Fête Nationale Monegu 2012

The National Day celebrations began over the weekend with various ceremonies and gift giving.

Prince Albert, Princess Charlene and Princess Stephanie distributed gifts to the elderly Monégasque residents at the Monégasque Red Cross Headquarters on Saturday, 17 November. Also on Saturday, The Sovreign Prince was joined by his youngest sister to start the  'No Finish Line' long distance running race, in aid of charity Children And Future {Photos}.

In the afternoon, Prince Albert awarded his wife, Princess Charlene, the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles {Photo}. Also in attendance at this ceremony were the Prince's two sisters.

On the evening of 17 November, Prince Albert was joined by his wife and elder sister attended a gala dinner  to honor Alain Ducasse {Photos}.

Among other medal ceremonies that took place were ceremonies for physical education awards, Order  of Merit,  Order of the Crown, Order of Grimaldi as well as other Monégasque honors. However, none of these ceremonies were considered public.Here are videos of the various ceremonies: Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4, Video 5, Video 6, Video 7, & Video 8

On 19 November, Prince Albert was accompanied by his wife, sisters, cousin Elisabeth Anne de Massy, Elisabeth's daughter Melanie, and his niece and two nephews to the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco for the hour long church service {Photos}. Afterward, they attended the court of honor ceremony {Photos}, military parade and appeared on the balcony {Photos}. In the evening, the Prince and Princess were joined by The Princess of Hanover and her two sons for the evening gala performance {Photos}.

Also joining in on the celebrations was Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, who attended the morning church service, honor guard ceremony, appeared on the balcony with the family and attended the evening gala performance. Notably absent for the 1st time in her 13 years was Princess Alexandra of Hanover. It is believed she was participating in an ice skating competition in Paris today. Also, notably absent were the vast majority of the de Massy family and Princess Stephanie's three children, which is nothing out of the ordinary there.

On Tuesday, November 21st, Prince Albert was accompanied by his sister Princess Caroline and her two sons for a reception aboard the USS Mount Whitney (which currently calls it's homeport Gaeta, Italy, a mere 825 kms/512.6 miles from Monaco) at Port Hercule. Princess Caroline and her boys arrived via an American Military jeep that was once owned by Prince Rainier. During the reception, the American Ambassador to France & Monaco, Charles H Rivkin and Vice-Admiral Frank C Pandolfe presented Prince Albert with a painting of the vessel.  Guests at the reception included members of the diplomatic and local govermant community. Also during the reception, Rivkin spoke of Princess Grace and emphasized the tight bonds between Monaco and the US. Prince Albert also took to the podium, where he thanked the US Navy and ambassador for arranging the visit and also spoke of the tight bonds between the countries and it's similarities in Human Rights and Environmental Campaigns {Source}.

My thoughts:


  • The Hats. REALLY? What are the Grimaldi's trying to do today-pretend to be British? NOOO. BAD IDEA. *headdesk*
  • Not digging Charlotte's hat at all. Totally mismatched with her outfit, and makes her look like she's 10.
  • LOVED Princess Caroline's look. Thought Princess Stephanie's could be a repeat from a few years back-thoughts?
  • THRILLED not to see Tatiana-it just adds more to my theory that there's something fishy going on between her and Andrea. Hate to say it, but I told you so, didn't I?
  • We need an official pic of Princess Charlene with her orders and that tiara...like now.
  • Anyone besides me think that Princess Charlene's dress (minus the jacket)  was similar to Princess Grace's look here?


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