Prince Albert meets the Pope, attends Grace Kelly Exhibition
HSH Prince Albert II paid a day-long visit to the Vatican City, and then to Rome, on October 16th. The Prince’s first stop was to visit His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
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The morning meeting was held in the library of the Pope’s residence, where the two men spoke of the need for moral education, defending the right to life and the protection of the environment. And, as was reported by the Vatican, “attention turned to themes of mutual interest including the importance of a solid cultural and moral formation of the young and the defense of life in all its phases.”
During his meeting, Prince Albert also met Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Pope Benedict’s secretary of state, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the secretary for relations with states. The Prince and the Pope also exchanged gifts. Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Prince Albert then travelled to Rome where he officially opened an exhibition on his mother, HSH the late Princess Grace. The Prince gave a speech at the opening, before a quick tour.
View the image at Hello!
The exhibition “The Grace Kelly Years: Princess of Monaco” is a travelling collection of Princess Grace’s personal belongings, including the stunning dress she wore to her 1956 wedding to HSH Prince Rainier III. There are also home videos filmed by Grace, as well as jewellery, several dresses and private family photographs. The exhibition will run in Rome until the end of February 2010 at the Palazzo Ruspoli.
Click here to view Prince Albert’s current events thread, and here for a thread regarding the Grace Kelly exhibition.
King Albert and Queen Paola were received in a private audience by Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday.
It’s been announced that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are to meet with Pope Benedict on a visit to the Vatican this April. Before their audience, they’ll pay an official visit to Italy. It’s believed that Their Royal Highnesses will carry with them an invitation to the Pope to visit Great Britain though such an invitation was apparantly offered by Gordon Brown when he visited the Vatican earlier in the year, something the Vatican denies. Either way, this visit will be an interesting one and there’s bound to be sarky comments on two divorcees visiting the Head of the Catholic Church (comments which will make very little sense to those with half a brain but still they’ll come from the usual sources) but if the Pope does visit Great Britain he’s more than likely to be met with protests as LGBT organisations have already begun to prepare demonstrations against the Pontiff’s visit (according to the Gay Times that is). For those not concerned with such matters, it could prove to be a tiara outing for Her Royal Highness.
