Royals attend Papal Inauguration Mass at the Vatican

  March 19, 2013 at 11:56 pm by

March 19th, 2013  – The Vatican

View the full image at Hello!

World leaders and members of several royal houses attended the Papal Inauguration Mass at the Vatican for His Holiness Pope Francis today.

Over 200,000 pilgrims had packed into St Peters Square to witness this very solemn ceremony. Royals present were King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Prince Felix of Luxembourg, the Prince and Princess of Asturias, the Prince of Orange and Princess Maxima of the Netherlands. Prince Albert II of Monaco was accompanied by his very lovely wife, Princess Charlene of Monaco. Britain was represented by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, also present were Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and his wife Sophie.

The Queen of the Belgians and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg both wore white as is their right as the wives of a Catholic Monarch, this tradition is known as the Privilège du blanc.

Other world leaders present were the Chancellor of Germany, the President and First Lady of Ireland and the US Vice President, Joe Biden. The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also attended the ceremony.

Filed under Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

3 Responses to Royals attend Papal Inauguration Mass at the Vatican

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.