![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzVMtsIbAl12L9qJ0BpDu8tTrx261GMP4fJxLmSUvn7mUTDpfMT18lMq-zlflzlaJ1jamoeXLAFwAuPcl0RJoo9u0MM-bqLFaXtfyJKe49ckB76-f73HZonNP6hGNMNZEMQ2RcQ/s640/P1120279.JPG)
A close up of invited dignitaries waiting outside the palace for Prince Albert II and his family to appear at the balcony.
I should tell you that I took these photographs from the Press Stand - and of course I have no Press Pass. When I walked over from the cathedral I saw the enormous press stand - two or three tiers tall. I stood in front of it, as did dozens of tourists. Soon afterwards and before the cameras and film crews arrived, an official cleared everyone away - but me. This because I was using a tripod and he must have assumed I was a press person! Well, a blog is a sort of journalism, isn't it?
Later, I gained in confidence and found myself standing alongside the 'big boys' on the top level - me taking photographs with my Panasonic Lumix - they with lenses as long as a football pitch (I exaggerate but only a little). The reason the press stand was so big and holding so many press and international television crews was because rumour had it that Prince Albert would take this occasion to announce his engagement to his South African girl-friend, the Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock. It didn't happen.
Eventually another official came and asked me for my Press pass. Luckily I was talking to two friends, both with official press passes and I said, 'I'm with them' and my friends very kindly pretended they hadn't heard me. I was treated with such politeness by all the officials, even with an apology for asking me. French is such a wonderfully polite language, isn't it? And in my defence, I didn't get in anyone's way.
Truth is, I'm surprised my camera could take this photograph. Even tho it's not completely sharp, it's not bad considering I was an AWFUL long way away.