Following the ceremony, the newly-wed couple greeted the people from the balcony of the Hall of Mirrors.
The religious wedding took place in the Main Courtyard of the Prince's Palace on Saturday 2 July 2011. The Archbishop of Monaco, Bernard Barsi, celebrated the mass. A most beautiful ceremony attended by representatives of almost all the royal families of Europe as well an impressive number of celebrities.
I will come back to the list soon, but would first like to say how impressed I was by how everything was carried out and the excellent service the information office at the Palace has provided. Even the order of presedence followed seemed to make sense, as opposed to the (also wonderful) British Royal Wedding in April this year. I watched parts of the ceremony on Swedish and Norwegian TV. I started with Swedish TV4, but when it took a commercial break, I switched to the Norwegian channel NRK1. On the latter you got the ceremonial program subtitled, which made all the difference, I would say. The Swedish commentators talked too much as well.
After the wedding, the princely couple (funnily enough the Official Wedding Website says "the royal couple") left the Palace for Sainte Dévote's Church so that the Princess could lay down her wedding bouquet. I only saw parts of this on TV before I had to move on to other matters.
The official dinner and the ball took place in the Opera Garnier and the Casino Terraces, concluded by a firework display at midnight.
Shortly before the wedding weekend, the Princely Court published two guest lists with lots of biographical details - "Biographical Information of the Heads of State and other Official Personalities present at the Religious Wedding Ceremony July 2nd 2011" (pdf) and "Biographical Information of a Selection of Private Guests present at the Religious Wedding Ceremony July 2nd 2011" (pdf).
Besides the bride and groom, HRH The Princess of Hanover (Princess Caroline), her children Andrea, Pierre and Charlotte Casiraghi as well as HRH Princess Alexandra of Hanover and also Princess Stephanie of Monaco and her children Louis Ducruet, Pauline Ducruet and Camille Gottlieb attended the wedding, as well as members of the late Princess Antoinette's family. Princess Caroline's husband Prince Ernst August was - quite understandably - not present, but his two sons Ernst August and Christian from his former marriage, were present. Members of Prince Albert's US American family was of course present, including his best man and cousin Chris Le Vine, and also members of the Wittstock family.
Here are the guest lists, with some additional comments by me (I cannot guarantee that everyone mentioned actually attended, as I was not able to follow the whole broadcast, and I would not be able to recognize everyone either - with a few exceptions I have followed the order given by the court):
Heads of state, in Order of Protocol, with spouses
- HE Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic (and HE Co-Prince of Andorra as well, but he did not attend in that capacity)
- HM King Carl XVI Gustaf and HM Queen Silvia of Sweden
- (HM King Juan Carlos of Spain (no, he didn't attend, but the court obviously didn't update the list))
- HM King Albert and Queen Paola of the Belgians
- HM King Letsie III of Lesotho
- HE Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland
- HE Ms. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland (Prince Albert paid the Republic of Ireland an official visit not a long time ago and he has Irish roots through his mother, the late Princess Grace)
- HRH Grand Duke Henri and HRH Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg
- HE Mr. Michel Sleiman, President of Lebanon
- HE Mr. George Abela, President of Malta
- HE Mr. Christian Wulff, President of Germany
- HE Mr. Pál Schmitt, President of Hungary
- HE Ms. Maria Luisa Berti, Captain Regent of San Marino
- HE Mr. Filippo Tamagnini, Captain Regent of San Marino
- HRH Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain
- HRH Prince Philippe and HRH Princess Mathilde of Belgium, Duke and Duchess of Brabant
- HRH Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and HRH Princess Máxima of the Netherlands
- HRH Crown Prince Frederik and HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
- HSH Hereditary Prince Alois and HRH Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein
- HRH Crown Prince Haakon and HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
- HRH Crown Princess Victoria and HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden
- HRH Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg
- HRH The Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward) and HRH The Countess of Wessex
- HRH Prince Michael and HRH Princess Michael of Kent
- HRH Princess Astrid and HRH Prince Lorenz of Belgium
- HRH Princess Lalla Meriem of Morocco and her daughter, HRH Princess Lalla Soukaïna
- HRH Prince Faisal bin Hussein of Jordan
- HRH Prince Laurent and HRH Princess Claire of Belgium
- HRH Prince Joachim and HRH Princess Marie of Denmark
- HRH Prince Carl Philip and his sister HRH Princess Madeleine of Sweden
- HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand (granddaughter of King Bhumibol)
- HRH Prince Henri of Orléans, Count of Paris (one of the 3 pretenders to the French throne)
- HRH Margrave Maximilian and HRH Margravine Valerie of Baden
- HH Prince Aga Khan IV, Imam of the Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili Muslims
- HRH Prince Vittorio Emanuele (Duke of Savoy, Prince of Naples) and HRH Princess Marina of Italy (the Prince of Naples is the son of the last King of Italy, Umberto II, but his claim of the former throne of Italy is disputed)
- HIM Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran
- HSH Princess Virginia of Fürstenberg
- HRH Prince Leopold and HRH Princess Ursula of Bavaria
- HRH Duarte Pio and HRH Isabel of Portugal, Duke and Duchess of Braganza
- HRH Crown Prince Alexander and HRH Crown Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia (Serbia)
- HRH Princess Margarita and HRH Prince Radu of Romania
- HIH Grand Princess (Duchess) Maria Vladimirovna of Russia (head of the Imperial Russian Family) as well as her son, HIH Grand Prince George
- HRH Prince Carlo and HRH Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke and Duchess of Castro (Prince Carlo is one of the two claimants to the headhip of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies)
- HRH Hereditary Prince Bernard and HRH Hereditary Princess Stephanie of Baden
- HRH Emanuele Filiberto and Clotilde of Italy, Prince and Princess of Venice and Piedmont
- HRH Louis, Duke of Anjou (one of 3 claimants to the French throne)
- HRH Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and his fiancée, HSH Princess Sophie of Isenburg
- HM King Leruo Molotlegi of the Kingdom of Bafokeng (I have brought him up from the friends list)
- Mr. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South-Afrian Minister of Tourism
- Mr. Karlheinz Töchterle, Austrian Federal Minister for Science and Research
- HE Mr. Missoum Sbih, Ambassador of Algeria to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Marc Lortie, Ambassador of Canada to Monaco and France
- HE Ms. Salma Ahmed, Ambassador of Kenya to France
- HE Mr. Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Ambassador of Cameroon to France
- Mr. Jeffrey Radebe, South African Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development
- HE Ms. Veronika Stabej, Ambassador of Slovenia to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Charles Rivkin, Ambassador of the USA to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Constantin Chalastanis, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Viraphand Vacharathit, Ambassador of Thailand to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Kornelios Korneliou, Ambassador of Cyprus to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Mirko Galic, Ambassador of Croatia to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Ulrich Lehner, Amassador of the Swiss Confederation to Monaco and France
- HE Mr. Thomasz Orlowski, Ambassador of Poland to Monaco and France
- Mrs. Bernadette Chirac, wife of former President Jacques Chirac
- Count Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee
- Mr. Jean Todt, President of the FIA
- Ms. Michelle Yeoh, actress and dancer
- Mr. Bernard Arnault, businessman, chairman and CEO of LVMH and Mrs. Hélène Mercier-Arnault
- Mr. Francisco Flores, former President of El Salvador
- Mr. Guy Laliberté, among others a Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist
- Mr. Eric Peugeot, marketing engineer (several positions in the Peugeot company)
- Mr. Yves Piaget, President of Piaget SA
- Mr. Bertrand Piccard, Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist
- Mr. Johann Rupert, South African businessman
- Mr. Sonu Shivdasani, British-born Indian entrepreneur
- Sir Michael Smurfit, Irish businessman
- Mr. Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist
- Mr. Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
- Ms. Bernice Coppieters, Belgian ballet artist
- Ms. Donna D'Cruz, Indian-born US American DJ and model
- Ms. Renée Fleming, US American soprano
- Mr. Juan Diego Florez, Peruvian operatic tenor
- Mr. Jean-Christophe Maillot, French dancer and choreographer
- Ms. Pumexa Matshikiza, South-African lyrical soprano
- Sir Roger Moore, British actor and his wife Christina, née Tholstrup
- Ms. Victoria Silvstedt, Swedish model, actress, singer and TV personality
- Mr. Umberto Tozzi, Italian pop/rock artist
- Mr. Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer
- Mr. Terrence Bray, South-African fashion designer
- Ms. Naomi Campbell, British model
- Mr. Roberto Cavalli, Italian fashion designer
- Ms. Inès de la Fressange, French model and designer of fashion and perfume
- Mr. Sébastien Jondeau, former professional boxer, now personal assistant to Karl Lagerfeld
- Ms. Isabell Kristensen, Danish designer
- Ms. Karolina Kurková, Czech model
- Mr. Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer
- Ms. Tereza Maxová, Czech model
- Mr. Gerhard Berger, Austrian former Formula One racing driver
- Ms. Pernilla Bjerke (née Wiberg), Swedish former alpine ski racer and her husband Bödvar Bjerke
- Mr. Jonas Björkman, Swedish former tennis player
- Mr. Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian former athlete (pole vaulter)
- Ms. Nadia Comãneci, Romanian former gymnast
- Ms. Charmaine Crooks, Canadian former athlete
- Mr. Bob Ctvrlik, US American former volleyball player
- Ms. Sophie Edington, Australian backstroke and freestyle swimmer
- Mr. Patrice Evra, French football player (Manchester United)
- Mr. Frank Fredericks, Namibian former athlete
- Mr. Graham Hill, South African swimming coach and former competitive swimmer
- Mr. Jacky Ickz, Belgian former racing driver
- Mr. Branislav Ivkovic, Serbian swimming coach (trained the now Princess Charlène ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, before she had to pull out due to a shoulder injury)
- Mr. Byron Kelleher, New Zealand rugby player
- Mr. Henri Leconte, French former tennis player
- Mr. Axel Lund Svindal, Norwegian alpine ski racer
- Ms. Julia Mancuso, US American alpine ski racer and girl-friend of the former
- Mr. Ian Mcintosh, Zimbabwean-South African rugby union coach
- Ms. Elana Meyer, South African former long-distance runner
- Mr. Ilie Nastase, Romanian former tennis player
- Mr. Ryk Neethling, South African swimmer
- Mr. Terence Parkin, South Afrian swimmer
- Mr. François Pienaar, South-African former rugby player
- Mr. Nicola Pietrangeli, Italian former tennis player
- Ms. Sarah Poewe, South African-born German swimmer
- Mr. Wayne Riddin, South African swimming coach and former competitive swimmer
- Mr. Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer
- Sir Jackie Stewart, Scottish former racing driver
- Ms. Franziska van Almsick, German former swimmer
Updated on Wednesday 6 July 2011 at 23.00 (spelling of one name corrected), last time on Tuesday 2 August 2011 at 13.30 (see comments section).
Fab wedding. wonderful post. Thanks for sharing this post.
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matrimony
Just a few corrections:
ReplyDelete- Princess Stéphanie's son goes by the name Louis Ducruet (however, Paul is among his other names).
- The name of Princess Stéphanie's youngest daughter is Camille, not Camilla.
- "HRH Princess Astrid and HRH Prince Lorenz of Austria-Este" is certainly not a correct title - it should be either "HRH Princess Astrid and HRH Prince Lorenz of Belgium" or "HI&RH Archduke Lorenz and HI&RH Archduchess Astrid of Austria-Este", but not a mix of the Belgian and Habsburg titles.
Thanks. I am always too much in a hurry and should have gone more carefully through the list before posting it.
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