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Post by chriss on Sept 16, 2011 8:16:02 GMT -5
Does anyone find it peculiar now that Albert is married we are seeing less of Charlene and more of Caroline and her kids at events? *raises hand* I do. It's almost like they're being put close to Albert in the pictures to remind people that he's got heirs and doesn't need any from Charlene. First Andrea and Alexandra for the picnic, then Andrea for the hike, and now Pierre. Someone's making a point.
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Post by chriss on May 27, 2011 12:32:52 GMT -5
With such nephews and nieces, who needs children?
Face it, Albert - Caro's kids are much better than any you and Charlene can possibly cook up. Go get them signed up as your heirs while you still can!
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Post by chriss on May 24, 2011 14:34:47 GMT -5
I thought that relationship was over, too, but he brought her along for a few events lately. Perhaps we'll get a few hints over the coming weekend - it's Grand Prix time, so Andrea is bound to show up at least on Sunday.
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Post by chriss on Apr 24, 2011 2:03:03 GMT -5
margarita (karma)! ;D
You're absolutely right, there need to be more like EA. So reliable when it comes to providing embarrassment.
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Post by chriss on Apr 23, 2011 15:09:20 GMT -5
Looks like the underlings got their instructions wrong!
(Or weren't given any in the first place, which seems more likely. It's not as if Albert can spare any time to actually run his country.)
The state owned majority of SBM I know about, but it would be interesting to know how big the slice is to have a guess at the revenue he gets out of it in terms of annual dividends. And whether there have been any changes in ownership and who the other shareholders are - if there are any and it's not just a construction of affiliate companies.
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Post by chriss on Apr 23, 2011 14:57:15 GMT -5
If this wasn't a special show or exhibition at the Garden, then why on Earth is she acting like she's seeing it for the first time? This is one of Monaco's main sights, surely she's seen it before?
Someone needs to show her how to pretend to be interested without going this far over the top.
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Post by chriss on Apr 23, 2011 14:36:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the title change, much better this way. Can't say I've seen news anywhere of Albert taking Charlene out. So much for the effectiveness of his attempt to counter it by providing feel-good news about himself and his beloved future princess. How many tourists are going to return home after the Easter weekend just to tell their friends "yes we went to the casinos in Monaco but they were practically shut down, all you could do was play at slot machines, no need to travel for that"? I doubt they'll care that Albert had another photo op. I'm surprised they let it come this far, actually. It should have been easy enough to solve this dispute without the workers needing to drag it out into the open, and if the SBM management can't get things done, then Albert should be interceding. This isn't just a labour dispute, this hurts Monaco's economy as a whole. By the way, is there information to be had somewhere about the shareholder structure of SBM? I did some digging on their website and their annual budgets make for fascinating (and shocking) reading, but I couldn't find anything on how much of a share is state-owned.
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Post by chriss on Apr 23, 2011 13:19:38 GMT -5
Because the recent tourism-related news and the overall economic situation in Monaco aren't bad enough yet, SBM (with the state, which means Albert, being the majority shareholder) let a disagreement over wages with the casino employees escalate to the point where they've gone on strike over the Easter weekend and shut down all parts of the casinos which require actual humans to run them. I bet the tourists who used the Easter holidays for a trip to Monaco and were planning on some casino time absolutely love this. "The parent company of the casinos, SBM, said in a public statement today about the strike that they are “stunned by such an unreasonable action”. The unions, for their part, refuse to make any statement on the grounds it would “destroy the image of SBM”.
SBM have offered a basic salary of €81,000 per year for a croupier and €144,000 per year for a floor manager, but they want to phase these changes in over 10 years. The unions apparently deem this unacceptable.
The strike could not have come at a worse time for the Principality, and the loss of revenue and tarnished image will be damaging. It comes at an already difficult time for the casino, which has seen revenues drop 35% over the past year.
The SBM are at pains to point out that the Everest poker tournament being held this weekend has not been affected. They also point out that the slot machines will also be open, though quite how they would go on strike is beyond us outside of some Terminator-style scenario." ( www.rivierareview.com/articles/monaco-casino-croupiers-strike/) AdminNote: Changed title to include more items to be discussed in the thread
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Post by chriss on Apr 23, 2011 12:53:38 GMT -5
Midlife crisis? But who cares. Caro clearly is over him, and she got Alexandra away from him as well. His older children seem to move into position to take over the family businesses and the leadership of the house of Hanover, so he can't do too much damage there anymore either. Best he keeps himself occupied with boozing and girlfriends and stays out of everyone's way. Not at the wedding, of course. He's got far too much potential to cause a bit of mayhem there, so I do hope he'll come and be given a nice, prominent spot as the brother-in-law of the groom.
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Post by chriss on Apr 20, 2011 1:51:43 GMT -5
Since my RSS exploded this morning with stories about the British counterpart... the dress is a major PR fail.
You do NOT tell people anything about the wedding dress. That's supposed to be the one big secret - the designer, the style, the length of the train... all that's known is that it's most likely going to be white. Anything else is the big mystery about the bride, and it's what guarantess that "oooh" (or "OMGWTF") moment when she shows up.
Hundreds of articles speculated on the dress of Victoria. Thousands speculate about that of Kate. Because nobody knew/knows for sure until the wedding day who'd be the designer and what style they would/will be wearing.
Monaco? They told us about that dress in, what was it, September? Minimal excitement about it because the wedding was still so far off that nobody cared, and it's fizzled out completely. And Charlene is so fixated on one style of dress that it's not hard to guess what it's going to look like. What a waste of a good opportunity!
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Post by chriss on Apr 19, 2011 15:20:27 GMT -5
If only he'd unbutton his shirt a little bit more. Just a little bit. That's not too much to ask is it? Oh and some beach photos would be nice too. Maybe like the one with Albert jumping off the boat....Ok I better stop. ;D Perhaps if we wish for it together... But I fear that with Guillaume, him not wearing a tie is about as naked as he'll ever get. The day he turns up in jeans and a t-shirt somewhere will be declared a national holiday in Luxembourg.
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Post by chriss on Apr 19, 2011 15:13:26 GMT -5
I keep wondering about that photo whenever it pops up somewhere - either it's a weird angle or he lost a considerable amount of weight soon after; in the recent pics I'm definitely not seeing it anymore.
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Post by chriss on Apr 19, 2011 6:02:43 GMT -5
I guess his male ego just couldn't stand being seen with "a dried up old woman in her forties"! What fools! Or it's yet another orchestrated PR move. It's clear Albert doesn't give a damn about Charlene, so I doubt an older woman could make him look even less interested. But with a woman who's still capable of having children for the next ten years, think of all the PR with pregnancy speculations this could bring. Younger women get more attention, and since Charlene isn't going to actually do anything interesting, they need to sell speculation about the occupational state of her uterus. Look at the Swedes and how everyone's focused on Victoria - the woman gets pregnancy rumours attached to her if she's had a decent breakfast. I bet the Monaco PR team wants that for themselves as well. They're frantically copying everything they see as attention-getting from the other monarchies. On that note... can someone point out to them how much attention Madeleine got after her engagement broke up? Can't Albert copy that, look all hurt and sad and take off to NY to suffer for half a year? A Prince of Monaco who's kicked his fiancee to the curb and who's now moping in a foreign country should get plenty of media attention, and it's not going to look more laughable than the current farce.
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Post by chriss on Apr 19, 2011 3:33:18 GMT -5
If it were just one set of pictures, I'd be thinking too that it could just be coincidence that Albert looks like he's just bit into a lemon whenever he's with Charlene, while he can look cheerful around other people. But we've been getting such pictures for months now, and they're the pictures the press tries to sell as proof of the happy couple. Which tells me that there are no photos where they actually look like they're in love or happy to see each other.
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Post by chriss on Apr 19, 2011 3:13:12 GMT -5
Nice find! If even the tabloids don't know whether to side with Caro or Charlene on this one...
Caro's got her spot in Monaco, she has her duties and her traditions and I can't imagine she'll leave them to Charlene without a fight. A year ago I thought she might slowly retreat and leave the stage to Albert and Charlene, but nothing she's done since then makes me think she's going to go quietly. Or go at all.
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Post by chriss on Apr 19, 2011 3:02:22 GMT -5
I can't imagine Albert (or rather, his flunkies who're pulling the strings) are letting Charlene anywhere close to actual government business. She might open her mouth and say something, and then where would they be? She only gets to go along for foreign tours to promote Monaco (and look how well that's working) and for big formal occasions in Monaco where she can show off either how well she gets along with Albert's sisters, or how dignified she can behave herself in church.
And I don't think she's interested in diplomatic business either. This is boring political stuff, so why would she want to bother with it? I'd actually be more concerned if she were taking an interest in it, because that could turn dangerous if she decided to try her hand at ruling the country.
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Post by chriss on Apr 18, 2011 15:41:34 GMT -5
Oh wow! So Guillaume does actually own clothes other than suits and ties!
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Post by chriss on Apr 18, 2011 3:32:25 GMT -5
(karma), rearden - Laurent's really rocking the boat at the worst moment possible.
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Post by chriss on Apr 18, 2011 3:18:55 GMT -5
Blue_j I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. If I remember the story correctly it was like that: This was a woman from Nice. She was writing book for children. She met Albert at some party. He promised her a help with publishing her book. Albert also invited her for a weekend or a few day trip on yacht. This woman took a suitcase with her knowing she would spend a few days with PA on yacht. When she came on board she was surprised that PA's aid took her suitcase to a room that turned out to be occupied by Albert. When PA saw her entering his room he put his finger on his lips. (Sic!) The woman told she was frightened to refuse Albert and he raped her. Albert later involved Eringer to help this woman publish her book. Albert was not interested in progress of the book. When Eringer wanted to tell PA about the book's progress, PA told about this woman" I'm done with her." That woman wrote a letter for Eringer in English and French where she described all events. Robert Eringer included this letter in his lawsuit against PA as evidence that he worked for Albert. My opinion: If it is the same woman, she was not raped. She knew she was going to a trip on yacht and she was willing to spent at least few nights on this trip; she took suitcase. So, she was not kidnapped. What did she expect? She didn’t mind travel ling and spending overnight with the guy she barely knew, she agreed to go on trip after meeting him at party, so immediately after meeting him. ‘Common she was adult. BTW, she dated Albert for several months or weeks according to Eringer. Would you go on date again with a man who just raped you? Or dated him a few weeks/months? After this yacht trip Albert asked Eringer to help to publish her book for children. She still asked Albert for help in publishing her book after alleged rape. Shouldn’t she rather run away than continue dating a rapist or getting his help with book? She went with him on the yacht, so yes, I'm sure there were expectations from his side. Whether she was aware of that is anyone's guess, she may have been too flattered to be invited along to figure it out. Regardless of that - if she didn't want to sleep with him at any point, this makes it sexual assault. She can have been lying naked on the bed with her hand on little Albert, it's still her right to change her mind and say no, and it's her right to expect him to stop even if she doesn't start kicking and screaming to get the point across. There's no "leading him on", there's no "she had to know the expectations", there's no "but she went along with it until then". No means no, and if he doesn't understand such a simple word, then calling him a bastard is an understatement. The dating afterwards... who knows what went down there. And the help with the book may well have been an attempt to keep her quiet. But if she ever found herself in a situation with him where she said no and it didn't stop him, then it's rape, never mind what came before or after. Sorry to be preaching, but this is a topic that gets me up in arms whenever the "but she knew what to expect" argument comes up. No means no, there are no mitigating circumstances. But I can only too well imagine Albert not getting that fact, or to be far too used to playing the "do you know who I am? Now shut up and play nice" card.
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Post by chriss on Apr 17, 2011 14:49:43 GMT -5
Scout (karma back) I really wonder whether Albert's ever done the math on it. "Best case" scenario has Charlene pregnant in the wedding night (and I REALLY don't want to imagine that, thx), with an heir next April. Albert's 54 then. The constitution demands that the heir needs to be 18 years old, so that makes Albert 72 before the child would actually be able to be his immediate successor. With his lifestyle, I wouldn't want to take bets on that. And even if... he'll be in his 80s before the child would be even thirty. Nobody's born knowing how to run a country, you need to learn that, and it's not something you figure out in a year or two. Monaco actually needs the monarch to take charge, that's the whole tragedy of it - everywhere else it's a figurehead position, but with Monaco the decisions are still made by the Prince or Princess. Unless Albert grows to be a hundred years old, he'll leave a child on the throne with Charlene as Regent as worst, and an inexperienced ruler at best. The Monegasques had better start praying that Charlene doesn't think she needs a child to secure her position.
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