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Britain’s Prince Harry may be known for his partying ways, but he is also known for his caring side, particularly when it comes to children. Wednesday evening saw him in London giving awards on behalf of WellChild, which His Royal Highness is patron of.
 Click here for more images at Daylife.com With sad irony, Wednesday was also the 14th anniversary of his mother, Princess Diana’s death. It was she who taught Harry and his brother, Prince William, to be compassionate towards others, and that shined through today as the Prince met with seriously ill children and their families.
Among them, Katie Moore’s two daughters, Molly, age 8 and Daisy, age 6. Two years ago, Molly suffered a brain hemorrhage and now uses a wheelchair and is unable to speak, swallow or use most of her body. It is her little sister who has been taking care of Molly since.
According to Katie Moore, Daisy sings songs to her big sister and brings friends around to visit her.
And that is why Daisy got the WellChild award for most caring child.
Before the ceremony, the sisters met with Prince Harry during a reception.
“Daisy didn’t really say much, I think she was too nervous,” said Katie.
“But we talked about how the big sister, little sister roles had changed around, and how it was unusual and how inspirational Daisy is. He was great,” she added of Harry.
The Prince also awarded 6 year old Harley Lane, who lost his hands and feet to meningitis two years ago, and now has prosthetic limbs. Despite this, little Harley has amazed all those around him for being so brave. Even Prince Harry told him was a “hero”.
Another child honored Wednesday was 5 year old Sophie Cooper, who has cerebral palsy. Although unable to talk, she is learning to communicate and Harry spent some time talking to her.
According to St. James’ Palace, it was by coincidence that the WellChild awards ceremony fell on August 31st.
Prince Harry once said this about his mother: “I particularly always wonder what she’d think, what she’d be doing if she was with us now. That’s what keeps us going every day.”
Source: Press Association, Telegraph, Daily Mail
Up in Stockholm Tuesday, members of the House of Bernadotte attended what is considered to be the Nobel Prize of music: the Polar Music Prize.
 Click here to see more photos. King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, a radiant Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel all turned up for the ceremony, in which American rock legend Patti Smith and the U.S. classical group Kronos Quartet were all being honored.
His Majesty personally gave the awards to the honorees. Patti Smith said she felt “humbled and inspired” to win the prize. But in her acceptance speech, she also told the audience to focus on the famine in East Africa.
Both Smith and the Kronos Quartet took home a prize money worth one million kroner.
After the awards were given out, both acts entertained the audience with their performances.
The Polar Music Prize began in 1989 by Stig Anderson, the manager of Swedish pop group ABBA. Former honorees include Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and opera singer Renee Fleming. Each year, a classical act and a more mainstream act is honored.
Click here to see the arrival of Victoria and Daniel.
Source: BBC News
Dutch Princess Maxima was in Alkmaar in northern Netherlands Tuesday to open the Orange Huis, or Orange House. It is intended be a home for victims of domestic violence. At this place, though, the victims can keep in touch with their partners and families and the House’s address is not a secret.
 Click here to see more images Maxima cut the orange ribbon set around a cardboard model of the shelter to officially open it. She then met with the caregivers of the House to learn about how it intends to help the victims who will one day use it.
The shelter includes nine rooms for assisted care along with three emergency beds for acute care.
Managing director Aleid van den Brink of the Foundation Stay Group told reporters that the concept is not to flee the violence, but to withdraw from it.
“Not only the victims receive support, the perpetrators are involved in the aid process,” he explained. “The goal is not necessarily to stop relationships. But you do not hide, you talk. And if the strike does happen, then people have come to the right place.”
This concept was tested over the last two years. In 2010, it helped 100 women and 140 children.
Source: Metro Nederlands
 Click here for Steen Brogaard photos of Nikolai & Felix This past Sunday, the eldest grandchild of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark marked his 12th birthday. Prince Nikolai, the eldest son of Prince Joachim and the former Princess Alexandra, celebrated his big day with most of the Danish royal family. The ones who were missing were the Queen and her husband, Henrik the Prince Consort, and Crown Princess Mary, who was in Africa, and the royal twins.
This meant Nikolai got to spend time with his youngest brother, 2 year old Prince Henrik, who is the son Princess Marie, Joachim’s second wife. Marie is expecting again, and this could bring another brother or even a sister for Nikolai this coming January.
The birthday boy already has another brother, Prince Felix, age 9.
Nikolai and Felix live with their mother, who is now known as the Countess of Frederiksborg, following their parents divorce in 2005, and their stepfather Martin Jørgensen, who Alexandra remarried in 2007. They both attend Krebs School in Copenhagen.
Nikolai is seventh in line to the Danish throne.
To see photos of the birthday party arrivals, click here.
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia sent a delegation from its royal family to see how to tackle to famine that is affecting Somalia. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his wife, Princess Ameerah, arrived in Mogadishu for the one day visit and saw firsthand how Somalis are suffering. They are experiencing the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in decades.
 Click here for more Alwaleed and Ameerah photos “I’m very happy to be here in Mogadishu in relative peace but also disappointed with the humanitarian disaster that Somali people are facing,” the Prince told reporters, adding that Saudi Arabia would “assist the malnourished children and those in need”.
Alwaleed and Ameerah visited refugee camps and Banadir hospital, where children have been dying in large numbers.
The Prince, who is nephew to King Abdullah and one of the world’s wealthiest, also met privately with the President of Somalia to discuss the famine and “also future business investments.”
In late afternoon, the couple left Somalia for Saudi Arabia.
According to U.N. reports, nearly 30,000 children under the age of five have died. 3.7 million people are in need of help.
Here are some links to organizations dedicated to helping the people of Somalia:
The British Red Cross
UNICEF
Doctors Without Borders
Sources: AFP
 Click here for more images at Pure People This past Saturday had the Prince and Princess of Monaco marking the Monte Carlo Golf Club’s 100th anniversary.
Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene turned up at the Monte Carlo Bay hotel, looking very much at ease with each other. They talked to Henry Rey, the president of the Club and had cocktails with the 200 guests, all from the French Riviera region.
Since her wedding to the Sovereign Prince nearly two months ago, Her Serene Highness has looked more and more at ease in her role as the Princess Consort of Monaco. For this occasion, she was seen smiling and chatting lively with Henry Rey and the other guests.
Sources: Pure People, Nice Matin
The Crown Princess of Denmark had a change of plans this weekend, when it was decided she would not open a festival in Aarhus with her husband, Crown Prince Frederik. Instead, Crown Princess Mary headed off to Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya where thousands of Somalians are pouring in because of a terrible famine. As patron of the Danish Refugee Council, it is her role to draw attention to such issues.
 Click here for images at sn.dk Arriving in Dadaab, the largest refugee site in the world, Mary saw firsthand how Somali refugees are flooding in searching for food.
“It’s been a tough experience, while an experience with hope,” she told Danish reporters.
“Because you must remember that those who reached the camp, they get the help they need. And you can not help but think how those who have nothing, because they probably have it much worse.”
Mary admitted she had prepare herself to see starving children and how she would react to it.
“It’s something you’re not used to and I will say that it is one of the things I’ve had many thoughts before the trip down here – how do I get to react when the filters that we have at home is removed. And I think I am going to respond to it for a long time too.”
She also admitted to keeping her emotions in control. “It’s not something that I stand and cry over their fate. You can see it is a very effective way that the refugees will be received, how quickly they are funneled through, seeing them come quickly to the point where they must beat bearings – set up tent. They are vaccinated against polio, measles – the ones who have it really bad they go to the clinic – which we also visited – where the hard malnourished children and other diseases occur.”
To see video of Crown Princess Mary in Dahaab, click here.
Source: Billed Bladet
The great-great-grandson of the last Kaiser married Saturday in an event that sparked German interest in royalty. Prince Georg Friedrich Ferdinand of Prussia wed Princess Sophie of Isenburg in Potsdam, Germany, outside of Berlin at Sanssouci Palace. The couple married in a private civil ceremony on Friday, but Saturday’s religious wedding had many royals – both reigning and non-reigning – in attendance.
 Click here for more images at Daylife.com It also attracted the attention of several hundred curious on-lookers who gathered outside the church to get a glimpse of the newlyweds. The ceremony was also aired live on local German television, which is fascinating considering the couple were unknowns in the country until they announced their engagement last year, and plus, Germany abolished the monarchy in 1918.
“People are longing for things they don’t get out of the republic,” says Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert, who will provide live commentary for broadcaster RBB, a public-service broadcaster based in Berlin and Potsdam. In a confusing, fast-changing world, “people are looking for little princes and princesses who are born and will be of some importance for the rest of their life,” he says.
These days, former German royals maintain their titles, even though they have no meaning and work regular jobs. Prince Georg Friedrich, age 35 and Princess Sophie, age 33, both work as consultants in Berlin.
Had the monarchy stayed in Germany, the Prince would be the Kaiser. But now, he is simply the head of the House of Hohenzollern, the family where the Kaisers came from.
Both Georg Friedrich and Sophie have not granted interviews despite the wide interest in their wedding.
The royal guests at the wedding included Princess Sybilla of Luxembourg, Prince Hassan of Jordan, and Prince Laurent of Belgium. The non-reigning royals there included Grand Duchess Maria, claimant to the Romanov throne.
Sources: AP, WSJ, Royal Forums Blog
Ten years ago on this day, August 25th, Norway’s heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, married Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby. It was hailed as an historic marriage since the bride already had a child from a previous relationship. Many thought the union would hurt the monarchy. But instead, Haakon and Mette-Marit flourished as royals and as a couple.
 View gallery at Kongehuset.no Thursday had the happily married royals celebrate a decade since their wedding. In the afternoon, Haakon and Mette-Marit went to Oslo Cathedral, the site of their nuptials. for a mass commemorating the event. Along with them were King Harald V, Queen Sonja, and Marius Borg Høiby who was four at the time of the wedding and is now a handsome teenager. Additionally, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, the two children Haakon and Mette Marit had together were as well as Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.
During the mass, Ingrid Alexandra read from the Bible though it is not known which passage she read. Crown Princess Victoria read the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, while Princess Martha Louise read from Ephesians. 14 year old Marius read from the Book of Jeremiah.
Bishop Gunnar Stålsett led the service and he had this to say to the couple:
 Click here to view photos and videos. “It has been said that marriage is a good institution for those who like to be in an institution. You live in a double institution. For you it is there not only to keep but to endure. In good times and bad. You are not afraid to show that love has remained through 10 years. You have not invited us to celebrate an idyll, but to highlight each day.”
Stålsett mentioned the tragedy that struck Norway just last month and how then Oslo was filled with love and charity just as it was 10 years ago when the Prince married his Princess.
After the service, there was a concert for Haakon and Mette-Marit in honor of their foundation which helps both Norwegians and people abroad.
In the evening, there was a dinner for the royal family at the palace.
To see videos of the mass, click here. You would have to scroll down to see each video.
Source: VG.no
Just as royal fans of the Danish royals are getting used to the adorable twins of the crown princely couple, they will have another reason to get all fuzzy next year.
 Click here for more Joachim & Marie images at Daylife.com It was announced Wednesday by the Danish Royal Court that Princess Marie, wife of Prince Joachim, is expecting her second child.
Her baby will be due in January 2012 and will be delivered at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.
Joachim and Marie already have a son, Prince Henrik, who was born in May 2009. But this will be the fourth child for Joachim, who already has two boys, Princes Nikolai, age 12 and Prince Felix, age 9, from his first wife, Alexandra Manley.
After this child, there will be eight grandchildren for Queen Margrethe II and her husband, Henrik the Prince Consort.
Congratulations to Joachim and Marie!
UPDATE: Prince Joachim was interviewed today about his expectant wife and he had this to say about his upcoming fourth child: “We hope and, above all, a healthy and happy child. And what sex is – with three boys I would also like to have a girl,” the Prince told Radio Denmark.
When asked about the age span between this child and his oldest, Joachim replied: “I do not think it is a very big problem. The oldest two have bonded magnificently with their younger brother and vice versa, so I can not see why they can not also get along magnificently with number four.”
Source: The Royal Forums Blog, Billed Bladet
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