Here's a video I found on bits of the civil marriage and the speech H.S.H. Prince Albert de Monaco held afterward, also a speech from the mayor of Monaco presenting a gift from the people to the newly wedded couple.
Friday is almost here and before you start watching the show while slowly sipping some great quality Champagne (my recommendation for the weekend...), you should check some facts related to the event or to the future princess or the prince Albert.
What makes us all curious is of course, the wedding gown: how will it look like? Probably very simple and elegant, one thing is sure: the designer who will dress the princess for this wonderful occasion is Giorgio Armani, one of her favourites, and the dress will belong to the Haute-Couture Line "Armani Prive".
Another interesting fact is that Charlene will have changed her religion for this wedding. The former Protestant has become Catholic in April, making it possible to marry her prince. The small state of Monaco has Catholicism as official religion and the royal family has been brought up in a strong Catholic environment.
Charlene will wed her prince twice. Yes, you've read this correctly. And I am not referring to the fact that she will have the church ceremony/wedding one day after she has the civil marriage, but there will also be a more private wedding in South Africa, on the 7th of July, according to the "Sunday Times". Together with around 200 guests the two will be again wed and have a beach party at a five star hotel called the "Oyster Box" near Durban. The menu will be created out of South African delicacies to which they will be drinking "the best champagne", according to the manager of the hotel.
(Picture Source: via http://www.oysterboxhotel.com/gallery)
Another thing you might want to know: Charlene loves children. The twenty years younger bride-to-be than her future husband is thinking of having children of her own once she gets married. But Albert already confessed being father of two children so far: Jazmine Grace Rotolo born on the 4th of March 1992 and Andre Coste, born on the 28th of August 2003.
And one more thing for today, before we wake up to Friday, the day of the royal wedding: the official dress-code for ladies states that at the ceremony on the 2nd of July the hat is an absolute MUST.
Tomorrow we will be the witnesses of another Royal Wedding which the whole world is looking forward to see, and one of two of this kind this year. It is a moment when people tend to be distracted from their daily problems and look towards something which for them is just a dream. But recent years have shown that royal weddings can also become reality for someone who was born as a "normal" citizen. Just like the one last year, when the princess married her fitness instructor. This is maybe why popularity has grown so much.
As this year all eyes are set on UK and then on Monaco, I have selected some clips of the former weddings in those regions. Each one had a different story to tell and each surprised in its own way.
On the 20th November 1947, former Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, married Philip of Mountbatten. The times were harsh as they were in the shadow of the war and the government allocated two dressing coupons for the Queen to pay for her dress. But the population wouldn't have it and they all sent in via mail their dressing coupons so their queen could have one of the most wonderful dresses there ever were. And the two were then happily married in the cathedral of Westminster.
In the south, in Monaco, Prince Rainier III got married on the 18th of April 1956 to his Hollywood Princess Grace Kelly after a short engagement period. She became the princess of the hearts in Monaco and everywhere else where she went, and her tragic death made everybody extremely sad. Nevertheless, her beauty still impresses people today and her spirit is still over Monaco. The Monegasque people still look up to her memory and wonder if the future princess can be at least 50% of what her "mother in law" was.
On the 29th of July 1981, Prince Charles of GB got married to his first wife and the mother of his two sons, Diana Spencer, in the Saint-Paul cathedral in London. 2500 guests and over 800 million viewers witnessed what was to be one of history's mistakes and the beginning of a tragic life. Tomorrow, their son William will marry Kate, who is wearing the same engagement ring as Diana did, and their wedding will be a world spectacle, which can be seen also broadcast-ed live on the internet (for the first time at the royal wedding, they say). I hope people will sometime soon stop to compare her with Diana or she will probably have a tougher life than Diana did.
After years and decades of love in secret and after being divorced for other years, Prince Charles finally married his true love, Camilla Parker Bowles, at the Windsor Castle. The ceremonies were a total understatement and it showed that both were mature enough to leave all that glamour behind, due to two most obvious reasons: the age (how would she have looked in a 10-meter long dress?) and the public reaction (people still consider Diana as their true princess and don't want her replaced). The two received their blessings at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor and then registered their marriage at Guildhall, also in Windsor.
We should hope that Kate is more fortunate than Diana, at least we know for sure that there won't be financing problems for her wedding gown as her grandmother in law had. We hope that William will have chosen indeed from his heart and not due to a matchmaking process and that the two of them will live happily ever after.
And for Albert II of Monaco, there is a hope that his wife will be around for more years than Grace Kelly was for her husband, and that Charlene will capture the hearts of the Monegasque people without any difficulties.
And for us...there is the dream which can become reality, this is what we need to say to each-other every day. There are still eligible princes and princesses in the world. But then again, they are all just normal people, and there are people all over the world. You just need to look around. Maybe your prince is just around the corner.
While some are distracted by merchandise such as the above, others try to make a statement while choosing brands and the way they use objects for a royal wedding. This is also the case of the Principality of Monaco. Although at the moment everybody's eyes are towards London and that future Royal Wedding in April of Kate and William, on the Mediterranean there are also preparations being done for the 2nd of July of this year, when Prince Albert II of Monaco will say yes to his fiancee, Charlene Wittstock. So this is why there was a selection of vehicles made for this event, and no, it's not a carriage, but it is this Lexus LS600h, which has already received the "MC 01" license plate and flashing lights. It is another occasion for HSH Prince Albert II to make a statement for the environment, and he is making it loud and clear by choosing Lexus also as the Official Supplier to the principality. The car which will be used at his wedding will be used at a parade pace on a pure electric mode and this is why he again shows how determined he is about environmental issues. It is widely known that he is very supportive of this matter and he has been offering Monegasque citizens the opportunity to engage in this eco-friendly step by offering massive tax credit to anyone who would choose to buy an electric car in the Principality.
After having had an education in Business Administration in Bucharest and Berlin and written the first Bachelor thesis on luxury in Romania, I decided to embark further on the luxury adventure, by doing a Master in Luxury Goods and Services in Monaco, from which I have graduated in June 2009.
I have specialized in Hospitality, but my main focus has been Communication and Marketing in the luxury industry. I have done a communication plan for SBM, the most important company in Monaco, have been an organiser for Amber Lounge and the Elton John Aids Foundation (for an auction), am a winner of an entrepreneurship contest in Monaco (also luxury-related business) and have started recently my work in Product Management at Montblanc International, Category Management Watches.
Life and Luxury does not claim ownership of any of the images or movies/short films shown here (unless stated otherwise) and tries to credit them as good as possible. If you are the owner of a photograph, gif, movie, short film etc. which you find here and you want to have it removed or credited, kindly contact me and I will proceed accordingly. Thank you. The text is intellectual property of Life and Luxury, unless stated otherwise. In case a text has not been credited as it should, kindly contact me and I will proceed accordingly. Thank you.
(Picture Source: http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/07/01/WEDDING_620x350.jpg)
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