December 2007 Official Picture of the Month Poll

[Empress]

Welcome to the December 2007 Official Picture of the Month Poll!

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.

If you would like information regarding the 2008 Picture of the Month schedule you can find it here. If you have any ideas or suggestions for future polls you can post them there or contact Empress or myself.

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: - Marengo, stephanievl, Johann

Britain: Avalon - milla Ca, TheTruth, Jo of Palatine

Brunei/Malaysia: Humera - Warren

Denmark: Dazzling, Jessrulz, GlitteringTiaras

Japan: Dragonsfire8, Vanesa

Jordan: Humera - Little_star - Salma

Luxembourg: suturegeisha - drimal

Monaco: Iceflower - Ianna, tbhrc

Morocco: Humera – Warren

Norway: Her_Majesty - KikkiB, carlota

Spain: LaChicaMadrilena - Anna_R, crisiñaki

Sweden: ZandraRae, Gita, Furienna

The Netherlands: The Watcher, Marengo, Lucien

The pictures of this poll reflect the official royal events of December. The poll will be open for three weeks. It will close on February 4, 2008. 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.

[Empress]

A. Jordan

Picture Link
Source:

"King Abdullah II, Prince Feisal and Prince Hashem pray at the tomb of their father, King Hussein, during the muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha. They are accompanied by King Abdullah's eldest son, Prince Hussein.


B. Monaco

Picture Link
Source: Hola.com

"Christmas at the Palace - Prince Albert II and his sister Princess Stephanie of Monaco pose with Santa Claus and a large number of children during the traditional Christmas celebration at the Princely Palace in Monaco, on December 19, 2007"



C. Norway

Picture Link
Source: Kongehuset

From left: Norway´s King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon applaus 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Dr. Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. during the Nobel Peaze Prize Award ceremony in the City Hall of Oslo, Norway, December 10, 2007.


D. Japan

Picture Link
Source: Franck Robichon/epa/Corbis

Japan's Emperor Akihito (2-L) and Empress Michiko (R) smile to well-wishers through a bullet-proof glass during their public appearance as Crown Prince Naruhito (L) and Princess Masako walk through, at the Imperial Palace, in Tokyo. Emperor Akihito celebrates his 74th birthday on 23 December.


E. Britian

Picture Link
Source: Polfoto

The Duchess of Cornwall presents a medal to Riflemen Stephan Vause. Stephan Vause, 20, suffered severe brain injuries in a mortar attack in Iraq and remains wheelchairbound.

It was recently revealed that the Duchess personally (though privately) sends letters to all soldiers of 'her' regiments and is always in close contact with them and their families.


F. Dubai

Picture Link
Source: Reuters via Yahoo

Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid and Princess Haya hold their newlyborn daughter Sheikha Al Jalila on December 5, 2007. The little sheikha, whose name means the "majestic one" in Arabic was born on December 2, the UAE's National Day, and shares her name with her cousin Princess Jalilah of Jordan.


G. Beligum/ The Netherlands

Picture Link
Source: Amaliaatje (ATR)

Máxima of The Netherlands and Mathilde of Belgium say goodbye to eachother after receiving the book "The Overview of the Art of Painting in The Low Countries" on December 4, 2007 in The Hague.

[Empress]

H. Sweden

Picture Link
Sourc: ANP

The three Swedish royal siblings pose during the 2007 Nobel festivities: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Phillip & Princess Madeleine.



I. Denmark

Picture Link
Source: DRWs via their source Horsens-Folkeblad.dk

Crown Prince Frederik launches a weather balloon at the opening of the exhibition on Denmark's Expeditions in Greenland at the Odder Museum, Dec. 11, 2007.



J. Luxembourg

Picture Link
Source: Carlo Hommel of the Grand Ducal Court

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg are greeted during an official visit to the International Bazar at the annual LuxExpo in Luxembourg City.

[LadyS]

Just checking ,where are Spain, Morocco and Brunei's photos?

Did I miss them somehow?

Thanks

[Empress]

No, they did not turn in photos for this month.

[Vanesa]

Yes. I was wondering where they where...I'm surprised not to see some of the Royal Houses portraying their Christmas or New year's official pic.

However , I loved the pics that were selectiones. All are great.

Vanesa.

[Her_Majesty]

Originally Posted by Vanesa

Yes. I was wondering where they where...I'm surprised not to see some of the Royal Houses portraying their Christmas or New year's official pic.

The Christmas or New Year's Pictures do NOT count as Official Pictures and so they do not work for this Poll.
This Poll is only for pictures showing the Royals during their Duties and activities.

So, none of the Christmas pictures (from Spain, Norway, Denmark and so on) did work for this poll.
They would work as informal pictures, but not as officials.

[Humera]

As much as we'd like to, including every royal family in the poll every month can be difficult. Some months tend to be slower than others, as was the case with Brunei and Morocco last month. We also have specific criteria to follow for the official picture poll which means that we can't just submit random closeups of a smiling royal or a cute family picture.

[Empress]

Our teams work very hard to find photos that are original and fun while still fulfilling the guidelines that have been set for the PoM. It's just that sometimes there is not an appropriate photo for that month.

[dalia]

Is there any poll for the unofficial photos in this forum? If yes, please give me the link, I guess they are more fun than the official ones, and why can't we have a poll for all the photos, whether official or unofficial? I can see that the poll's team is finding a little difficulty with the official photos so why not giving them an easier task and mix the official and unofficial photos together?. Thank you for the photos

[Her_Majesty]

When we still had the mixed Official/Unofficial Polls it usually happened that unofficial/informal photos were chosen.
So we nearly had at least 1 toddler-picture in a Poll that won in the end or at least was ranked very high. That's why we devided the Polls into "Informal" and "Official" Polls.

Later this month there will be published another informal Poll that will deal with "Royal Portraits".

To have an overview of all Polls, please have a look here:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f86/

[May G.]

I was surprised as well by not seeing some of the beautiful and sweet photos of the Norwegian x-mas.
Why not opening a new poll for the royal families at christmas?!

[Her_Majesty]

The Poll is closed.
Thanks for all your votes!

Picture of the Month December 2007: Belgium/ The Netherlands

1. Beligum/ The Netherlands
Máxima of The Netherlands and Mathilde of Belgium say goodbye to eachother after receiving the book "The Overview of the Art of Painting in The Low Countries" on December 4, 2007 in The Hague.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3...athildeyb5.jpg

2. Sweden
The three Swedish royal siblings pose during the 2007 Nobel festivities: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Phillip & Princess Madeleine.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...tNobel2007.jpg

3. Britain
The Duchess of Cornwall presents a medal to Riflemen Stephan Vause. Stephan Vause, 20, suffered severe brain injuries in a mortar attack in Iraq and remains wheelchairbound.
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...l/untitled.jpg


I have to say: my personal favourite was the Belgian/Dutch winner-picture!
The twin-outfit story was quite funny and it is lovely to see two Crown Princesses having such a good relationship!

Now we can look forward to the Picture of the Year Poll.

[Marengo]

Hurray, the first (poll-)victory for Belgium, thanks folks!

................................

[Avalon]

Congratulations to the winning picture and thank you all for your votes!

All pictures were beautiful, but for me, the choice was between the British, The Dutch/Belgium and the Jordanian pictures.

The Dutch/Belgian picture was very sweet, I liked it very much. But the Jordanian picture was so much more emotional and special for me. I almost ended up voting for it, but in the end, I voted for the British picture.
I think it really illustrated the terrible scars any war leaves, both physical and emotional scars. Also, it shows how important it is not to forget and honour those, who fight for their countries.