ROYAL NEWS: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1998

Last updated: December 10th, 1998.

October 29th
Born in New York the son of Prince Pavlos and Princess Maria of Greece. His name is Constantine Alexios.

October 31st
In the cathedral of Monaco Charles Prince of Bourbon-Sicilies, Duke of Calabria, married Camilla Crociani (born Rome, Italy, April 5th 1971). The witnesses were the sisters of the groom, Beatrice and Anne, Albert Prince of Monaco and Laurent Prince of Belgium. They gave a big party for about 600 guests (amongst others royals and society people).

November 4th
In Vaduz the Princely Family of Liechtenstein announced the engagement of Prince Constantin, the youngest son of the reigning Prince Hans Adam II, with Marie Gabriele Franciska, Countess Kálnoky (born Graz, Austria, July 16th 1975).

November 7th
In the cathedral of Palermo, Italy, some Italian and German scientists opened the grave of Friedrich II of Hohenstaufen (December 26, 1194-December 13, 1250), Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (since 1220), King of Germany (since 1212), Italy, Sicily (since 1197) and Jerusalem, last week. They hope to find out if he was poisoned or not. Further they will research the two bodies that are buried next to him. Unfortunately the remains are in a bad state. Also the crown of the Emperor has disappeared. They are trying to find out if this crown was still there when the grave was opened for the first time in 1781.

A documentary on the 50th birthday of The Prince of Wales states that he wants his mother Queen Elizabeth II to abdicate. The court gave their common statement that this is not true. However the makers of the documentary say that they got the information from someone very close to the family.

November 9th
The Prince of Wales returned from a royal visit to the Balkan-countries. In Bulgaria he sang the Beatles's song All you need is love in public. The visit was overshadowed by rumours in his own country that he wants his mother to abdicate.

November 10th
The Duke of Edinburgh was the most senior Royal to visit the Republic of Ireland since its independence in 1921. He was in Dublin for 3 hours. It is seen as a step forward to a visit of the Queen herself.

The Prince of Wales opened his own home page. Within the first 24 hours after the opening 1.750.000 people have visited it!!!

The German TV-transmitter ARD is going to broadcast a series on the high nobility of Germany, starting on December 25th with the Royal family of Prussia (last Emperors of Germany). In the next twelve transmissions amongst others the following families are playing the leading part: Schaumburg-Lippe, Sachsen, Hohenzollern and Bismarck. They will show the family members in their daily life and at official visits. It might be very interesting if you can get the ARD (like me). I'll try to keep you informed!

November 11th
Belgium, France and Great Britain commemorated the 80th anniversary of World War I (1914-11.11.1918). King Albert II of Belgium went to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels in the morning, at the same time Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, followed by the French president Jacques Chirac. Later this last two unveiled a statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Paris. In the afternoon Queen Elizabeth II, King Albert, his wife Queen Paola and the Irish president Mary McAleese inaugurated the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Messines, Belgium (made after an idea of a protestant and a catholic Irishman). Afterwards Queen Elizabeth II, King Albert and Queen Paola went to the remembrance service in Ypres, Belgium.

Queen Elizabeth II invited the unknown teenage rock band Al!ve to play at Buckingham Palace for the Prince of Wales's 50th birthday party on Friday. The four boys, 16 and 17 years old, sent a tape with their music to the palace. They have told the Queen that they are nice boys who don't use drugs or sing inflammatory songs.

November 13th
Yesterday The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles attended a banquet at the Hampton Court Palace. The guest list included ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. Today the prince visited a number of projects in Sheffield linked to the Prince's Trust. Before he was guest of honour at the film locations of The Full Monty there. According to the BBC he showed there his dancing prowess by quickly mastering the steps in a recreation of the film. But from what I saw on TV he tried something and stopped very quickly. He said that he had seen the film twice, because he liked it very much. At night there was a big reception at Buckingham Palace with about 850 guests (family, politicians, actors). It seems it was great. "Mummy" congratulated her son officially and Charles thanked her with a very amusing speech. Camilla wasn't there.

November 14th
Great news! At his birthday King Hussein of Jordan spoke to the state television. He said that the treatment for cancer of the lymph glands at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has been successful. After five rounds of chemotherapy there's no remaining sign of the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The King will have one more session before he returns to Jordan next month.

The birthday festivities of the Prince of Wales ended with a party for 250 guests at Highgrove, organized and hosted by Camilla Parker Bowles. Guests included the princes William and Harry, princess Margaret, and the royal pairs of the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Spain; Rowan Atkinson and Stephen fry were the first to arrive hours before the party started. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh decided not to come.

November 16th
One more newsflash of the birthday party of the Prince of Wales. The princes William and Harry did a striptease act at the Highgrove party. They danced and stripped at the Hot Chocolate's song You sexy thing like in The Full Monty. Well-informed sources say they kept on at least one article of dress. What a pity! But who wouldn't have liked to see it with his own eyes!!!

November 17th
King Hussein of Jordan is to undergo a bone marrow transplant by the end of the month in a bid to stop the recurrence of lymphatic cancer.

November 19th
Together Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Juan Carlos I of Spain opened the exhibition Splendour of Spain 1598-1648 in the New Church in Amsterdam. The exhibition shows about 300 pieces of art from the Spanish Golden Age, which belongs to Spanish museums and monasteries. The exhibition is there until March 8th 1999.

A treasure-digger found a box with silver, belonging to the royal family of Saxony, in the woods near the Moritzburg Castle in Dresden (Germany). The treasure was buried there during the last World War. About two years ago the same person also found another piece of this Saxony treasure: a box of gold (worth millions of dollars).

Princess Alexia of Greece and Carlos Morales Quintana celebrated their engagement in London on October 24th(?). The wedding should take place in the Greek Orthodox Church in London next summer (July).

November 23rd
The Danish Crown Prince Frederik wants to be a member of the International Olympic Committee. The Dane who sits in there now steps back in 2002. The royal house let know that he will abandon his ambitions when there are more candidates (one for the moment). Just go and fight for it I should say!!! But (December 3rd) I read that he has withdrawn, the coward!

Today a new museum was opened at the St.Emmeram Castle in Regensburg, Germany, belonging to the Princely family von Thurn und Taxis. It shows about 2200 items (weapons, pieces of gold and silver, porcelain), Princess Gloria gave to the government to pay her debts in 1993. The museum is part of the National Museum of Bavaria.

November 24th
Queen Paola of Belgium is trying to improve her knowledge of the Dutch language by following a course in Spa, Belgium. She is Italian herself and the members of the court mostly speak French. Nevertheless is Dutch one of the three official languages in Belgium next to French and German.

At the opening of Parliament Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has signalled the end of 900 years of tradition by unveiling plans to reform the House of Lords. A Bill will be introduced to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in there. About 2/3 of the members inherited the position. The last word on this subject is not spoken yet, as many members don't agree with the plans.

November 25th
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden has prolonged her study at Yale University for another semester. It is still not clear when she will return to Sweden.

The state visit of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Claus to Russia that was supposed to start today, has been cancelled last Monday because of the pneumonia of the Russian president Boris Jeltsin. On Saturday the Prince of Oranje Willem-Alexander will go to St.Petersburg to reopen the restored Rembrandtroom in the Hermitage museum instead of his mother.

November 26th
Some days ago the count of Paris, heir to the French throne, announced the engagement of his grandson prince Eudes, duke of Angoulême, with Marie-Liesse de Rohan-Chabot (29), a scion of an old French noble family. They met at university. The marriage will take place in Bretagne in July 1999. Interesting detail: her grandfather, the duke of Bauffremont, is one of the leading persons of the legitimists who don't recognize the count of Paris as the legitimate heir to the French throne, but prince Louis (XX) Alphonse de Bourbon. But love gains the victory.

November 27th
Some German magazines say Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark is planning a four-month trip to Greenland together with friends. They will only see snow and ice, which sounds quite interesting. But what about girls!

November 30th
I was just zapping on my TV last Friday when I discovered that Prince Albert of Monaco had given a live interview to Larry King on CNN for one hour. I found out just before a relay, so I watched. Except for an irritating constantly interrupting Larry King (so that more interesting answers were cut off) and standard answers from Prince Albert's side it was good, although Albert never seemed very comfortable. The interview was surrounded by film and photo material. Prince Albert said he is keen to end his bachelor days and settle down to start a family now he is 40. He is getting in that time zone where the clock is ticking and he would like to have kids and a family. Life in the public spotlight has often frightened possible brides away. There were some, but they didn't like the Monaco lifestyle. But it will happen once that he find someone. Before he was also not ready yet, busy and enjoying being a bachelor. As far as he could see his parents had a good marriage. There were intimate family moments, like breakfast. When Princess Grace died it was a shock and there was disbelieve the first days especially. They don't talk about it a lot anymore. Prince Albert also told he is not going to shy away from his duties, but he and his father have nothing planned yet on succession. They like to work together. He is close with his sisters. They are wonderful mothers with great kids he loves a lot. The worst thing in his life as a prince is the fact that press always surrounds him. It is also difficult to cope with all those different situations and people. The best part is that you meet up with many interesting people and get entrance into important things. He has a lot of opportunities to do well for his country and for organizations. His goal is to lead his country as well as he can and to do good things.