Royal Round Up time (finally, this post is so late). Today we’re celebrating Crown Prince Hussein‘s birthday, touring Germany with Queen Elizabeth, celebrating National Day with the Luxembourg clan, hanging with Queen Maxima, visiting China with Queen Mathilde, and partying with Princess Beatrice. Oh, and there’s some Prince William and Kate Middleton, too.
Kate Middleton and Prince William
According to Us Weekly, Prince William and Kate Middleton met with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in a private meeting at Kensington Palace on Friday, June 26, and even brought out Prince George for the meeting.
According to Us Weekly, an actual Kensington Palace spokesman (not just a “source”, but an actual spokesman) said: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt at Kensington Palace on Friday afternoon. They discussed their shared interest in combatting the illegal wildlife trade.”
Then Us Weekly quotes a “source” as saying Will and Kate were “really excited” to meet Brad and Angelina, and that “Everyone got on splendidly. Brad and Angelina spent much longer with the Duke and Duchess than planned. They ended up staying for almost a few hours.”
If this is actually true, then I’m fairly surprised that Pitt and Jolie bothered to take such a large amount of time out of their busy schedules to indulge William and Kate. I mean, what the hell do the four of them have to talk about? Babies, I guess. It’s not like Will and Kate are super philanthropic. Pitt and Jolie do WAY more for charity, and specifically wildlife conservation, than Will and Kate do.
Crown Prince Hussein
Our Hot Guy of the Month for May, Crown Prince Hussein, celebrates his 21st birthday today. Hussein was born on June 28, 1994. He is younger than my favorite movie growing up, The Lion King, by almost two weeks. Happy Birthday, kid.
The Queen
As promised, I’m covering the rest of The Queen‘s State Visit to Germany.
The Queen arrived at the Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany on June 23 with Prince Philip. HM wore blue and accessorized with Prince Albert’s Sapphire and Diamond Brooch she just wore on Ascot Day 2. On June 24, there was an official welcome, they met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, laid a wreath at the central memorial for the victims of war and dictatorship, and HM got to chat with a robot at Berlin’s University of Technology, all before the State Banquet in the evening. HM brought back my favorite outfit she’s ever worn, the white coat from the Thames River Pageant during the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. She wore a brooch she debuted last year, the Multi-Color Flower Brooch.
On June 25, HM and Philip traveled to Frankfurt am Main, Germany where they visited City Hall and toured St. Paul’s Church. HM wore blue Angela Kelly and the Shamrock Brooch she wore on Ascot Day 3. Also on June 25, HM attended a garden party at the British Embassy. HM wore a Ruby and Diamond Bouquet Brooch that used to belong to the Queen Mother.
On June 26, the final day of the State Visit, HM and Philip visited Brandenburg Gate before visiting the concentration camp memorial at Bergen-Belsen in Lohheide, Germany. HM and Philip viewed the grave of Anne Frank and laid a wreath at the inscription wall, before metting two survivors of the camp as well as two liberators. HM wore a yellow coat with a grey coat underneath, both from Angela Kelly. On the yellow coat, HM wore the Daffodil Spray Brooch. On the grey coat, HM wore the Bronte Porcelain Brooch.
Luxembourg Royals
Since I already covered the tiara appearance during Luxembourg National Day, let’s continue with some more Lux National Day celebrations.
Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume celebrated the eve of Luxembourg’s National Day on June 22 in Esch-sur-Alzette. Stephanie is wearing a blue Natan dress under her coat.
Then on Luxembourg National Day, June 23, the entire grand ducal family came out for a Te Deum.
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, wearing a brown Armani skirt suit with black leaf pattern and a black hat.
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie. Stephanie looked cheery in this lovely yellow Paule Ka dress. We can add this to the documentation of my yellow-apologist nature because I love this. Stephanie looks great!
Prince Louis and Princess Tessy. Tessy looks nice, but not as nice as Stephanie.
Prince Felix and Princess Claire looking all 1950s retro with her red Dolce & Gabbana polka dot dress.
Prince Sebastien and Princess Alexandra, who decided to go all flapper on everyone.
Queen Maxima
Queen Maxima attended a conference on June 22 about the food supply in Africa called ‘The Future of Farming and Food Security in Africa’. I really like this look. I like all the pops of green against the black and white patterned dress.
Queen Mathilde
Queen Mathilde and King Philippe paid a visit to China. On June 21 they chatted with Chinese opera performers after a show in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province. Mathilde was in a repeat dress from June 3. The pink floral one I loved.
Princess Beatrice
Princess Beatrice was out and about in London this past week, partying and attending a reception at Buckingham Palace. Because partying, vacationing, and somethings popping up with HM are the only things Beatrice does. It’s not like she has a job or anything.
On June 22, Beatrice attended a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate The Queen’s Young Leaders program.
On June 23, Beatrice attended the launch of the Fashionista Biscuit Tin at the Biscuiteers Boutique in Notting Hill. She went out clubbing with Dave Clark later in the evening. On June 28, Bea and Sarah Ferguson attended Day Two of the 2015 FIA Formula E Visa London ePrix at Battersea Park.
Photos: Getty / Cour grand-ducale/David Nivière
I look and marvel at the pictures of the Queen. She’s lived through many historic events in the 20th/21st century. I would love to hear her perspective. She truly is a model for continuity and resolve. It will be a sad day when her reign ends. I am not sure if I could or can hold Charles and William in the same regard. Charles, maybe. William, as the late great Whitney Houston said, “Hell to the naw”.
Stephanie’s looks were beautiful. The coat and the blue dress are quite pretty and simple. This is what Kate needs to emulate. That yellow? Omg? Love it! She’s still channeling the 90s with the hat, but I’ll let her pass. I love Claire’s dress but still iffy about the hat.
Max nails it each and every time. That green makes her dress pop and she always looks good. Mathilde’s dress is pretty.
Beatrice. I want to root for her. She looks like her dad in profile in the first picture. She’s inherited the Windsor gesture, I see.
Did you hear that Vic was in a yacht race that was manned by all women? Girls truly run the world!
Great roundup, KMR!
I want to root for the York girls because of all the crap they took for years from the media, but Beatrice makes it hard for me. She needs to find some direction in her life.
They are proving the naysayers right. If i had the chips stacked agains me like that I would work even harder.
I agree with you, rhiannon. HM is truly amazing. What an amazing woman and how loyal a Queen she has been. Always there for her subjects. Always a true lady. May God bless her.
I would hope that Charles would emulate his dear mother. I doubt William, without an amazing turnaround, will. He and Kate are just an embarrassment due to their inability to work and behave with dignity and grace.
I so agree that Stephanhie looked gorgeous. That yellow dress was stunning. I liked it better than the one Maxima wore a while back.
Vic in a yacht race manned by all females. Go, Vic and other ladies. Awesome. Now, once she is back to herself after Charlotte’s birth, couldn’t Kate do something like that? Really?!
Yeeees. Thank you for including Hussein!! His Instagrammed a sweaty post workout picture of him too so all the fangirls are happy too. <3
He really seems to be a good kid from the little I know of him. I just checked his Instagram and he posted a photo of him and his mom eating which was sweet, and a photo of himself with orphans because apparently he spent his birthday at an orphanage.
Oh, and a Happy Birthday to the prince. He was raised well and has a bright future.
He is turning out so well as far as his duties are concerned.
As much as I love CP Hamdan of Dubai, I think he projects a horrible made in Hollywood/ fantasy image of what an Arab princeling should be, I think CP Hussein is a much better projection.
Based upon their current images, I think Hussein will turn out to be a much better prince for his people.
let’s hope he doesn’t decide to go the Hamdan route of showing off.
I didn’t know that Brad and Angie did any charity work for wildlife conservation. I know that Angie is a UN Special Envoy and is much involved with refugees and sexual exploitation of women, Brad worked on the housing issue in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina but I haven’t heard about much else that he does.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this visit.
Me too, Lauri. I don’t see that they could have kept a conversation going for that long. I would have loved to see Angie interact with Kate. Angie seems like she doesn’t deal with vapid women very well.
Jolie bought a ton of land in Cambodia which had been poached on and turned it into a nature preserve. She also is patron of and supported the work of several wildlife foundations and sanctuaries in Africa, and has funded several large-animal conservation projects in Namibia.
So she’s not just talking about how wildlife conservation is needed, she’s actually putting up her own money not only to support charities that deal with wildlife conservation but creating them herself.
So really, Jolie is in a totally different league than William. I’d love to know the real reaction Jolie had to Will and Kate, seeing as Jolie is really active and invested in so many causes and Will and Kate BS around just a few.
Thanks for the information KMR. I had heard about the land in Cambodia that she bought after adopting Madd but didn’t know she was still actively involved in wildlife conservation.
It would be great if this meeting caused Kate to really reflect on all the good she could do with the awesome platform she has.
MinnFinn! Are you reading? I’m going to give you a chance to post your facts before I do!
with apologies to minnfinn and Bluhare……
Angelina’s accomplishments in 2008, the year she was 33yrs old. Same age as Kate right now.
-Feb 2008 Visited Iraq and Afghanistan in her role as a UN Ambassador for refugees
-She and Brad donated $1.1m of their own money to charity
-July 2008 gave birth to twins
-Oct 2008 visited Darfur to call attention to refugees
-Mother to 4 children under age 7
-Her own mother died in 2007 and in 2008 Angelina did all of the above while grieving her mother and overseeing settling the estate
-Promoted movies, won award for “A Mighty Heart”
Further, by the age of 33, Angelina had already been working full-time as an actress for more than 15 years, she had already been a UNHCR ambassador for seven years, she was already an Oscar winner and three-time Golden Globe winner and she had already given millions of dollars to charity and donated countless hours to raise awareness of refugee crises around the world.
Finallyin an interview given to Vanity Fair magazine in 2008, Angelina said adopting kids from other countries was not a sacrifice or a humanitarian act, it ended up being a gift to herself.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/07/jolie200807
Compare and contrast
My rainy day at home brightened by a Royal Round-up! Thank you, KMR – always a treat. I join other commenters in admiring and marveling at the Queen.
Good to know Kate’s maternity leave isn’t getting in the way of her getting to meet with movie stars – it’s clearly only an issue when it comes to things like the Order of the Garter.
From what I understand Kate’s wanted to meet Angelina Jolie for a while. And they even came to the front door and greeted them. High praise indeed.
You mean Kate and William answered their own door? Slow down, you two–you might hurt yourself working that hard!
Was that because all their staff was busy writing press releases about the meeting so that all the media outlets could share it?! I imagine they were the only ones left to open the door!
Apparently the did not require their privacy when having a private meeting with the Jolie-Pitts!
LBR, lol. “”was that because all of their staff was busy writing press releases…. So accurate, but so funny!
Other comments were also priceless.
They did. They came outside. I think that’s pretty big praise in their world. Normally one has one’s staff do that.
Anyone want to place bets on Kate starting to SWF Angelina and starts wearing pants suits like Angelina does?
So true, Maggie.
I wonder what Angie really thinks of Kate. Angie is one tough lady and I would not expect that she would be too taken with a doormat like Kate. I think Kate lets William walk all over her. And, she is always at his beck and call. Hope I am wrong about that. Maybe, behind closed doors at Middleton Manor, she is running the show. No, wait, that’s Carole.
I am hopeful that Angelina is an example for Kate. She had a very rocky start with her public persona, but look at her now!! There is hope for Kate!
I agree CrazyAMG. While I’m not a huge fan of Angelina’s there is no denying her commitment to helping others in a real and lasting way, she certainly does more than show up in pretty dresses, smile for the cameras and leave. Since Kate won’t look to other royal women as examples of how to make a difference maybe she will look to Hollywood royalty instead.
Angelina is proof that people, even people in the public eye, can change and change drastically. 15 years ago no one would have thought Angelina would be what she is now and she changed not only herself but her public perception of her. Hopefully Kate takes notice.
Not going to happen. Angelina takes on controversial issues and Kate’s not going to fight for anything other than her kids (their future wealth and status) – and her privacy. Angelina and Brad earned their wealth, lifestyle and international independence. The Cambridges – not so much.
I agree. It’s just not going to happen with Kate. She is not suitable for the role she married into.
I agree with you Vava! I keep hoping Kate will change but with every year I feel disappointed that she doesn’t.
Here’s hoping talking to Angelina and Brad inspire her?
What irritates me – is that we know about it because Kensington Palace wants us to know about it. There weren’t any reporters/photographers who independently covered the story. That William and Kate are entertaining folks about their shared interests in countries none of them are citizens of doesn’t really endear them to the British taxpayer, does it? Meanwhile, wtf does this mean: “They ended up staying for almost a few hours.” What is “almost a few”? Does that equal one? Were they scheduled for a 1/2 hour tea and stayed an hour? Do let us know if it shows up in the Court Circular.
Meanwhile, whatever happened to William’s pilot job that he has time to hang around London on a Friday? Given that George was at Bucklebury last weekend – methinks the family hasn’t been in residence in Anmer.
I’ve been wondering what happened to that training. Wasn’t the reason given for the extended paternity leave was that he was so good he’d got through the last phase early and as his next phase required 3 weeks of continual training or something like that it was being delayed until after the baby? That’s what I remember reading, and William’s been out and about. So what happened to the training?
They said he was going to go back for a three week full-time training course starting on June 1. He should have completed it by June 22. He has done a lot of engagements in that time and not been doing training full time. They have not announced he has finished like they did with the exams and the last training session.
Thank you, KMR. That’s it. It didn’t appear he was on a three week intensive training in June.
Yeah my guess is Kate and William just wanted to meet Angelina and Brad because they’re famous movie stars, and their office didn’t want to publicize the meeting because it wasn’t really for anything useful and it would look bad if Kate could do this but not meet with her charities. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from Brad and Angelina’s camp leaked it, and then when KP was asked, they couldn’t deny it.
So the only things Kate has done where she ended up spending more time doing them than originally planned are that Downton Abbey “engagement” and then this meeting with Brad and Angelina. Lol.
Maggie you made a great point! Sadly the only things Kate spends extra time doing is with film, tv or movie actors. Makes me think she wishes she was part of that world. Or that she believes being a Royal means your job is to meet other celebrities. It is amazing that her maternity leave means she can’t visit a charity for an hour, but she has plenty of time to socialize with the famous!
“A few” typically means three. So if they stayed for “almost a few hours”, that means they stayed almost three hours.
Yeah, beats me about William’s job. He should have been full time training since June 1, and should have completed his training by now. But he was doing all sorts of engagements when he was supposed to be training and KP has not announced that he has finished.
It needs to be said. I’ve kept this to myself long enough. Prince Phillip is looking more and more like the Crypt Keeper. He’s starting to creep me out.
The fact that I know exactly what you’re referring to makes me laugh. Phillip is starting to look worse for wear. HM will be devastated when that day comes.
lol. I agree.
I mean why cant the queen abdicate, the other monachys have kings and queens who have abdicated due to old/health issued, lizzie is just too old to be working at that rate!!
Because HM believes being sovereign is a divine right that is a lifelong duty. She will never abdicate.
Does anyone have any information on Princess Angela of Lichtenstein and her husband, Prince Maximillian? She is an African American from the U.S., I believe, but I also think she may have been raised in Panama. She is lovely, but other than a few photos of her on the internet, and a smattering of info, I know little about her. Does she attend events on behalf of her nation, or do she the Prince and their son live in the States?
In the photos I have seen, she is just beatuiful and apparently, older than I would have guessed. If the bio info on the internet is accurate, she’s in her late 50s. I could not believe that. Looks so much younger. Any European Royal Watchers know much about her, please?
Oops. See my comment below. I didn’t respond online. My apologies.
She’s actually Afro-Panamanian. know that there was controversy when they married. His father was thought to want to boycott their wedding. Some thought it was due to the fact that it was an interracial marriage. Others said it was due to Maximilian selling paintings that were family heirlooms. He eventually came.
I believe that they live in Lichtenstein. Hope that helps.
Queen MAXIMA 🙂 Always so gorgeous. Love her outfit. I wish her work got more attention, although I do enjoy looking forward to her outfits, there is so much more to her. I think she is an extremely intelligent woman.
I kinda feel bad for Beatrice. She would have all the attention of the world if she were prettier. She wants to have a FT Royal “job” and nobody wants her, while there is Kate who doesn’t seem to do her royal “job” yet everybody loves her and wishes to see more of her. I know she gets the best of the world- luxury, vacations every-other week, etc – but I do think she is aware she is “not pretty enough” for more. Kinda mean.
Hi, Rhiannon,
Thanks for the info on Princess Angela.
I wish there were more photos of her.
I truly had not heard about her until a friend talked a bit about her, but my friend did not know too much, either.
I do hope the family gets along . If her father wanted to boycott the wedding because of an interracial marriage, that is just too sad.
I guess one never hears too much about Lichtenstein. Always more about Monaco, but I guess that was due to Grace Kelly marrying Ranier so many years ago.
I would imagine Angela and Maximillian enjoy their privacy.