Happy 39th Wedding Anniversary Harald & Sonja!

On August 29th, King Harald V and Queen Sonja celebrated their 39th year as husband and wife. The pair married in 1968, at the Oslo Cathedral.Copyright: Kongehuset.no

New Pictures of Nikolai & Felix

Kongehuset.dk released a series of new pictures of Princes Nikolai and Felix to celebrate Nikolai's 8th birthday on August 28th.The full gallery can be seen at Kongehuset.dk, or at PPE (with watermarks)

Copyright: Kongehuset.dk

Happy 8th Birthday Nikolai!

Prince Nikolai William Alexander Frederik, the eldest son of Prince Joachim and Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg; celebrated his 8th birthday on August 28th!Born on August 28th, 1999, at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Nikolai was third in line for the Danish throne at the time of his birth - but has now dropped down to fifth in line after the birth of his cousins Christian and Isabella. The above picture was taken last year.Nikolai was christened on November 6th at the Fredensborg Palace Church. His godparents were Crown Prince Frederik, the Earl of Wessex, Peter Steentrup, Nicola Baird and Camilla Flint.
Copyright: Kongehuset.dk

Beatrix attends the Concours Hippique "'t Peerdespul"

Queen Beatrix attended the Concours Hippique "'t Peerdespul"in Groningen on August 28th.Photo Gallery from PPE

Copyright: PPE

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary Pieter-Christiaan & Anita!

On August 27th, Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita celebrated their second wedding anniversary. The couple married in 2005, in a civil ceremony on August 25th, followed by a religious service on August 27th.Copyright: Chris Gorzeman/RVD

County Visit to Nord-Troms - Day 1

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit began their county visit to Nord-Troms on August 26th. Here are some pictures from the first day:Photo Gallery from Isifa
Photo Gallery from nordlys.no
Photo Gallery from NRK
Copyright: ANP

Haakon & Mette-Marit hand out Fund Grants

On August 25th, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit handed out grants for their Humanitarian Fund.
Copyright: ANP

Harald & Sonja at the Opening of Bygdø Royal Farm

King Harald and Queen Sonja attended the Opening of Bygdø Royal Farm on August 24th.Copyright: ANP

Emma's Christening

Emma Francisca Catharina van Vollenhoven, daughter of Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita of Orange-Nassau, was christened yesterday at the Het Loo Palace Chapel in Apeldoorn.Copyright: RVD

Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary Haakon & Mette-Marit!

Today, Crown Prince Haakon & Crown Princess Mette-Marit celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. The couple married in 2001 at the Oslo Cathedral, followed by celebrations at the Royal Palace.Copyright: Scanpix/Kongehuset.no, Rex Features, Gamma Press

Christening of Emma van Vollenhoven

The christening of Emma van Vollenhoven, the daughter of Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita, will take place today at the Chapel at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn.

Emma's godparents are Prince Bernhard of Orange-Nassau, Caroline van der Toorn-van Eijk, Evert-Jan Wamsteker and Alexandra Countess de Witt-Cavard

RVD

New Picture of Alexandra Berleburg & Family

In a current issue of the German Vanity Fair magazine, there is an article on German royalty. Included in this is Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (the daughter of Princess Benedikte and Prince Richard). This is the picture of the Princess with her family: husband Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth, son Count Richard and daughter Countess Ingrid:

Ari presents his New Designs

Ari Behn, the husband of Princess Märtha-Louise of Norway, yesterday presented his newly designed items at the Norwegian Gift - an interior designs fair held in Lillestrom.Copyright: ANP

Christian's First Flirt!

Se og Hør reports this week on Prince Christian's first flirt! Apparently this occured during the christening of Dagmar Louise Foss, the daughter of one of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary's friends, on August 18th. Princess Isabella also attended with her parents.Copyright: Se og Hør

Märtha-Louise visits Guide Dog Training Facility

Princess Märtha-Louise visited the Norwegian Blindeforbundets Forerhundskole - a facility for the training of guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired on August 21st.Copyright: ANP

Beatrix at the European Union Youth Orchestra Concert

Queen Beatrix attended a concert performed by the European Union Youth Orchestra on August 19th. The Queen was joined by her nephew, Prince Maurits, and his wife Princess Marilène.Copyright: ANP/RVD

Happy 34th Birthday Mette-Marit!

Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the wife of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, celebrated her 34th birthday on August 19th!Happy Birthday Mette-Marit!
Copyright: Scanpix/Kongehuset.no

Wedding of Marianne Solberg Behn & Olav Bjørshol

Yesterday, Ari Behn's parents - Marianne Solberg Behn and Olav Bjørshol - remarried. The wedding was attended by Ari, Princess Märtha-Louise, their two daughters Maud Angelica and Leah Isadora, and Queen Sonja, along with a skew of other guests. Maud Angelica was her grandmother's flower girl, while Ari was his father's best man.



Picture Gallery from VG
Picture Gallery from Side 2
Copyright: Stella Pictures

Mary takes out the Trash

Crown Princess Mary is known for being a laid-back, hands-on royal - and yesterday she proved that fact by taking out the trash at Chancellory House.Article from HELLO! Magazine - "Princess Mary of Denmark not too grand to empty the bins"
Copyright: HELLO! Magazine/Rex Features

Astarte Education Opens for Classes

Princess Märtha-Louise and her business partner Elisabeth Samnøy have opened the doors of their clairvoyant school - Astarte Education. The duo held a press conference yesterday to discuss the opening of their venture.Article from Aftenposten - "Princess' pupils start school"
Copyright: ANP

Willem-Alexander at World Water Week 2

Prince Willem-Alexander met up with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a World Water Week seminar on "Cities at Risk: A Warmer World and the Big Chill for Urban Planners" on August 16th in Stockholm, Sweden.Picture Gallery from PPE
Copyright: RVD/Siwi

Willem-Alexander at World Water Week in Stockholm

Prince Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange, has been in Sweden this past week participating in World Water Week. On Wednesday, Willem-Alexander made a speech at the meeting of Global Water Partnership.Willem-Alexander's speech:
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have come a long way.
The importance of Integrated Water Resources Management is now widely recognised. There is a broad consensus that IWRM is the key to sustainable water management. Today, around the world, national IWRM planning processes are identifying essential steps to improve water resources management. The resulting plans have to strike a balance between sustainability and a country’s need for social and economic development – often including the need to meet the MDGs.
As Patron of the Global Water Partnership, I am of course happy that IWRM is being put into practice in so many places. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to ask: are good plans enough to ensure effective action? Is this planning process, important though it is, enough to create the necessary political will, ensure the funding needed and guarantee involvement of all the appropriate ministries?
Recent floods on many continents and in many countries (such as China, India, Pakistan, Britain, Bulgaria, Greece and now this week Korea and Germany to name but a few) and elsewhere remind us that we still face many problems in the field of water management in practice. Let's be clear about it: water management problems are not limited to developing countries. We all remember Katrina.
This means that water management still demands our close attention. We are all very aware that in many countries, there is no shortage of plans or analysis. What is lacking is practical implementation in the field: translation into action.
We need to study carefully those cases where countries have been able to move from theory to practice and plans have been successfully carried out. In the past few months I have met with the management of the World Bank and the three major regional development banks. They want to invest in water infrastructure. They are convinced of the importance of these investments to both sustainability and economic and social development. Yet they face the reality that requests for water financing have not increased and loan levels are more or less flat.
Finance and planning ministries are inevitably more concerned with agricultural progress, growth of tourism, energy needs and urbanisation than with abstract concepts of optimal water management. Success occurs where water sector professionals are able to move from a focus on ideal water management concepts into the real world of overlapping sectoral problems.
What are the problems between the needs of the industrial sector and the needs for clean drinking water? How can agriculture grow in areas with a shortage of water?
Will tourism grow or will agriculture be privileged in water-short regions? Clearly these discussions need to get going on the real issues in specific sectors.
If we can link water management to specific national development goals, this will also reduce the gap between the planning and implementation phases.
Next year will be the International Year of Sanitation.
It will give water sector professionals an excellent opportunity to work with town planners on urban water use regulations and agricultural water re-use issues, and to have major, joint campaigns on sewage pollution in rivers and lakes. I know that work is under way in Eastern Europe on appropriate rural sanitation technology. I urge you all to take advantage of this International Year of Sanitation.
Realistically, in regions where surface water and groundwater are shared between countries, transboundary issues have to be properly addressed.
It is a lot to ask of incipient national planning and IWRM implementation that they address transboundary issues as well. But we do know that it is essential.
Competition for water is increasing with population growth, climate change and pollution of usable supplies. So policymakers in other sectors should be taking an active interest in how water decisions are made and how their own decision-making is affecting their countries’ water resources. It is part of our task to bring them to the table. We have to do that by talking about their agendas, not by trying to make them listen to ours.
GWP is proud of its role in getting the appropriate people around the right tables to discuss water issues. By making sure that water development is an integral part of sectoral plans, we are strengthening the credibility of the people and organisations involved. Above all, we are producing tangible results. Currently there is a significant gap between water needs and most countries’ ability to fulfil those needs. We need better management and new water infrastructure: pipelines, boreholes, sewer systems, irrigation systems, treatment plants, hydropower plants and storage facilities. For most countries this means overcoming a significant funding gap, by either finding more money or stretching the money they have further.
The focus of our seminar today will be on sharing the experiences of countries that have made good progress in IWRM and successfully mainstreamed water into national development strategies and plans.
It will examine three countries. Two of these, Mali and Zambia, have donor support in preparing their IWRM plan and one, Brazil, has undertaken this work as part of national development planning. In both cases a link has been made between water management and the national development framework.
I look forward to hearing what lessons can be learned from these case studies. IWRM has come a long way, but we are not yet near the end of the road.
Let’s try to move forward today!

Copyright: RVD/Siwi

Mette-Marit at "Designerspirene" Fashion Show

Yesterday Crown Princess Mette-Marit attended the "Designerspirene" fashion show in Oslo.
Copyright: Dagbladet

New Pictures of Orange Girls

The Dutch Royal House has released new pictures of Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane while they were on holidays in Italy. The pictures were taken by their father Willem-Alexander.

Copyright: The Prince of Orange/RVD

Marie does a pre-engagement Mary

Prince Joachim and his girlfriend Marie Cavallier are acting more and more like a pre-engagement Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson. The pair have attended christenings and weddings of friends (like Frederik and Mary did), they have attended sporting events (again like Frederik and Mary did), and now Marie has attended a fashion show at the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair - like a pre-engagement Mary Donaldson did back in days before her engagement to Frederik was officialised in October 2003. Marie attended the Malene Birger fashion show on August 13th.Copyright: Polfoto

Märtha-Louise at the Bislett Summer Games

Princess Märtha-Louise attended the Bislett Summer Games on August 11th.Copyright: Scanpix

Mary at Baum und Pferdgarten Fashion Show

Crown Princess Mary attended the Baum und Pferdgarten fashion show at the Copenhagen Interntional Fashion Festival (commonly known as CIFF) yesterday.Photo Gallery from WireImages

Frederik visits Save the Children

Crown Prince Frederik made a visit to the Save the Children Fund on August 8th.
Full gallery from Red Barnet

Copyright: Red Barnet

Pieter has been Diagnosed with Recidive Skin Cancer

Professor Mr Pieter van Vollenhoven, the husband of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, has been diagnosed with recidive skin cancer. He underwent surgery to remove the malignant tissue at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam which specialises in cancer treatment. This is the fifth time Pieter has been diagnosed with cancer, and he is now under closer watch than ever.

RVD announcement

Margrethe & Henrik's Press Conference in France

Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik held their annual press conference at their French Chateau in Cahors on August 7th.The pair were asked about their son, Prince Joachim's, relationship with the French-born Marie Cavallier, and while the Queen declined to comment on the rumors of an impending engagement, she did reveal that she had met with Marie and that she was pleased for her son.

Picture Gallery from PPE

Picture Gallery from Royal Press

Picture Gallery from TV2

Copyright: PPE/Nieboer & Scanpix/TV2