Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Monaco Wedding ***

So that was it, the monégasque wedding is over. Prince Albert of Monaco and Princess Charlène, formerly known as Charlene Wittstock, got married both in a civil as well as in a religious ceremony. I was pleasantly surprised by the setting of ceremony, Monaco itself is a beautiful place and the whole event much classier than I expected. The bride looked wonderful and that is all I'm going to say about the couple, but that is an entirely different story. Nevertheless I wish Prince Albert and Princess Charlène all the very best in the world.

As mentioned earlier, the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess and the Hereditary Grand Duke were in attendance and they seemingly enjoyed their time in the principality, as did I watching them. All three of them looked very good and I very much enjoyed the coverage of the event. In difference to the British wedding a few months ago, we were able to actually see the Royals not only arriving to the "church" but also how they left their hotels and inside the courtyard. The seating arrangement was especially nice for all Lux lovers as one could spot Guillaume as well as the Grand Ducal couple a few times before and during the religious service. While Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Grand Duke Henri were seated in the front row with Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, his wife Crown Princess Maxima and the Hereditary Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein behind them, Guillaume sat next to Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este and her husband Archduke Lorenz.

And now to the most important part - pictures ;) All the major news agencies offer galleries of the event, just go to their websites and type in Monaco + wedding + Luxembourg and all the goodies should come up. Nevertheless here are some of the treasures of the religious wedding ceremony, according to Tageblatt, Maria-Teresa wore a Elie Saab dress to the religious ceremony.

I might add that it was a very good idea of our dear Guillaume to walk right next to Crown Princess Mette-Marit, as a woman on your side always means that more photos of you are taken. Same actually applies to Crown Prince Haakon of Norway himself, remember him at Maxima's birthday party?! If not, no wonder, cause Mette-Marit wasn't with him...

The day went on with a gala dinner in the evening. Grand Duke Henri attended and was accompanied by Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume was also there alas - well, maybe not - on his own. It seems as if you only get a partner for the wedding dinner when you come with one. Next time, just call Guillaume, I know a string of women who wouldn't mind spending an evening with you or any other of the good-looking Euro princes for that matter...

Unfortunately, I couldn't yet locate any picture of Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa at the event. It almost seems as if she didn't attend. My only hope left is that I couldn't find a picture of King Albert of the Belgians either so maybe those two walked together and we will later find a picture of them. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Update: Finally, I was able to track down the best hidden couple of the evening. Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the King of the Belgians.


Not exactly a beige dress as I mentioned earlier, but those who are able to read are at an advandage. As the article by Tageblatt clearly states, the ensemble the Grand Duchess wore at the religious ceremony was by Elie Saab while it doesn't have a mention who the designer of this black gown is, it could very well be the same one she wore during the state visit to Norway recently.

In case you still haven't got enough, have a look here for the gala dinner and here for the religious wedding, the galleries are constantly updated as soon as we find more pictures ;)

Pictures are taken from Corbis, Daylife (the ones without watermarks), Belga, APA Picture Desk, Getty Images, Newscom, Isopix and Abaca.

3 comments:

  1. Guillaume looks soooooo good!  Nice to see him happy and to see the Grand Duke Henri so sprightly.

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  2. I already asked this question on another royal blog, but I think nobody really has a clue, like me: The GD and Duchess seem to be very prominent in the wedding picture, standing between the mother of the bride and the sister of the groom. much closer than any other non-Menegaskian royal. This would suggest close family. I cannot think of any family link though. Are they best friends?

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  3. Unfortunately, I haven't got a clue either.  I can remember quite a few events where the Grand Duchess and Prince Albert were seated together (at the Swedish wedding for example) so maybe they have become good friends. Also Cabasson isn't that far from Monaco or the GDF is simply open to people who have children out of wedlock and don't judge as much as others do.

    My initial thought was "well, they needed one good looking man in the front row" and it is still my favourite.

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