Norway is abuzz over its Crown Prince being found in the water near his family’s summer home on Monday evening. Turns out, Haakon had fallen overboard the Randesund while having a pleasure cruise.
While he didn’t suffer any injuries, Haakon is being criticized for not wearing a life jacket and for not turning the boat’s motor off.
“We were sitting at our hytte (cabin) outside of Tømmersto when we spotted a boat that was circling idly in the water,” a man from Mandal told newspaper Lindesnes Avis. “It was clear there was no one on board so we called the emergency number for help and headed for the scene.
“We feared someone had fallen overboard but when we got closer we were stopped by security guards and the royal life guards. They had pulled Crown Prince Haakon up from the water, and he was soaking wet.”
According to other eyewitnesses, Haakon’s boat continued to speed out of control when he fell in the water. He had to apologize for not shutting off the motor. After all, he did serve in the Norwegian navy as a captain.
This past Saturday in Carpentras, France, Monaco’s Princess Stephanie inaugurated La Maison de Vie, a home for those inflicted with HIV/AIDS. As President of Fight AIDS Monaco, the Princess has been keeping an eye on this house from its beginnings. Stephanie is very active in helping both Monegasques and those in the French Riviera who are suffering from the disease.
In a recent interview with the French Gala magazine, the Princess explained why those who are HIV-positive mean so much to her: “I saw the rejection that all these people are victims, I could not stand by and do nothing. This suffering, this injustice, these patients alone, abandoned by those they love, it’s horrible. When I was appointed ambassador for UNAIDS, I had the chance to go to New York and monitor the work of Housing Works, an organization that deals with housing for people living with HIV and give them the possibility of taking over their lives.”
CTK
Flanked by her daughter, Pauline Ducruet, and big brother Prince Albert II, and the mayor of Carpentras, Princess Stephanie arrived at La Maison in the morning, looking excited that a project close to her heart was being launched. She and Albert pulled off a sheet to reveal the plaque that commemorates the house’s opening.
La Maison can accommodate up to 28 people for up to 3 weeks. Friends and family are allowed to stay over.
The building has two parts: one reserved for the reception, administration and catering. While the other, consisting of eight single rooms, ten double rooms equipped with kitchenettes and a dormitory for children.
In addition, there is a non-medicalized double refectory, a double room, a multipurpose hall, an infirmary and a laundry. Also, the home is environmentally friendly.
La Maison was designed by two architects: Fabrice Notari from Monaco and Ysabelle Roustan of Carpentras.
Below is a French video of La Maison de Vie. It includes an interview with Stephanie and shots of the home’s interior.
After the Dutch and Belgian Crown Princes promoted their respective countries at Shanghai’s World Expo 2010, it was Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik’s turn to go to China to promote his Kingdom. He arrived Monday and spent Tuesday at the Expo, where Denmark had its flag day.
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On Monday, Frederik was seen playing handball with local students for the “Take Charge: Change Your Lifestyle” project, aimed to promote a healthy lifestyle, at the Nordic Lighthouse.
He later opened the “Danish Design Jewels” exhibit and gave a speech at a Sino-Danish conference called “Going overseas – how China’s new global companies can benefit from choosing Denmark.”
Also on Monday, the Crown Prince spoke to China’s news agency, Xinhua, about Denmark’s participation in the World Expo.
“It is always good when your own country has success in a country like China, so I am very positive about it. The expectations were of course big, with that in mind it is always a comfort that there is this interest from the audience and that the expectations have been exceeded.”
He also expressed hope that the rest of the world would follow Danes in their eco-friendly lifestyle.
“Denmark is a world leader in alternative energy sources, such as wind power. But we are also very good in minimizing and conserving the loss of energy in households and in general energy-saving solutions.”
On Tuesday’s agenda, Frederik visited the Danish pavilion at the Expo.
Also representing Denmark at the Expo is the Little Mermaid – the statue that is. It was removed from its position in Copenhagen port and is now a major draw in Shanghai.
The King of Saudi Arabia met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday, one year after he awarded the President with a medal before Obama made his speech on U.S. – Muslim relations in Egypt.
Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg-Pool/Getty Images
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud talked mainly about the Mideast peace process with Obama, something many want the President to take action on.
“The King wants to have from Obama the assurance that he is going to solve the (Middle East peace) issue,” said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor of the Saudi daily Arab News and a member of the king’s delegation, according to Reuters.
Saudi Arabians feel Obama has not done much with the peace process. They would like to see him put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories, something many feel has stalled the problem.
Also discussed during the meeting was Iran and its nuclear program. King Abdullah told Obama about his concern that Iran is his Kingdom’s key foreign policy threat and wondered what will happen when the U.S. withdraws its troops from Iraq.
The King of the Belgians arrived in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday for a three day state visit that coincides with the large central African country’s 50th anniversary of independence. The visit is meant to ease tensions between Belgium and DR Congo, but the memory of colonialism may taint it.
REUTERS/Pool/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
For weeks, Belgium wondered what King Albert II should do on this trip without hurting Belgian-Congolese relations. The latter country is haunted by what some may call “Leopold’s Ghost”, the Belgian King who slaughtered millions of Congolese people during the early 20th century.
How could the Belgian King make any comments during his time in DR Congo when many feel his country has yet to make up for the atrocities?
The decision was for him to say nothing and remain mute during the ceremonies.
When King Albert and his wife, Queen Paola, arrived in Kinshasa, crowds welcomed them but there is not report on how many turned up.
The King met with President Joseph Kabila and the two allowed a photo-op for the press.
Wednesday, June 30th is DR Congo’s independence day. Hopefully, everything would run smoothly.
British monarch Queen Elizabeth II began her nine day visit to Canada Monday. She arrived in the eastern portion of the country, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This trip is part of the centennial anniversary of the Canadian navy, and it marks her 22nd official tour of the Great White North.
Photo by Chris Jackson-Pool/Getty Images
“It is very good to be home,” Her Majesty told the hundreds of Canadians who withstood the rainy day to welcome her. “As Queen of Canada for nearly six decades, my pride in this country remains undimmed.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomed the Queen, telling her, “We are honored that you have given so generously of your time.”
A welcoming ceremony included an inspection of the honor guard.
Afterward, the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, went to a native Canadian – of First Nations as they are called – event. There, she met with Micmac tribal leaders and took a look at a wigwam, or traditional teepee.
Queen Elizabeth will make her way westward during her nine days in Canada. On Thursday, Canada Day, she will make a speech at Parliament in Ottawa. She will also tour a high-tech company in Toronto and a horse race in Winnipeg.
While many Canadians are indifferent to the royal family, many respect the octogenarian Queen – with the exception of most people in Quebec, a place the Queen will be skipping on her tour. Last year when her son and heir, Prince Charles, paid a visit to a province, he was met with rowdy demonstrations protesting the monarchy.
In addition to Canada, Queen Elizabeth will be stopping by New York City on July 6th, where she would visit Ground Zero and make an historic speech at the United Nations.
During his second day in New York City, Prince Harry got a chance to taste of New Yorker’s love of baseball. He threw the first pitch at a Mets game between the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field stadium, where large crowds turned up to get a glimpse of British royalty.
Wearing a blue Mets cap and a white T-shirt with “walking with the wounded” written on the front, the 25 year-old Prince shyly walked up to the pitcher’s mount, took a couple of stretches and then threw the ball to Rod Barajas. According to a New York Times blog, the pitch was “high, but it appeared to have good velocity and crossed the plate.” The crowd roared with approval at Harry’s first attempt at baseball.
It was R.A. Dickey, the Mets knuckleballer, who helped Harry for five minutes with his pitch. Dickey said he did well with it.
The Mets team even gave the Prince his own jersey – it has the number 22 and “Wales” on the back.
Earlier on Saturday, Prince Harry had paid a visit to the UNICEF Emergency Operation Center where he saw how the organization provides children with emergency supplies during crises. The supplies included a “School in a Box” which gives educational needs for children caught
AP Photo/Lucas Jackson, Pool
up in such crises as the Haitian earthquake earlier this year.
Tomorrow, Sunday morning, Harry will walk with war veterans in Central Park. In the afternoon, he will get involved in another sporting event, one he is most familiar with and that is a polo game on Governor’s Island in New York Harbor.
Britain’s Prince Harry is in New York City this weekend, a little over a year after his first visit to the Big Apple. He is there to promote stronger links between the American and British military plus once again play polo on Governor’s Island to benefit his charity, Sentebale.
AP Photo/Emmanuel Dunand, Pool
Upon arriving in the city, Harry went north to West Point military school where he trained with its cadets on a firing range exercise. Dressed in British camouflage, the Prince and the cadets fired guns at pop-up silhouette targets from about 50 to 300 meters away. Col. Casey Haskins was impressed.
“He clearly knows what he’s doing,” Haskins said. “He clearly knows how to shoot. He clearly knows how to move.”
“Given the stress of all this and never having done this before, he did quite well.”
Prince Harry did not talk to the reporters who were at West Point, but the cadets that were with him did.
“He seems like a really down-to-earth guy,” said Cadet Kristen Griest.
When he wasn’t shooting with the students, Harry chatted with them about his experiences in Afghanistan, where he fought for 10 weeks in early 2008. He also compared West Point to his military school, Sandhurst.
At the end of his stay at West Point, the Prince was presented with a ceremonial saber.
Photo by Lucas Jackson-Pool/Getty Images
Then it was back to New York via helicopter, which took the third in line to the British throne to the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum. Harry admitted in a speech that he felt tempted to pinch himself due to being on deck of the historic ship.
In his speech, Harry said American and British forces “have fought shoulder to shoulder for a hundred years to safeguard the ideals and values our countries share.”
“We in Britain can learn from the American culture of charity, and from the great pioneering work in the fields of care, prosthetics and rehabilitation of your universities, hospitals and other organizations,” he said. “In turn, I hope we can offer some inspiring examples of our own.”
After his speech, the Prince chatted with U.S. Marine veteran Aaron Mankin, who lost fingers and suffered burns to his face in combat.
On Saturday, Prince Harry will throw the first ball in a Mets game and take part in a UNICEF event. Sunday will see him walk in wounded war veterans in a Central Park road race. He will end off his New York trip by playing in the third annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic on Governor’s Island.
One day after announcing his engagement to longtime girlfriend Charlene Wittstock, Monaco’s Prince Albert II spoke briefly to the French newspaper, Nice-Matin.
AFP/File/Christian Alminana
“I know the Monegasque population was waiting for this moment,” the 52 year-old Prince said, referring to his decades of bachelorhood.
Albert also added that he hoped Monaco would “welcome with kindness” his intended, who is 20 years his junior.
“I hope that Charlene, who loves Monaco and who already knows it well, understands all (its) specificities to fully integrate into the life of my country … and that she also appreciates what her culture and her new regard can bring to us,” Albert went on to say.
“She has a solid personality built on the values of sports,” Albert said. “Her interest in humanitarian causes, particularly in problems that affect children, is an expression of her great sensitivity and her acceptance of others.”
When asked for a wedding date, he simply smiled and told the reporter, “next summer” but gave no exact date.
In South Africa, where Charlene grew up, her father, Michael, remembered how Prince Albert asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage the day before the announcement.
“He phoned me so I could give him the blessing to put the ring on her finger,” Wittstock said in an interview published Thursday in The Star, a Johannesburg newspaper.
Mr. Wittstock went on to say that his future son-in-law is a “nice chap.”
When Charlene becomes Princess Charlene of Monaco, many would be expecting her to live to the standards set by Albert’s mother Princess Grace, who died in a car crash 28 years ago. Those would be hard shoes to fill.
The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg gathered to celebrate their tiny country’s national day on Wednesday. Even though festivities began the night before, June 23rd is the actual day of the holiday.
Mark Renders/Getty Images - 6/23/10
Celebrations took place in the towns of Diekirch, Esch-sur-Alzette and the capital city, also called Luxembourg. The latter saw Grand Duke Henri lay wreath at the war memorial on Tuesday, with the rest of his family present. That was followed by a changing of the guard at the Palace.
Later that same day, Henri and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, went to Diekirch, which is celebrating its 750th anniversary this year. The couple were welcomed by Mayor Jacques Dahme, and went for a stroll through the village’s old district with Dahme. Henri and Maria Teresa stopped at one point to lay flowers at a memorial.
Meanewhile, in Esch-sur-Alzette, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and his sister, Princess Alexandra, were paying a visit. They were welcomed by Lydia Mutsch, the mayor of the town, and they also laid a wreath at a war memorial. The brother and sister then went to the balcony of the Hotel de Ville, where they waved to the people below. After that, Guillaume went to the Escher Volleksfest, where he lit the traditional campfire scouts.
Mark Renders/Getty Images - 6/23/10
In the evening, the Grand Ducal family reunited back in Luxembourg City, where they attended more festivities which included an elaborate fireworks display.
The next day, the family attended the Te Deum Mass at Our Lady of Luxembourg. That was followed by a 101 gun salute from Fetschenhaff.
The family then gathered to watch a military parade, along with Prime Minister Claude Juncker.
The one royal family member missing from the celebrations was Prince Felix, who was believed to be busy with his job at a Swiss firm.
At the same time, Prince Sebastien displayed his Ordre du Lion d’Or de la Maison de Nassau in public for the first time. He received the knighthood on his 18th birthday back in April, and got a chance to wear his medal for National Day, even though it was small one.
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