All About Royal Families

December has always been a special month in the world of royalty. As the year draws to a close and winter lights begin to sparkle across palaces and capitals, royal families around the globe step into a season filled with tradition, ceremony and moments of connection. From state visits on distant shores to centuries-old constitutional celebrations, from festive concerts to the familiar Christmas broadcasts, December brings together history and present day in a way only monarchies can. Royal diary December 1st till December 3rd.:   King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of The Netherlands will travel to Suriname for an official State Visit.  In early December (often between 3 and 7 December) the Monaco Royal Family traditionally inaugurates the Christmas Village at Port Hercule. In recent years, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène (often with their twins) have taken part in the ceremony. The same period sees major philanthropic events organised under Princess Charlène’s...

Mary Lilian Baels, later known as Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy, was born on November 28, 1916, in Highbury, London. She was one of nine children of Henri Baels, a prominent Belgian politician, and her youth was spent between Belgium and the great finishing schools of France, Switzerland, and Austria. Cultivated, elegant, and multilingual, Lilian had a taste for literature, golf, skiing, and the arts. Her charm and refinement soon brought her into royal circles, where the widowed King Leopold III of Belgium noticed her. The first encounters between Lilian and the king took place at public events and during golf outings, some discreetly arranged by Leopold himself. Lilian Baels is the lady on the right side of the picture Wikipedia When the Second World War broke out and Belgium was invaded, Lilian devoted herself to the Red Cross, transporting wounded Belgian and French soldiers to hospitals. It was against this dramatic backdrop that her life took its most fateful turn...