ROYAL NEWS: OCTOBER 2008

Last updated: November 4th, 2008.

October 1st
The Russian Supreme Court today declared Czar Nikolai II of Russia and his family to be victims of political repression. A court spokesman said that the court's presidium accepts the appeals of the Romanoff family to rehabilitate the Czar and his family. The family's lawyer German Lukyanov said the decision was based on law and said no politics were involved. He said: "In the end this will help the country, this will help Russia understand its history, help the world to see that Russia observed its own laws, help Russia in its development to become a civilized country."

The election of the Kyabazinga of Busoga has been postponed from 3 to 31 October 2008. After a meeting earlier this week the hereditary chiefs said they were not ready yet for the exercise.

October 2nd
King Harald V of Norway opened the Norwegian parliament today by reading the speech from the throne with the government plans for the coming year. He was as usual accompanied by Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.

Prince Azim, a son of the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, has quit the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst after only one week. He started to skip morning drill, telling other cadets he wanted out, and two days later packed his things and left.

Former King Gyanendra of Nepal has appeared in public for the first time since the monarchy in Nepal was abolished. He visited a Hindu temple in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu on the occasion of the Dashain festival.

October 3rd
The Princess Royal unveiled the newly-restored tomb of King Edward II of England at Gloucester Cathedral today. The monument had become damaged by damp, and the £100,000 restoration meant extensive structural work. The restoration was part of the 700th anniversary of Edward II's accession to the throne.

Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia has won a legal battle against the French TV channel France 3. Two years ago the TV channel in a documentary accused the prince of having had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks against the USA in 2001. The Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected an appeal of the channel on a verdict by the Court of First Instance. The channel has to pay the prince compensation and make an apology at the beginning of its main news bulletin within one week.

Last night, days after returning from exile in Malaysia, Prince Norodom Ranariddh of Cambodia has announced he will quit politics after 17 years. During a dinner at a hotel in Phnom Penh he said: "I am no longer an opposition party leader. I met the king this morning (Thursday) and I told him that I quit politics." He said he would choose one of his deputies as the new leader of the Norodom Ranariddh Party.

October 6th
Buckingham Palace said today that Prince and Princess Michael of Kent will have to pay commercial-rate rent for their apartment at Kensington Palace for the first time. From 2010 they will be charged £120,000 a year to keep the apartment. They have used the apartment since 1979 paying little rent. Since 2002 they used it rent free. Since they sold Nether Lypiatt in 2006 they have used the apartment permanently. 2002 Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain promised to cover the £10,000 a month cost for them for up to seven years. The apartment also houses an office the prince uses for his charitable work.

On 7 June 2009 Danes are to vote in a referendum on the order of succession to the throne, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced today. He said: "We want equality in Danish society, also concerning the Danish throne. As things stand today, boys precede girls. We feel that girls should have equal rights. It isn't an issue right now that Prince Christian is the first-born child and heir. But we thought it was appropriate to change the law at a point where it wasn't about a particular person and instead about the principle." The referendum will be held in connection with the elections for the European Parliament.

October 7th
Queen Margrethe II, Prince Henrik, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and Princess Benedikte of Denmark attended the opening of the Danish parliament today.

October 8th
Clarence House announced today that Prince William and Prince Harry of Wales are planning to ride in the off-road motorcycle event Enduro Africa 08 in Africa later this month. The princes will divide the funds they raise by taking part in the rally between UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Sentebale.

The Japanese police have released a British tourist today who has shocked people by swimming naked in the moat of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Yesterday the police chased the man around the palace for two hours, while the man dived into the moat and pelted the police with stones. A police spokesman said: "We decided to hand the man over to his friend without charging him as we concluded that his act was based on mental instability."

October 9th
About 5000 people lined up in front of the house of former King Gyanendra of Nepal today to seek his blessings on the 10th day of the Dashain festival. People queued more than one hour to greet their former king. The former king and his wife Komal applied a tika to the foreheads of the people with red vermilion paste.

October 12th
Christine Grahame, a member of the Scottish parliament has called for the remains of Mary Queen of Scots to be returned to Scotland. Queen Mary was buried at Westminster Abbey, London, shortly after her execution in 1587. Mrs Grahame is to make a motion to the Scottish Parliament later this week. According to Westminster Abbey her body was buried there at the express instructions of her son.

Thousands of soldiers for the first time performed a rehearsal in preparation for the funeral procession of the late Princess Galyani Vadhana of Thailand. About 5000 soldiers will take part in six processions on 15 November. The cremation ceremony will take place on 14 to 19 November. The royal urn of the late princess will be carried on the Phra Maha Pichai chariot, and will be brought to the royal crematorium at Sanam Luang. More rehearsals will follow in the coming weeks.

October 13th
The 60th birthday of the Prince of Wales is to be marked by BBC with a 90-minute documentary called "Charles at 60: The passionate Prince". A film crew got unprecedented access to the prince for a year. The documentary will show an insight into the work of the prince at home and abroad. It will also highlight the causes he is closely involved in. The footage was among others filmed at the royal residences Clarence House, Highgrove and Birkhall.

October 14th
Crown Princess Marie Chantal of Greece opened her latest clothing store at Sloane Street in London, Great Britain, today. She was accompanied by her husband Crown Prince Pavlos, their five children, as well as her mother-in-law Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.

October 15th
Christie's at Paris yesterday auctioned nearly 600 lots from the succession of the late Count and Countess of Paris. The collection consisted of important silver, paintings, furniture, miniatures, works of art and jewels. These objects reveal precious and personal memories of the French Royal Family, notably of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette as well as other members of French royal family and numerous related foreign royals. The total proceeds of the auction were € 2.383.050, three times as much as estimated beforehand. The top piece was a portrait of Louis-Philippe 1st Count of Paris as a child by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, which was sold to an American collector for € 108.500. A handkerchief embroidered by Queen Marie-Antoinette at the Temple was sold to the Fundacion Museo de la Moda in Chile for € 97.700.

Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, Duke of Apulia, and his wife Olga née Princess of Greece expect their first child at the end of April. The couple lives in Russia, but has also bought a house in Apulia.

Crown Princess Miriam of Bulgaria told the press that the condition of her husband Kardam remains critical but stable. She said her children are aware of their father's condition. Unlike was said in earlier reports, Crown Prince Kardam still remains in the hospital he was taken to after the car accident two months ago.

October 17th
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has given her permission to open the gardens of Buckingham Palace for public tours for the first time. The ticket tours are meant to help pay for repairs and maintenance to the palace and its grounds. The tours will only run in April, May and June when the Queen is not in residence.

During excavations at Hampton Court Palace archaeologists have found a low stone wall from a 14th century timber-framed hall buried beneath the grass in Base Court and traces of a fire. It is known that King Edward III paid for the hall to be rebuilt by his master carpenter after a fire in 1353. It is thought that the king might have been responsible for the fire.

Fürstin Marilis zu Windisch-Grätz née Serra di Carafa died at Rome, Italy, on 15 October. She was 87 years old. The funeral service took place today at the Church of Santa Maria della Pietà in Campo Santo Teutonico at Vatican City. Since 1976 she was the widow of Fürst Maximilian zu Windisch-Grätz. The couple had two daughters and two sons, who survive her, as well as several grandchildren.

Archaeologists say they have found an underground passage beneath the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The corridor matches the description of the passage where Roman Emperor Caligula was murdered in the year 41 as given by Rome historian Suetonius.

October 18th
Prince William and Prince Harry of Wales and 80 other riders have set off on a 1000 mile charity motorbike ride from Port Edward to Port Elizabeth in South Africa. The pirnces aim to raise £250,000 for the charities UNICEF, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Sentebale. The off road bike rally Enduro Africa 08 will take 8 days. Prince William explained: "The main reason why we’re doing it is Harry and I had an idea last November to take part in this rally because it’s a mixture of adventure and charity. The key being the money raised today goes towards three absolutely brilliant charities." Prince Harry said: "It's going to be very challenging and we're expecting to fall off many a time, every day." Prince William said: "This is a great way of doing something different. This is a way of raising money and showing support in a much more challenging way."

Prince Ludwig of Bavaria died yesterday afternoon at Leutstetten Castle aged 95. He was born at Nymphenburg Castle on 22 June 1913 as son of Prince Franz of Bavaria and Princess Isabella von Croy. He was a grandson of the last King of Bavaria, Ludwig III. In 1950 Prince Ludwig married his cousin Princess Irmingard of Bavaria. He is survived by his wife, his son Luitpold with wife and by five grandchildren.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan and their three children Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino and Sayako Kuroda visited an imperial photo exhibition called "Empress and her children" at the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo today.

October 20th
Crown Princess Mette-Marit suffered a slight concussion during her visit to the Ukrain today. This morning she fell of some stairs during a meeting at the hotel with the organization All-Ukrainian Network. After an examination she was told to spend the next two days resting in bed. The Crown Princess has cancelled most of her programme, which was scheduled to last until Wednesday morning. The visit to the Ukrain was part of a trip for UNAIDS.

An anonymous bidder paid almost £14,000 for a signed black-white photograph of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The photo was given to comedian Bob Hope in 1972, shortly before the Duke's death. The photo was among 800 items of Bob Hope that were auctioned in Los Angeles, USA, this weekend.

On the occasion of her 74th birthday Empress Michiko of Japan gave some written answers to questions by the press. About the health of her daughter-in-law Crown Princess Masako she said "that the Crown Princess is a precious person for the Crown Prince as well as for our entire family and there is no change in my earlier words that I will "continue praying for the full recovery of the Crown Princess, and will watch over her and give her my support." Empress Michiko said about her granddaughter Princess Aiko that she "sometimes think that perhaps the way we perceive and what we find amusing may be quite similar."

Complete interview

King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit of Thailand attended the ceremony to raise the seven-tiered White Umbrella to the summit of the royal funeral pyre of Princess Galyani Vadhana at Sanam Luang this afternoon. The ceremony is one of the pre-funeral ceremonies for the funeral of the Princess in November.

October 21st
Countess Sonja Bernadotte died early this morning at a hospital in Freiburg, Germany, after a long illness. She was 64 years old and had suffered of breast cancer for many years. In 1972 she married Count Lennart Bernadotte who died in 2004. She leaves five children and three grandchildren.

October 22nd
Prince Ludwig of Bavaria was buried in private this morning at Andechs, after a service at the Abbey church. A requiem for the prince will take place at the Theatiner Church in München on 6 November 2008. The Bavarian royal family will observe mourning for four weeks from the day of death until 14 November.

October 23rd
Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been put on sick leave for the next two weeks after returning home from the Ukrain on Wednesday night. On the last day of her visit Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited a Scandinavian School in Kiev. About the accident she said: "It was plain and simple an accident. I stumbled on some stone stairs, fell and hit my head." She said also to have suffered some other pains after the fall and wasn't feeling very well. She was very sorry about the interruption of her long-planned trip.

A funeral service for Countess Sonja Bernadotte will be held at the castle church at Mainau on Saturday. About 150 members of the family, friends and representatives from economics, politics and culture are expected to attend. The funeral itself is to take place in private next week. The countess will be buried next to her husband Count Lennart. A condolence book can be signed already at the castle church.

October 24th
Grand Duke Jean has undergone surgery on his right hip at a hospital in Brussels. He was operated by Dr Etienne Willemart and received an artificial hip. There were no complications, and the Grand Duke has already started rehabilitation.

October 25th
A memorial service for Countess Sonja Bernadotte af Wisborg was held at the castle church at Mainau. About 200 people attended the service, among them members of the families Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Thurn und Taxis as well as nobles from the Baden-Württemberg region. Her eldest son Count Björn in a short speech praised her mother's life work, and said even on her deathbed she had told her children "to stay cheerful". After the service the coffin of the countess, covered with pink roses was carried out of the church by her sons Björn and Christian, sons-in-law Romuald Ruffing and Philipp Haug, by her stepgrandson Stephan Straehl and by Volkmar Th. Leutenegger, vice-president of the Lennart Bernadotte Foundation.

Prince William and Prince Harry of Wales arrived at Port Elizabeth yesterday after an eight-day motorcycle trek through a part of South-Africa. They were welcomed at a hotel by local people and a Xhosa band. Trip organiser Simon Smith said: "They were both fantastic riders and didn't run from anything. They asked us to treat them as one of the group and that's what we did." He said that Prince Harry won the spirit of the day award on day three, because of pulling one of the other riders out of a river.

Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal, broke her collarbone after a fall at the crosscountry course at the Pau Horse Trials at Pau, France, today. Her horse Tsunami II stumbled on landing at fence 15. The mare broke a neck vertebra and had to be killed. Zara Phillip's spokesman said she was devastated by the death of her horse.

October 27th
Prince Harry of Wales is to undertake selection to become a helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps. Next month he will attend a four-week programme at Middle Wallop in Hampshire, England. Earlier this month Prince Harry passed the initial Pilot Aptitude Tests at RAF Cranwell. If he is successfull in the selection programme, Prince Harry is to start an up to two and a half years flying training in January 2009.

October 28th
Mun Patanotai, minister of communication of Thailand, said that the government of Thailand is considering spending up to 14 million dollars on technology to block websites that insult the monarchy of Thailand. He said: "There is a growing number of websites that attack the monarchy, and the ministry is consulting to buy a blocker. More than 80% of these websites are from overseas." He added that his ministry had recently received more than 1000 complaints about these websites.

October 29th
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has appointed Marianne Engel as lady-in-waiting and private secretary of Princess Marie of Denmark from 16 November 2008.

October 30th
Prince William and Prince Harry of Wales attended the premiere of the 22nd James Bond film Quantum of Solace at the odeon in London yesterday night. The princes had asked for the premiere to be a charity gala for the Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes. They met 200 invited servicemen, veterans and their families who were lining the red carpet. Inside they met the cast and the crew of the film. The film's premiere in Paris tonight was attended by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan, with their daughter Iman.


Royal News: September 2008. Last updated: October 1st, 2008.