Picture of the Month: February 2006

[Alexandria]

Welcome to February's Picture of the Month poll!

After much discussion, The Moderating Team has decided to organize the set up of the poll differently this time around. To emphasize that the Picture of the Month polls are different from other polls around the forum, and that the emphasis should be on the pictures rather than the royal houses for which they represent, instead of the country name, the pictures are embedded into the poll choices this month. To see the image in its full size, click on the thumbnail to enlarge.

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: Mette2 - Dennism, pdas1201 and Danielle

Spain: mtbcm - LaChicaMadrilena, Elsa M., Anna_R

Jordan: Humera - Little_star

Morocco: Humera - Amira

Brunei: Humera - Warren

Monaco: tbhrc - Ianna, Michelle, Iceflower

Japan: mandyy - kei893265, merampo

Norway: purple_platinum - Larzen, LaMinka

Sweden: purple_platinum - Lena

Luxembourg: suturegeisha - drimal

The Netherlands: The Watcher - Marengo, Maxie

Britain: princejohnny25 - ysbel, HMQueenElizabethII, Avalon

Denmark: H.M. Margrethe - Mandy, norwegianne, pdas1201

And finally, something else that is new in this month's Picture of the Month Poll. This month's poll will only be open for two weeks. It will close on Tuesday, March 14. During these two 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 two weeks of the poll, you can discuss as much as you'd like about which image you voted for and why.

Please note that the pictures in the above poll have been posted in a random order, first by their shape (portrait or landscape), and do not reflect any personal feelings of The Moderating Team.

[Alexandria]

Photo Captions
Disclaimer: You'll see below that the representatives of the Denmark and Norwegian royal houses have decided on one picture to represent each house. Originally two different but similar images from the same event were chosen. It was suggested by The Moderating Team, and agreed upon by H.M. Margrethe (Denmark) and purple_platinum (Norway) that one picture could be chosen.

A. Brunei

HM Sultan Hassan al-Bolkiah takes part in aerobic excercises before the start of a "brisk walk" at the Bukit Shahbandar Recreational Park. The Sultan lead 1000 government ministers and high-ranking officials at the event aimed at encouraging them to participate in leisure activities and foster closer ties.
Source: Infofoto Brunei

B. Luxembourg

Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg on their 25th wedding anniversary, February 14th, in the Grand Ducal Palace.
Source: Revue.lu

C. Spain

Prince Felipe is delighted to have Princess Letizia at his side again at a gala dinner in honour of Russian President Putin. It is Letizia's first gala dinner in more than a year.

D. Britain

While Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall opens an exhibit at the Holbourne Museum in Bath on February 3, Mr. Bear takes a break outside with the latest news.
Source: Gettyimages

E. Japan

In this photo released by the Imperial Household Agency, Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, his wife, Crown Princess Masako, and their daughter Princess Aiko smile with their dogs at the garden of his residence, Togu Palace, in Tokyo Feb. 13, 2006. Naruhito turns 46 years old on Feb. 23, 2006.
Source: ANP

F. Denmark/Norway

Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon is seen smiling & laughing, with his fellow royal friend, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, as they watch the women’s round robin curling match at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games, in Pinerolo 15 February 2006. Both Norway and Denmark are playing.
Source : BT

[Alexandria]

G. Sweden

King Carl Gustav of Sweden and his son Prince Carl Philip react like passionate hockey fans in the middle of a Swedish delegation during the Ice Hockey men's finale Sweden vs Finland held at the Palasport Olympico, in Turin, Italy on February 26, 2006. Sweden won the Gold, beaten Finland (Silver) 3-2.
Source : Abaca press (Nicolas Gouhier)

H. The Netherlands

Princess Catharina-Amalia kisses her younger sister Princess Alexia of The Netherlands as they pose for photographs at the start of their annual Austrian skiing holiday, at Hotel Kristiania on February 26, 2006 in Lech, Austria.
Source: Robin Utrecht, from ANP

I. Monaco

Prince Albert of Monaco plays with a flashlight that was given to spectators during opening ceremonies for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Friday, Feb. 10, 2006.
Source: East News

J. Belgium

On February 16th Mathilde visits a center for vulnerable children living on their own in Msasani. She is on a 3 days UNICEF mission in Tanzania.
Source: ANP

K. Jordan

Queen Rania with students at the Calgayan Primary School in Istanbul. The school implements the pre-school programme of the Mother Child Education Foundation (ACEV). The Queen was in Istanbul for a 2 day visit on an invitation from ACEV to attend a conference on early childhood education and to promote Jordanian-Turkish collaboration in the field.
Source: Corbis

[ysbel]

These are great pictures! Thanks everybody who participated. :)

[purple_platinum]

a great improvement on the layout... these are great pictures from February 2006. Great job, everyone... :)

[bbb]

good job everyone
its like a good restaurant, everything looks so good hard to choose

[ysbel]

Just a reminder everyone.

As Alexandria said in the beginning of the thread, don't reveal your chosen picture yet. The poll will stay open two weeks during which time members are not allowed to reveal what pic they voted for.

After the poll is closed, we will open the discussion to allow members to discuss their choices.

ysbel
Royal Forums moderator

[tbhrc]

Just a few more days to vote - so Vote Now.... Last month we had over 300 votes.... So come on...

[KatieLouise]

These are all great - I didn't know which one to choose! :)

[Elspeth]

Yes, come on - we only need 115 votes in the next 24 hours to surpass last month's total!

[Princejohnny25]

Everybody come and vote. The pics are a lot better this time and everybody should vote even if its a hard decision. Quickly before time runs out.

[ysbel]

Thanks everybody for participating in The Royal Forums second Picture of the Month poll. The February poll is now closed.

The winner is

H. The Netherlands

Princess Catharina-Amalia kisses her younger sister Princess Alexia of The Netherlands as they pose for photographs at the start of their annual Austrian skiing holiday, at Hotel Kristiania on February 26, 2006 in Lech, Austria.
Source: Robin Utrecht, from ANP

Congratulations to the Netherlands team and to all the teams that chose such great photos for this month.

[ysbel]

Now that the poll is closed, let's open up the thread to talk about the photos.

We'd love to hear about your choices.

Your favorite photograph and why you chose it
Your second or third best choice

And stick around to vote when we open the Picture of the Month for March coming out in just two weeks. We're sure there will be a lot of lovely photos to choose from.

[The Watcher]

That's great!
Thanks everyone for voting:)

[Maxie]

I have to agree with The Watcher! What a great choice you all made! I voted C-A and Alexia, of course (I simply can't resist voting for the little girls, last month I voted Ingrid Alexandra with the rose ), but I also liked the picture of King Carl-Gustaf and his son at the Olympics. Such enthusiasm! And the silly one of prince Albert, which was just hilarious! Well, they all were great pictures. I hope we keep on doing so well. Thanks to all who searched for the pics and to all who voted. Hope to see you all again in the poll for March! :)

[Princejohnny25]

There were many silly, cute, enthusiastic pics this month. It was definitly a hard choice but it is just so hard to resist those two adorable princesses.