The Royal Fanzine

She's ba-ck. That's right folks, Delphine Boël's battle to prove King Albert II of Belgium is her natural father continues. As I reported in July 2013 , Miss Boël began legal proceedings to obtain DNA tests from Princess Astrid and then Prince Philippe (who is now King, and holds legal immunity from the situation). Anyway, before I get too far ahead of myself, allow me to explain some of the background of the situation and what this could potentially mean for the Belgian Royal Family: The Background of the situation: Years ago, King Albert & Queen Paola were separated for a while, but remained married. During this time, King Albert had an affair with Sybille, Baroness de Selys Longchamps, which allegedly produced the famed Belgian artist, Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine Boël in February 1968. While Boël and her mother remained in hiding for the majority of her life and she was raised as the legal daughter of Jacques Boël, it was first brought to the public’s atte...

The Background of the situation: Years ago, King Albert & Queen Paola were separated for a while, but remained married. During this time, King Albert had an affair with Sybille, Baroness de Selys Longchamps, which allegedly produced the famed Belgian artist, Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine Boël in February 1968. While Boël and her mother remained in hiding for the majority of her life and she was raised as the legal daughter of Jacques Boël, it was first brought to the public’s attention in 1999, when an unauthorized biography of Queen Paola was published{ Source }{ Source }. The book contained statements of allegations that there was an existence of a daughter born out of wedlock to King Albert. When the Belgian press got a hold of this idea, the investigations on who she could be and rumors started. Eventually the Belgian press found Boël, and both the Palace and Boël denied the claims at the time. The main element that was considered to be an informal acknowledgement...

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 M...

Okay. It’s out there now. And if you've been a regular reader, you know I have something to say about it! As 90% of us are aware now, the press has caught Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales in Las Vegas out by a pool in his birthday suit. So, we all thought “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” right? Not when you are an international celebrity!  Especially a high profile royal like the British Royal Family. There are two sides of me wanting to respond to this. First there’s the royal fan-girl in me. Most of us know what that’s like, no? ;-) I say nothing more. Then there is the PR girl in me that bring out the logic in the situation.  As a member of the British Royal Family, no matter where or what they may be doing, all members of the family represent the United Kingdom as a whole. I cannot imagine that the British people are too thrilled with his actions as he represents them. Sure, he’s being a typical 20-something boy. And proving to me once again to me that...

As some of you may be aware, there have been massive rumors again about Princess Charlene and not keeping her end of the deal…if there WAS a deal….to provide a royal heir. Here’s  the article I’m talking about that started the whole thing. The basic premise of the article is that the rumors of her running away were true, and in order to convince her to stay, she and Albert agreed as soon as she provides an heir to the throne and she would get a substantial monetary supplement out of the deal, but she’s having trouble conceiving (which I do believe, but that’s an entirely different story all together) and because of that, she’s getting depressed. Honestly, given how many FACTS (FACTS folks as in can be proven …) were incorrect in the article itself and how both the Prince and Princess have gone on record numerous times about the issue, I take the whole idea  of Emma Renylods's article with a grain of salt….the incorrect facts (or proof that Emma Renyolds is a complete failure ...

I am compelled to write this op-ed after watching Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s speech this morning. I stayed up to watch Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s speech at her patronage EACH. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge gave her speech at 11:30AM GMT, which means it was 7:30AM my time. Of course, being a royal blogger, I knew this was going to be the big news of the day, so I stuck around my laptop to watch and then to see what articles popped up about it right away. Here’s my opinion of how she did: She seemed poised, but extremely nervous, and over rehearsed. WAY over rehearsed, almost too rehearsed and it seemed very unnatural for her to give the speech. She would have been better off not rehearsing as much as she reportedly did. She apparently is unaware of her habit of touching her hair when  she’s nervous, otherwise she would’ve wore her hair up and/or back so she wouldn’t do that annoying hair flip thing. It was distracting to her speech as a whole. Having the sam...

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and a few recent articles about Princess Beatrice of York wanting to be a bigger part of her grandmother's big celebrations and a part of the "firm" of the family plus a few other things make me want to write something about it. The Diamond Jubilee was a chance to let the monarchy shine and to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's milestone. It's not every day that your grandmother makes such a fabulous milestone! It was decided late last year that the following royals would visit the following commonwealth countries: -Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh are touring around various parts of the United Kingdom from March until July. -Prince Charles & Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall  are all set to visit Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. -The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge  will head to Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. -Prince Harry is wrapping up his R...

As you may have read over the weekend Pierre Casiraghi, who is presently third in line for the throne of the Principality of Monaco, was involved in a late-night bar brawl that got him sent to a NY area hospital, where he was treated and released for severe facial injuries. As always, there have been numerous different stories from so-called “witnesses” who remain unnamed and it’s caused international attention because of who Pierre is and where it happened (and of course, 98% of them refer to him as Prince Pierre, which he isn’t…..). Think about the moneymaker tabloid headline: “Prince gets into bar fight in NYC”. Real eye catching, isn’t it? Thought so. Sense the sarcasm. Anyway- Two of the many stories that have gone viral now that are out go like this: People Magazine first broke the story on Monday via their website, claiming the following information: Pierre and his friends (among them Stavros Niarchos III, Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Diego Marroquim) were approach...

I feel the need to explain Royal Titles. Don’t ask why, just come with me and read this one. British Title Rules: 1.        Letters patent issued in 1917 (and still remaining in force today) assign a princely status and the style of Royal Highness to all male-line children & grandchildren of a monarch. Examples: a.        Prince Charles is the Prince of Wales. Therefore, at birth his sons were also titled Prince of Wales. However, since Prince William was created Duke of Cambridge, William’s children will be Prince/Princess of Cambridge once Prince Charles ascends the throne. Prior to this, Prince William’s children will be given the styles of Duke’s children  (Lady{daughters}/Viscount{eldest son}/Lord {younger sons} {Name} Mountbatten-Windsor). b.       Prince Andrew is Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Because he has a dukedom of somewhere, his daughters are Princesses of York. c. ...

Between royal duties, events, official visits and all of the other things royals do, they hardly have time to breathe or for themselves, so who would think that they  personally  have time to respond to the literally thousands of fan mail, e-mails, or social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter? That's right-they don't. They employ personal assistants, secretaries, and palace staff to do it for them.  Same as any other celebrity does, however some celebrities manage to occasionally tweet or post on themselves, but not on a regular basis. It's beyond obsudably ridiculous to believe that twitter sites such as @ palaismonaco ,  @ClarenceHouse , @QueenNoor , @QueenRania ,  @HHShkMohd ,  @CrownPrincessMM  and  @Kronprinsparet  are personally maintained by the royals themselves. As stated previously- they do not have the time for such trivial things,  any royal or even celebrity watcher would know that f...

Okay, I have kept silent long enough. Since September on this, and frankly I have had enough. Time to drop my two cents into the pot on the issue. As many of us die-hard Royal watchers are well aware, there were numerous Royal Weddings this year ( two in Great Britain, one in Monaco,   two in Germany, one in Italy, one in Indonesia, and one in Bhutan), which likely means that the next step is “Baby in the baby carriage”, right? Yes, and no. Matilde Borromeo (now Princess Matilde von Furstenburg) reportedly had a baby in September. (Italy) Princess Nathalie had her son shortly after to the civil ceremony to Alexander in 2010. His name is Konstantin, and he was born in July 2010. (Germany) In recent reports, for both of the MAJOR royal weddings this year-Prince William’s to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Albert’s to former South African swimmer Princess Charlene, it has been rumored that both women are presently pregnant. Not in my opinion, they are not- either o...

There was a big announcement this week that Sophie, Countess of Wessex has lost her privileges to having a full time security guard-however her children and husband, and the Duke of York and his daughters (all of which were rumored to be losing theirs as well in April ) have maintained their personal protection services. What’s wrong with this? I see the point of trying to save money in this ill-fated economy and to slim down the monarchy, but why do the York daughters have personal protection when they do nothing but follow daddy around and party (often making fools of themselves and the monarchy)?! They don’t perform Royal Duties on their own-they tag along with Dad or when the whole family appears, but other than that all they do is act like high profile socialites with titles. Yet, their aunt, who is said to be a favorite of Her Majesty, has performed 174 domestic duties and 14 overseas in the last year. Yet, SOPHIE is the one losing the protection. Sure, she and Edward live at Ba...

Marcia Tracy responds to Ashley Michael’s Much Ado About Something: The Game is Afoot in Monaco . There are several misconceptions about TSH Prince Albert and Princess Charlene attacking these "rumors" of his infidelity, and the "runaway bride" rumors as well as the lack of reaction from the Palace Administration. First, I believe due to protocol reasons none of the agencies are allowed to comment on the Prince's private matters such as his lovers, wife, or illegitimate children, and his relationships with the aforementioned. In making this one of the "rules" when working for the principality (that all staff members unless authorized may not comment on the princely families private affairs), it is not only logic, but also a standard public relations tactic. If everyone were allowed to comment to the press on the issues, then many more rumors could likely be spread across the global atmosphere, damaging the world's image of the Princely family, ...

Prince Albert's faces during the ceremony. Those winks! The "can I kiss you, honey?" silent question he gave Charlene during the civil ceremony, then kissing her hand. Then they stand, and proceed to kiss. Their swollen fingers during the religious ceremony (I SWEAR there was a joke at the altar: "Look honey, we're just like the Duke and Duchess!"). The rumors of Prince Albert's infidelity and the bride's fleeing-not just once or twice, but three times. (keyword: Rumors !) The Civil Ceremony Balcony Appearance: The failed balcony kisses and the newly created Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco lovingly laying her head on HSH Prince Albert's shoulder during the family's balcony appearance. Also the astonished looks on the Ducruet-Gottlieb kids as they also were allowed to appear on the balcony, and especially compared to their Casiraghi-de Hanovre cousins calmness in their balcony appearance. The lavish, not one, not two, but T...

There are many facts surrounding Prince Albert's latest paternity allegations that make this Royal Fanzine editor believe that it is all a sham and just god-awful Public Relations tactics. Here are the facts as to why it is not true: 1. The story was originally brought to the public's attention by a TABLOID, L'Express . Really? Since when is a TABLOID creditable, folks? After all, after the palace released a statement denying the story, L'Express added the following to the article: “EDIT from 28/06/2010 at 16h10: The Palace of Monaco formally denied the affair, which he described as ‘false allegations’.” I for one, only heard about this because of Robert Eringer, Prince Albert’s former spymaster, who is known to *love* (note 100% sarcasm here) Prince Albert and Monaco, had posted a blog with a link to the L'Express article. 2. Sure, they may have stayed in different hotels while in South Africa during the IOC meeting. Before their honeymoon actually starte...