Legend has it that the reigning family of Monaco will never find true happiness in marriage.

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.

The system of monarchy will never die, but some royals are treading dangerously close to extinction.

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…
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An Uncommon Woman – The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm

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…

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Like many companies around the world, Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper was hit by the recession. A budget-cutting decision killed its English-language desk online which had included news on the Royal family. For a royal watcher like me, it was very disappointing.

Sure, I tried to continue to read Norwegian royal news via Google translator, but it wasn’t quite the same. Then I discovered that Nina Berglund of Aftenposten Multimedia had created her own site called Views and News from Norway – Norwegian news solely in English.

Ms. Berglund was in charge of the English-language portion of Aftenposten‘s digital presence. When the budget crunch hit Aftenposten in the autumn of 2008, she moved on to create her site.

Many best wishes to Nina, and many thanks for her invaluable translation of Norwegian.

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Love is in the heir for Sweden’s Princess Victoria AND her sister Princess Madeleine. Now Britons are really getting impatient for their own future sovereign to walk down the aisle. Thankfully, they may not have to wait too much longer.

Word on the street is that Kate Middleton has climbed another rung on the royal ladder. The 27-year-old girlfriend of Prince William of Wales is reportedly being taught how to be a “fully-fledged” princess and member of the royal family. This means Kate has moved up a level from “in waiting” to “in training”, indicating that a British royal wedding may not be far away.

We all remember the issues William’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales had when she married into the royal family. Even though she came from an old aristocratic English family, Lady Di could not cope with the pressure. The prince’s aunt, Sarah Ferguson, also struggled to cope when she married Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Sarah could not spend money nor get embroiled in a passionate affair fast enough. The marriage imploded after 6 years.

With these two previous women in mind, the Palace has made darn sure that Kate Middleton will make a smooth transition from commoner to a true princess. She will be the next Queen of England, barring any unforseen tragedies or abdications. Kate needs to be a capable consort, able to fill the Queen Mother’s perfect shoes.

via Monsters and Critics

Nothing screams unnecessary like a photo of a princess being groped.

The Sun newspaper trailed Princess Eugenie of York while she was on her gap year holiday in Thailand. She was wearing a bikini while out on the beaches of Phuket, and the photographers went crazy snapping photo after photo. The result was a Sun headline entitled “They’re Euge!” over a photo of the Queen’s granddaughter having her breasts squeezed by a companion.

It never fails to amaze me how much the media intrudes into private royal life. Yes, being royal means you are a public figure, but sometimes people need some breathing room. A person can’t be “on” at all hours of the day and don’t want a photographer breathing down their necks when taking a rest.

As a feminine version of Robin Hood

Not only do the media show disrespect to royal privacy, but they’re crude about it, too. Are we to blame for the intrusion because of our need for royal news and scandal, or is it the media’s responsibility to walk a reasonable middle ground?

I recently obtained a copy of Kitty Kelley’s book “The Royals” on audio cassette. I’m currently listening to it in the car as I drive, and though some may think me a bit mad to listen to Kelley’s fulmination, I find many things insightful.

Kelley discusses a time when biographer Anthony Holden was writing a book about Prince Charles’ earliest years. Holden’s biography of the prince stated that Princess Elizabeth decided to breast-feed her new baby son rather than let a wet nurse do it. The Prince’s press secretary (at the time of the writing) was aghast when he read this in the manuscript and called Holden at once to admonish him.

“The sentence about breast-feeding must be deleted. Absolutely and at once.” When Holden asked why, the press secretary adamantly stated that “One never mentions the royal breasts,” and that “[...] the royal breasts must never be exposed.”

Both Anthony Holden and Kitty Kelley chuckled about the man being ‘prudish’. So what do the two authors make of The Sun newspaper trailing Princess Eugenie while she frolics in a bikini? Exposing the royal breasts, indeed.

So the press secretary was probably a little too restricted, but people like The Sun’s staff are far too crude and invasive. Will we ever have a middle ground? At this moment, Dutch Prince Willem-Alexander and his Argentine-born wife Princess Maxima are taking The Associated Press to court. They claim the news agency breached the Dutch Mediacode by distributing photos of their recent vacation in Argentina. The Dutch Royals decided to take advantage of the Argentine winter to go on a skiing holiday and catch up with Princess Maxima’s family. They gave the media their time by posing on a beach in Holland with their three daughters. In exchange, the press would leave them alone during their South American trip.

Not pleased

Suffice it to say, that didn’t happen. Now the royal family is in an uproar and there are legal proceedings. The photographers didn’t snap anything risque like the bikini-clad Eugenie, but the invasion was just as unnecessary and disrespectful.

Why can’t a compromise be honored? Think of all the aggravation that  could have been avoided for all parties had the media acquiesced to the simple royal request: take these photos now, then let us have our private time.

Since the days of Diana in the 1980s, the dynamic between photographer and royal subject has become kill or be killed; hunter and hunted. The respect is almost nil, replaced instead by an in-your-face attitude. When will it end?

Image via Wikipedia

When I think of Belgium, I think of Tintin, the EU, and lots of arguing about who should speak what language.

The Belgian royals are a lovely family, but they are not usually on my radar. They are pretty quiet – at least here in America – compared to their counterparts.

In Britain, we’ve seen Prince William sending the media into a frenzy over whom he will marry; in Holland, the traditional ‘Queen’s Day’ ended in drama when a crazed man drove his car through the crowds; and in Sweden, the Crown Princess is about to set a record when she marries next year – the only Queen regnant to take a commoner husband and grant him the HRH title.

Lately, however, I’ve seen that the Belgian royals are full of character and crazy events. We don’t always get to see the funny, dramatic, or casual side to the lives of Royalty until that one crowning moment.

That moment came when Belgium’s dowager Queen Fabiola was threatened with death by an anonymous nut. They claimed that they would shoot to kill during Belgium’s National Day celebrations, the fatal blow to be delivered with a crossbow.

I don’t know about you, but I would take that threat seriously. I’d consider attending said celebration with a bullet-proof vest and some chain mail. Under armor. Or maybe I wouldn’t turn up at all.

Not Queen Fabiola.

This feisty Queen Mum of België decided to dress in normal attire, with the typical royal chapeau and… an apple.

The surrounding members of her family were seen chuckling as Fabiola brandished the apple. She waved it to and fro, as if to say, Where are you, William Tell? You might, at this juncture, expect a white-gloved thumb to the nose and a quiet “Neener neener”.

Queen Fabiola is full of surprises, and brazenly brave to boot. My hat is definitely off to her!