Sunday Tidbits for January 12: The Monday Edition

A day late and a dollar short, as they say, but here we are with your weekly tidbits/your weekly open thread:

--King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan were among the world leaders joining the Paris unity rally this weekend following the tragic attacks at Charlie Hebdo last week. Many other sovereigns sent condolences to the French president; Grand Duchess Maria Teresa joined Luxembourg's anti-terror rally. [CNN, Luxarazzi]


--Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit are back in action, with events including their annual Day of the Wise Men conference for young leaders at their home this week. [Kongehuset Facebook]

--Go behind the scenes with the annual documentary Året med kungafamiljen (The Year with the Royal Family) (the Swedish royal family, specifically). [SVT]

--Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine of Denmark turned four this week, and new photographs were released to mark the occasion. The pictures were taken during the family's visit to Greenland last year, as was their Christmas card photo. [Kongehuset.dk, Twitter]

--PBS aired ITV's The Queen's Garden, a documentary about (you'll never guess) the Buckingham Palace gardens, last night. The episode is streaming on the PBS website if you missed it. You can also still stream it on ITV's player. (Links may not be viewable everywhere.) [PBS, ITV]

--The Japanese imperial family got all done up court dress-style to listen to the New Year's lectures, an annual event which leaves me in awe of the family's ability to stay awake and focused at all times. [Imperial Family of Japan Blog]

--And finally, Zara Phillips has been in Australia, wearing a boatload of jewelry and a hat like a carnival game come to life, just aim your bean bag through the top and you could win 50 points and a pink stuffed panda bear. I think headgear that encourages people to toss things at you should probably be discouraged, right? [Hello]

Photos: Thierry Chesnot via Getty Images, SVT video, @HelloCanada, FNNNewsCH video, Matt Roberts via Getty Images

Sunday Tidbits for January 12: The Monday Edition Rating: 4.5 Post By: Didik