Letizia, a former newsreader, married Prince Felipe of Spain on May 22, 2004. Since then, the already elegant Leti has had her image honed to perfection. That includes even making the height ratio attractive.

To close the gap in their height difference, special shoes are designed for Her Royal Highness to maximize her stature. In the photo below – during a visit with the Sarkozys – you will notice that the princess’ shoes have ‘boosters’ on them:

A pair of black boosters:

Sleek gray:

A Handsome Pair:

The darker colors look more stylish than the lighter colors. I wouldn’t mind wearing a pair in deep navy blue, myself. To the rest of the ladies in the audience: would you wear these shoes?

Take the Scandinavian troika of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, and Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria: all three are close friends and, like most European royals, are distantly related through Britain’s Queen Victoria.

These three all have close ties with one another, as they share a unique position of being the heir to a throne. The burden is eased knowing that they can talk and share ideas with someone who understands the pressures. Both Frederik and Haakon have always regarded Victoria as a “lillesøster” (little sister), attending royal ceremonies and performing official duties together whenever they can.

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“We share experiences from travel, and talk together on complex issues where we need to exchange ideas,” says Princess Victoria.

“We always have a really nice time together. Meeting points are obviously not as frequent as you want. Full calendars sometimes prevent you from being united, but I am very fond of both the Crown Princes and grateful for their support.”

One of their joint outings occurred when Frederik, Haakon, and Victoria visited the Antarctic as patrons of the International Polar Year, a project which allowed them to schedule working time together. They all have a keen interest in the environment and are usually seen together for such causes. In December 2009, they spent time in Frederik’s homeland of Denmark, where they attended the opening of the Bright Green Expo in Copenhagen.

Previously, Victoria was the only unmarried royal among the group, and would often accompany her princely “brothers” and their wives at royal functions. Now Victoria is escorted by Daniel Westling, her fiance, who will become a royal prince and the Duke of Västergötland upon their marriage on June 19th. The Crown Princess will walk down the aisle the same day her parents married in 1976.

The Scandinavian triumvirate are so close that Victoria was named godmother to Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Christian, the eldest children of Prince Haakon and Prince Frederik, respectively.

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The Crown Princesses of the Netherlands and Belgium are close friends through their royal husbands. Even their countries are intertwined. Belgium was once a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but gained independence in 1830. Both nations remain close allies.

Princess Maxima of the Netherlands and BFF Princess Mathilde carry out several engagements for their respective countries, but try to make it a joint effort as much as possible.

Many say that the pair work ‘seamlessly‘ when they attend events together. The opening of a new museum in Leven, Belgium, was no exception: Maxima and Mathilde smiled and greeted the crowds with warm enthusiasm and clearly enjoyed each other’s company as well.

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Mathilde and Maxima have a lot in common. Close in age, they both married heirs of thrones; both women are university-educated; they speak several languages fluently; and both were successful career women when they met their husbands.

Argentine-born Maxima was working at the New York branch of Germany’s Deutsche Bank when she began dating Prince Willem-Alexander. Mathilde was employed as a speech therapist when she met her future husband, Prince Philippe, during a casual game of tennis.

The pair of princesses also share a love of being hands-on, attentive mothers. Maxima has three girls and Mathilde has two boys and two girls. Mathilde is godmother to Maxima’s middle daughter, Princess Alexia.

Add your favorite royal pairings in the comments below!

Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, was born in Havana, Cuba on March 22, 1956.

Her parents, banker José Antonio Mestre y Alvarez and the late María Teresa de Mestre are both from families descended from the Bourgeoisie and Spanish nobility. They do not, however, carry any titles.

In October 1959, at the time of the Cuban revolution, the toddler Maria Teresa Mestre left Cuba with her parents. The family settled in New York where Maria Teresa was enrolled at Marymount School.

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In the summer of 1965, the Mestres settled down for a few months on their family estate of Santander in Spain before taking up permanent residence in Geneva, Switzerland. It was here that Maria Teresa, a political science student at the University of Geneva, met her future husband: Henri, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

It was said that the pair’s romance met with opposition from Henri’s parents, especially his mother, Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte. Maria Teresa gave an informal lunch for several Belgian and Luxembourgeois journalists in 2002, intimating that she never won the approval of her mother-in-law because she was non-European and carried no royal title.

Whatever the case may have been, in February 1981 Henri and Maria Teresa were married. The couple went on to have five children: Prince Guillaume (28); Prince Félix (25); Prince Louis (23); Princess Alexandra(18); Prince Sébastien (17).

Family Life

Grand Duke Jean stepped down in 2000 in favor of Henri, making his son the Grand Duke of Luxembourg in his stead. Maria Teresa became the Grand Duchess and Prince Guillaume became Hereditary Grand Duke.

Joséphine-Charlotte, who had suffered from lung cancer for some time, died at Fischbach Castle at the age of 77 in 2005. That same year, Maria Teresa’s third son, Louis, made headlines when he and his girlfriend Tessy Antony had a baby out of wedlock.

The people of Luxembourg were shocked. The prince was only 19 years old and Tessy 20 years old at the time. Tessy, a driver in the army, had been part of the armed forces for two years. She met Louis while she was part of a NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, while the prince was there to visit Luxembourg’s troops.

(L to R) Princess Tessy, Prince Louis, Prince Felix and Princess Alexandra.

Tessy, the commoner daughter of a tiler, was welcomed into the family despite the surprising event of the out-of-wedlock child. The baby boy, named Gabriel, was the first grandchild for Maria Teresa and Henri.

Louis and Tessy decided to marry in the autumn of 2006, and soon she gave birth to a second son, whom they named Noah. Both sons, as well as Tessy, were styled with the surname “de Nassau”. On June 23, 2009, on the occasion of Luxembourg’s National Day, Grand Duke Henri gave Tessy the title of Princess of Luxembourg with the style Her Royal Highness. Both Maria Teresa and Henri remembered the difficulties their own union had, so they welcomed Tessy as princess and as an official part of the royal family.The title Prince of Nassau and style Royal Highness were also granted to their sons.

Henri and Maria Teresa recently celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary in 2009 surrounded by friends and family. Several European royals attended the festivities, and Luxembourg cheered their happy royal family.

Work and Patronage

Like many European princesses, HRH The Grand Duchess speaks several languages – French, English, German, Italian, and her native Spanish. Her Royal Highness’ multilingual talents make her accessible to many European peoples and is a boon to Luxembourg.

Maria Teresa, in her capacity as Grand Duchess, works tirelessly for humanitarian causes. She is the President of the Luxembourg Red Cross and is patron of charities who support people with physical and mental disabilities.

Her Royal Highness is, like Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, very active in the promotion of microcredit. The Grand Duchess is the honorary chairperson of the LUXFLAG Microfinance Label.

In 2006, Her Royal Highness received the Path to Peace Award from a Holy See Foundation for her “relentless contribution to humanitarian causes.”

King George VI led the nation through the Second World War with his winsome wife, Queen Elizabeth, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. But as the war drew to a close, the king’s health began to fail. The formerly uninterested Duke of Windsor decided that he and his wife, Wallis, would take advantage of his brother’s illness and return to Britain to reign in his stead.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Christopher Wilson, an acknowledged expert on the Royal family, has studied copies of the 1946 correspondence between Windsor friend Kenneth de Courcy and the Duke and Duchess. The plan formulated by de Courcy amounted to treason – the Duke would return from exile to reign in King George’s place, even though the Duke had already officially abdicated kingship a decade earlier. He would supplant the king’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the rightful heir.

To de Courcy, the ill George VI was similar to King George III during his years of madness – still technically king in name, but increasingly unable to reign. Shunting Princess Elizabeth aside could be explained away as merely keeping Lord Mountbatten from the throne. One letter explained it thus:

“I do not think it too much to say that if the Regency should be one primarily influenced by the Mountbattens [ie Lord Mountbatten and Prince Philip], the consequences for the [Windsor] Dynasty might be fatal… the Mountbattens, thoroughly well-informed of the situation, will do everything in their power to increase their influence…”

It was a plan for the Duke to become King Edward VIII once again, only this time it would be on his terms. Thankfully, such a scenario never occurred. Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II upon the death of George VI on February 6, 1952. The Queen will celebrate 60 years on the throne in 2012.

I realized with breathtaking finality what it meant when I saw the Queen attending the service at Westminster Abbey to “mark the passing of the World War I generation”. The words alone are astounding.

This year, the three remaining veterans of WWI passed away: William Stone in January, and both Harry Patch and Henry Allingham in July. Allingham was the oldest Royal Navy Veteran, the last survivor of the battle of Jutland, and a founding member of the Royal Air Force.

The families of many of these WWI heroes attended the service. The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, laid a wreath on The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the event.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary

Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier was born in Paris on Februrary 6, 1976. The princess lived in a modest house there until the age of ten with her parents, Françoise and Alain, and her half-brothers Benjamin and Gregory.

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The princess had a happy, close relationship with her family growing up. It was difficult, Marie admits, when her parents decided to divorce. Describing herself as a good student, Marie says that when her parents divorced her grades suffered accordingly. She adored her father and was sad for many years, rebelling against her mother and stepfather.

After the divorce, Marie was sent to the Collège Alpin Beau Soleil boarding school in Switzerland. After leaving Beau Soleil, she attended Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts for two years. After a visit to New York City with a friend, Marie “fell in love” with her surroundings and decided to finish her schooling there at Marymount Manhattan College. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree.

After working in advertising as well as the IT field, Marie took a position with her stepfather’s business, the financial consulting company REInvest in Geneva. She says she learned a lot working alongside him and was his office manager until she became engaged to Prince Joachim.

On the road to royalty

Marie met Prince Joachim during a shooting party at a friend’s house in Denmark. At that time the prince was going through his divorce with Princess Alexandra (now Countess of Fredriksborg). Marie says that they enjoyed each others’ company, but then went back to their lives – she to Geneva, Joachim to royal duties as the son of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

The pair got together again during a private holiday in France in August 2005 after communicating by phone and email. Marie first came to the public’s attention when she was photographed on this summer retreat. She was seen again celebrating the New Year in 2007 with Prince Joachim, his former wife Alexandra, their two sons Nikolai and Felix, and a group of close friends.

Marie joined the royal family for Easter at Marselisborg Palace later that year, meeting Queen Margrethe for the first time. The media erupted with stories about a possible engagement. Marie had already been traveling back and forth between Geneva and Denmark with her little dog, Apple, in tow. People began speculating that Miss Marie Cavallier was ‘the one’ after the crucial meeting with the Queen and her husband, Prince Henrik.

On October 3, 2007, it was officially announced that Marie Cavallier was engaged to Prince Joachim. They held a press conference to introduce Marie to the public, and she displayed her diamond, ruby, and sapphire engagement ring for all to see. Joachim had it designed to look like the French flag, honoring his fiancee’s homeland.

The Royal Court announced that the wedding would be held on May 24, 2008. Marie and Joachim selected Møgeltønder Church for the wedding.

Like her father-in-law Prince Henrik, Marie was a French citizen and a member of the Roman Catholic Church prior to her marriage. To become a fully-fledged member of the Danish royal family, Marie became a Danish citizen and a member of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

Marie has not lost all French connections, however: shortly before the wedding, the title “Count of Monpezat” was conferred by the Queen on both of her sons, Joachim and older brother Frederik. The title was made hereditary for their male-line descendants, both male and female, for Prince Henrik’s Laborde de Monpezat family roots. As Joachim’s wife, Marie is titled as Countess of Monpezat.

Joachim’s male-line descendants are his sons, Prince Henrik (with Marie) and Princes Nikolai and Felix (with Countess Alexandra). Both Joachim and the Countess have maintained a good, solid relationship with each other for the sake of their children, and the result of this pleasant situation is the amiable nature that shines in both boys.

Marie and her stepsons also get along wonderfully. She has stated that she has always loved children, and she and Joachim wanted his sons’ consent before marrying. Both little Nikolai and Felix were more than happy to accept Marie into the family, and the boys were thrilled to have a little brother when baby Henrik was born.

As a child who had stepparents, Marie is well aware of the challenges and joys that a blended family brings. By the look of things, they are all succeeding to the highest degree!

Princess Marie: Behind the scenes

This 13th century ‘curse’ was laid upon them by a girl who was allegedly raped by Prince Rainier I. She became a witch in order to exact her revenge upon him and his family – the Grimaldis – who seem to be genuinely affected.

This time around it’s Princess Caroline – again – with reports that she is splitting from husband number 3, Prince Ernst August of Hanover.

Caroline, who has not been seen with Ernst since early June, has left the family chateau in Fountainbleau, according to magazine Point de Vue.

Below, some of the other nuptials gone wrong in the house of Grimaldi:

- Prince Rainier III, who died in 2005, lost his wife Grace in 1982 when she perished in a car accident. It was even reported that their marriage had gone sour long before the tragedy.

- Princess Stephanie married her bodyguard, had two children with him, and then divorced him when he was photographed cheating on her with a model. She had another relationship that went nowhere with another bodyguard, but it did result in a third child – daughter Camille. Stephanie has had a string of boyfriends since, one which culminated in another brief marriage.

- Prince Albert, the current reigning prince of Monaco, has fathered children with two different women and has dated many models and actresses, but has never settled down. His current girlfriend, Charlene Wittstock, is rumored to be the next reigning princess but so far no engagement ring has appeared.

- Princess Caroline married playboy Phillipe Junot against her parents’ wishes. She was only 19 at the time, and two years after they wed, they were divorced. Caroline tried to have the marriage annulled, but the Catholic church refused her.

Caroline met and married Stefano Casiraghi a couple of years later. The world thought that the princess had finally found happiness with a soulmate, but Casiraghi died in a speedboat accident at the age of 30. He left Caroline with their three children.

The princess married again, this time to a descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom. Prince Ernst of Hanover seemed to be a bit too gauche but she married him anyway after it was discovered she was pregnant with their daughter Alexandra.

Without your title and dynasty, you’re Victoria Beckham and you rely on the pages of Hello! magazine for your publicity. Some royals, unfortunately, don’t seem to mind that eventuality.

Princes William and Harry and their cousin Princess Beatrice seem content to live a socialite’s life with scads of money, but want none of the responsibility that comes with being royal. Hence Beatrice’s casual request, “Just call me plain Beatrice” when referred to as Her Royal Highness. God forbid you’re associated with an institution or idea that puts country before self…

Today, people are trashing tradition and putting their muddy boots up on the proverbial coffee table. They have no examples of how to behave, so now is the time for a young royal role model to step in. Serve your nation and re-establish the authority of monarchy by acting as a solid, dependable example that younger people can emulate. Make people rise to greater heights; don’t come down to suit laziness.

Returning to university, for instance, would be a good start.  William should be reading Economics or political science. His great-grandfather King George VI equated the institution of monarchy to a company, calling it ‘The Firm’. So what better way to prepare for your own role as king than to study business? Approach it as your own company and be passionate about it. Inspire your countrymen to do the same in their own lives.

That’s a big reason that a lot of the public is expecting a “closed” sign on the gates of the Palace after the death of the Queen. Younger members of the royal family drop their titles to seem “cool” and unaffected. They’re swept along in the tide of celebrity, where one can no longer distinguish Lindsey Lohan from Princess Eugenie. Knickers go amiss, drink flows freely, and paparazzi capture the tabloid shots that would even embarass a prostitute.

This new generation is so lackluster and careless, how do they expect the nation to care?

The answer: it won’t.

What will the United Kingdom do? Below, some of the top royals that the British Royal Family can look to for inspiration:

*The Netherlands’ Crown Princess Maxima was a former investment banker. She graduated with a degree in Economics from the Universidad Católica Argentina before working for large international companies in Finance in Argentina, New York and Europe.

*Queen Rania of Jordan has a degree in business from the American University in Cairo and has established scholarships in business studies. The queen’s idea is to educate Jordanians and help them to be independent as entrepreneurs.

* Crown Prince Felipe of Spain attended Autonomous University of Madrid, where he earned a degree in Law. He also completed several courses on economics. He completed his academic studies by obtaining a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University.

This is all constructive criticism and, I hope, a wake-up call for the British Royal family. I feel it is very important that we discuss this sort of thing, because if the UK decides to get rid of the monarchy, it will fall in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and elsewhere.

Something of that magnitude has not happened since the war when monarchies fell across Europe due to invasion. Having it crumble due to lackluster performances and careless attitudes on the part of its members is a shattering thought. How embarrassing for the Western world…. Winston would spin in his grave.

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You will feel great sympathy towards Vicky, the Empress Frederick, who was an unfortunate hostage to the intrigues of the German court. Sympathy will soon give way to awe at her courage and determination to do her best while having to perform the impossible: being all things to all people…

Vicky was seen as the catalyst for change in Germany. Her parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert did not like the autocratic, militaristic way in which Emperor Wilhelm I was running Prussia. Instead, they visualized a united German nation with a government much like that of England. Their plan was to sow seeds of liberalism and constitutional monarchy through their daughter and her marriage to Wilhelm’s son, Prince Frederick (Fritz). In preparation for the eventual match, Vicky was schooled in politics and German life by Prince Albert. Eventually, she and Fritz would be Emperor and Empress of Prussia, and could bring about German unity.

Little did Vicky know that upon arriving in Berlin, she was at a disadvantage from the start.

As the daughter of Queen Victoria, she was encouraged to retain her Englishness yet was expected to be a Prussian wife and princess. Her efforts to raise her eldest son Willy as Prince Albert had raised her backfired. Her tendency to over-criticize (a trait passed on from Victoria) turned the young Wilhelm away, and he grew up under his thoroughly Prussian grandfather Wilhelm. Otto von Bismarck had seen his own chance to manipulate the future emperor, and along with the groveling royal court, Willy was turned into a bombastic power fanatic.

Her relationship with Fritz was not seen as loving, but as an English princess scheming to Anglicize the House of Hohenzollern. Vicky was painted as “die Englanderin”, unfaithful to Germany and a demon on the shoulder of her husband, whom she ‘manipulated’.

Hopes that Fritz’s mother, Empress Augusta, would watch over Vicky were dashed. Augusta was known to be very liberal and free-thinking, unusual for royal women of the time. In her they thought they had an ally, but both the Queen and Vicky would be sorely disappointed. The once-progressive Augusta had seen her marriage to Emperor Wilhelm unravel over the years, and as a result she became a bitter, self-absorbed woman. She gave Vicky little support in her new role.

When they finally became Emperor and Empress, Vicky and Fritz had precious little time to implement any real changes. Fritz died from cancer of the larynx three months into his reign. Upon his passing, Vicky was left alone and devoid of support or influence. Your heart cries at the unfairness of brilliant minds wasted, while Willy becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II – egotistical, manipulative, and dangerous.

Thankfully, Vicky did not live to see the destruction of the Hohenzollern dynasty when Wilhelm II pulled Germany and England into a devastating world war. After fighting his own relations across Europe, he headed into exile, never to see the throne again. Albert’s catalyst did indeed create a change, but not in the way he had expected. Germany would be unified, but the reigning royal house would fall from power, never to recover.

© Mandy Littlefield
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September 15, 2005