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 Click here for gallery On Saturday, the Dutch crown princely couple took their three daughters to the Jumping Amsterdam, a horse jumping show. It was a rare opportunity for royal fans to see all three of the princesses beyond a photo session with the media.
Catharina-Amalia, age 8, Alexia, 6 years old and 4 year old Ariane cheered for horses during the competition. Amalia, who is second in line to the Dutch throne, was very expressive, showcasing that while she may resemble her father, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, she has the facial expressions of her mother, Princess Maxima.
Both parents also displayed much attention to their three children. At one point, Willem Alexander was seen hugging his eldest, while Maxima kept the other two close by. Keep in mind, with their duties taking them abroad sometimes, family moments like this one probably don’t come very often for these Dutch royals.
Source: ¡Hola!
 Click here to see more photos January 21st marks Norway’s Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s 8th birthday. The young girl who is second in line to the throne is celebrating her big day quietly with friends and family.
To mark this occasion, the Norwegian royal court released four new photos of the little Princess, taken by Julia Naglestad.
At the same time, Ingrid Alexandra’s mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who recently joined Twitter, shared a poem by Wislawa Szymborska to her followers. To read the poem, click here
Ingrid Alexandra is a student at Jansløkka Elementary School, where she’s been going to since 2010. She is slowly taking part in official engagements with her parents.
One of Monaco’s most exciting events, the 36th International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, opened Thursday at the Chapiteau de Fontvieille. With Princess Stephanie as its president, and most of her family in attendance, the Circus Festival got off to a joyous start.
 Click here for photos of the opening day With her two daughters, Pauline Ducruet and Camille Gottlieb, by her side, plus Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, Her Serene Highness inaugurated this year’s festival. The first competition show took place Thursday and will run until Tuesday. There will be circus performances, parades through Monaco, and a charity soccer match. After the competition, each winner will perform up until January 29th.
In the days leading up to the opening day, Princess Stephanie visited a circus exhibition at Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum. She also spoke to the newspaper, Nice Matin, about keeping the love of the circus in the family.
“I do not lie when I say that I am part of this large family in which my children and I can always count on. We have the same values, those people loyal and rights of self-transcendence to give dreams to people. The best quality of the circus, it’s true. It leaves its problems at home, it does not complain. In a sanitized world, computerized, self-centered, the circus continues with its values,and that is what saves us. And I would fight all my life to defend the true values,” Stephanie said.
New this year for the circus festival is the New Generation, which celebrates the youth involved in the entertainment. The Princess is the president of this event while her eldest daughter, Pauline, will be the president of the jury. It will be held in the first week of February.
“It was a bit of our vocation to support a festival for young artists who will be moved on the track alike,” Stephanie told Nice Matin. “It will be a real show, with a numberof animals performed by children, which is unique. A troupe of acrobats from Monaco and the school students trail of blue, our only regional school that does a great job, will also attend. Perhaps some of these artists will return one day to the “big” festival.”
Princess Stephanie first served on the jury of the International Circus Festival in 1974 when she just was nine years old.
Sources: Nice Matin, Monte Carlo Festival
 Click here for more of Victoria's arrival Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria paid a visit to the Astrid Lindgren Children’s hospital in Solna Thursday. The hospital recently merged with the Children’s Hospital in Huddinge into one pediatric hospital under the organization of Karolinska University Hospital.
While Her Royal Highness met with the staff and patients of Astrid Lindgren, the media focused mainly on her ever growing baby bump. The Crown Princess is due to have her first baby in March, and will go on maternity leave possibly next week.
One member of the press presented Victoria with a knitted onesie – or jumpsuit – for her soon-to-be born baby. She graciously accepted the gift.
Victoria was all smiles during this visit. She has been looking content and relaxed during her pregnancy.
The Crown Princess has two more engagements to perform, according to Pure People. After that, she will be waiting for the arrival of her first child. In the meantime, it is expected her brother and sister – Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine – will take over for her in her absence.
Sources: Expressen.tv, Pure People
Since Monday, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan have been in Washington, DC where they have been meeting with politicians and participating in forums. This is the second working visit to the United States for Their Majesties since last year’s Arab Spring.
 Click here to see more photos of the press conference The King met with U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday and the two held a brief press conference in the Oval Office. They discussed Syria and the ongoing Mideast Peace Process.
Both leaders denounced the violence in Syria. King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, and Obama agreed that they were “continuing to see unacceptable levels of violence inside that country” and went on to say that the U.S. will “continue to consult very closely with Jordan to create the kind of international pressure and environment that encourages the current Syrian regime to step aside so a more democratic process can take place inside of Syria.”
The King was asked about the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, and he answered, “We have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that we can bring the Israelis and Palestinans out of the impasse.”
Accompanying the Jordanian King and Queen is their eldest son, Crown Prince Hussein. After his father finished meeting with President Obama, Hussein and the King met with Vice President Joe Biden and the Secretary of Defense. These meetings are likely meant to prepare the Crown Prince for his future role as King of Jordan. After all, he will be 18 years old later this year.
While her husband and son were visiting with Washington’s most powerful, Queen Rania was not sitting around. On Tuesday, she attended a United Nations Foundation luncheon at the Newseum. As a board member, Rania discussed ways to make the world better for women and for children.
Her Majesty later attended the event 10×10 – Educate Girls. Change the World.
For Wednesday, King Abdullah met with Treasurer Timothy F. Geithner and talked about the U.S. – Jordanian economic links, and the possibility of providing financial aid to the Hashemite Kingdom. Also at the meeting was Jordanian Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh.
Also that day, the King met with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who called for Abdullah to do the following:
“Jordan has not yet appointed an ambassador to Israel in the year and a half since the previous ambassador moved on, and I would strongly encourage you to do so,” she told him.
Ros-Lehtinen also agreed with him that the Syrian President should resign.
“I share that view because Iran is certainly doing all it can to keep Syria afloat but the people are rising up,” she said.
On Thursday, King Abdullah II will address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Sources: USA Today, The Royal Forums, Petra, AFP
 Click here for more photos of Charlotte Casiraghi Charlotte Casiraghi, the eldest daughter of Monaco’s Princess Caroline, has filed a lawsuit against the paparazzi, citing they regularly intrude on her personal life.
Her lawyer, Alain Toucas, says his client goes through”daily hell” and is “pursued relentlessly day and night by dozens of individuals and/or photographers.”
Toucas, who calls Ms. Casiraghi a Princess even though she is not one, compares her to the late Princess Diana, who was hounded daily up until her 1997 death.
25 year old Charlotte, who is a show jumper, recently made headlines when she broke up with Alex Dellal, her boyfriend of several years and began dating French actor Gad Elmaleh.
Her mother, Princess Caroline, won a landmark suit against the paparazzi in 2004 when the European Court of Human Rights granted her right to privacy.
Sources: AFP, ¡Hola! Magazine, Wikipedia
It was announced Monday that the future King and Queen of the Netherlands have sold their controversial villa in Mozambique.
 Click here for pics of the couple Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima spent two years trying to sell the vacation spot, which they never used. They struggled to sell it because of the troubled real estate market.
The villa was sold on January 11th to Machangulo SA which runs the development where it is located. The exact pricing was not revealed.
There was plenty of controversy surrounding this vacation spot. Many accused the couple of being like colonialists because their villa would be in an impoverished southern African country where the local population would not have benefited from it. Furthermore, there were accusations of environmental damage.
With the selling of this villa, the royals now, according to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, have “nothing more to do with the project in Mozambique”.
Sources: Radio Netherlands, Dutch News
Monday at Madrid’s royal palace saw the ceremony to induct French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Spain’s Order of the Golden Fleece. He was rewarded this for his efforts to cease the Basque separatists group, the ETA’s terrorist activities.
 Click here to see more photos of the ceremony The ceremony took place at the Official Chamber, where King Alfonso XIII appointed his knights. There, His Majesty King Juan Carlos gave Sarkozy the medal of honor – which is Spain’s highest civil honor.
In attendance were Queen Sofia, the Prince and Princess Asturias, and other members of the Golden Fleece, some of them former monarchs themselves. They were Simeon, the former King of Bulgaria, and Constantine, the former King of Greece.
In a speech, King Juan Carlos called Sarkozy a constant ally and praised him for “always making the victims the aim and end of your solidarity.”
He also noted Sarkozy efforts not only as President of France, but also the country’s Interior Minister from 2002-2004 and 2005-2007.
Sarkozy’s knighthood comes two days after France arrested three suspected ETA members.
Since its inception forty years ago, the ETA killed over eight hundred people. In October 2011, it announced it will cease terrorist activities.
The Order of the Golden Fleece began was created in 1430 when King Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, married Princess Isabella of Portugal.
Source: RFI, AP
It was announced during the weekend that Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej was treated for abdominal pain.
 See more photos here at Daylife.com A palace statement said the 84 year old monarch, who is the longest reigning head of state in the world, “experienced some indigestion” Saturday and was breathing faster than normal.
An X-ray showed the King had diverticulitis, a digestive disorder common among the elderly. He was given intravenous antibiotics and reportedly is back to normal.
King Bhumibol has been at Siriraj Hospital since September 2009. He initially went in for lung inflammation and according to the palace, has continued his stay for physical therapy and nourishment.
Source: AP
Although she officially marked 40 years as head of Europe’s oldest monarchy Saturday, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II continued with the festivities on Sunday.
 Click here to see the balcony photos! The day began with Her Majesty’s 500th State council meeting. She was accompanied by husband Prince Henrik, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.
Then at noon, the Queen and the Prince Consort appeared on the balcony of Amalienborg Palace. Between 8,000 to 10,000 Danes gathered below to wish their Queen the best for her ruby jubilee. Some of those people arrived very early in the morning to get a spot.
On the adjacent balconies were her sons, her daughter in laws and her grandchildren – even the twins! Even Princess Marie, who’s on maternity leave and is due any day, was on the balcony.
On the other balcony were the Queen’s fellow Scandinavian royals from Norway and Sweden, as well as the former Greek royals.
In the evening came the gala banquet, with all the tiaras, men in uniform and designer gowns. In attendance were all the Danish royals – save for Princess Marie and the grandchildren, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, plus Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Greece’s deposed royal family including King Constantine, Queen Anne-Marie, Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal.
Speeches were given in honor of Margrethe’s jubilee. Prince Henrik gave this moving speech in honor of his wife:
 See the banquet photos here “Dear Queen, dear wife, dear Daisy. I am the first man in the kingdom to admire you,” he said.”We have over these 40 years shared many good and exciting things together, but also some difficult challenges. But always with dedication and sensitivity. ”
To the attendants, Henrik said, “All we will together with the Danish people celebrate a queen who has dedicated her life to Denmark and Greenland and the Faroe Islands. A monarch who has shown the greatest capacity to carry out her mission in life: to work for Denmark with God’s help, the people’s love, and Denmark’s strength.”
Finally, Her Majesty spoke and expressed her gratitude plus her awe at spending the past four decades as Denmark’s monarch. “They have gone so quickly,” she said.
“The commitment is as strong for me today, but I would like to stress that the obligation has always been driven by joy. The joy is rooted in the heat that has met me and my family everywhere through every year, in celebration and joy as in sorrow, as well as in daily life,” the Queen said.
To her husband, she said: “You, my dear Henri, has stood by me and been of encouragement and inspiration for me in the work that we have been two to perform. This day is your anniversary as well as mine. Together we have seen our sons grow up, marry and enrich us with a whole bunch of grandchildren.”
Continuing, she said:”40 years is more than one lifetime, unmanageable for many years to look forward to for those who are young. But in retrospect it seems to me that they’re gone so fast. Today when I look back over the years, it is with deep gratitude, gratitude for the task which has been entrusted to me, and grateful for everything it has given me,” she said.
To end it off, Queen Margrethe said: “I ask all to rise and speak with me and say God preserve Denmark.”
Sources: Jyllands-Posten, JydskeVestkysten
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