Royal 2005: what did you learn?

[pollyemma]

*I've realised that Queen Beatrix is the jolliest monarch

that is undoubtedly the first time I've ever heard the word jolly used in reference to Beatrix...

personally i think it's better suited for Margarethe.

 

[BeatrixFan]

Really? I think that Beatrix is higher in the jolly stakes. She seems to me to be a jolly grandmother with a happy smile, a daft hat and a great manner. When I see her, I smile - and that can't be a bad thing. But I suppose it could be used in connection with Margrethe too.

 

[pollyemma]

Beatrix is also very dignified and regal.(so is Margarethe, but in a different way)

when I see Beatrix, I definitely smile, but i'm also reverential.

 

[Princess Maxima]

-Mary and Máxima are great as Crown Princesses
-victoria really loves daniel
-I still do not like Camilla
-Harry is becomig a little more mature.
-Fred is lazy, lazy, lazy..but great father.

 

[pollyemma]

-Harry is becomig a little more mature.
-Fred is lazy, lazy, lazy..but great father.

yeah, its wonderful to see harry's maturing. i really liked the interview he gave. i hope the military will continue to improve his personal discipline.

i'm with you that Fred is lazy when it comes to his royal duties. though, we should remember that he is not lazy in other areas. he was in the elite frogman corps (i think thats what its called) and he has voluntarily undertaken all sorts of grueling athletic challenges.

if only he'd channel some of that energy into his duties.

 

[Maxie]

I've realised that Queen Beatrix is the jolliest monarch

She's indeed becoming jollier and jollier every day. The last couple of months she just looks radiant! I think her life as grandmother suits her well! But I have to agree with Pollyemma too. I have always known the Queen as very dignified and regal. That's why I like her jolly smiles so much, I think.

Next to that I'm really surprised by finding myself quite impressed by the way Camilla handles her royal duties. I'm actually starting to like her!

Next to these two points I figured out a lot of things about Royalty. Merely histories and family trees and great stories about them. I'm very glad I discovered the forums!

 

[SpiffyBallerina]

I think it is more than Frederik being lazy. I think it's the majority of the Danish royal family who is quite lazy. We hardly ever seen Margrethe, Henrik, Frederik and Joachim out on royal duties. Now that Mary is on maternity leave, only Alexandra represents the family.

I disagree. I watched a movie (released around the F&M engagement period) that follows the day-to-day life of Queen Margrethe. She works VERY hard and she's ALWAYS busy. The difference between her and say, Queen Beatrix, is that Beatrix relates to her people and her position in the masses whereas Queen Margrethe seems to prefer to deal with people, groups, and organizations in a closer atmosphere so she can really get to know their positions. It's a different way to be with the people, but I believe both ways are valuable. We SEE more of some royals and therefore we think they're DOING more than the others, but that is not necessarily true.

As for the other members of the family: I think Mary needs to branch out from fashion. It is a Danish cause, but there are far more pressing matters in the world today. I'm not saying she should ABANDON the Danish fashion stuff, but she really needs to get out there and do more for social issues. Joachim doesn't do much. I think the "spare" roll allows for that though. Frederik could do more, but he's so sweet and he looks like he's trying very hard whenever we do see him. Henrik...I'm not a fan. I don't know what he does and I really don't care. I've learned that Alexandra, although not in the royal house anymore, does more to represent the royal house than any of the other members (other than the queen who really IS the house ) and she does it with style, dignity and grace.

 

[Piewi]

First of all i discover royalty LOL
I´ve also realised:
-Carl-Philip is hot
-I still don´t like Camilla, my opinion about her is even worse.
-Harry seems to being more mature
-Maxima Letizia and Mary are very good princesses.
-I love the trio Casiraghi
-I like Princess Stephanie, she is natural

 

[LadyLouise]

That no matter what, royals are still human.
They eat and breathe and have feelings the same as all us commoners.
They are not that different after all.

 

[azile]

That no matter what, royals are still human.
They eat and breathe and have feelings the same as all us commoners.
They are not that different after all.

AMEN! Past years have certainly brought more glimpses of the simple humanity (good and bad!) of royals.

Aside from this, a few things are also clear:

1. Charles was one of the last heirs forced into marrying the "right" aristocratic girl; whilst there seems to have been love between him and Diana, there is such happiness that shines from him now that he is finally free to be with Camilla. Lesson? Royal marriages are now more forgiving and flexible.

2. Not all royal marriages are the fairy tales that they appear to be. Alexandra and Joachim were admired, yet the separateness of thier lives is now revealed. Lesson? Fairy tales are sometimes only illusion.

3. Letizia has received considerable backlash and negative press, accused of being cold and rude. Over the past year, however, she has repeatedly shown a warmth and compassion that many of us are starting to admire. Mette Marit also has had her share of bad press, yet looked and acted beautifully- the perfect model of a princess- a few weeks ago while on tour in England. And the best example- "horsey" Camilla is blossoming into an elegant and warm duchess who is doing a great job. She has handled her first tiara, first overseas tour and many other firsts with great success this year. Lesson? Royals are not doomed to the criticism we project onto them.

That's all I know! Not much, but still there.

Eliza

 

[Ava Elizabeth]

- CP Mary jst gets more and more beautiful
- CP Frederik just gets more and more handsome
- Prince William is a really great guy, but he seems a bit dull.
- I actually like Kate Middleton.
- Prince Harry is just so gorgeous!!
- Camilla does a very good job as a duchess
- Prince Charles actually does have a heart, and is not the bitter, cold man I always thought he was.
- Charlotte Casiraghi was much more beautiful when she was in her teens (not that she's not stunning now, cause she is. I wish I looked like her, but IMO Charlotte was so absolutely gorgeous when she was about 16) plus she seems quite arrogant.
- I don't like Princess Alexandra as I used to. She used to be the image of the perfect princess, but after all the rumours about her cheating on P Joachim I'm not so sure....
- I like PRince Philip more and more, he has the best sence of humour!!
- Princess Madeleine seems very sweet, and not the brat I thought she was.
- CP Frederik is such a gorgeous guy, while I used to think CP Felipe was the most handsome royal man.
I guess that was it....=)

 

[purple_platinum]

2 things i didn't realised on the royal friendship until the day of their children' christenings :
- Martha Louise is close with Laurentien thus making her Leah Isadora's godmother
- Pavlos & Marie-Chantal is close with Mette-Marit thus making her Odysseus Kimon's godmother

 

[suturegeisha]

What a great thread.

What I've realized:
1] Camilla has shocked me- she is a wonderful royal. Elegant, warm, and even attractive [for her age]! She fits the bill for Charles so perfectly. I'm glad to see them happy together at last.

2] I really don't like CPss Mary. She seems like all she is concerned about is fashion and clothes and spending Fred's [and Margie's] money. On that note, I agree with everyone else- Fred is lazy, lazy, lazy. And Henrik looks like such a....dork! [By the way, if you've ever read Archie comics, did you know that Archie's parent's names are Fred and Mary? Maybe the CP and CPss should name the Lilleprins "Archie"! That would be a hoot!]

3] I still don't like the Greek royals, with the possible exceptions of Anne Marie [she looks like she just kind of goes along with Constantine], Theodora [pretty and elegant!] and Philippos [I don't know enough about him for him to irritate me like his brothers]. I think they ought to face facts that they're never getting their throne back- and they need to quit acting like the Greek government is going to hand over their crown tomorrow.

4] Queen Beatrix just makes me smile every time I see her. She is truly what I would call a perfect queen. Friendly and warm and regal, all at the same time. I love her to bits! And her hats are fabulous- I don't care what anyone says.

5] Maxima has really surprised me with her maturity and good nature. Beatrix will be a hard act to follow but I think she is up for the challenge. She is very hard working and has adjusted to royal life so well. Willem-Alexander should be very proud of her!

6] Catharina Amalia has blossomed into such a baby doll! I hate to say this, but I never thought she was an attractive child- cute, but not beautiful. She is totally gorgeous now! She'll be breaking some hearts in about twenty years.

7] Prince Louis and his girlfriend have sorely disappointed me. I love the Luxembourg Royal Family, and I still love Louis, but I'd like to grab him by the shoulders, shake him like a British nanny, and yell "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU'VE RUINED YOUR LIFE!" I bet Maria Teresa had a stroke when she found out she would be a grandmother before she turned 50.

8] I have come to the conclusion that Princess Mathilde is a robot. The woman never makes a mistake! She can't be human! I like her, though. She seems to have helped Philippe mature- a lot.

9] I like Crown Princess Victoria more and more and more. I think she'll be a great queen. Although, that ponytail needs to go. Adios.

10] Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte was surprisingly sickly throughout her life, something I never knew about. She was also not the frigid autocrat I once pictured her as, but a delightful and funny woman. I miss her.

11] I still think Prince Laurent needs to do some growing up- although marriage and family seem to have had a positive impact on him.

12] I pity Prince Albert. He has a hard road ahead of him. Princess Stephanie really needs to start taking better care of herself- she looks twenty years older than she actually is! Princess Caroline seems like such a...um....snotface? As do her husband and children [except for Alexandra].

13] Prince William is a lot snobbier than I originally thought. I also think he needs to take on more royal duties and stop playing polo 24/7. I've never liked Harry, so that's a moot point.

14] Queen Sofia has surprised me with her acceptance of Letizia [who I love!]. Maybe it's just that she always seemed like such a hard-to-please mother- you know, one that thinks no girl will be good enough for her baby boy. I see now that's not true. And I like it!

15] It troubles me that Haakon and Mette-Marit have become such social butterflies. I hope they don't lose focus on their royal duties.

16] I've found that I like CP Aleksandar of Serbia, and I would love to see him become the king. I think it will happen.

17] I feel so sorry for King Michael of Romania. He is a wonderful man with awful relatives. And his wife, Queen Anne, is so adorable! I'd love to have tea with her.

18] The exiled royals of Italy have never impressed me, but I think over the past year my view of them has deteriorated a lot more. Especially the little episode between Victor Emmanuele and Amedeo at Felipe & Letizia's wedding. How immature.

19] The Duchess of Calabria seriously needs a lip reduction. She looks like a Muppet. And she needs some fashion sense drilled into her.

20] I wish we saw more of the Liechtenstein royals, especially Alois and Sophie- they're so cute together. And I love Princess Marie [Hans-Adam's wife]. She's such a sweet woman.


Wow! I can talk!

 

[princess olga]

*I agree about Camilla. I'm a huge Diana fan, but, truth be told, Camilla is a perfect match for Charles. In fact, I would vote Camilla ROYAL OF THE YEAR if such an award existed.

*I also learned that many of you have the impression that Frederik of Denmark is lazy. I don't really follow him that closely, so forgive my naivete: why does everyone say this? Could it be that the media just doesn't follow him like they follow Mary?

*I've also learned that I actually like Letizia. She is what she is: a strong, opinionated person with a good brain. What I like is that she doesn't hide who she is behind a mask of hypocricy (sp?!). Unlike Mary, who--sorry Mary fans-- I find coming across as unoriginal, a goody-two-shoes, politically correct to a fault (ok one can't maybe blame her for that), but overall..seemingly vacant somehow. Except for her style in clothes, which I like.

*Speaking about lazy...I've said many times on this board I found the Dutch crown princely couple lazy. And that used to be true: they would take such an extraordinary amount of vacations that the Dutch press started commenting about it. And then the unthinkable happened: they started working harder! And noticebly so! It was about time, if you ask me.

*The other royal deserving an award...princess Alexandra! The opposite of lazy. The picture of dignity, of courage and grace under pressure. Definitely the other Royal of the Year!

*Royals who I learned <are> probably actually snooty:
--William
--Casiraghi trio
--Caroline
--Mary of Denmark (because she has said she thinks her becoming queen must have been written in the stars, how self-entitled does that sound!! And that chin! Always up facing sky high. What is she trying to do, show her face to the aliens on Mars? Hello Mary, please come back to Earth already!)

*Royals who I learned are probably not snooty after all
--Maxima
--Letizia

And I agree that princess Mathilde never ever makes a wrong move! That girl is <the> perfect princess, the only one of the crop who could truly match the unbeatable Diana of Wales or Grace of Monaco.

 

[Margrethe II]

What a great thread.
What I've realized:Wow! I can talk!

Yeah.... you certainly can...

"MII"

 

[Von Schlesian]

I think they ought to face facts that they're never getting their throne back- and they need to quit acting like the Greek government is going to hand over their crown tomorrow.

Guess what? They know. HM King Constantine II told a mutual friend back in 2001 that Greece would restore the monarchy when he grew a sixth toe. The Greek Royal family aren't fighting for restoration, but many of their international supporters are..

 

[suturegeisha]

Guess what? They know. HM King Constantine II told a mutual friend back in 2001 that Greece would restore the monarchy when he grew a sixth toe. The Greek Royal family aren't fighting for restoration, but many of their international supporters are..

Thanks for the info. You'd never be able to tell that from the way they act.

 

[pollyemma]

Thanks for the info. You'd never be able to tell that from the way they act.

Constantine never struck me as being so stupid he doesnt realize the monarchy won't be restored. he obviously cant say that in public because it would erode his support base but i'm sure he's bringing his kids up to earn their own livings as commoners.

i think he just has fun needling the greek government by doing things like calling himself the 'King of the Hellenes' on his kids' wedding invitations. but its not because he actually thinks he'll be restored one day.

 

[SpiffyBallerina]

I don't think the Greek RF has any ideas in their head about restoration of the monarchy. King Constantine probably did for a long time, and who could blame him? But all of his children have certainly accepted it (except maybe in-law MC who would LOVE to be in a reigning family) and they live normal lives.

 

[pollyemma]

8] I have come to the conclusion that Princess Mathilde is a robot. The woman never makes a mistake! She can't be human! I like her, though. She seems to have helped Philippe mature- a lot.

maxima also never makes a mistake and no one is calling her a robot!

 

[SpiffyBallerina]

She's too animated to be a robot.

 

[suturegeisha]

She's too animated to be a robot.

My sentiments exactly!

 

[princess olga]

maxima also never makes a mistake and no one is calling her a robot!

Maxima and no mistake? Hmmm. I take it you haven't had a chance to watch the interview with her and Alexander right before their wedding, in which she said that when her father (who was a minister in the Argentinian Videla 'government', one of the worst regimes in terms of human rights violations the late 20th century has witnessed) told her that he really had had no idea when he was in the Videla regime that they were murdering innocent people by the thousands, that she believed him because why would he lie about that!!

That's a huge mistake at least from a PR standpoint.
and I won't mention the picture where she is blowing smoke into the direction of then-infant Eloise. Also not very wise from public relations point of view.

But anyways, no one has an answer for me as to why you all seem to think Frederik of Denmark is lazy? Can someone elaborate? Is he lazier than, say, prince Phillipe of belgium? Or than Haakon? How does his supposed laziness manifest itself? Curious minds would like to know!

 

[Layla1971]

Maxima and no mistake? Hmmm. I take it you haven't had a chance to watch the interview with her and Alexander right before their wedding, in which she said that when her father (who was a minister in the Argentinian Videla 'government', one of the worst regimes in terms of human rights violations the late 20th century has witnessed) told her that he really had had no idea when he was in the Videla regime that they were murdering innocent people by the thousands, that she believed him because why would he lie about that!!

That's a huge mistake at least from a PR standpoint.
and I won't mention the picture where she is blowing smoke into the direction of then-infant Eloise. Also not very wise from public relations point of view.

But anyways, no one has an answer for me as to why you all seem to think Frederik of Denmark is lazy? Can someone elaborate? Is he lazier than, say, prince Phillipe of belgium? Or than Haakon? How does his supposed laziness manifest itself? Curious minds would like to know!

Maxima only said that to let people know that she loved and trusted her father. It wasn't bad PR, the public knew the truth about him and the wanted the truth (which is that she does love her father regardless of his crimes).

I've never heard of the smoking incident, but the photo could have been taken from an angle that made it look like she was blowing smoke in infant's direction when she wasn't. You know it's all about angles in the media.

And, I think that Frederik isn't lazy, he is just seen on vacation and on sporting visits more often than other Crown Prince's.

Frederik isn't lazy, IMO.

 

[Maxie]

Maxima only said that to let people know that she loved and trusted her father. It wasn't bad PR, the public knew the truth about him and the wanted the truth (which is that she does love her father regardless of his crimes).

That wasn't bad PR indeed. Before the engagement there were quite a few people in the Netherlands who didn't like the idea of our crown prince marrying the daughter of a man who had had connections with the Junta regime. After the interview where Maxima told the people she believed her father, she also claimed that she distanced herself from everything the Junta regime had done. That was all the people wanted to know, I guess. When they played the tango 'Adios Nonino' (goodbye father) at the wedding already half of the country was crying with Máxima because her father wasn't allowed to be at the wedding. You can discuss whether his absence was good or bad (I myself think it was a bit harsh, but of course a very logical thing to do), but the whole case wasn't bad PR. Within no time Máxima became the most popular member of the DRF in our country. Thanks to her own personality, but also thanks to the way she was presented to our people at first. I would never have guessed her to become popular so fast, because I didn't like her at all at first...

I think me realizing that Máxima wasn't that bad at all was something that could have been in a thread named 'What did you realize about the royals in 2002?' or something like that.

 

[Margrethe II]

HRH the Crown Prince Frederik attends many engagements that are not shown on his official calender. Not every single function is noted.

To call him lazy is to me, a very poor and unjustified remark that has no substance whatsoever.

"MII"

 

[Layla1971]

That wasn't bad PR indeed. Before the engagement there were quite a few people in the Netherlands who didn't like the idea of our crown prince marrying the daughter of a man who had had connections with the Junta regime. After the interview where Maxima told the people she believed her father, she also claimed that she distanced herself from everything the Junta regime had done. That was all the people wanted to know, I guess. When they played the tango 'Adios Nonino' (goodbye father) at the wedding already half of the country was crying with Máxima because her father wasn't allowed to be at the wedding. You can discuss whether his absence was good or bad (I myself think it was a bit harsh, but of course a very logical thing to do), but the whole case wasn't bad PR. Within no time Máxima became the most popular member of the DRF in our country. Thanks to her own personality, but also thanks to the way she was presented to our people at first. I would never have guessed her to become popular so fast, because I didn't like her at all at first...

I think me realizing that Máxima wasn't that bad at all was something that could have been in a thread named 'What did you realize about the royals in 2002?' or something like that.

So I was right? If so, it's the first time! For a second I thought I'd offended you! But, I didn't know much about Maxima until her wedding and even then all I heard was that she was from Argentina and her father was banned from the wedding for human rights violations

I really like Maxima now, but I must admit I didn't know how to take her in the start.

 

[Ava Elizabeth]

I agree with the others. CP Frederik is not lazy, he attends several engagements every month. It's just a reputation he has got, which I think has something to do with the fact that before he got married, he was nicknamed "Turbo prince" ( that he lived a jet-set life with beautiful women, fast cars, lots of vacations).
I think Frederik is a great representant for Denmark, and he does loads of work!

 

[norwegianne]

I don't think anybody in the Danish royal family can be termed lazy - I've seen it most often applied to CP Frederik or Prince Joachim. As mentioned above, Frederik, as well as the others, have several engagements that aren't noted on the calendar, in addition to the time to prepare for his engagements.

And Joachim is running a farm in addition to his royal engagements. Just because you don't see pictures of someone doing something, it doesn't mean that they are lazy.

 

[Maxie]

So I was right? If so, it's the first time! For a second I thought I'd offended you! But, I didn't know much about Maxima until her wedding and even then all I heard was that she was from Argentina and her father was banned from the wedding for human rights violations

I really like Maxima now, but I must admit I didn't know how to take her in the start.

You offended me? Hahaha, not at all! I totally agreed with you. There must be something wrong with my english, I guess. Comme d'habitude as the french say...