12 Photo Stories of Royals That Illustrate Life in 2020

For Royals of Europe, the year 2020 was a period of keeping things low and disappearing momentarily from the public view.

The pandemic forced them to adopt new measures to still carry their role as a source of national unity, without putting their health at risk. 

It was a time they settled to just being normal citizens like the rest of us. All public engagement and royal celebrations were cancelled. 

The royal calendar of activities were put on hold. And they were forced to adhere to government's rule of staying at home. 

Three prominent royals contracted the disease: Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge.

Indeed, 2020 brought so many challenges to the royal families in Europe. They shared the grief of the world at the same time continue doing works to inspire the nations convulsed with grief and sorrow.

To paint a different picture of the pandemic in the year that gave us so much pain, here are our best photos of the royals of Europe that illustrate different aspects and virtues of humanity. 

Endurance 

This heartwarming portrait of Her Majesty, The Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was taken days before June 10, 2020 to mark His Royal Highness's 99th birthday.

A lovely photo of the royal couple that depicts endurance, unity and strength. That despite age, they can still rise above adversities. Their sun will continue to shine as long as they have each other.

Love

On November 20, 2020 the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary, making Her Majesty the only British monarch to reach such milestone.

Their platinum wedding anniversary is such an inspiration in a time where marriages often ended in divorce, annulment or bitter separation.

This is where royal marriage truly means ROYAL marriage. Both of them are members of the European royal houses. With the abdication of King Juan Carlos of Spain in 2014, Queen Elizabeth II remains the only reigning crown head in Europe to have a spouse born of royal blood.

Joy

Despite the world experiencing chaos and uncertainty there's always a source of joy in the family. The children. Here's two of our favorite photos of father-and-daughter moments. 

Princess Gabriella mimicking her father, Prince Albert of Monaco 

Photo released by Princess Charlene

The Sovereign Prince of Monaco has been relishing pride and joy with his daughter, Princess Gabriella, due to the little princess humor and funny antics. These pictures tell it all. 😂 

Warmth

We can't get enough with the overload cuteness and sweetness of these twins. Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, the Hereditary Prince of Monaco, who just turned six years old last December 11, 2020.

A sweet cuddle moment of the siblings taken inside the Grimaldi Palace in Monaco and shared by Princess Charlene in her IG account.

Romance

This poignant photo of Princess Beatrice's wedding to Italian aristocrat, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, depicted the life of royalty inside the world of pandemic.

The princess originally planned her wedding in May but the strict government rule on lockdown prevented the event to take place. It was postponed in July 2020.

The celebration saw how the event was scaled down to just family affair to adhere to government's guidelines on social distancing rules. 

The surreal moment of the portrait was when the couple appeared with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, albeit meters away. 

Sorrow and Sympathy 

This poignant photo of the Spanish royal family depicts the very life of the world in the time of pandemic. Wearing face mask, forever grieving, forever in pain, forever in agony.  

King Felipe VI stood steadfast behind Spain's sorrow as the country trying to bounce back from grief.  Spain has been one of Europe's hard-hit country by COVID-19.

Family bond

The time of pandemic saw the world being pulled to every direction of life,  but amidst all the chaos, anxiety and fear, there's our family that stood behind. 

From Kensington Royal IG

They're our strength and protectors during the lowest point of our life, even if the entire world will leave us, our family is the source of our comfort.

This picture of Prince Charles and Prince William released during Father's Day celebration in 2020 depicts our bond to our parents. The warmth is always irreplaceable.

Hope

This lovely photo of The Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg with their infant first born, Prince Charles, described our hope and longing to unite with our family, which some have prevented from doing so due to the pandemic.

Their son was born in May this year during lockdown and their royal highnesses themselves relished the joy they felt of giving them such blessing in a time where everyone's hope for a better world dwindled. Such an inspiration.

Forgiveness 

The year 2020 has been a tough year for the Prince of Wales. As early as January he saw his family tore apart as his second son, Prince Harry, gave up his senior royal role and lived permanently in the United States.

There were rumors his sons were on a secret royal feud. As a father there's nothing more painful than to watch your only children having differences.

In March, the Prince of Wales contracted COVID-19, the first in the British royal family. He was forced to live away in Birkall to isolate. 

As if uncomfortable situations were not enough in 2020 for Prince Charles, Netflix released its latest season of The Crown resurrecting again the old issues of infidelity.

He and the Duchess of Cornwall were ridiculed by unforgiving fans and had been the target of malicious attacks.

But life has to move on. It's been more than two decades and in this time of pandemic we're given a chance to breathe a new life again. 

I, myself has been Diana's supporter all throughout, sympathizing on her lonely plight in marriage. For years, I hated Camilla and couldn't bring myself to call her Royal Highness.

In 2020, I realized hate and anger won't take me anywhere. There's nothing I can do with the events that happened long time ago. If I will continue harboring animosity against Camilla, it will only breed further resentment in my life. And will hinder the sight of goodness she is doing for the British monarchy at present. 

We need to move on to appreciate what's life is offering to us at the moment. We need to forgive. It's the only way to put things at rest and live in peace. Forgiveness is a virtue.

Above all family 

Indeed, the time of pandemic redefined how we celebrate important milestones in life including religious activities like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Passover, New Year, etc. 

Photo credit: Princess Theodora 

This photo of the former Greek royal family (ex-King Constantine II, Queen Anne-Marie and Princess Theodora) shows how much the social distancing rule keeps us away from joining our family celebrating festivities.

This was assumed taken on Christmas morning based on Princess Theodora's IG captioned "a small yet cozy Christmas". 

May the above photo stories will inspire us and usher us to a positive and hopeful 2021. Cheers to a better, healthier world! Thank you for supporting our royal blog. 

Happy New Year!🎉