Princess Alexia's new baby christened Amelia

Royal cousin Princess Alexia, the eldest of Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid's grandchildren and godmother to Princess Isabella, christened her fourth child yesterday. With husband Carlos Morales and family, their third daughter Amelia was christened in an orthodox ceremony at the church Los Remedios de Yaiza in Lanzarote. Present for the christening were grandparents Queen Anne-Marie and King Constantine, Prince Nikolaos and his girlfriend Tatiana Blatnick, Princess Theodora and Prince Philippos. Spanish royal cousins the infantas Elena and Christina were also present as was Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and her husband Count Jefferson. The godparents are Miguel Ángel Morales, brother of Carlos, Prince Philippos of Greece, Luz Hernández, a friend of the couple, and Alexandra of Denmark. After the baptism the family and guests went to a local restaurant to celebrate. Carlos Morales is an architect in Lanzarote and the family lives in a house he designed himself.

Below: Alexia with Carlos Morales and their children Amelia, Arrieta, Ana Maria and little Carlos, Alexia and Amelia, Queen Anne-Marie and King Constantine, Nikolaos and Tatiana Blatnik, infanta Cristina with two of her children Pablo Nicolás and Irene, infantas Elena and Cristina with other guests, Elena, Elena and Theodora, Carlos and Alexia, the church Los Remedios de Yaiza, Carlos, Alexia and King Constantine, Philippos and Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg



Photos © ¡Hola! and Hello!

¡Hola! 'Alexia de Grecia y Carlos Morales celebran el bautizo de Amelia, su cuarta hija' - Alexia of Greece and Carlos Morales celebrate the christening of Amelia, their fourth child
Hello! magazine 'Lanzarote christening of Princess Alexia's baby is a big family affair'
Crónicas de Lanzarote ' Alexia de Grecia y Carlos Morales bautizaron a su hija Amelia en la iglesia de los Remedios de Yaiza' - Alexia of Greece and Carlos Morals baptized to their daughter Amelia in the church of the Remedies of Yaiza
In attendance were Constantine and Anne Marie of Greece, princesses Elena and Cristina and Alexandra of Denmark and her husband, plus the Lanzarotian politicians Gladys Acuña and Manolo Cabrero. Neither the King or Queen of Spain, the Princes of Asturias, nor Pavlos of Greece or Marie-Chantal attended, Marie-Chantal is expecting their fifth child in July.
Princess Alexia of Greece and the Lanzorotan architect Carlos Morals baptized their youngest daughter Amelia Morales of Greece, in the church of the Remedies of Yaiza on Saturday morning. The youngest of their children, born last October 26, was baptized by the orthodox rite (baptism, communion and confirmation in a same act) by the Metropolitan Bishop of Spain and Portugal. The godparents are the older brother of Carlos Morales, Miguel Ángel Morales, Prince Philippos of Greece, Luz Hernández, a friend of the couple, and Alexandra of Denmark. ...The ceremony lasted about 45 minutes. The little one “cried enough” the mother Alexia later said... The parish priest of Yaiza and numerous Lanzarotens who are friends of the couple as well as the relatives of Carlos Morales, among them his parents Maria Teresa Quintana and Miguel Morales, were present...“Four is a good team," commented the couple after celebrating the ceremony by the orthodox rite...

More royal Christmas cards

In this week's Billed Bladet the Christmas cards of the extended Danish royal family are published. The Greek royal family card is a photo taken last summer on a cruise of the Greek islands when the family was celebrating Queen Anne-Marie's 60th birthday at Porto Heli. The photograph of Princess Benedikte and her husband Prince Richard zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was taken in Benedikte's apartment at Amalienborg Palace (there is a photograph of Frederik IX in the foreground). Queen Margrethe's and the Prince Consort's card is one with their grandchildren Nikolai, Christian, Felix and Isabella taken at the time of their 40th wedding anniversary. Finally, there is a new card in the ranks. It is Prince Joachim with sons Nikolai and Felix, fiancée Marie Cavallier and newest "royal dog", little Winston, at Schackenborg.

Frederik @ ISAF conference in Portugal

Crown Prince Frederik is currently in Portugal at the International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) annual conference, being held this year in Estoril in Portugal (he will be there 5-8 November). Frederik is a member of the Events Committee, which decides on policies and implementation of policies for all ISAF calendar events worldwide, and also major international events, team racing, the youth championships and rules determining rankings. The Events Committee also decides on the nature of competition and the rules for the Olympic Games and will be deciding and recommending which classes of sailing (ie: which boats) will be participating in the Beijing Olympics and what the courses will be.

This year is the centenary year for the ISAF, the world governing body for international sailing having been founded in 1907. The centenary will be celebrated during the annual conference, following micro, national and international events among national sailing bodies and clubs during the past year. On Monday November 5, the ISAF Hall of Fame will be inaugurated at a gala dinner and the Sailor of the Year will be named on November 6.

So far there have already been three days of conference deliberations, including the announcement of Perth, Australia as the host site of the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships. The four yearly championships precede the next Olympic Games and the Perth championships will be the sailing qualifiers for the 2012 games.

There will be 221 submissions discussed during the 10 day conference with each one focused on some change or another to policy and rules. A hot topic will be the selection of the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, because the sport has to reduce from eleven to ten Olympic medal events. There will be some other hot organisational topics for the sport (eg: changing the ISAF Sailing World Championships from every four years to every two years, the future of the ISAF World Cup, racing rules, etc.) and the big issue of gender representation across all ISAF committees and the ISAF Council.

Estoril
Lisbon coast: Estoril
ISAF member nations
Day two at the ISAF conference
Day three at the ISAF conference (including plans to increase focus on women's sailing, with numerous submissions on this subject from Denmark, and preparations for the Youth World Championships for the next 3 years. Denmark will host the 2008 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships)
ISAF Hall of Fame 2007 (an extra royal connection here: the Honorary Chairman for the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame is Frederik's uncle HM King Constantine, who is also an ISAF President of Honour)
Nominees for World Sailor of the Year
Added: ISAF Council Decide Ten Sailing Events For 2012 Olympic Games
Hall of Fame photo gallery and photo gallery 2 - both with pic of King Constantine
Sailing's most prestigious award World Sailor of the Year 2007
Photo gallery - awards night, includes pics of King Harald and King Constantine

Alexia & Carlos introduce Amelia

Princess Alexia and her husband Carlos Morales introduced their newborn daughter Amelia to waiting press outside the Barcelona clinic where she was born yesterday. Accompanying them were Amelia's sisters Arrietta and Anna-Maria and brother Carlos Jnr as well as Queen Anne-Marie, Princess Theodora and Carlos Morales' mother and sister. Congratulations to the happy family!



See Hello! magazine 'Alexia of Greece presents newborn daughter Amelia'
and in Spanish ¡Hola! 'Alexia of Greece and Carlos Morales present their daughter Amelia'
Photos © Rex/Hello!/¡Hola!

Princess Alexia of Greece has a new daughter Amelia

Princess Alexia of Greece has given birth to her fourth child, to be called Amelia, in Barcelona. The baby girl was born at the Clínica Teknon de Barcelona at 10:20pm on Friday night and weighed 3.9 kg. On Saturday morning the clinic said mother and daughter are doing well. Amelia is the fourth child for Princess Alexia and her husband Carlos Morales. Amelia has two sisters, Arrietta and Anna-Maria, and a brother, Carlos, who visited their new sister on Saturday. Queen Anne-Marie was also at the clinic to see her new grandaughter. On Saturday morning Alexia's cousin Infanta Cristina visited for half an hour together with her three sons Juan Valentín, Pablo Nicolás and Miguel (King Constantine is brother to Queen Sophia).
Danish royal cousin Alexia is the eldest child of King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, was the first child born to one of the Danish royal sisters (Margrethe, Benedikte and Anne-Marie) and therefore was the first grandchild to Queen Ingrid and King Frederik IX.

Actualidad Terra 'La Princesa Alexía de Grecia da a luz a su cuarto hijo, una niña que se llamará Amelia'
La Razón 'La Princesa Alexía de Grecia da a luz a su cuarto hijo, una niña que se llamará Amelia'

Danish Monarchy - Anne-Marie

Margrethe, Henrik & Anne-Marie on the Sea Stallion

The Sea Stallion is an archeological experiment at sea. The project is based at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde and is a recontruction of the Skuldelev 2, a warship built in Dublin in 1042 in the Late Viking Age. The original was intended for crossings of stormy waters and open seas. The reconstruction experiment has been underway since 1996 and aims to test a Viking longboat of the era, the seamanship and logistics of sailing the vessel and what light it might shed on Viking society. It will be tested in the seas for which the original was built - the North Sea and the Irish Sea. The reconstruction journey is now at a new stage with the reconstructed ship built, tested and the volunteer crew selected. The journey has begun with this voyage from Denmark to Norway. The voyage this year will be the trip from Roskilde to Dublin and then in 2008 the return journey from Dublin to Roskilde. Crown Prince Frederik is the patron and is expected to go to Dublin to mark what is being described as the most significant archeological reconstruction ever undertaken.



The Sea Stallion meets up with the Dannebrog which is in Norwegian waters for the birthday celebrations of Queen Sonja. Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik and Queen Anne-Marie transferred from the Dannebrog to the Sea Stallion in Havhingsten, Norway.

Havhingsten fra Glendalough 2007 (in Danish) the project website
Sea Stallion from Glendalough 2007 (in English)
Sea Stallion video podcasts
Sea Stallion Politiken weblog (the latest in Danish)
The Sea Stallion's route to Ireland (google satellite view of the route)
The Sea Stallion project (in English)

The Vikings: 8th - 10th century AD
BBC History - Vikings

Thursday 5 July: A royal engagement
By Nathan Williams

After the terrible weather of the last few days, the ship was today blessed with good fortune. Last night they arrived at Lindesnes at the southernmost point of Norway. Here there are was once a Viking canal. This channel was built to allow Viking ships traveling along the coast to cross a narrow spit of land, saving them a considerable journey around the peninsula. The canal is thought to date back at least 1200 years, making it older than the original Viking ship itself. Over the centuries the canal silted up until almost no trace was left. After its discovery and excavation in 2001 the decision was made to re-dig the canal and today is the official opening day of restored canal.

What’s more, the Queen of Norway is on a birthday cruise in the area and she’s here to open the canal along with her birthday guest, the Queen of Denmark. The Royals arrived in their respective yachts this morning and the Sea Stallion went out to greet them. The Sea Stallion was dwarfed by the huge royal ships, but was gaining at least as much attention.

Following the opening ceremony, in which the dignitaries sailed down the canal serenaded by dancing Vikings, the Queen of Denmark came to see the Sea Stallion up close. Carsten offered to sail her out to her waiting yacht and, departing from the official schedule, she accepted. Whilst the Viking Ship may not be quite as comfortable as she’s used to, the welcome she received on board more than made up for it. The Queen takes a keen interest in archaeology, and plied the crew with questions about the ship and life on board. Her husband, the Prince, is himself an accomplished sailor and couldn’t resist taking a turn on the tiller.

For the Viking Ship it’s a huge morale boost (as well as a great photo opportunity). Now they’re hoping that their good luck will rub off on the weather.

Published: 2007-07-06

(NB: the BBC story has confused Queen Sonja with Queen Anne-Marie and there is a video clip link on the BBC page)

Can you speak Viking? Lots of words in English were adopted during the Viking age: sky, yacht, happen, lake, wind ... far too many to mention, so check it out here.
Map of the Viking invasions of Europe from 793
Indo-European root language - if you are an English speaker you are only four 'branches' away from Danish among Germanic languages - check out the Indo-European language tree
Old Enlish period c. 600 - 1100 scroll down a little for a timeline of Viking activity in England
A small sample at a glance of words borrowed from Norse

Added: DR1 video clip of the Queen, Prince Henrik and Queen Anne-Marie onboard the Sea Stallion.

And to Janne, as always, thanks!

Queen Sonja's 70th birthday

The official guest photo from Queen Sonja's 70th birthday celebration taken on the deck of the ship 'Kongeskibet Norge' in the Stavanger harbour, Norway. From left to right front row: Grand Duchess Maria Theresa, Prince Henrik, Queen Margrethe, Queen Sonja, King Harald, Queen Silvia, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Beatrix. Left to right middle row: Princess Astrid, Johan Martin Ferner, Crown Princess Maxima, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mette Marit, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde and Crown Prince Guillaume. Left to right back row: Prince Felix, Queen Anne Marie, Princess Märtha Louise, Ari Behn, Duke Christian, Princess Alexandra S-W-B, and Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth.

Today the celebrations for Queen Sonja of Norway's 70th birthday started in Stavanger, and will continue with a cruise along the coast of Southern Norway, terminating at the King and Queen’s holiday retreat at Mågerø.

Day celebrations in Stavanger


Luncheon at Hall Toll


Guests arriving to Flor and Fjære on Sør-Hidle for dinner



Celebration of The Queen's 70th birthday (programme)
Guest list for HM The Queen's 70th birthday (pdf)
VG Nett photo gallery
NRK.no photo galleries