May Official Picture of the Month 2007

[ysbel]

Welcome to the May 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 June 24. 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. NORWAY

Photo

National Day: Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Prince Sverre Magnus, Crown Prince Haakon and Marius Borg Høiby watch the 17th of May Norwegian national day celebrations in Skaugum, Norway, May 17, 2007 source: Scanpix

B. SPAIN

Photo

Prince Felipe participates in the exercises of 'Cierzo 07' during the military training in San Gregorio, organised by the General Militar Academy (AGM) of Zaragoza (May 21st, 2007). Source: TERRA.

C. DUBAI

Photo

Jordan's Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, wife of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum watches as Susan Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt, receives a humanitarian award in Dubai, May 2007. Source: WAM.

D. MONACO

Photo

Royal congratulations - Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain is congratulated by Prince Albert of Monaco and his sister Caroline, Princess of Hanover, on the podium after he finishes second in the 65th Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo Circuit on May 27, 2007 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Source : Gettyimages

E. BELGIUM

Photo

24-05-2007 Antwerpen Princess Mathilde and prince Filip attended the Gala evening of the Steunraad Antwerpen for the King Boudewijn Foundation. PPE

F. LUXEMBOURG

Photo

13-05-2007 Luxembourg Grand Duke Henri, Maria Teresa, Guillaume, Felix, Louis, Alexandra and Tessy at the procession of the closing of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg. PPE

G.JORDAN

Photo

Prince Hashem clearly cannot wait to explore Jordan's first museum aimed solely at children! The little prince was making his third public appearance at an official event during the month of May. He was accompanied by Queen Rania, King Abdullah, Princess Iman and Princess Salma. (23/05/2007- Petra)

H. BRITAIN

Photo

President George Bush elicited unexpected laughs as he welcomed the Queen to the White House, misreading his speech and putting her age far beyond 81.
He said the Queen had personally met 10 U.S. presidents and had "helped the country celebrate its bicentennial" -- almost saying 1776.
Bush then looked over at the Queen, who gave him a sharp glance back. "She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child," he joked.
May 6, 2007,
Source - MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

I. NETHERLANDS

Photo

Crown Prince Willem-Alexander has paid a surprise visit to Dutch troops in southern Afghanistan. He also visited the Australian troops which work together with the Dutch in Uruzgan. Picture: Dutch Ministry of Defence

J. DENMARK

Photo

(Credit: ANP)
Prince Henrik, Queen Margrethe, King Carl Gustaf, and Queen Silvia wave from Malmo's impressive city hall balcony at the return dinner in Sweden. The two close royal families were united for the Swedish state visit to Denmark.

K. JAPAN

Photo

London, UK: Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko exchange presents with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh 29 May 2007 at the grand entrance of Buckingham Palace. The couple, who arrived in Britain on Sunday, shared an intimate dinner with the queen, her husband Prince Philip and a handful of other dignitaries in Buckingham Palace's 1844 Room. AFP PHOTO/Fiona Hanson/Getty Images

L. SWEDEN

Photo

Crown Princess Victoria is accompanied by a little girl on the way to the inauguration of the new Ørestaden’s Gymnasium at the state visit to Denmark. Source: AP

[Lady Jennifer]

Great pictures. It will be hard to pick just one.

[HRH Kerry]

What would've been too funny if one of the pics was of Queen Elizabeth looking at Dick Cheney like he was out of his mind.

[ysbel]

A reminder

Please don't say (or hint) who you voted for.

ysbel
Picture of the Month coordinator

[Vanesa]

Congrats for the choice of the pics...Even if this time, little babies and toddlers are out of question! But this time, I was VERY sure of my personal choice..More than ever!

Vanesa.

[morhange]

Hmm, it's gonna be a difficult choice! I wish I could have seen QE2 when she came to the US, but I had stupid exams for college.

[ysbel]

Some really interesting pictures made the poll this month.

I love the Scandanavian look of Norway's picture and the picture of the Danish and Swedish royal couples on the impressive carved balcony. These pictures look like they came from a fairytale book.

The Netherlands and Spain choices are particularly nice. Its not often we see the guys in these royal polls and its nice to see a man for a change-especially two such good looking men as Felipe and Willem-Alexander.

I was also delighted to see types of pictures that I had heard about but haven't seen before. I had heard about the exchange of gifts in Buckingham Palace when a head of state visits the Queen but I had never seen a photograph of it. The picture of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh with the Empress and Emperor of Japan was quite nice. I loved the old wood table and the interestingly colored box that the Queen was admiring.

Good job everybody!

[Princess_Beatrix]

i read about the new format and it's a good idea!
Congratulations to the members who thought about the new structure.
The pictures are all great and it is so hard to chose only one favourite.

I think someone was asking this before in a earlier poll:is there something like a statistic about the winners of the Poll?

[alex001]

The Luxemborug picture won't display. Can someone please help me?

[Elspeth]

It's displaying OK when I click the link. Takes a bit of time, but it shows up eventually. Try again and see if it's working now.

[Her_Majesty]

The Poll is closed.

Results:

1. Norway - Thank you for your votes!
http://www.danatduke.com/norway.jpg

2. Sweden
http://www.danatduke.com/victoria.jpg

3. Jordan
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...alty/2825I.jpg