Yesterday Bua Kitiyakara, the mother of Queen Sirikit
of Thailand died, aged 89.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands is
busy showing his country to his girlfriend Máxima
Zorreguieta. They spent the weekend on the Island of
Schiermonnikoog in the north of the
Netherlands together with some others. Real dutch -
they went on a cycling tour on the island, which
didn't seem to be very common for Máxima.
September 19th
Princess Alexandra of Hannover was baptized at her father's hounting-lodge Auerbach near Grünau, Austria. Her godmother was Princess Alexandra of Greece.
September 17th
The Belgian royal family is not amused at all and says
it is an encroachment on their privacy. The
AIDS-Telephone broadcasts commercials on
wireless-stations with the help of famous Belgians.
With
this commercials they will show that the use of
condoms is still alive. However an advertisement in
the newspaper De Morgen, telling "Zet 'm op Filip" (Go
for it, Philippe), went too far. It settles the
unspoken question how the sexual life of Crown Prince
Philippe and his fiancee Mathilde is.
Princess Caroline of Monaco gets $ 50.000 compensation from the magazine "Gala", which has violated her private life by publishing photos of her on her yacht and in church.
With the discovery of an armour, countless statues of warriors and helmets in the grave of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shihuang, who died in 210 BC, China has made an important archeological discovery. The 2200-year-old objects are of an exceptional quality. The porcelain statues have green-painted faces, and vivid-coloured bodies in seven colours.
The foreign office has dismissed claims by Mohamed
al-Fayed that security services caused the deaths of
Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed. They say there is
not a shred of truth in his story.
Mohamed al-Fayed has demanded an inquiry into what the
security and intelligence services know about the
death of Princess Diana. He believes that she and his
son Dodi were murdered by the secret
services of France and Great Britain. He also believes
that chauffeur Henri Paul was not drunk but was acting
under orders from the secret services. Mr al-Fayed
made his allegiations in an interview
with BBC Radio 4's Today.
September 16th
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has been operated on his trachea. He will be in hospital for some days. He is doing very well the doctors said.
September 15th
A 178-diamond and pearl necklace worn by Princess Diana at her last official engagement is set to be auctioned on December 16th in New York.
The activities on the inside of the St. Michiels and St. Goedele Cathedral in Brussels, Belgium, where Prince Philippe and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz will marry on December 4th, - which should normally not end until the spring - will be finished already before the wedding.
September 14th
Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and her husband Count Jefferson-Friedrich von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth have become the proud parents of a healthy boy. He was born at 10:40am in the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. He weighs 3125 grammes and his length is 51 cm.
September 13th
In the afternoon Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz, the fiancee of Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium, was introduced to the Belgian and the international press at Laken Castle. After some photos were taken with parents, brothers and sisters, the press got the chance to ask the couple several questions, which they answered in dutch, french and even italian. Both Philippe and Mathilde seemed to feel a little bit strange. They told the press they were delighted that the people in Belgium agreed with their relationship. Prince Philippe said that noone had introduces them to eachother and that they were not coupled by someone. Philippe told he immediately knew that she was the one he had been looking for when he met her three years ago. Mathilde said that she had thought very carefully about her choice, but although she has given up her work now, she is very happy with Philippe and is looking forward to the future. After the interview the couple made a walk in the garden of Laken Castle followed by the exciting press. Afterwards even the press was introduced for a drink (but without bringing cameras). King Albert II said that he was very happy his son has found his big love, and that now only prince Laurent has to find someone. Nothing however was said about an eventually abdication of the King, of which has been heard some rumours. At the end of the afternoon Philippe and Mathilde left Laken Castle in Philippe's porsche. They stopped a while in front of the gate to give the people who were standing there the chance to see their new princess. They cheered loudly and the couple waved enthusiastically. Mathilde seemed very spontaneous and natural.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (88) will undergo an operation at the Academic Hospital in Utrecht again at the end of the week. Doctors will replace the tube in his trachea for an other model.
The Prince of Wales pays a moral-boosting visit to the British troops in Kosovo today. He witnesses first-hand the work of the British peace-keepers and their reconstruction efforts. He will meet a wide range of personnel and also has the chance to meet Kosovans in the capital Pristina (this last thing was cancelled due to security).
September 12th
Visibly weak King Norodom Sihanouk (76) told his country Cambodia via TV that his health is failing and he may not have long to live.
September 11th
Christina Silfverschiöld, daughter of Princess Désirée of Sweden married today to Baron Hans de Geer af Finspang in the Lagmansered Church in Koberg, Sweden. The bride's aunts, and uncle King Carl XVI Gustaf with family attended the wedding.
Princess Mafalda of Hesse is five months pregnant. The father is her new Italian lover Ferdinando Brancchati. She has already two daughters with her second husband, whom she divorced in 1997. Also Mafalda's sister Elena seems to be pregnant. Who the father is wasn't told by the magazine. Elena is still unmarried.
September 10th
BELGIAN CROWN PRINCE FINDS TRUE LOVE!
At about 3:30pm the Belgian King Albert II and Queen
Paola announced the engagement of their oldest son,
Philippe Duke of Brabant (39), with jonkvrouwe
Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz (born Uccle,
Belgium, January 20th, 1973). The marriage will take
place on Saturday December 4th in the St.Goedele and
St.Michielscathedral Brussels. On Monday September
13th the fiancee of the crown prince
will officially be represented to the press and the
public. The Belgian government has already given her
approval to the wedding. On Thursday the first rumours
about a coming engagement showed up in
the Belgian newspapers, who continued with the story
on Friday. Soon afterwards the engagement was
announced, but it is obvious it was supposed to become
public some weeks later. Philippe and
Mathilde seem to have known eachother already for
about three years. The dark-haired Mathilde comes from
an old Flemish noble family. Her parents are jonkheer
Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz and
countess Anna Maria Komorowska. They live in the very
small village of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, near Bastogne,
near the Luxemburg border. Mathilde is the oldest of
five children. She was followed by
Marie-Alix (1974 - car crash in Brussels 1997),
Elisabeth (22), Hélène (almost 20) and Charles-Henri
(14). Mathilde went to primary school in Bastogne,
followed the secondary school at the Institut
de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels, and studied speech
therapy. She has her own practice in speech therapy in
Brussels. Also her sister Elisabeth, with who she
lives together, is a speech therapist. Mathilde
has travelled a lot, should be socially moved, loves
modern and classical music, and loves nature. She is
said to speak French, Dutch, English and Italian.
According to people who know her she is
charming, serious, full of energy and very obliging.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will finish his work as first secretary at the Danish Embassy in Paris this month. There will be a press-meeting on September 28th at 4:00pm in Det Danske Hus at the Champs-Elysées 142, in Paris
September 8th
In an interview (?) in the Rotterdams Dagblad (a newspaper) Jorge Zorreguieta, the father of Maxima, can imagine that in the Netherlands a discussion has begun about his role during the military regime in Argentina. He worked on the Ministry of Agriculture from 1976 to 1981. He says he doesn't feel responsible for the things that happened during the General Videla regime. He said he just dealed with agriculture. Zorreguieta told that he is very proud of the friendship between his dsughter and the Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander, who he calls a very nice boy.
September 7th
Prince Philippe of Belgium was in London, Great Britain, to open the exhibition on the painter Anthonie van Dyck, which could be seen in Antwerpen, Belgium, before. It can be seen now at the Royal Academy. More than 100 paintings are shown. Van Dyck amongst others was painter at the court of the British King Charles I.
September 5th
Princess Michael of Kent says she is disappointed, but is confident her son Lord Frederick Windsor assured her he will never take cocaine again. He was seen snorting the drug at a party in West London last June. Confronted by reporters, he confessed that he had experimented with cocaine.
In Cairo, Egypt, an American bodyguard of Prince Turki bin Abd el Aziz of Saudi Arabia has been given one year in prison for punching an Egyptian chef.
September 4th
In the Sint-Pieterabdij in Ghent, Belgium, there will be an exhibition of paintings from the time of Emperor Charles V, from November 6th until January 30th, 2000. It is called "Carolus. Karel V 1500-1558". In the same city, in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in the Citadelpark, will be an exhibition called "Mise-en-Scène. Keizer Karel en de verbeelding van de 19de eeuw" (Emperor Charles and the imagination of the 19th century).
September 3rd
Máxima Zorreguieta is a catholic (who is not in Argentina). Yesterday the Argentinian television broadcasted the first video-shot of Máxima. De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper published the first good photos of her (shoot from the video-tape). A good recent photo of Máxima can be sold to a Dutch gossip-magazine for about $20.000. The Dutch television broadcasted the video-shots in the evening, after a "war" between two channels about the right to broadcast first: as the commercial channel said they had bought the rights for the Netherlands, the public channel decided not to go too far to avoid a process in court and broadcasted the shots about one hour after the commercial channel. Prime Minister Kok told the press that he hopes, now the Dutch know how Máxima looks like, the press will stop the publicity to give the couple the chance to find out what they want. The prime minister said that he had already said that there was nothing to expect soon.
French judges have dismissed the charges against nine photographers and a motorcyclist in the 1997 car crash which killed Princess Diana. Investigating magistrates found that chauffeur Henri Paul was mainly to blame because he was drunk. Mohammed el-Fayed, father of Diana's friend Dodi, is to appeal against the decision. Diana's brother Earl Spencer said he respects the court's decision. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
The Prince of Wales and his sons William and Harry witnessed a military display at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, at the official launch of the Army's Newest Brigade - billed as the most powerful airborne fighting unit the nation has ever produced. It had been formed as a result of the Strategic Defence Review.
September 2nd
Princess Alexandra of Denmark and her baby son (still without a name) have left the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. The press got the possibility to shoot some pictures.
The Earl of Wessex has attacked the way he is treated by the British media. "They hate anyone who succeeds." He found Hollywood a "breath of fresh air", he told the New York Times. "There was a much greater openness and willingness to take us for what we are here. Over there there's more baggage." Prince Edward is in Los Angeles on business for his tv-production company Ardent Productions.
September 1st
The Government Information Service has said that prime minister Wim Kok has had a conversation with Crown Prince Willem-Alexander about his friendship with Maxima Zorreguieta. Supplementary information will not be given. In fact this means that the relationship has become official, a stage no other girlfriend has ever reached. New facts on Maxima. She should be 28, works for the German-British bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in New York. She has two younger brothers and a sister. Her father's reputation in the military government has been spoken off a lot in the Netherlands and Argentina. Although he was a commoner in the government some people think he is still partly responsible for the awful treatment of people during the military regime.
The royal family of the Netherlands can be found on the Internet. The website started today.
The right spelling of the name of the new girlfriend of Prince Willem-Alexander is Maxima Zorreguieta. She is 27 years old, born and raised in Buenos Aires. She studied in New York and found work afterwards at the Deutsche Bank (German Bank) in New York. She works in financial public relations. Her father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, was vice-secretary of cattle-breeding, and Secretary of State of Agriculture from 1979 to 1981. Although it was during the military regime he was a commoner in the government and not a service-man. He is now President of the Centro Azucero Argentino (Union of Sugar Producents in Buenos Aires) and director of the Banco Commercial del Norte. He is (according to the Internet) also in the direction of the Forum Consultivo Economico e Social and the Fundacion Vasco Argentina Juan de Garay. Maxima's mother's name is Maria del Carmen. They have 5 children. The parents met Willem-Alexander during a skiing-holiday in San Carlos de Bariloche in the beginning of August. The Dutch press fall upon this relationship which seems very interesting for them. That is why I have news every day at the moment.