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 REUTERS/Stringer King Bhumibol Adulyadej is back at the hospital after briefly returning to his palace over the weekend. The world’s longest reigning monarch left Siriraj Hospital late Saturday night to go to Chitralada Palace for a formal function.
The 82 year-old King, who is seen by many people in Thailand as a demi-god, has been hospitalized since September 19th for a lung infection and a fever.
On Saturday, Bhumibol was televised paying homage to a Buddha statue before being driven in a motorcade to the palace.
There, he spent an hour at Chitralada for a function that included members of the royal family, cabinet, members of parliament and other leading figures in Thai society. He returned to the hospital at 1am local time.
There were no new updates on the King’s health.
 Bauer Griffin/Getty Images The Norwegian Royal Court announced today that Crown Princess Mette-Marit will go with Crown Prince Haakon on an official visit to Malaysia starting March 8th.
The Crown Princess had to cancel three weeks worth of engagements last month after she injured her the vertebrae in her neck.
But the court says she is healing from the injury, and will resume some engagements.
However, the engagements on the Malaysian trip will be cut down for Mette-Marit so she could continue improving.
 Nigel Waldron/Getty Images The Norwegian Crown Princess has been stricken with pains in her vertebrae for the past three weeks, and looks like it is not lightening up. Mette-Marit was forced to cancel engagements during this time, and she might have to do the same for upcoming duties.
According the Norwegian Royal Court, she will be re-examined by a doctor next week. The Princess was told to be as still as possible to recover from the injury during much of February.
She was unable to accompany husband, Crown Prince Haakon to the Vancouver Olympics. By the looks of it, Mette-Marit may not be with Haakon for their scheduled official trip to Malaysia in early March.
Over the weekend, there were reports in the Swedish media that Daniel Westling, the fiancé to Crown Princess Victoria, was suffering an infection due to his kidney transplant last year. The Royal Court denied the claims.
 file In a recent edition of the newspaper Expressen, Westling himself said he never felt any better.
“I wish you could show more respect before they spread false information about my health,” he said.
The truth is, Westling was attending meetings at the royal palace the very day newspaper headlines exclaimed that the royal fiancé was acutely ill. Friends of Daniel and Victoria fretted over the news that turned out not to be true.
He also said reports that he was under medical care weren’t true. Instead, Westling was simply getting check-ups from his doctor.
Westling has suffered a non-inherited kidney disease since childhood. His kidney transplant took place three months after the announcement of royal engagement. His father, Olle, was the donor.
Westling will marry the Crown Princess on June 19th, and according to him, his transplant is not a danger to the upcoming nuptials.
On Friday, the Japanese Imperial Household held a press conference about the state of Crown Princess Masako’s mental health. She has been suffering from a stress induced illness since late 2003, and her doctors say while she is still recovering, the Princess is still prone to slipping back to her problems.
 Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images According to Grand Master Issei Nomura of the Imperial Household Agency, the doctors say “more time is required before she can further expand the range of her activities.”
“She is much better than when we first examined her five and a half years ago,” the doctors’ assessments say, pointing to Crown Prince Naruhito and their daughter, Princess Aiko, as playing a major role in her recovery. Whenever Masako does feel stressed, “she is able to recover from it relatively quickly.”
However, the Crown Princess’ condition seesaws and she is still not able to carry out many official engagements, let alone official overseas trips.
The doctors suggest she needs to find her “life’s work” in order to get “increased confidence.”
The last engagement Masako did was last month, when she took part in a memorial service for the 1995 Kobe earthquake victims.
 novinite.com/file Prince Kardam, the son of the former King of Bulgaria, has been having a difficult week. On Thursday, it was reported that he was discharged from the Conxo Hospital in Galicia, Spain after being admitted on Tuesday. He was suffering from a high fever, a kidney infection, and breathing problems.
The reason for concern over Kardam’s health is because he was in the serious car accident in August 2008, in which he suffered brain damage and was in a coma for a long while. He is still in recovery from the accident.
This is the second time the Prince was hospitalized this year. In late January, he spent time in another clinic for the aforementioned problems.
Prince Kardam lives in Galicia with his wife, Princess Miriam, and two sons. He continues to regain his former skills at the FOLTRA medical center.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan returned home Friday after a year long absence. He had spent that time in New York for an operation and went on to recuperate in Morocco. It was never revealed why the octogenarian Crown Prince needed medical attention, and there was concern over the future of the Saudi monarchy due to Sultan’s health.
 AP Photo/ Saudi Press Agency But all seemed to be forgotten as he landed on Saudi soil at the Riyadh airport. A large crowd of Saudi royals and officials were there to greet the Crown Prince, including King Abdullah, his half-brother. The two men embraced and joked with each other on live national television.
“I come back to the land of the nation and God has granted me good health,” Sultan said. “I feel happy and exulted and am delighted as I meet the king and the loyal Saudi people.”
He also spoke about recent events in Saudi Arabia, such as a flood that killed 119 people and the recent hajj. The Crown Prince also mentioned world events, including the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He likely did so to prove that despite his absence, he was still aware of what was going on in his home country.
Crown Prince Sultan is the deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia. He was made Crown Prince in 2005, and has been the Defense Minister for the past 47 years.
During his time away, Interior Minister Prince Nayef was appointed by King Abdullah as second deputy prime minister. This led many to wonder if the Prince would succeed the King if Crown Prince were to die before assuming the kingship.
Saudi Arabia’s monarchy is not inherited in a father to son method. In 2006, the King set up an Allegiance Council in which the sons and grandsons of King Abdulaziz – the founder of the oil rich kingdom – vote via secret ballot on who should be King and Crown Prince.
On the day she turned 46 years-old, Japan’s Crown Princess Masako released a statement promising that she will continue to fight a stress-induced adjustment disorder she has been battling for nearly six years.
 AP Photo/The Imperial Household Agency of Japan “I would like to continue my efforts to recover, with the help of people around me,” Masako said in the statement. “Under the guidance of my doctor, I have been doing my best, step by step, to regain my health, mentally and physically.”
Since being diagnosed with the mental illness, the wife of Crown Prince Naruhito has rarely been seen doing any official duties. Her last appearance was during Emperor Akihito’s ascension anniversary.
“I am deeply grateful that their majesties have always been looking after me carefully, and I also appreciate the encouragement and support I receive from the Crown Prince every day,” Masako said.
During the Crown Princess’s birthday, there is usually a statement released by a team of doctors giving updates of her conditon. But this year, it was not released. “It has taken longer (than usual) to prepare the statement because we have been trying to give explanations in an easy-to-understand manner,” an official said.
 AFP/Getty Images/FILE After spending nearly a year in recovery following a surgery, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz is expected to return to the desert kingdom any day now.
The Shoura Council made this announcement on Monday. Already, Riyadh’s main streets are decorated with the Crown Prince’s portrait and the Saudi flag. Some billboards have even been put up welcoming the next Saudi King home.
There are also reports of Riyadh preparing for a big celebration.
Crown Prince Sultan had an operation in New York earlier this year, and has been recouperating in Morocco ever since.
With global concern spreading over the H1N1 virus, better known as the swine flu, even royal families are not exempt from it. Recent reports from Scandinavia reveal how royalty from Sweden and Norway are protecting themselves from the illness.
 REUTERS/Bob Strong/FILE Since the swine flu vaccine is being given mostly to those considered to be “at-risk”, that would include Daniel Westling, the fiance to Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. He is in this category because of his kidney transplant back in May. The Swedish Royal Court admitted that Westling received the vaccine, but not the rest of the royal family.
Royal Court spokeswoman Nina Eldh admitted to the Swedish media that King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia have expressed their wishes to be vaccinated. But that won’t be happening for another several weeks.
However, next door to the House of Bernadotte, the Norwegian royal family have already received the swine flu vaccinations. That includes King Harald V, Queen Sonja and the Crown Princely couple. It is not known why this family got the vaccine so soon, especially since the royals are not considered to be at-risk. But it may have to do with King Harald V, who has had heart problems in recent years. Whether that constitutes as being part of the high risk group is not well known.
If any other royalty is vaccinated from the swine flu, I will keep you posted.
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