 |
| © RVD; Photo: Jeroen van der Meyde
A final meeting of a very special club - the heirs to European thrones and their spouses. This meeting took place on March 2 at Het Loo in Apeldoorn. The heirs and their spouses have meet once a year, similar to the annual meetings among the royal chamberlains. Liechtenstein and Monaco are not included because they are princely states, not monarchies.
It is not a surprise that this meeting took place in the Netherlands. However, it is unlikely that the new Princess of Orange will be included in the annual meeting due to her age.
From left to right: the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, the Prince and Princess of Asturias, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, the Prince of Orange and Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, the Duke and Duchess of Brabant and the Crown Prince of Norway.
The Crown Prince of Denmark and the Crown Princess of Norway were unable to attend due to previously scheduled engagements.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have never been members of this special group, largely due to a major age difference between the Prince of Wales and the other European heirs. On April 30, the Prince of Orange will become King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife will be styled as Queen Maxima. Their eldest daughter, Princess Amalia, will become the heiress apparent, and be styled as the Princess of Orange.
Although Willem-Alexander will soon become the Netherlands' head of state, and his wife, as his consort, it seems likely that they will remain close friends to the other heirs to the throne, although from April 30, they will be facing a different protocol than the heirs and their spouses.
|
News and commentary about the reigning royal houses of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Spain, Monaco -- and the former European monarchies as well.
Pages
▼
Why are you calling this a final meeting? And does this group get together like this on a regular basis?
ReplyDeleteThe heirs and spouses have had private, never photographed publicly, get togethers over the years as they are all in a certain age group. The spouse called it the M club, and after Felipe married Letizia, one of the other wives joked that in the group, Letizia would be known as Metezia. I would think the Luxembourgs are new to this group. On one level, a group of friends with the same job providing moral support especially for the spouses. If I recall, Maxima and Mathilde have been shopping together.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I had always assumed Felipe & Letizia were not as close to the others in this group.......due to geographical differences. Guess I am wrong. So I guess this would leave the Wessexes out.....since Edward is not the crown prince. And Charles is probably old enough to be a father to most of them. I have just recently discovered blogs! I never knew all of these royalty blogs existed. I hope to comment occasionally. I also have your book on Queen Victoria's descendants. It has been a great resource.
ReplyDeleteBy plane, Spain is not far from Amsterdam . Charles is closer in age to the parents of these heirs.
ReplyDeleteCan Letizia get any thinner and remain alive. She's a walking skeleton.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that you avoid to mention the names of Felipe and Letizia, Prince and Princess of Asturias and DO WRITE the names of other princes. Do you have anything against them as to witheld their names?
ReplyDeleteNo I did not write all the names of others, silly person. The official title is prince of Asturias, not Felipe prince of Asturias.
ReplyDelete