[Japan] Emperor Akihito visits tsunami-hit city

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Thursday visited Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, in their first trip to an area badly hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, to console local people.

The couple were briefed by Asahi Mayor Tadanao Akechi on the damage suffered by the city before visiting two shelters to offer moral support to people, many of whom lost their houses.

Asahi, located in the northeastern coastal area, suffered 13 fatalities and two people are still listed as missing. Some 900 houses were crushed or almost demolished.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Thursday visited Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, in their first trip to an area badly hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, to console local people.

source

Dutch royals visit Dresden (Germany)

On the third day of their four-day state visit to Germany, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima are visiting Dresden.

The Dutch royals will attend an official reception in the Frauenkirche which, like much of the city, was bombed by the Allies during World War II. The church remained a ruin for long after the war, but was rebuilt in 2005. The queen, prince and princess will also take a walk along other bombsites in the city which have been rebuilt. The walk will end in the Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) of Dresden Castle which holds the largest collection of art treasures and precious objects in Europe.

In the afternoon, the royals will visit solar panel manufacturers and attend a seminar on green energy. The day will end with a visit to a Dance Academy.

source

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands meets German chancellor & president on state visit

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has met German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she starts her first state visit to Germany in nearly three decades.

German President Christian Wulff welcomed the 73-year-old Beatrix to his Bellevue palace with military honours on a wet, blustery Tuesday. She was accompanied by the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, and his wife, Princess Maxima.

Merkel later received Beatrix at the chancellery.

The monarch's four-day visit to Germany also features trips to the eastern state of Saxony and to western North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands.

It's the first state visit to the country since 1982 by Beatrix, whose late husband Prince Claus was German-born.

source

Queen Beatrix will not attend British royal wedding

Dutch Queen Beatrix has had to politely decline her invitation to the wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The queen has to be at home for her birthday on April 30th - the day after the royal wedding - as it is a national holiday in her honour and one of the most important dates in the country's annual calendar with day-long street parties and celebrations.

Attending on her behalf, are Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima.

Coincidentally, Sweden's King Carl Gustaf also has a birthday on the same day; and while it is not a national event on the scale of Beatrix's he is also excusing himself, sending his daughter Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Daniel to represent the Scandinavian nation.

Other guests
Although the wedding does not require foreign heads of state to be invited - as William is not the direct heir to the British throne - some 40 members of foreign royal families have been invited, alongside 60 governors-general and prime ministers from the British Commonwealth realm.

Among them are Queen Margrethe of Denmark and King Harald of Norway - both of whom are the great-great grandchildren of Queen Victoria and therefore third cousins of Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark is also expected to attend with his wife, Crown Princess Mary.

Crown Prince Felipe of Spain will represent his father, King Juan Carlos, while Prince Albert of Monaco will also attend.

Representatives from the royal families of the Middle East include Jordan's half English King Abdullah, the Sultan of Oman, the Sultan of Brunei and Sheikha Mozah of Qatar.

Australia's Prime minister Julia Gillard will be in attendance, although Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had to turn down his invitation as he is in the middle of an election campaign. He will instead send governor-general David Johnston in his place - see comment box below for update on the matter.

source

[Spain] Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia visit Israel

TRH the Prince and Princess of Asturias started a 24-hour visit to Israel on Monday. The visit included a meeting with President Shimon Peres and marked 25 years since Spain and Israel established diplomatic relations. Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia attended a reception at Tel Aviv University and visited Yad Vashem, the living memorial to the Holocaust in Jerusalem. Monday night the President was holding a state dinner to welcome the couple in the first Spanish visit since 1993. The trip continues Tuesday morning as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will host a working breakfast with the couple before they leave. Following the visit to Israel the Crown Princely couple will travel to Ramallah where they will be the first member of any European royal family to visit Palestine. TRH will then travel to Amman, Jordan, where they will attend a state dinner hosted by TM King Abdullah II and Queen Rania. During their three-day visit to Jordan, they will meet with a number of government officials and members of the Spanish community residing in Jordan, as well as visiting the Martyrs' Memorial and the University of Jordan.

read this and more articles here

Dutch Queen Beatrix visits Berlin

The President was set to welcome the 73-year-old monarch at Bellevue Palace at 11 am with military honours.

Ahead of her arrival, Wulff underscored the connection between the two countries.

“Germany and the Netherlands are bound by much more than a common border – namely the best of neighbourship and friendship,” he said.

After meeting with Wulff, the Queen will discuss business partnerships between the two countries with Chancellor Merkel.

Later in the evening, a state banquet with some 150 guests will be held at Bellevue Palace in honour of the Queen, whose motto for the visit is “The New Germany.”

She will be accompanied by Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Máxima.

On Wednesday, Queen Beatrix and President Wulff will lunch with German youths born in 1990, the year of Germany’s reunification.

The Queen and her family will then travel on to the states of Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday.

source

[Monaco] Future princess Charlene impresses at 'homecoming' state gala dinner

To mark the end of the first day of their official state visit to Ireland, Prince Albert of Monaco and fiancée Charlene Wittstock attended a formal gala dinner.

Hosted by Irish President Mary McAleese and husband Dr Martin McAleese, the glittering event was held at the leader's official Dublin residence Aras an Uachtarain.

Charlene wore a one-sleeve, floor length grey gown, which highlighted the former swimmer's shoulders. Sporting a stylish updo and chandelier earrings, the future princess looked stunning - epitomising the elegance that Princess Grace was renowned for.

The couple began their three day visit on Monday, welcomed by the President and her husband at their official residence, and spent their day visiting the National Museum. Next they visited Garden of Remembrance with the Irish Defence Minister, Alan Shatter, to attend a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of deceased soldiers.

Later in the day, they went their separate ways as Albert attended a meeting with Enda Kenny, the Prime Minister, while Charlene went to the Writer's Museum.

The prince, whose mother was of Irish descent, says his stay is "more like a homecoming than a State visit". Prince Albert's schedule for his visit to the country includes visiting a cottage which was once the home of his maternal great-grandfather, John Bernand Kelly, who later emigrated to the United States.

The modest cottage and the land around it, in the little village of Drimurla, was purchased by his mother, the late Princess Grace of Monaco, in 1976, and is now owned by the Grimaldi Estate.

The couple's visit to Ireland comes 50 years after Prince Rainier and Princess Grace visited in 1961.