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Princess Laurentien, the wife of Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, accepted the post of U.N. envoy for Literacy UNESCO Worldwide in Paris Tuesday. 
Laurentien, a longtime advocate for literacy, did this at the request of UNESCO head, Koichiro Matsuura.
She will work for the problem of low literacy levels worldwide. The Princess will help draw attention to the importance of a comprehensive approach to low levels of both the occurrence of low literacy levels in children as well as the importance of reducing low literacy levels among adults.
Princess Laurentien did this experience among others, as founder and chairwoman of the Foundation Reading & Writing.
According to the U.N., worldwide 776 million people are illiterate and 75 million children do not attend school.
Laurentien was born in 1966 in Leiden, the daughter of the former Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs. She married the youngest son of Queen Beatrix in May 2001. Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien have three children, Countess Eloise, Count Claus-Casimir, and Countess Leonore.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia are on a two day visit of Italy this week. They arrived Tuesday, and were greeted by President Napolitano at the President’s Palace in Rome. 
After a private lunch, the Swedish royals got started with their state visit.
First, King Carl XVI Gustaf visited the Italian Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. While he did that, his wife, Queen Silvia, went to a conference at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital, a place for deaf and disabled children. There, the Queen received an award for her work with children.
She later went to Differenza Donna, a center for abused women and children.
Late in the afternoon, the royal couple stopped by the Swedish Institute, where there was discussion on cultural heritage.
A gala dinner is scheduled for tonight.
For the remainder of their visit, the King and Queen will meet with Prime Minister Berlusconi, visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and meet with a Swedish business delegation.
Thursday will see the couple travel north to Bologna. They will visit the university there, and also a Swedish exhibition on design and innovation.
Friday will see King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia end their tour of Italy, and return to Sweden.
Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary are spending this week in the United States, visiting several places that represent Danish heritage, as well as environmental events. 
Their first stop was Chicago. The couple arrived Sunday, and immediately got down to business. They received a guided tour of the architecture of the Windy City, and then later attended the Danish Design Event. The latter had a lot to do with the works of Louis Poulsen, Bang & Olufsen and Georg Jensen.
Monday saw the couple still in Chicago. This time they attended the opening of the Climate and Energy Conference. The reason why the Danish Crown Princely couple is going to such events, is because of Denmark’s experience in dealing with environmental issues.
After the conference, Frederik and Mary visit the Danish Old People’s Home, where senior citizens of Danish heritage go to live. There, Crown Prince Frederik gave a speech regarding Danish immigration to the States.
“Danish immigration to the United States began in the 1860s and peaked at the beginning of the 20th Century. Many of these immigrants stayed in New York and Chicago, but a great many decided to make the longer and more difficult trek to places like Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. States like Iowa and Nebraska, in particular, today boast numerous examples of such Danish settlements.
 “Tomorrow, the Crown Princess and I will visit Grand View University and Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, two fine institutions that were established by Danish immigrants. Since their founding in the late 19th Century, both universities have made great strides to become highly recognized institutions of higher learning, as well as to strengthen the ties between Denmark and the United States. My grandparents visited Grand View and Dana, almost to the day, 70 years ago; my parents visited in 1976, and the Crown Princess and I are happy to carry on this tradition.”
And to Grand View University and Dana College the royal couple went to on Tuesday.
The first school they visited at 9am. Dana College followed, and it was there Frederik and Mary attended the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Dana College, including reception and meeting with Danish-American representatives.
Later on, the two will participate in the groundbreaking ceremony at a new factory for enzyme production in Blair, Nebraska.
In the evening, they will attend a dinner for Dana College’s jubilee.
Frederik seems to be getting around easily, despite his crutches. He injured his leg while skiing a few weeks ago, and needed surgery.
The wife of King Mohammed VI is currently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia these days. Princess Lalla Salma arrived in the kingdom Saturday by Princess Adela Bint Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud’s invitation.
The Saudi princess is chairwoman for SANAD, which supports children with cancer. Since Lalla Salma is chairwoman of her own cancer association, it was natural for her Saudi counterpart to invite the Princess to Riyadh.
In fact, Lalla Salma donated some money to SANAD. This was met with some criticism since Morocco is not as wealthy as Saudi Arabia. Some royal watchers felt the Princess should not have made a donation in a country that is not as needy for funds as Morocco is.
On Monday, Lalla Salma continued with her visit to the Saudi Arabian capital. She toured the Saudi National Museum, the King Abdulaziz public Library, and the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives.
General Manager of the museum, Abdullah bin Saud al-Saud, hailed Lalla Salma’s visit, which “is part of building strong ties of friendship and fraternity” between the two countries.
There are no photos yet of the Princess’ trip. If any come up, Royalty in the News would publish them.
 The Swedish Royal Palace officially announced today the date when Crown Princess Victoria would wed her beau of seven years, gym owner Daniel Westling.
According to the Swedish court’s official website, the date would be June 19th, 2010 at the Storkyrken in Stockholm.
By the way, that is the same date and place where Victoria’s father King Carl XVI Gustaf married Silvia Sommerlath back in 1976.
It is also the same date for many Swedish royal weddings, such as King Oscar I and Josephine of Leucthenberg in 1823, as well as King Carl XV. and Louise of the Netherlands in 1850.
At the same time, it is also the wedding date for Britain’s Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. That couple married on June 19th in 1999.
So, mark your calendars for that day and let the countdown begin!
Just days after saying farewell to Norway’s crown princely couple, Mexico welcomed the Belgian counterpart as Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde arrived in the Mexican capital. 
They are there for an economic mission to expand Belgian trade with the Latin American country. The mission was organized by the Agency for Foreign Trade in close collaboration with the regional foreign trade.
Crown Prince Philippe would be the one taking part in the business meetings, while Mathilde would be doing activities which would promote the image of Belgium to the Mexican people.
Their first activity was a trip to the National Anthropological Museum where they posed in front of an ancient Aztec calendar stone.
After Mexico, Crown Prince Philippe would continue the economic mission southwards to Panama. His wife would not be attending, and would instead return to Belgium.
He may never win the Italian throne, but Prince Emanuele Filiberto won enough Italian hearts to be voted the winner of Italy’s version of “Dancing With the Stars.” 
The Prince, who’s grandfather was the ousted King Victor Emmanuelle III, won with dancing partner Natalia Titova.
”I am delighted”said Emanuele Filiberto. “Thank you Milly Carlucci that I wanted for this beautiful experience, where I met a fantastic group and many friends. Thanks to Dancing, I met a different aspect of my character, a great strength that has allowed me to get to the bottom without ever give up!”
Like all contestants, Filiberto spent months preparing for the show, studying waltz, rumba and merengue.
For the final dance, the Prince and Titova competed against Andrea Montovolo and Olga Karieva.
This season of Italy’s “Dancing With The Stars” was very popular, with record breaking viewership up and down the Italian peninsula.
Emanuele Filiberto has been attracting some media attention lately. Earlier this year, he announced he would launch a high fashion couture line for men.
Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary were evacuated from their plane Saturday, after someone made a bomb threat at a Copenhagen airport.
The royal couple were on their way to the United States. They were not in flight when the scare occurred.
A Danish police spokesman says a man has been arrested on suspicion of making the threat today.
It is not known if the threat was directed at the crown princely couple.
Their flight was delayed by two hours, but reports say the couple were calm during the evacuation.
Frederik and Mary are to spend five days in the U.S. for visits to a few cities, including Chicago and New York.
These past two days saw Holland observe Make a Difference Day (MADD), in which helping the community and the needy is highlighted. Several members of the Dutch royal family got involved in this day, doing various volunteer works across the Netherlands. 
Friday had Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Crown Princess Maxima in Utrecht, where the couple fixed up a local playground. Willem-Alexander worked outdoors, digging up a garden for the De Gagel playground. His wife was indoors, painting a mural in the playhouse.
On Friday, the Crown Prince’s brother, Prince Constantijn and his wife, Princess Laurentien, volunteered at the Kico Foundation, where they helped children with special backgrounds. They brought along their son, Claus-Casimir, so he would get an idea of what to means to help others.
Also on Friday, Holland’s monarch, Queen Beatrix, was doing her part in helping those with special needs. She was in the town of Zeist, assisting the blind and visually handicapped carve sculptures into French chalk.
The Queen’s nieces and nephews were also taking part in MADD. They did such work as training for volunteer fire department and cooking for caretakers.
Qatar’s Sheikha Mozah accused Israel of denying Palestinian children their right to an education, at the U.N. headquarters on Wednesday. 
The consort to the Emir of Qatar called for action to be taken against Israel for bomb-damaging schools during its three-week Gaza onslaught.
“Upholding the right to education requires protecting educational institutions and all their staff from attacks during times of conflict,” Sheikha Mozah told diplomats.
“This protection can only be ensured through the presence of two essential elements: sanctions and punishment.”
The education campaigner called for the “activation of existing conventions” and “punishing the perpetrators and obliging them to offer appropriate compensation for any human or material damage resulting from their actions”.
During Israel’s aggression towards the Palestinians in late December-early January, Sheikha Mozah wrote to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to express her “profound condemnation of and concern over the destruction of educational institutions and the targeting of students and teachers”.
The royal was writing in response to Israeli artillery shelling near Al Fakhura school, in the densely packed Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City on Jan 6, while an estimated 280 families sheltered inside from the violence.
Sheikha Mozah said she would commit all her “power and efforts” to helping Palestinian schoolchildren.
“Can we, as an international community, understand what it means to have students deliberately denied their basic right to education by setting up check points preventing them from reaching their schools and universities?” she asked.
“So we realize the danger behind bombing educational institutions bearing the UN flag, the symbol of righteousness and legitimacy?” added Sheikha Mozah, a special envoy on education for the UN’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Sheikha Mozah called for bolstering of international efforts to safeguard the right to education and to use sanctions and other forms of punishment against those responsible for damaging schools. “Because we believe in the value of life and appreciate the culture of peace, we shall not let our children give into despair or frustration,” she said. “That is why we must make sure that through accountability to combat anyone who has no respect for life and humankind and anyone who does not treasure the right to education.”
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