April Official Picture of the Month 2007

[ysbel]

Welcome to the April Official Picture of the Month 2007!

The monthly official polls will highlight the official side of royalty as opposed to the informal side of royalty.

The monthly polls will consist of pictures that show a royal on official business.

• gala events such as the Nobel prize ceremonies, state visits, royal ceremonies such as the the Order of the Garter ceremony in Great Britain or the New Years gala for the Knights of the Order of the Elephant in Denmark, Opening of Parliament, coronations, enthronements.
• openings of public events, government buildings, hospitals, christening of ships, official charity work
• family celebrations (such as wedding, christening, or special days such as Victoria Day in Sweden or Queen's Day in the Netherlands, King Harald's 70th birthday) and the balcony shots that accompany them
• among many other official events

We hope by the end of the year to have some really stunning and regal Picture of the Month winners to compete in our 2007 Picture of the Year awards.

For more information on the 2007 Picture of the Month schedule and all we have planned for 2007, take a look at this thread.

This month, our Picture of the Month representatives had help in selecting their images with a small committee of their choosing. Below, you can see each royal house's representative (in bold) followed by their chosen committee members.

Belgium: Danielle - Dennism, mathilde16

Britain: Avalon - milla Ca - CasiraghiTrio

Brunei: Humera - Warren

Denmark: soCal girl – Lasse Pedersen, dazzling

Japan: dragonsfire8

Jordan: Humera - Little_star

Luxembourg: suturegeisha - drimal

Monaco: Iceflower - Ianna, Michelle, tbhrc

Morocco: Humera – Warren

Norway: Her_Majesty - KikkiB, carlota

Spain: LaChicaMadrilena - Elsa M., Anna_R

Sweden: MoonlightRhapsody - Lena

The Netherlands: The Watcher - Marengo, Maxie


The pictures of this poll reflect the official royal events of March. The poll will be open for three weeks. It will close on May 30. During these three weeks, we ask that no one state whom they've voted for so as not to influence other members as they make their choices. For the final week of the month, you can discuss as much as you'd like about which image you voted for and why.

Please note that the links in the above poll have been posted in the order in which they were received and do not reflect the opinions of the moderating team.

[ysbel]

A. BELGIUM

http://www.isifa.com/tools/get_preview.php?idp=13974559

His Majesty King Albert II and Her Majesty Queen Paola of Belgium during sightseeing Old Town of Riga, 24 April 2007 Source: ISIFA

B. MONACO

TinyPic - Share The Experience!™

Unforgetable mother and princess - Prince Albert II of Monaco visits the "La Princesse Grace de Monaco" exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, 23 April 2007. Princess Grace died 25 years ago in September 1982 Source: profimedia

C. LUXEMBOURG

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9522/5478511fv4.jpg

Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa of Luxembourg and Spain's Queen Sofia receive flowers as they arrive to the National Museum of Art and History to inaugurate the exhibition of Pierre Ernest de Mansfeld during an official visit, 17 April 2007 in Luxembourg.
Photo from ANP.

D. JORDAN

http://i17.tinypic.com/61ttbh3.jpg

Queen Rania gives some young students a hand at an interactive exhibit during a visit to the first Interactive Children’s Museum in Jordan. The Queen, who came up with the idea for the museum four years ago, joined 150 schoolchildren in exploring its many exhibits that covered three main themes: humankind, technology and the natural world. The colourful children’s museum is the largest in the Middle East and in addition to more than 150 exhibits, has a library and a planetarium.
Source: Petra

E. BRUNEI

http://i18.tinypic.com/6cy2no5.jpg

Royal banquet. From right, Princess Azrinaz of Brunei (in white), Sultanah Bainon (in red) of the Malaysian state of Perak, Sultanah Haminah of Kedah (in turquoise) and Sultanah Najihah (in pink) of Negeri Sembilan attend a royal banquet to mark the installation of the new King of Malaysia. Zainal Abidin, the 13th King of Malaysia and the second youngest ever, and his wife Queen Nur Zahirah were formally installed at the National Palace in Kuala Lampur in a glittering ceremony steeped in Malay tradition.
Source: Infofoto

F. NETHERLANDS

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8663/000th2.png

Queen Beatrix with little princesses and princes on Queen's Day, 30 april 2007. Source: ANP

G. BRITAIN

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...20Poll/1-8.jpg

Remembering Heroes
Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh lay a wreath on the restored monument ground at Vimy Ridge. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip re-dedicated the restored monument to mark 90 years since the WWI battle and to honor the Canadian troops that were killed. The battle was a costly victory for Canada, who lost a total of 3,598 troops, while another 7,004 soldiers were wounded.
April 9, 2007
Source – Getty Images

H. SPAIN

http://www.abc.es/galerias/gente/med...2512708076.JPG

Infanta Elena kisses the national flag while delivering it, in the modality of Banner, to the Group of the Air of the military barrack of Tablada, of the Air Army (Tablada, Sevilla, April 12th, 2007)

I. DENMARK

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...heBirthday.jpg

Happy Birthday, Queen Margrethe! Three generations of Danish royals gathered at the balcony of Amalienborg to celebrate the Queen's 67th birthday. Source: Rex via Hello! Magazine

J. NORWAY

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l1..._122_566lo.jpg

Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crwon Prince Haakon at the official dinner for the President of Austria, Mr Heinz Fischer at the Royal Palace in Oslo, Norway April18, 2007. source: scanpix

K. JAPAN

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/7405...D8EA3ACA0E233D

Caption: Tokyo, JAPAN: Emperor Akihito speaks to a buddhist nun and novelist Jakusho Setouchi at the the Imperial Spring Party at the Akasaka Imperial Garden in Tokyo, 26 April 2007. AFP PHOTO / Shizuo Kambayashi / POOL (SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI/AFP/Getty Images)

L. SWEDEN

Getty Images - Unsupported browser detected

Stockholm, SWEDEN: Swedish King Carl Gustaf waves to the crowd from the Stockholm Palace balcony as he celebrates his 61st birthday, 30 April 2007. From left to right are Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Lillian, The King, Princess Madeleine and Queen Silvia. SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

[mandyy]

The link to the Japanese picture doesn't seem to work.

[dazzling]

Originally Posted by mandyy

The link to the Japanese picture doesn't seem to work.

works when you refresh the page

[LadyK]

Gee... I wonder what pic is going to win....... I'll bet it'll be a landslide!

But, ignoring my preferences for certain royals, and going solely on the quality of the photograph, I'm casting my vote for someone else. It's just a great picture of that royal, and has great composition.

[Elspeth]

Just a reminder not to say (or hint) who you voted for.

Thanks!

[nokklav]

hard choice as always!

[HRH Kerry]

My pick was rather easy.

[monica17]

It's great that I was able to vote - haven't done so last month (delinquent, I know). All the pics are great, picture committees!

[Vanesa]

Originally Posted by mandyy

The link to the Japanese picture doesn't seem to work.

Yep...and the Sweden one doesn't show up to me...

Vanesa.

[ysbel]

Sometimes you have to click the Refresh button to get the gettyimages to show up for you.

Try the Refresh button and see if that works.

[Vanesa]

Thank you! The "refresh" key worked in Japanese case, but sadly not in Sweden's one.

Howver, I saw all the others and finally voted. All the pics were fantastic, as usually are here, but one of them was very moving to me...And I voted for this one.

Vanesa.

[Her_Majesty]

The Poll has been closed.

The Picture of the month April comes from Monaco!

1. Monaco 21.48%
TinyPic - Share The Experience!™

2. Denmark 20.13%
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...heBirthday.jpg

3. The Netherlands 12.08%
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8663/000th2.png


Thanks for your votes.

[dazzling]

Monaco & Denmark were close, intresting! both very different..

[iceflower]

*
It's really surprising and I have to admitt that I had not expected that - with the keen competition of
all the other great pics from the different royal houses.

So thank you very much to all those who supported and voted for our pic of Prince Albert of Monaco !!!
*