Prince Philippe's successful visit to New Zealand

HRH Prince Philippe of Belgium, Duke of Brabant, has arrived in New Zealand where he was received by The Right Honourable John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand. His Royal Highness leads the Belgian Economic Mission of 147 businessmen and women, representing 91 companies. The delegation came from Australia, where they held talks in Perth, Port Hedland, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

HRH Prince Philippe was Guest of Honour at a dinner at Government House hosted by HE Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand.

HRH Prince Philippe visited the Te Papa Tongarewa-Museum of New Zealand on 28th November.At the Museum the heir to the Belgian throne was welcomed with a Maori Ceremony of Welcome by Mr. Michael Houilihan, Chief Executive Te Papa Tongarewa and and was given a tour of Te Papa.

At the Auckland War Memorial Museum HRH Prince Philippe and the official delegation were welcome by Mr Roy Clare, Director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum and Ms Gail Romano, War Memorial Manager.

As a side note, HRH Prince Philippe left Auckland on a Qantas flight (QF 136) to Melbourne, where he boarded another Qantas flight (QF 9) to London Heathrow with stopover in Singapore.

Belgium's Prince Philippe arrives in WA

WAtoday, published by Fairfax media, has noticed that the heir to the Belgian throne as touched down in Western Australia: Belgium's Prince Philippe arrives in WA: "Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium has touched down in Perth ..."

Mystery solved

Flight 447, an Airbus A330, vanished from radar at high altitude during an Atlantic storm on1st June 2009. All 228 on board were killed. His Imperial and Royal Highness Dom Pedro Luiz de Orléans e Bragança, Prince of Brazil, was aboard Air France flight 447 and died at the age of 26. He was heir presumptive to the Brazilian Crown.

In its report, the French aviation safety authority, BEA, today said faulty sensors and inadequate pilot training caused Air France's Rio-to-Paris flight to crash into the Atlantic. Their final report caps a bitter row between Air France and Airbus.

Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said the two co-pilots - left at the controls while the captain rested - never understood that their plane was in a stall and "were in a situation of near total loss of control" in darkness during the final four minutes before the plane slammed into the ocean 1,500 kilometers off Brazil's coast. Only a well-experienced crew with a clear understanding of the situation would have stabilized the plane in those conditions, Bouillard said.

The report also found that the co-pilots had also lacked instruments to help them identify and manage unusual situations.

Although the final report gives the bereaved some consolation, the Brazilian Monarchists are still mourning a brilliant young man who could have become Brazil's Emperor.

Wreckage and bodies of Air France flight 447 found

This week wreckage and bodies of Air France flight 447 were found in the Atlantic Ocean. The Airbus A330-203 was on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, when it crashed into the Atlantic on 1st June 2009 killing all 228 passengers onboard. Debris of Flight 447 was found 3800-4000 metres below the surface by the Alucia search vessel. Investigators may be able to recover flight recorders, or black boxes that store detailed records of the pilots' conversations as well as technical information. According to the French Secretary of State for Transport, Thierry Mariani, the wreckage contains corpses of some of those on board.

The corps of the heir presumptive of the Brazilian throne, His Imperial and Royal Highness Dom Pedro Luiz de Orléans e Bragança, Prince of Brazil, was among the victims. His body had been found in 2009 and he was laid to rest in July 2009 next to his grandfather H.I.& R.H. Prince Pedro Henrique de Orléans e Bragança (13th September 1909 – 5th July 1981) at the cemetery of Vassouras.

In the Cathedral Nossa Senhora do Carmo in Rio de Janeiro the father of the deceased Prince Dom Pedro Luiz, H.I.&R.H. Prince Antonio de Orléans e Bragança and other members of Brazil's Imperial Family paid their last respect to the victims of flight AF447.