Monaco Royal Wedding: Charlene Wittstock

Showing posts with label Charlene Wittstock. Show all posts

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Five Reasons to Visit Monaco

Last Summer's wedding of Monaco's Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock may have been modest compared with its Windsor counterpart. But the two-day fete injected the tiny principality with a renewed feeling of style. Long known, perhaps unfairly so, as a "sunny place for shady people," Monaco still offers old-school gaming glamour, but more recent diversions, from art museums to kid-friendly amusement centers, are finally providing some real life to balance all that bling.(See photos of a royal wedding in Monaco.)

Image via Wikipedia1. Casino de Monte Carlo
Its craps and roulette tables may still be the main draw, but the 148-year-old Casino de Monte Carlo isn't resting on its laurels. Its new Cabaret de Monte Carlo, reopening in February after a winter hiatus, features a separate entrance to the main casino and offers a Paris-in-the-'20s-styled stage show of tasteful burlesque and subtly sensual lighting, set in a clublike environment. Outside, there's gaming available in a pair of seafront salons. Enjoy Bond-style blackjack and baccarat under the stars. See casinomontecarlo.com for more.

2. Buddha Bar
Tucked into the sprawling Casino de Monte Carlo complex, and accessed via a series of terraces and lush gardens, this 18-month-old duplex is one of the latest additions to the pseudo-Asian drinking-and-dining franchise that now stretches from Cairo to Kiev. Awash in gilded splendor, the lounge's design incorporates some of the building's original Beaux Arts architecture and features that signature Buddha statue as its centerpiece (oddly so, given that Buddhists forswear alcohol). An extensive East-meets-East menu ranges from Sichuanese to sushi. For more information, see buddhabar.com.

3. Monte Carlo Beach Hotel
Set along Monaco's eastern front, this jazz-age classic has had a stylish head-to-toe makeover courtesy of Parisian interiors ace India Mahdavi. Inspired by the azure Mediterranean, each of the hotel's 40 rooms includes neo-Deco furnishings in vibrant blues and subtle beiges. A new Provençal-inspired restaurant, Elsa, takes its name and raffish vibe from legendary American gossip columnist (and one of the hotel's greatest advocates) Elsa Maxwell. She would have been kept busy chronicling the Who's Who of European moguls and aristocrats who still pack out the hotel's beach club. Details at monte-carlo-beach.com.

4. Villa Paloma
Monaco's contemporary-art scene hit its stride with the opening of the revamped Villa Paloma in 2010. Originally built in 1913 for the American Dickerson family, the four-story villa compound is now — along with the Belle Epoque Villa Sauber — part of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, and stages multimedia exhibitions inspired by Monaco's relationship with land and sea. The current show, curated by German artist Thomas Demand, takes a surreal look at the "domesticated nature" in Monaco's gardens and parks. Visit nmnm.mc.

5. Ni box
The description "kid friendly" hardly ever gets applied to this exorbitantly expensive, nightlife-crazy principality, but NI Box, a huge waterfront amusement complex, will give parents some much needed relief with its video-games area, bowling alleys and rooftop skating rink. Prepaid charge cards mean that kids won't have to keep bugging parents for change, leaving Mom and Dad to enjoy the on-site nightclub (this being Monaco, you couldn't have a family leisure center without one). See nibox.mc for more.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Taking a look back at fashion

What better way to toast the start of 2012 than to look back on 2011 – a momentous year filled with a devastating tsunami in Japan to royal weddings and their designer gowns in Europe and the shocking dismissal of one of the most talented designers in the heat of Paris Fashion Week. CHEONG PHIN reflects on the definitive fashion moments of the year that was

July 2011: Princess Charlene of Monaco in her Giorgio Armani wedding gown.

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THE END OF GALLIANO AT DIOR
The year in fashion began on a dramatic note during Paris Fashion Week in February with the shocking dismissal of John Galliano, one of the most innovative designers of his generation from the couture house of Christian Dior. An anti-Semitic outburst in a Paris cafe cost the flamboyant British designer his coveted job as creative director of Dior and his eponymous fashion label in a flourishing fashion career that spans 27 years. For the first time, the Dior Autumn/Winter 2011 runway show ended without the customary theatrical bow from the designer and, to the dismay of anxious fashion insiders, has not announced a successor till today.

ROYAL WEDDINGS AND DESIGNER GOWNS
Spring/Summer was a season of royal weddings and kicked off with the most anticipated event of the year -- the fairytale wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in London.

From the moment the young couple announced their engagement in late 2010, the speculation about who would be designing the Royal wedding dress was rife among fashion watchers and possibly the best-kept secret the fashion world has endured. All was revealed to the delight of everyone on April 11 when Kate (as she is fondly known) stepped out in a glorious ivory wedding dress with English and French chantilly lace appliqué, satin gazar pleated skirt and 2.7-metre-long train by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.

Working closely with Kate behind closed doors, Burton triumphed in delivering an elegant and timeless design that represents the best of "Made in Britain" craftsmanship and hailed by many as the wedding dress of the 21st century -- overshadowing an equally beautiful off-the-shoulder silk ivory wedding gown created by Italian designer Giorgio Armani for Charlene Wittstock at her lavish wedding to Prince Albert II in Monaco three months later. The sensational gown was embellished with ramage embroidery depicting flowers, Swarovski crystals and thousands of pearl teardrops attached to a five-metre long train.

NEW STORE OPENINGS
Despite the global economic ununcertainty, several brands remain optimistic about Asia and debuted their first stores in Malaysia in 2011. Celebrating 30 years in the business, Michael Kors flew into Kuala Lumpur to officially open his first Malaysian store in Pavilion; Australian accessories brand "Oroton" opened in KLCC and Gardens Mall while British brand "French Soles" (known for its comfortable ballet flats) opened its first franchised boutique outside the UK at the new wing in Suria, KLCC.

Elsewhere, French luxury house "Balenciaga" arrived here at last while La Montre Hermès opened its first Malaysian boutique dedicated to watches at Starhill Gallery.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Monaco royal couple shoots down 'runaway bride' rumors

Charlene Wittstock looked serene at her July 1 wedding to billionaire Prince Albert II of Monaco. But up until the day she said “I do,” she was dogged by reports she had tried to run away from her opulent nuptials.

In an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer on TODAY Wednesday, the 33-year-old former Olympian from South Africa said that she was a victim of the press’s overactive imagination in the hoopla leading up to a royal wedding.

Why would you go through all this effort to have this fantastic, you know, couple of days and have our most intimate, dearest friends come and join us for us to be reluctant?” Princess Charlene said as she sat alongside her new husband. “You know, for me, it just sounded hilarious.”

American Athlete Tracy Mattes, Prince Albert I...

Days before the wedding, the French weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche reported Whittstock made up to three attempts to flee Monaco in advance of her wedding to Prince Albert. The paper reported she sought refuge at the South African embassy in Paris when she was being fitted for her wedding dress in May, tried to leave the country again at the Formula 1 Grand Prix race and then, just days before the wedding, was stopped from boarding a helicopter flying from Monaco to Nice, France as officials persuaded her to stay and go through with the wedding.

Princess Charlene told Lauer she understands the European media was latching onto a story of royal magnitude — even if it was imagined. “It was a wonderful opportunity for them to ride on something, you know, (a) negative spin, because people would buy the magazines or listen to all the negativity,” she said.

Prince Albert may understand the story even better — the only son of the late Prince Rainier III and the late American actress Grace Kelly, Albert had generated headlines all his adult life for his rich and varied dating life, during which he fathered two children born out of wedlock. That the lifelong bachelor was finally marrying at age 53 may have signaled an end to the press’s obsession with his personal life.

Still, Prince Albert faced even more scrutiny for allegedly looking more serious than blissful at the Catholic wedding ceremony before 800 onlookers at the royal palace in Monaco.
“It is unfair,” he said, turning to Princess Charlene. “I thought I paid attention to you and smiled at you many times.” Laughing, he added, “Maybe that’s not enough for some people.”
Now, media types are on a royal baby watch as they wonder when Prince Albert, who ascended to the throne with his father’s passing in 2005, will produce a legitimate heir. The 19-year-old daughter he fathered with a California woman and the 8-year-old son he fathered from a relationship with a flight attendant from Togo are not, per Monaco’s Princely Law, considered heirs.

With Prince Rainier in failing health in 2002 — and his only son still not married — the Monaco constitution was amended to include females in the line of succession. It means that if Prince Albert II passes before producing an heir, the throne would fall to either of his sisters, Caroline or Stephanie.
“I think there were, you know, part jealousy, part, people that were envious or did not like the fact that we were finally coming together and marrying,” Prince Albert told Lauer.

“What it means is that it can go through the other siblings in the family,” Prince Albert told Lauer. But Albert also noted that should his marriage to Whittstock produce a daughter but not a son, she would be first in line for the throne.
But for now, the royal couple seems to be reveling in their first year as a married couple. Princess Charlene joked that her training as a world-class competitive swimmer has come in handy.
“I think I kind of went into Olympic mode, really,” she said of the spotlight that shone on her nuptials. “I was in the zone, and I don’t think anything was affecting me at that time.”

Prince Albert also said he is ever mindful of his family’s American connection via his mother, the Philadelphia, Pa., native who rose to big screen stardom before retiring from acting to marry Prince Rainier in 1956. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene attended the 29th Annual Princess Grace Awards benefit in New York City on Tuesday.
He said it warms his heart at how warmly his mother, who died in a car crash in 1982 after suffering a stroke, is remembered.
“I’m still amazed at how many people not only remember her, but look up to her as a model and as an icon,” he told Lauer.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Lexus Crafts Dazzling LS 600h L Landaulet for Monaco Royal Wedding

To celebrate the July wedding of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco to Charlene Wittstock, Lexus gave the couple something a bit nicer than a toaster: a very special version of its flagship sedan. The hybrid LS 600h L Landaulet features a one-piece transparent roof—just right for the newlyweds to see and be seen during a parade-speed tour of their diminutive principality.

Image via WikipediaDespite its single use, this is no garage-made chop job; the LS 600h L Landaulet required more than 2,000 artisan-hours and a phalanx of engineering talent to create. It was made by Brussels, Belgium-based coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet, a company that’s been crafting VIP-worthy stretched and armored vehicles for 40 years. Lexus insisted that the Landaulet maintain the quality, safety, and drivability of the LS 600h L, as well as its structural rigidity and torsional stiffness — no small feat without a steel roof or pillars.

So Carat Duchatelet employed highly advanced computer simulations and 3-D modeling to design the Landaulet. The donor car was completely disassembled and structurally reinforced with advanced honeycomb materials, Kevlar, and carbon fiber composite. Reassembly by a team of 10 craftspeople happened under the watchful eye of a team from Lexus, and the Landaulet was painted with several coats of an environmentally friendly, water-based midnight blue paint. The car’s polycarbonate roof panel—three-tenths of an inch thick and similar to a fighter jet’s bubble canopy—is removable and weighs only 57 pounds.

Mechanically, the Landaulet is identical to the standard-issue LS 600h L, with a 5.0-liter gasoline V-8 driving all four wheels with the assistance of an electric motor. At low speeds, the car is capable of running on battery power alone, which meant the royal couple’s post-ceremony waft happened sans emissions—a feat that, to quote Lexus, “...matches well with His Serene Highness’ keen interest in promoting sustainable development and environmental protection.”

Lexus is mum on the subject of cost for this impressive flex of its engineering muscle. And as for odds that the LS 600h L Landaulet will grace your local Lexus showroom? Simply stated, you’re more likely to marry a prince. (www.lexus.com)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A berry close encounter of the Hollywood kind

IT WAS a close encounter of an extraordinary kind when Hollywood director Steven Spielbergdelighted the owners of a tearoom with a special pilgrimage to sample their cheesecake en route to the recent royal wedding in Monaco.

The billionaire movie mogul drove 65km to An Fear Gorta (tea and garden rooms) in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, after landing atShannon Airport in his private jet from New York.

He had only a few hours before he was due to jet off to Monaco to attend the wedding last month of Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock.

Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, (left) ...

Image via WikipediaBut that didn't stop him returning to the tearoom with his family after having visited the area previously in 2009.

Alan Clarke (26), who runs the cafe with his partner Jane O'Donoghue (26), said they were delighted when the Oscar- winning film director and producer rang the night before to reserve a table for lunch the following day.

"He walked in on a busy Saturday and said, 'I'm back for the cheesecake'," Mr Clarke told the Irish Independent. "When aHollywood director walks in like that it's a bit surreal."

Spielberg discovered the tearoom in 2009 when he was staying with a group of fellow Americans who rent holiday cottages in the area each summer.

Mr Clarke said he was taken aback when one of the group reserved the tearoom for a private party and informed him that a VIP would be in attendance, whom they soon learned would be Spielberg.

"We were so overwhelmed that this man was coming to sample our food," he said.

SPECIALITY

Their house speciality -- home-baked berry cheesecake selling for ¿4.95 a slice -- is the most popular dessert item and it seems the Hollywood legend can't get enough of it. "He was with his family and friends. I greeted them and he said straight away he was back for the cheesecake he had on his last visit," Mr Clarke said

"He proceeded to an area we had reserved for him; he had quiche for lunch and then said 'bring on the cheesecake'."

Despite his legendary status in Hollywood, Spielberg didn't put on any airs and graces and happily posed for photos with the owners and staff, he added.

"He's probably the most down-to-earth man I've met. When you see him at the Oscars each year and then see him in the flesh . . . we were very humbled.

"He was treated just like anyone else and when he was leaving he had no problem taking some time to talk to the staff and pose for pictures.

"He said he would be back again and that the Burren is one of his favourite places in Europe and told us to keep up the good work."

Unfortunately, the cake had sold out as he was leaving, but he did get a carrot cake to take away.

The tearoom typically goes through about 10 of the berry cakes a day, something Mr Clarke puts down to being freshly baked each morning using locally sourced strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. The recipe remains a closely guarded secret.

even though it led to him dislocating his knee on a walking trip in the nearby Burren.

Spielberg previously revealed that his first visit to Ireland was a "life-changing experience"

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Rugby and royalty mingle at wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall

NOW THAT’S FUNNY

Ready for another royal wedding? I am! I followed Will and Kate’s wedding closely, and I love that British royal tradition. Then last month, Prince Albert of Monaco got married to Charlene Wittstock, which was okay and all, but Monaco royalty and British royalty are two different things entirely.

Then Will and Kate came to America, and I saw their pictures in the magazines at the grocery store checkout, and they were glamorous, but it’s not the same as a wedding. So who cares if you’ve never heard of Zara Phillips until today – she’s in line for the throne and she’s getting married this Saturday!

Ms. Phillips is the daughter of Princess Anne, who is the daughter of Queen Elizabeth. She is thirteenth in line for the throne, which means she gets all the fun of royalty with none of the pressure. She is marrying Mike Tindall, a champion rugby player.

Mr. Tindall has a rather misshapen nose, a souvenir of his busy athletic career. It has been broken eight times. His future mother-in-law, Princess Anne, actually suggested that he get plastic surgery in time for the wedding – and the wedding photos. He declined.

The festivities were kicked off with a cocktail party for 150 guests on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Treat yourself to some yummy photos here from CBS News.

Image via WikipediaThe wedding, to take place in Scotland, will be attended by 300 guests. The reception will be held at the Queen’s Scottish home, The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The guests will be a spicy mix of royalty and rugby folk. It is rumored that Ms. Phillips will wear a tiara from the Queen’s collection that will compliment her designer gown. Word also has it that Ms. Phillips, a world class equestrian, has been exercising like a demon to get ready for the big day.

The couple will forgo a honeymoon for now. Mike Tindall needs to report back to training camp Sunday night to prepare for a big series of games in Wales. Perhaps it is a blessing that they are not honeymooning on the Britannia itself; four other couples who did so saw their marriages doomed: Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon sailed in 1960, Zara's mum Princess Anne and father Captain Mark Phillips shared the room in 1973, Charles and Diana honeymooned in 1981, and Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson used the boat for their honeymoon in 1986.

I can’t wait to see the wedding pictures.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Monaco royal wedding: Moroccan princesses reign in most elegant stakes

The Moroccan ladies clearly have that ‘je ne sais quoi’.

Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco, the wife of reigning King Mohammed VI, was deemedhellomagazine.com's most elegant guest at the British royal wedding in April, having gained an impressive 55 percent of readers' votes.

And now two glamorous North African attendees at Albert and Charlene of Monaco’s weddinghave stormed their way into the top three of our best dressed vote.

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO SEE THE FULL GALLERY

In the top spot is the king's niece Princess Lalla Soukaina shortly followed in third place by her mother, Princess Lalla Meryem, who is his sister – Lalla is an honorific applied to all the ladies of the royal family.

The winner was a vision in a pale pink, traditional kaftan with crystal embellishments.

Complementing the look was a wavy updo, a matching satin clutch and platform heels.

Always immaculately turned out, Lalla Soukaina takes pride in her appearance. Often dressed in Chanel, Dior, Gaultier and Prada, the 23-year-old is very elegant, but has brains as well as beauty.

Interested in communication, she started an internship earlier this year with French television channel TF1 in Paris.

For the wedding in Monaco, her mother had also picked out a kaftan, though hers was a pink and yellow floral number. She finished off her picture-perfect look with satin platform heels.

Runner-up for most elegant guest was Princess Mary of Denmark, who was clad in a teal satin shift dress and a nude-hued floral fascinator.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Tale of two iconic princesses

When England’s Prince William married Kate Middleton in appropriately regal rites months ago, over a billion viewers worldwide empathetically thrilled to their attendant rush of ravishing royal romance.
But, it now turns out that the royal rush isn’t over – far from it. Because elsewhere in Europe another royal wedding has just taken place, with the Principality of Monaco’s Prince Albert pledging his troth to another “commoner” bride, Charlene Wittstock.
The much more modest event was seen by fewer viewers, but they still gave the event due importance, because the prince’s mother, Princess Grace, like Prince William’s celebrated mother, Princess Diana, was an iconic personage in her own right.
Similarities
Now that coincidental circumstances have “superimposed” recollections of Princess Diana and Princess Grace psychically together for the first time, their lives turn out to have had more striking similarities and congruencies than previously perceived.
Diana wasn’t a big Hollywood star like Grace Kelly before she became Princess Grace, but she became equally celebrated for her beauty, which emanated from within. Both princesses were deeply involved in charitable endeavors, and were admired worldwide for their innate goodness and selflessness.
Many celebrated beauties are so wrapped up in themselves that they can’t think of others. But Grace and Diana were able to avoid that trap with an inspiring clarity of purpose and value – which is why they are loved and cherished to this day, many years after their deaths, while other famous beauties have gone the way of all flesh – and flash.
Affinity
The mention of their deaths reveals another affinity that Diana and Grace have with each other: They both died in sudden and most untimely car accidents. Thus, in both instances, their fabled lives were snuffed out in an instant – which indubitably added to the pain so many people felt – a psychic sadness that is palpable to this day.

Given such iconic resonances, it’s likely that both Prince William and Prince Albert had a hard time choosing their own brides – after all, Grace and Diana are the hardest possible acts to follow!
To his credit, William didn’t look for his mother’s junior version, but Kate’s spirit is similar to Diana’s, as verified and vivified by the zest with which she has launched into her own charitable endeavors.
Choice
But, Prince Albert’s choice is another story entirely: His bride, Charlene, is a blonde beauty very much like his mother. An achiever in her own right as a former swimmer in the Olympics, Charlene has more obviously subsumed her personality to suit Grace’s ethereal ethos.
In terms of “projection,” in fact, she looks like Albert ordered her from Central Casting – (“Get me my mother’s most perfect clone, please!”) – and Central Casting delivered.
Let’s hope that, a few years from now, Charlene doesn’t act against type, and cracks the perfect veneer and mystique that has made her embody Princess Grace so perfectly for the delectation of a new generation of viewers.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Monaco Museum Displays Royal Wedding Dress

Days after their I do’s, the fairytale frock which transformed Charlene Wittstock from a private citizen into a princess has gone on display as part of the “Story of the Royal Wedding (l’Histoire du Mariage Princiers”) exhibition, housed at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

Through November 22, 2011, wedding watchers and fans of fashion alike can get an up close look at the bride’s Giorgio Armani Prive gown, a couture creation 2,500 hours in the making. Constructed of off-white silk duchesse and silk organza, the dress is an iconic interpretation of royal romance which features embroidered petals of floral finery, 20,000 delicate mother of pearl teardrops and 40,000 Swarovski crystals which dance in the light.

Bridal accessories a will also be on display, including the diaphanous silk tulle veil which floated behind the bride as she made her way to the altar, while the diamonds and sapphires which adorn the tiara made as a gift from the groom to his bride by Van Cleef & Arpels (see video below) dance in the light inside its own display case.

Taking its rightful place beside the Princess’s gown is the uniform worn by Prince Albert II of Monaco– a cream-colored outfit accented with gold embroidered oak and olive leaves on the sleeves and golden button emblazoned with the groom’s monarchical monogram.

Visitors will also get a glimpse of post-vow items, including the cutlery used at the reception, wedding gifts from around the world and the vehicle which bore the newlyweds to Saint Devote church, where the newly-dubbed princess placed her wedding bouquet (see video below).

For more information:

visit www.oceano.mc (site in French)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Princess Charlene’s first duty? To stand by Albert over new paternity test

It may have had all the superficial trappings of a fairytale royal wedding, but as Prince Albert of Monaco tied the knot with his reluctant bride yesterday, the scandals surrounding their often tense nuptials took yet another awkward turn.
Officials in the Mediterranean enclave chose the day of his star-studded wedding to former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock to announce that the Prince would have to take a paternity test for a possible third illegitimate child. A palace aide said that one of 33-year-old Princess Charlene’s first duties would therefore be to stand by her husband if there was another public scandal.

Emotional: Charlene Princess of Monaco wipes a tear as she leaves the St Devote Church after her wedding to Prince Albert II of Monaco
Albert, 53, already has an illegitimate six-year-old son called Alexandre through a Togolese former air hostess called Nicole Coste, and a 19-year-old daughter called Jazmin with Tamara Rotolo, an American estate agent. Both were kept away from Albert’s marriage to avoid ‘media exposure’, an official inside Monaco’s royal palace said.
The source added: ‘The truth of the rumour is that Albert faces paternity tests following a claim by at least one former lover.’
But none of Albert’s illegitimate brood will have a claim to the throne, with the official saying: ‘Even if a third or even a fourth child is confirmed Albert will not have an official heir until Princess Charlene bears him one.’
The tests will go ahead in the next few days, said the source.

Happy day: Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene after their wedding mass in the Main Courtyard of the Prince's Palace in Monaco
French magazine Public has attributed two new illegitimate children to Albert. One is said to be 18 months old and the son of an Italian woman who is preparing to tell all. Other magazines have suggested Ms Coste has had a second baby with Prince Albert – an idea that gained credibility last week when the 40-year-old was pictured in Monte Carlo.
Ms Coste received a multi-millionpound settlement when a DNA test showed Albert was Alexandre’s father, while Ms Rotolo has also been supported financially by him.
Lawyers for Prince Albert have said categorically that the rumour he fathered another child is false – but they made similarly fierce denials before genetic tests proved he had fathered the other two children.
The source said he hoped yesterday’s Roman Catholic ceremony in the Palace courtyard, a day after the uneasy civil service, would ‘overshadow’ the latest revelations about secret children – although that seems like wishful thinking.

My Prince: Charlene kisses her new husband, who wore the uniform of Monaco's palace guards
There was an audible sigh of relief when bride and groom said ‘I do’, ten days after Charlene was allegedly intercepted at Nice airport as she tried to flee home to South Africa. She has looked uncomfortable, even sad, in recent appearances while Albert also looked ashen-faced during yesterday’s service, despite the apparent glamour of the event.

Who is the real prince of Ruritania: Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie the Duchess of Wessex arrive for the wedding

The Ex: Naomi Campbell, who was romantically linked to Prince Albert in the nineties, arrives with boyfriend Russian property mogul Vladimir Doronin
Guests included the Earl of Wessex and his wife Sophie, former James
Bond star Roger Moore, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, supermodel Naomi Campbell and retail tycoon Sir Philip Green.
Also present were veteran fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld and Giorgio Armani, who designed the wedding dress embroidered with 40,000 Swarovski crystals, Manchester United footballer Patrick Evra and ex-tennis champion Ilie Nastase.
All saw Albert wink at his new bride after she had said ‘Oui’ when asked if she wanted to marry him.
Whatever the challenges of her new married life, Zimbabwe-born Charlene certainly comes from tough stock. Her great-great-great-grandfather John Webb went on an Atlantic expedition with Sir Ernest Shackleton – and ended up in South Africa where he discovered a diamond mine. He met his wife Mary, a lady-in-waiting to a princess, on a boat coming back from Egypt, and they settled in London.
The family emigrated to Rhodesia after the Second World War, but fled to South Africa when Charlene was a baby, to escape the escalating civil war there.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Prince Albert, bride go EV in topless Royal Wedding Lexus

After Prince Albert II of Monaco, 53, tied the knot today with former South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, 33, he and the newly minted Princess toured their tiny realm in an interesting, one-off, topless Lexus hybrid.

In a product-placement coup, Lexus provided the Prince with a custom, bubble-top LS 600h L Landaulet hybrid for the event attended by royalty, heads of state and a glut of celebrities. (A landaulet is a convertible from the driver back.).

The official Royal Wedding cruiser was, according to Lexus, one of seven LS 600h L hybrid flagships provided the Royal Family as the exclusive green fleet for the wedding at the Grimaldi dynasty's Italian Renaissance palace in Monaco.

If the Prince gets to keep it, he could put it in his museum, one of the world's notable car museums housing a collection started by his father, the late Prince Rainier III, who was married to Hollywood star Grace Kelly.

CAPTIONBy Lexus
The Lexus LS 600h L has an EV mode that lets it operate on the electric motor alone, without the 5.0 liter V-8 kicking in. Lexus said the green Prince and his bride's official post-ceremony parade through streets of Monaco -- where its Grand Prix also runs -- will be "not less than 85%" on electric power alone.

Said Andy Pfeiffenberger, VP of Lexus Europe. "Our commitment to innovation and sustainable mobility at Lexus matches well with His Serene Highness' keen interest in promoting sustainable development and environmental protection.'

It's a good thing Monaco is small, though. The EV mode is low-speed only and has a range, according to spec, of about a half-mile, unless Lexus swapped out the standard battery pack behind the rear seat for one with more juice.

Lexus said nothing about that, but provided details of the car's meticulous conversion:

While sunshine let the couple leave the top off, the limo has a one-piece removable transparent top that covers everything from the front row back. A French supplier of canopies for helicopters and jet fights made the polycarbonate, which is a single shell a bit more than a quarter-inch thick and weighing less than 58 pounds.

The conversion was done by Belgian coachbuilders Carat Duchatelet, working with Lexus engineers based in Brussels. It took over 2000 hours to complete.
(500 hours LESS, says the Associated Press, than it took to make the bride's Giorgio Armani gown with 88 yards of silk and 40,000 Swarovski crystals. )

"We have 40 years experience in making armoured and extended vehicles for Heads of State, Royal Families and VIPs around the world'," Benoit Ceulemans, an executive of the coachbuilder said in a statement. 'However ... it is the first time we are publicly associated to such a prestigious project and memorable event.'

The fundamental objective with the conversion, says Lexus, was to retain the quality and drivability of its LS 600h L base. It says the conversion began with extensive computer-aided design. Then the car was completely dismantled, stripping out some 20,000 mechanical and electronic parts and interior features and upholstery.

To maintain chassis stiffness and torsional rigidity, the convertible was given lightweight body reinforcement using carbon fiber and Kevlar honeycomb structures. Since carbon fiber requires high-temp curing and Lexus says these pieces "were literally 'cooked' onto the bare chassis in a specially prepared oven."

The car was then painted Midnight Blue with eco-friendly water-based paint and re-assembled in two weeks by 10 people with Lexus engineers over their shoulders.

MONACO ROYAL WEDDING MYSTERY

The wild rumors were still flying, even among the cheering crowd outside Monaco's fabled, cream-colored palace where Prince Albert married Charlene Wittstock in a civil ceremony Friday and where the couple will be wed in a religious service Saturday.

Had Wittstock really been, as headlines screamed this week, a “Runaway Bride” before being whisked back to Monaco in time for the splashy, $75 million two-day wedding?

Bing even more:
“I wonder if they've got her drugged,” said one Monegasque watching the ceremony on the jumbo screens installed outside the palace, which is perched on what locals call “The Rock,” a headland jutting out to the Mediterranean in the ancient district of Monaco. Another claimed that palace officials had found a Charlene look-alike that they dragged out Wednesday to tour the principality with Albert, while his real fiancée was in the hospital under sedation.

The stories began circulating about three weeks ago in this notoriously gossipy, postage stamp-size principality and involved reports that Prince Albert had had a third child out of wedlock—or that a woman was pregnant with his baby.

But the tales gathered real steam Tuesday when France's respected L'Express magazine reported that Wittstock had tried to flee Monaco after learning something troubling about Prince Albert—but was intercepted at the Nice airport and persuaded to return to the principality.

Photos: Charlene Wittstock and Prince Albert Wedding
The article did not cite a third illegitimate child but helpfully reminded readers that Albert, 53, already has two known illegitimate children by two different women. Jazmin Grace, 19, whose mother is American, studies at Fordham University; Alexandre Coste, 7, lives just outside Monaco with his mother, a former flight attendant from Togo in West Africa.

Fortunately for Monaco, it appeared to be the real Charlene Wittstock, a 33-year-old former Olympic swimmer from South Africa and the daughter of a photocopier salesman, who emerged with Albert onto the palace balcony Friday, dressed in a pale blue suit that she designed herself. (She will be wearing Armani later Saturday during the religious ceremony in the palace courtyard.)

She was now officially “Princess Charlene of Monaco,” although there were those in the crowd Friday who complained her name was not elegant enough and should be changed to “Charlotte.”

But the Runaway Bride rumors, still totally un-sourced and lacking any hard evidence, have shown no signs of going away, despite heated denials from the palace. Even France's venerable Le Monde has weighed in on the story. It hasn't helped matters that Albert and Charlene, who first met at a swimming event in Monaco in 2000 and began dating in 2005, exhibit alarmingly little chemistry in the few televised interviews they have done, leading some to whisper that the marriage is little more than a business deal to ensure an heir to the throne.

Depending on what you read or whom you talk to in Monaco, Charlene bolted for the airport after discovering the existence of a child fathered by Albert who was born about two years ago, two weeks ago—or whose birth is imminent.

London's Daily Mail on Friday quoted a un-named “senior Monaco detective” saying that Wittstock was indeed intercepted at the Nice airport, holding a one-way ticket back to South Africa, and that her passport was confiscated as she was “persuaded” to return to the palace.

“It's all completely, completely crazy,” Christiane Stahl, one of Albert's top advisers at the palace told me when I first called her about the rumors. “The story is totally false and it just comes from jealousy.”

Albert's lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, also angrily denounced the stories and threatened to sue L'Express, which has stood by its story and kept it up on its website.

Oddly, however, the palace has apparently not yet sought a legal injunction against L'Express, which would be typical in a country like France where libel laws are much stricter than in the U.S. Instead the palace has reportedly demanded that L'Express' editors tell them the identity of their source for the story.

Even stranger was a statement made by Albert's longtime confidant, Stephane Bern, who is France's best-known commentator on the royals. Bern first slammed the rumors. But then he added, in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper Wednesday, this jaw-dropping tidbit. “A woman could very well be pretending that she is pregnant by the prince. We can't carry out a DNA test to check this out just three days before the marriage.”

Longtime observers of the Monaco “princely” family members (they are not technically considered royals) invariably cite the so-called Curse on the House of Grimaldi whenever bad things befall them—like the car accident that killed Princess Grace in 1982 or the speedboating death that claimed the life of Stefano Casiraghi, the 30-year-old second husband of Princess Caroline in 1990.

The legend holds that back in the 13th century, Prince Rainier I kidnapped and raped a beautiful girl, who became a witch to get her revenge. The medieval sorceress then cursed the prince's family for all eternity, saying, "Never will a Grimaldi find true happiness in marriage."

But others say the curse is nonsense, even though Princess Caroline, now 54, is separated from her third husband, Prince Ernst, and Princess Stephanie, 45, has been divorced twice.

"Prince Albert frequently told me that he didn't believe in the Grimaldi curse and that his family's fate, including his mother's death, was no better or worse than yours or mine,” says author Joel Stratte-McClure, who was People magazine's correspondent on the French Riviera at the height of Monaco's heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s and interviewed Albert many times.

“He waited decades to finally choose a wife and I'm sure he laughed at the runaway bride stories. His smile throughout the wedding day certainly wasn't that of someone preoccupied by a witch's curse or a potentially AWOL bride."

Allison Coe, who reports on the Monaco royals for the local Best of Nice Blog, said she wondered if the rumors were planted by the palace itself—to drum up interest in what otherwise was viewed as a bit of a snoozefest, especially compared to Will and Kate's romantic extravaganza in April.

“I can't help but think this is a publicity stunt just to juice up what a lot of people see as this wooden marriage,” Coe said. "But I guess time will tell what the truth is."

Perhaps Albert's late father, the forceful ruler who transformed Monaco from a Riviera outpost into one of the world's most glamorous locales in large part by marrying Grace Kelly, was more prescient than he realized.

“Gossip was invented in Monaco,” Prince Rainier once said.

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