Daily Archives: July 21, 2011

Monaco Princely Family

‘Le Rocher des Rumeurs’: A Roundtable Discussion With a Bunch of French Journalists and One Lawyer

As you know by now there are little rumors running around these days about the marriage between T.S.H.s Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II Monaco, a bride who tried to flee three times before her marriage, and two more illegitimate kids that were allegedly fathered by Prince Albert.  And, as you may have heard by now there was a little old article that was recently published in the French newspaper, L’Express, about the couple that caused a little old commotion around the world.

Anyway, a reader on Twitter sent me a video link (thanks Zoe 🙂  ) from the French television program, C dans L’air, hosted by Yves Calvi.  The subject for the evening: Le Rocher des Rumors. Guests participating in this roundtable discussion include Thierry Lacoste (lawyer) and three journalists.

I highly recommend you watch this program if you understand French.  So far, the discussion is quite interesting and balanced… in my opinion, at least.

Click here to watch.

Monaco Princely Family

T.S.H.s Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II of Monaco Attend the ‘L’Histoire du Mariage Princier’ Exhibit

2 Comments

On July 21, 2011, Their Serene Highnesses Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II of Monaco attended the L’Histoire du Mariage Princier exhibit at the Musée Océanographique de Monaco.

The newlyweds just returned from their honeymoon in Mozambique, Africa late yesterday evening so it was a nice surprise for the visitors at the Musée to see the princely couple mingling with others.

To view photos please click the links here and here.  To learn more about the L’Histoire du Marriage Princier exhibit click the link here.   🙂

Photos courtesy of: Daylife/AP Photo

Monaco Princely Family

‘Rumeurs Ă  Monaco: Albert n’en peut plus’

Their Serene Highnesses Princess Charlene and Prince Albert II of Monaco just returned from their peaceful honeymoon in Mozambique.

They had a lovely time.

Anyway, one of the first things the Prince Albert II did once he arrived home was to summon three journalists to the Palais Princier de Monaco to express his anger regarding those rumors about his marriage to Princess Charlene:

We want to express our indignation at these rumors… It’s unbearable. What’s regrettable is that the media pick up these rumours without verifying the information…We are honestly feeling aggrieved by the current rumours. It is simply not acceptable anymore.

I find that unworthy on the part of your colleagues. I’ve always respected freedom of expression. But publishing false information is lamentable and subject to criminal penalties.

Sometimes these rumours make us smile, for example when the media reported that the princess and I did not sleep in the same hotel in South Africa. That was for obvious practical reasons. AFP News

There are two slightly longer articles from the French newspapers, Le Point and  Nice-Matin; however, I do not have time to translate them for you.  If you can understand French then click the links here and here.  Or, you can read another story in English here.  

British Royals, Royal documentaries

‘Prince Eddy: The King We Never Had’

Annnd, here is yet another documentary entitled, Prince Eddy: The King We Never Had.  This program analyzes the life of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale:

…first son and heir to the throne, popularly known as Eddy, has virtually been airbrushed out of history. Eddy was as popular and charismatic a figure in his own time as Princess Diana a century later. As in her case, his sudden death in 1892 resulted in public demonstrations of grief on a scale rarely seen at the time, and it was even rumored (as in the case of Diana) that he was murdered to save him besmirching the monarchy. Had he lived, he would have been crowned king in 1911, ushering in a profoundly different style of monarchy from that of his younger brother, who ultimately succeeded as the stodgy George V. Eddy’s life was virtually ignored by historians until the 1970s, when myths began to accumulate and his character somehow grew horns and a tail. As a result, he is remembered today primarily as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 and for his alleged involvement in the Cleveland Street homosexual scandal of 1889. But history has found Eddy guilty of crimes he did not commit. Now, for the first time, using modern forensic evidence combined with Eddy’s previously unseen records, personal correspondence, and photographs, Andrew Cook proves his innocence. Prince Eddy reveals the truth about a key royal figure, a man who would have made a fine king, and changed the face of the British monarchy.

British Royals

‘The Last Stuarts’ and ‘The House of Hanover’ Two Great Documentaries by Dr. David Starkey

2 Comments

These two documentaries, The Last Stuarts and The House of Hanover, comes from the British series entitled, Monarchy, hosted by the brilliant historian, Dr. David Starkey.

The Last Stuarts discusses the “…stories of the reigns of William and Mary and Queen Anne, examining not only their achievements and weaknesses, but also those of other key players.”   Click the links below to watch:

The House of Hanover:

In 1714, an obscure German Prince was crowned King George I of Great Britain, signalling the beginning of a new political era that saw the rise of the new role of Prime Minister, and established the pattern of political modernity we are familiar with today. When, in 1789, the Bastille prison in Paris was stormed and the French Revolution began, few in Britain – least of all King George III, who was recovering from one of his bouts of madness – thought that it would lead to a cataclysmic war with France.

Photos courtesy of: Wikipedia