The Real My Royals

via Hello magazine

The groom’s uncle Prince Albert of Monaco has given away some exciting details about the big day.
The first service may be a smaller affair, but according to reports, some 700 guests have been invited to the palace.

Prince Albert, who recently celebrated his ten-year reign, has played a part in the wedding preparations and is planning a “cavagnëtu”, or in other words, a garden party, as wished for by the bride and groom.

“The wedding service will be in the palace’s salons, then a garden party – because Pierre and Beatrice want it that way,” Albert, 57, told People. “It’s going to be a summer garden party. A finger-foods-for-lunch thing, with buffet tables and drinks. There’ll be places for guests to sit, but it’s going to be mostly informal.”

Joking that hot dogs may be on the menu, the Prince also opened up about the entertainment.

“There’ll be some local folklore dancers and music,” said Albert. “And, we’ll play some pétanque. It’s a light fete and I will give a toast. I’ll try and keep it short and not bore everybody, have them feel I ran on and on, which will be hard because I really like both Pierre and Beatrice.”

Sources added that Pierre wanted to hold a picnic-style celebration to reflect his upbringing in Provence. When his father Stefano Casiraghi died when Pierre was three, Caroline raised her children in the French countryside.

“Pierre had this [country-style] upbringing, which he loved,” said an insider. “He wanted to have a wedding reminiscent of his childhood and to share that with his bride.”

The garden party will be held in a section of the palace that is rarely photographed – a sheltered terrace – which was designed by Albert’s late mother Grace Kelly. The actress-turned-princess wanted to reflect American homes with outdoor space and also had a 1960s style swimming pool built for her children to play and swim in.

Given that the Princess Caroline’s son is Monegasque and the bride-to-be is Italian, the couple have made two wedding registries, one in Monte Carlo and another in Milan.

The couple gave, as an option, the account number of the AMADE foundation children’s charity.

The organisation was created by Princess Grace of Monaco in 1963 and Pierre’s mother Princess Caroline is currently president. The couple would like the proceeds from this “wedding gift” to help a project that supports disadvantaged children in Sicily.

After saying “I do” in a civil ceremony in Monaco, Pierre Casiraghi and his new wife Beatrice Borromeo will head to the bride’s family-owned Borromean Islands for a second religious service and another round of more intimate celebrations.

According to Italian publication Dagospia the couple will marry on the Isola Bella, located in the isolated Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy.

Maggiore, meaning the “greatest, or superior”, is Italy’s second largest lake and the longest. With breathtaking views, hills in the south, mountains in the north, it is one of the country’s best treasures.

The couple will mark their marriage on one of the lake’s many beautiful islands and islets, which was a tiny fishing village until 1632, when Charles of the wealthy Borromeo family began the construction of a palace dedicated to his wife, Isabella D’Adda, from whom the island takes its name.

Isola Bella, which is a popular tourist attraction, is home to a palace, an Italianate garden and a small fishing village. It is also the same location where Beatrice’s older half-sister Matilde Borromeo married Prince Antonius von Fürstenberg in June 2011 and where Beatrice’s sister Lavinia married John Elkann in 2004.

Other islands include the mother of the Borromean islands, Isola Madre, which is home to a botanical garden which displays Europe’s largest example of a Kashmir Cypress tree, as well as Peacocks and rare species of birds.

Isola Superiore dei Pescatori (Fishermen’s Island) boasts beautiful countryside surrounding the lake and Isola San Giovanni the down-to-earth yet equally enchanting sister of the islands.

The evening reception will reportedly see the guests visit the Rocca di Angera, also called Borromeo Castle, which stands on a lakeside hilltop in the outskirts of the town of Angera on the lake’s southern shores.

The palace, with its sumptuous rooms filled with paintings and ornate furniture and spectacular gardens set on ten terraces that include an open air theatre with statues depicting the four elements, will make the perfect backdrop for the elegant proceedings.