married and mother of two sons) and her son Nicolas. She will be buried next to her sister Inès (who died in 1981) on January 29th after a service at the Église Saint Martin de Crespières near Paris.

January 28th
Police says they were called out to a late night disturbance involving Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal, and her boyfriend jockey Richard Johnson. Zara was said to be in tears after the row with Richard Johnson during a night out with another jockey and his girlfriend. Buckingham Palace sources have dismissed the incident in Gloucestershire as a teenage tiff between Zara and Richard Johnson.

In a Belgian television programme about royalty it was said Princess Esmeralda of Belgium (44 years old) and her husband Salvador Moncada expect their second child. Their daughter Alexandra Léopoldine was born in August 1998, four months after the wedding of her parents.

January 29th
Former Queen Marie-José of Italy will be buried at the Abbey of Hautecombe, Savoy, France, next to her husband on Friday.

The exhibition "De Voorstelling" that was arranged by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam already greeted 100.000 visitors. The exhibition can be seen until February 4th.

An older member of the Democrat Party in the Netherlands has said that according to him Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje has to renounce his rights to the Dutch throne when he will marry Máxima Zorreguieta. He says the politicians take up a too careful position in this matter.

January 30th
The Queen's Bedroom at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, where Queen Victoria of Great Britain died on January 22nd, 2001, has been recreated as it was when she passed away. Her bed has been decorated with palms and flowers and for the first time personal artefacts are being put on public display. The room was regarded by Queen Victoria's family as a shrine which they visited for moments of quiet contemplation whenever they returned to Osborne House. The former royal residence reopens tomorrow after extensive, interior restoration and refurbishment in the Durbar Wing.

Prince Sixte-Henri of Bourbon of Parma has been transferred to an hospital in Buenos Aires. His condition is still said to be serious. Two persons were killed in the car accident that happened on Wednesday January 24th.

January 31st
On February 13th Sotheby's in Amsterdam will put up a painting by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands for auction. The painting "Spring" that was painted in 1931 is thought to bring in about $2500.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands celebrated her 63rd birthday evening with family and friends at the Stedelijk Museum on her exhibition "De Voorstelling". Prince Claus was present, still having health problems, and was the first one to leave again. The Queen arrived by royal bus together with Prince Constantijn and his fiancee Laurentien Brinkhorst, Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje and Máxima Zorreguieta. It was the first time ever Willem-Alexander and Máxima were seen in public together in the Netherlands. Happily smiling they left the party. Outside press and interested people waited for them. They were loudly cheered.


Royal News: December 2000. Last updated: January 3rd, 2001.