Monaco’s Rose Ball Scheduled for Saturday

Monaco’s annual Rose Ball (Bal de la Rose), benefiting the Princess Grace Foundation Monaco, is scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 9:00 PM at the Salle des Etoiles – Sporting in Monte-Carlo.

Monaco’s annual Rose Ball (Bal de la Rose), the primary fund raiser held to benefit the Princess Grace Foundation, is believed to be first held in 1964. The Ball exclusively benefits the Monaco branch of the foundation as opposed to the US branch which is supported by the Princess Grace Awards Gala. Multiple published and official sources report that the late Princess Grace originally arranged the event to support her own philanthropic efforts and to help fund the American Hospital in Paris.

Both Prince Albert and Princess Caroline assumed the arrangements for the Ball from their Mother and are quite active in choosing the music, the theme and even the menu for the evening. Each year’s theme is unique. While this year’s theme is “Rock’nRoll,” past themes have included “Pop,” “Movida,” “Latin America,” “Caribbean,” and “Africa.”

Members of the Soverign family traditionally attend the ball after age 17. Princess Stephanie made her first appearance in 1982 (the last Ball before her Mother’s tragic death) and Princess Caroline’s children first attended in 2006. Prince Albert’s aunt HSH Princess Antoinette, her surviving daughter and a granddaughter regularly attend with the family.

This year’s ball attendance will not include Princess Caroline’s husband, the Prince of Hanover after doctors announced that he needed to stay in the hospital for a few days after a fall and subsequent surgery on Thursday. Princess Caroline’s attendance has not been confirmed.

A photographic retrospective of the ball is available here while pictures and information about this year’s ball will be posted in realtime here.

Filed under Germany, Monaco
Tagged Albert II of Monaco, Ernst August V Prince of Hanover, House of Hanover, Patronage, Princess Caroline of Hanover, Princess Grace Foundation, Rose Ball.

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