Yesterday Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit sold coffee and cakes outside their residence Skaugum for the sake of CARE. Their children and Mette-Marit’s brother Espen Hoiby were also seen during this event.

Crown Prince Haakon is a patron of the charity campaign CARE. The money from this year’s television campaign will be used to provide the world’s poorest women the opportunity to fend for themselves.

Click at the image to see it at Side2

About Care:
Care’s vision is to have a world where poverty is overcome and where people live in safety and dignity. It is a nonprofit organization that is working in several of the world’s poorest countries. CARE fights for women’s rights and for everyone to live a decent life.

You can read more about it here: CARE
A thread can be found here: TV campaign CARE 2009

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals CARE, In-Laws, Marius Borg Høiby, Patronage, Prince Haakon, Prince Sverre Magnus, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Princess Mette-Marit

 Don Fulco Ruffo di Calabria, the father of Queen Paola of The Belgians is making headlines in Belgium due to a book by Prof. Mark Van den Wijngaert, journalist Misjoe Verleyen and Lieve Beullens, that will be published this week. In the book ‘Vrouwen naast de troon’  the authors ‘reveal’ that Paola’s father was a senator from 1934 till 1944, during the time Mussolini’s fascist party was in power. Don Fulco, who was a hero from WWI, was put on trial in 1945 and found guilty for co-responsibility for the crimes of Fascism.

Click on image to see picture at finn.it

The authors presented this ‘revelation’ as big news, and they claim that it was never mentioned before in official biographies. Dutch royalty blog ‘royalblog’ however quickly pointed out that the 1999 biography of Queen paola by mario Danneels already mentions that her father was a senator during this period, as do Italian online biographies about the prince. He was named a senator by kign Vittorrio Emanuele III of Italy in 1934, the king already elevated him to the princely rank years earlier.

However, the Belgian newspaper now claim that the prince wass a senator for the fascist party and a great supporter of Mussolini. Thus far no evidence of this has been presented anywhere in the press and the authors of the book never said this in interviews either. Still, theyw ill be happy about the headlines, as most people in Belgium will know that their new book will be available for sale this week.

Marengo Belgian Royals Books, In-Laws, Queen Paola

Click on image to see photo at gva.be

 After 26 years the feud between the d’Udekem d’Acoz family finally has been settled. The feud started 26 years ago when Mathilde’s maternal grandmother, countess Suzanne d’Outryve d’Ydewalle, died. The devision of the family fortune started fierce discussions and disagreements between her sons Henri, Raoul and Patrick, Mathilde’s father.

‘The properties and money have been devided fairly. The lawsuits are over’, count Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz told the Flemish press. He also says that princess Mathilde played an important role in reuniting the family: ‘You can not underestimate her role, but maybe my brother’s death also accelerated things’. In March this year the count also said that the feud had ended, but apparently the financial issues still had to be settled.

 The family announced the end of their disagreements today, just as authors Valerie Lempereur and Jan Van den Berghe introduced their book ‘Mathilde & Co’ to the press. The book is far from positive about the ‘d Udekem d’Acoz family and especially the feud about the inheritance of countess Suzanne. On the Dutch television Valerie Lempereur said that Mathilde’s mother, countess Anne Komorowska, used to be the the ‘boss’ in the household, and has fits of hysteria. The author also claims that it is Mathilde who is the dominant spouse in the marriage.

Marengo Belgian Royals Finances, In-Laws, Princess Mathilde

 Earlier today, Prince Friso and Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau attend the 17th Annual AmsterdamDiner at the Heineken Music Hall.

Click to see the PPE gallery

At the gala, Friso and Mabel mingled with various people from the Dutch business and entertainment sectors. Wearing a floor-length, cap-sleeve dark green evening gown; Mabel chatted and posed for photos with Dutch designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, of label Viktor&Rolf (yes, the ones who designed the Bow Disaster of ‘04). The Princess’ sister, Nicoline Wisse-Smit, also attended.

The AmsterdamDiner, hosted by the Dutch Aids Foundation De Grote Onderneming, is an event that Friso and Mabel attend annually. The money raised at this year’s gala, from ticket sales and a silent auction, will go to LAASER, an organisation which aims to monitor HIV/AIDS resistance in the developing countries in Africa and Asia. LAASER is supported by the Aids Fond, which is one of the two main beneficiary’s of the AmsterdamDiner, the other being Stop Aids Now!’s Dutch branch.

According to the DGO website, the AmsterdamDiner is one of the Netherlands’ biggest fundraising galas; and since its first gala in 1992, has raised over 4,000,000€.

Click here to read more about Friso and Mabel’s current events.

JessRulz Dutch Royals HIV/AIDS, In-Laws, Prince Friso, Princess Mabel

Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg, former wife of Prince Joachim, has refused an invitation to participate in the Danish version of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, a show which sees minor celebrities and would-be celebrities dance in competition with each other to win the competition with their dancing, and perhaps get their ‘15 minutes of fame’.

Alexandra was allegedly also offered a position on the show two years ago, which she politely refused. Crown Princess Mary’s father John Donaldson has apparently also been offered a chance, but he too has declined, according to magazine Her og Nu.

For more information, please see this thread.

alex001 Danish Royals Countess Alexandra, In-Laws, John Donaldson, Television

For the first time since her brother Jörg Sommerlath’s death in 2006, Queen Silvia has spoken about how palliative care assisted her brother in his final months. Jörg Sommerlath died of laryngeal cancer in early 2006, in the palliative care department of a German hospital, where the Queen spent those final months by his side.

Click to see the image from ANP

In an exclusive interview with Svenska Dagbladet, the Queen tells how much of a difference palliative care made for her brother. “For him, it meant a lot to get the nursing care. It gave him the opportunity to alleviate the suffering,” she said.

Queen Silvia also told the journalist that she could see how people could take patients into account, and that palliative care allows them to manage their lives more than if they simply had standard care in their final days; and how the setting of palliative care offers more to the patient than believed. “I could see how we take into account the patient in a completely different way. In the usual care is more patient in the hands of staff…Everything should be made at specified times…It is not always as patient wishes,” Queen Silvia said, recalling her personal experience. She said that when her brother was in the hospital, the family come and go as they wanted, which meant that they could help in the care of Jörg, and fulfill his final wishes.

Queen Silvia pledged her commitment to palliative care research, saying that in the future she would like to see every major hospital have a specific department for palliative care.

The interview comes just before Queen Silvia travelled to Austria yesterday to speak at the 11th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care, which was also attended by the Austrian First Lady Margit Fischer and Austrian Health Minister Alois Stöger.

Click here to read more about Queen Silvia’s current events.

JessRulz Swedish Royals Health, In-Laws, Interview, Queen Silvia

  The Duch Government Information Office (RVD) denied on the website of the royal family the rumours that Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague will be extended to house Jorge and Carmen Zorreguieta, parents of princess Máxima.

Click on image to see photo at www.minbuza.nl

Two weeks ago it became clear that the royal family had asked the city counsil of The Hague for permission to change the destination plan of the estate of Huis ten Bosch Palace, so that three extra guest houses could be built. The RVD stresses that there are no concrete plans to build anything though. Last week gossip magazine Prive claimed that one of the guest houses would be built for the parents of princess Máxima, and that they will move inthere as soon as Queen Beatrix has abdicated and Willem-Alexander and his family moves into the palace. The city counsil of The Hague will decide on 26 March if the royal family can change the destination plan of the palace grounds.

Marengo Dutch Royals Huis ten Bosch Palace, In-Laws, Palaces, Princess Máxima

‘Life is too short to be fighting’, count Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz, uncle of Belgium’s crown princess Mathilde, tells the Belgian newspaper ‘Het Nieuwsblad’. Mathilde’s father, the late count Patrick d’Udekem ‘d Acoz was involved in a fight with his brothers Henri and Raoul for years, mainly about a property in Westbroek. The fight was covered in the press and even the court tried to mediate. The stroke and death of count Patrick made his brother Henri realise that life is to short to fight, which brought the family closer together.

Click on image to see photo at www.vrtnieuws.be

Count Henri tells  ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ that the widow of his brother, countess Anne Komorovska, visited him and his wife this weekend at his estate ’’t Couthof’. Countess Anne was accompanied by her daughter marchioness Hélene Pallavicini and her son count Charles-Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz. According to Henri, his wife made a nice pea-soup, a fish dish and a chocolate mousse for their guests.

During her visit countess Anne told her brother-in-law that prince Philippe would also dorp by that afternoon. The prince arrived by private helicopter, which he flew himself, and also took his eldest son Gabriël with him. According to count Henri it was a very cosy visit and the prince drank a cup of coffee with the family. It wasn’t the first time that a royal guest visited count Henri since the family feud ended. In January princess Mathilde herself visited her uncle and his wife Marie-Madelaine.

The article from ’Het Nieuwsblad’ in Dutch here. More information about the family of princess Mathilde can be found in this thread at TRF.

Marengo Belgian Royals In-Laws, Princess Mathilde