Monaco

The Monaco tradition which brought Princess Charlene to tears

People all around the world are getting into the festive spirit ahead of the Christmas celebrations. And in Monaco, once Christmas comes to an end, people look forward to January for the feast day of St. Devote – Monaco’s patron saint. Celebrations for Devote are popular across the principality and Charlene has been an enthusiastic participant in past years, showing a connection to the…
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Features

Winter's most romantic royal palaces: Rosenborg

Rosenborg Castle has plenty of royal history and carries an air of regal menace that is only slightly softened when the snow falls. Decked in flakes, it still looks as if its only place in a fairytale is as the home of a villain. It has majesty and mystery and covered in snow, it’s a winter wonder. Guillaume Baviere, via Flickr Rosenborg was built on the orders of Christian IV who ruled…
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Features

Paddington steals the show again as the Royal Family celebrate a new Christmas tradition

He’s almost part of the family, now. Paddington Bear, who so famously starred in a sketch with Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Platinum Jubilee and became a poignant symbol of remembrance following Her Late Majesty’s death, took a starring role in a new royal tradition. As the Princess of Wales welcomed hundreds to Westminster Abbey for her second Christmas carol service, Paddington…
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Interests

The unhappy princess who links Monaco to the British Crown

The connection between the House of Windsor and the House of Grimaldi begins in the 19th century when Albert I, Prince of Monaco, married a beautiful and willful British aristocrat called Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton.  Her father was the 11th Duke of Hamilton and her mother was a German princess, Marie of Baden. Marie provides the first link between the Grimaldis and Elizabeth II. Marie…
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