Various royals flocked to Stockholm these past two days, to attend events to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations’ Rights of the Child convention.

View the image at royalcourt.se

A private seminar on the celebration was held at the Royal Palace of Stockholm early on Thursday November 19th, and was attended by a large group of royal women: Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Madeleine, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Paola of Belgium, Queen Sofia of Spain, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway.

The group was joined by Crown Princess Margarita of Romania and Crown Princess Katherine of Yugoslavia for a visit to Barncentrum, a children’s centre in Stockholm. The centre provides assaulted and abused children a place where they can come and receive treatment from all the authorities which are involved in such a case (paediatricians, socials workers, therapists, police and prosecutors) in the one place. According to Swedish newspaper DN, the royals were told of a twelve-year-old girl’s story of being abused by her father, and how the centre assisted in the man receiving a ten year jail sentence for his actions.

View the image at Svensk Dam

On Thursday evening, a jubilee concert was hosted by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs at Berwald Hall in Stockholm. All the royal visitors attended, as well as King Carl XVI Gustaf, the two Swedish princess’ fiancés (Daniel Westling and Jonas Bergström) and Princess Christina, Mrs Magnuson. Speeches were given by Queen Silvia and Göran Hägglund, Sweden’s Minister for Health and Social Affairs. The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performed for the event, as well as a dance performance by the Lasse Kühlers Dansskola.

The following day, Friday November 20th, a government conference had been organised and was once again attended with a large royal contingent at the Radisson Blu Royal Park Hotel in Frösundavik. The conference was organised through the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union.

Click here to view the thread at TRF.

JessRulz Belgian Royals, Danish Royals, Dutch Royals, Luxembourg Royals, Norwegian Royals, Spanish Royals, Swedish Royals Children, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Princess Madeleine, Princess Mary, Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Victoria, Queen Beatrix, Queen Paola, Queen Silvia, Queen Sofia, United Nations

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King Abdullah of Jordan opened on Tuesday the new premises of The Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Salt (Northwest of Amman).

The Institute, which was opened by the late King Hussein in 1964, is a residential school providing education, rehabilitation and vocational training for hearing and visually impaired children and young people.

During a tour of the new premises the Monarch met with students and he was briefed on handicraft, textile, embroidery and ornament made by students.

salma Jordanian Royals Abdullah II, Children, Health

Crown Princess Victoria paid a visit to Kenya from November 11th to 14th. During the first day the Princess inaugurated the Conference of Climate Change Day, that is the biggest event during the Swedish EU presidency in Kenya.

Later the day she attended the opening of the Victoria Trade Council offices in Nairobi. There she took part in a colorful danshow with Maasai.

Click at the image to see a gallery at Svenskdam.se

Princess Victoria mainly visited Kenya to inaugurate a school built by Gundua Foundation. The Crown Princess is a patron of the school. The Gundua secondary school in ex-Lewa provides more children the chance to educate themselves, although they live poor conditions.

During her last day in Kenya Victoria met the professor and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. The women planted a tree as a symbol of the friendship between Kenya and Sweden. The Princess visited a Swedish school in Nairobi. Many children wanted to meet the Princess, who recieved flowers and gifts and took the time to answer the childrens’ questions.

You can find a thread about the visit to Kenya here.

Her_Majesty Swedish Royals Children, Kenya, Official Visit, Princess Victoria

On November 10th Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf , his wife Silvia and Hamburg’s Mayor Ole von Beust were seen during a gala in Hamburg. Sweden’s Royal couple visited Germany to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Swedish chamber of commerce in Germany. A video can be seen here (in German).

Click at the image to see a Gallery at Ruhrnachrichten.de

One day later, on November 11th, Queen Silvia attended a congress of her “World Childhood Foundation” at the Swedish Embassy to Germany in Berlin. The Queen’s foundation supports Berlin-based organisations, like a street-working project, aiding children that are victims of sexual abuse.

Today Her Majesty attended an event in Essen in the Ruhr Area. There she attended an award ceremony that also marked the 10th anniversary of the World Childhood Foundation. The Queen watched a children’s rights quiz and handed out certificates to the winners.

Her_Majesty Swedish Royals Awards, Carl XVI Gustaf, Children, Germany, Queen Silvia, World Childhood Foundation

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Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein presented on November 2nd the SOS Anniversary Award to Johnson & Johnson for their support of SOS Children’s Villages in Africa at the Embassy of Austria in Washington D.C.

She too shared her experiences with SOS Children’s Villages in Jordan during the reception hosted by His Excellency the Ambassador of Austria, Dr. Christian Prosl, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the organisation. Queen Noor Al Hussein, Honorary Chairperson of SOS Children’s Village Association of Jordan and honorary member of the General Assembly of the SOS-Kinderdorf International, introduced the SOS Children’s Villages in Jordan after a meeting with Hermann Gmeiner, the founder of SOS Children’s Villages.

The first Jordanian SOS Children’s Village was inaugurated by the late King Hussein and Queen Noor on May 7, 1987 in Amman.

salma Jordanian Royals Children, Patronage, Queen Noor, SOS Children's Villages, United States of America

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HRH Princess Sana Asem, the Honorary President for Family and Child Care, inaugurated a Game Room for Children at the Queen Rania Al Abdullah Hospital in Petra yesterday.

During the visit, Princess Sana, accompanied by the Petra District Governor Ibrahim Assaf, visited the children’s section of the hospital where she spoke with sick children and their parents, and distributed gifts.

This is the eighth hospital in the Kingdom which collaborates with the Zahra Cultural Centre’s campaign.

salma Jordanian Royals Children, Hospital, Patronage, Princess Sana

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 Today must have been a special day for Princess Letizia, as she returned to her homeland, Asturias. As you all surely remember, she was born in Oviedo, its capital. By the way, next Friday the Prince and the Princess of Asturias will be there again to attend the presentation ceremony of the 2009 Princes of Asturias Awards which is without doubt the major annual event they attend. Oviedo is already waiting for its Prince and Princess and its prizewinners…but everything in good time.

Today the Princess was in Candás, a beautiful fishing village in the north of Asturias famous for its Internatinal Sadine Festival (this blogger can testify to that) to visit the San Felix school. This centre is part of EducaRed program which is promoted by Fundación Telefónica and whose main goal is to apply Internet as a tool of innovation and pedagogic training among teachers, parents and pupils of primary and secondary education, baccalaureate and formative cycles of average degree, to improve the quality of their education and to encourage the equality of opportunities. Currently in Spain more than 12,000 schools are registered in this program.

See you in Oviedo next week!

Paty Spanish Royals Children, Education, Internet, Princess Letizia, Princess of Asturias

 TRH Crown Prince Frederik and The Princess Royal today joined forces in Copenhagen for the launch of the Save the Children Fund’s new campaign, “Knit a Hat,” at the Fund’s centre in Copenhagen.

Click to see the image at ANP

The two royals, who are both patrons of the Save the Children Fund, brought along a knitted hat to donate, in keeping with the new campaign. “Knit a Hat” aims to reduce infant mortality rates in developing African countries, where there are many cases of preventable disases like pnuemonia, diarrhea and measles. A press release from the Danish branch of Save the Children, Red Barnet, stated that “even in Africa, there are cold nights” which explains the campaign of donating knitted caps to be sent to African children.

The cap brought by Prince Frederik was not made by him though. “I would love to have knitted it myself. But it is not true,” he said in the press conference.

The Princess Royal is currently in Copenhagen for the 121st IOC Session and Olympic Congress, which runs until October 9th. Read more about the IOC event here.

Click here to view Prince Frederik’s thread on Save the Children, and here for Princess Anne’s.

JessRulz British Royals, Danish Royals Children, Patronage, Prince Frederik, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Save the Children

 Prince Harry spent his day off from helicopter training to take part in Monday night’s WellChild Children’s Health Awards. The ceremony honored the courage of British children as they dealt with serious illnesses.

Click here for more pics at Daylife

While the children and their parents were thrilled to see the Prince in their midst, there was one child who was not impressed.

“Are you sure you are Prince Harry?” asked six year-old Alex Burke. “Where’s your crown? So you’re not William then?”

Amused, Harry told Alex, “I’m here, you have to make do with me.”

Still unimpressed, the little boy, who suffers from neurofibrosismatosis type 1, then went to blow some bubbles. He continued to do so when the Prince picked him up.

Alex’s mother, Sarah Burke, from Manchester said:  “Alex was loving every minute of it and was not fazed at all to meet Harry. I have been showing him pictures of Harry and his brother, trying to explain who they are but he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t wearing his crown. I just told him that he wasn’t allowed to take it out with him.”

Other children the Prince met with included eight year-old Lucy Tutton, who won the Most Bravest Child award for caring for her ill sister. She sat on Harry’s lap for a brief chat before giving him a flower shaped balloon.

Another was a boy Harry’s brother, Prince William, met with not too long ago during a trip with WellChild. Upon seeing Harry, eight year-old Harrison Holmes gave him a photograph of William, whom he called the “Prince of Cuddles.” He asked Harry to give it to his brother, which Harry indeed promised to do.

Sonjapearl British Royals Awards, Children, Health, Prince Harry

On Monday, Her Majesty Queen Rania launched this year’s Hal Hilalak tent in Irbid to provide activities for disadvantaged children across the Kingdom during the holy month of Ramadan. During the visit to Irbid, Queen Rania toured the King Hussein Charity Society and inspected a few new facilities at the society which provides services to to orphaned girls aged between 12 and 18. The Hal Hilalak tent features clowns, magicians and mimes that give different groups of underprivileged children the opportunity to enjoy special and exciting iftar evenings during Ramadan.

The tent which was launched by Queen Rania last year reached out to over 5,000 children during the month of Ramadan.

dazzling Jordanian Royals Children, Queen Rania