The Voice has come to an end for another year. 18-year-old Harrison Craig from Chelsea, Melbourne, claimed the title over 30-year-old Luke Kennedy, with Celia Pavey and Danny Ross placing third and fourth respectively. As we come down from our Voice high for 2013, we’re going back through this season’s highlights and lowlights, and reflecting on what the result says about the voting public’s music taste right now.
While many royal weddings don't garner the attention of Prince William and Kate Middleton's big day, they don't lack in lavishness. Last weekend, Princess Madeleine of Sweden married US banker Christopher O'Neill in Stockholm, Sweden, and it was far from a modest affair. The princess was dressed in a lace gown designed by Valentino Garavani, and the designer was among the many VIP guests that included other royals from around the world, like Princess Charlene of Monaco and England's Prince Edward.
Madeleine and Christopher's nuptials were part of a long tradition of elaborate royal weddings around the world. Last year, the tiny country of Luxembourg treated its Crown Prince Guillaume to an extravagant affair when he married Belgian Countess Stephanie de Lannoy. The celebration, which reportedly cost around $650,000 and was funded by taxpayers, spanned multiple days, and included a guest list packed with kings, queens and other royals from around the world. In Brunei, Princess Hajah Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah, the fifth daughter of Brunei's sultan, married Pengiran Haji Muhammad Ruzaini at her father's 1,700-room palace in front of 3,000 guests. A state dinner followed, and Queen Elizabeth II even sent her best wishes.
These royals make up some of the lesser-known but just as regal royals of the world. And just like the Brits, they know how to throw opulent weddings for members of their families. From the wedding for the future emperor of Japan in 1924 to Grace Kelly's Monaco spectacular in 1956 to Will and Kate's big day on April 29, 2011, here is a guide to the world's royal weddings over the years.
Congratulations to new mum Kim Kardashian! Since starting out 2013 with her pregnancy news, Kim has taken her growing baby bump on a worldwide tour. She's made stops in Greece, Texas, Vegas, Miami and Brazil, just to name a few. Many of her travels have been work-related, but her jet-setting also included romantic getaways with boyfriend Kanye West, who splits much of his time between Paris and NYC. Along the way, Kim hasn't been shy about sharing details from this exciting time in her life, talking candidly about her pregnancy over the past few months. You won't believe all the places she's been during her whirlwind of a pregnancy — click through to see the destinations Kim and her bump have conquered since announcing her good news!
— Additional reporting by Meg Rooney
Ricky Martin released his first new single in two years, “Come With Me,” on iTunes today, marking his much-anticipated return to music. The exciting thing about this energetic song is that it was produced locally with an Australian team, on the back of an exciting few months that has seen the national public fall in love with Ricky all over again as a coach on The Voice. When The Voice wraps up on Monday with the grand final — he will be performing “Come With Me” during the show — Ricky won’t be away for long as he’ll be touring the country in October with his Ricky Martin Live tour.
Ricky first got our attention with his infectious hit “The Cup of Life,” which was the official song of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Since then he’s had us dancing with hits like “She Bangs” and “Livin’ la Vida Loca,” which he performed on The Voice this week with his fellow coaches Joel Madden, Seal and Delta Goodrem. To celebrate his new music, we’re going back in time with a Ricky Martin rewind that charts his performances and achievements through the years.
Thanks to some season finale surprises, a violent wedding, and some lost body parts, there's been plenty of shocking drama on this season of Game of Thrones. While most of the action at King's Landing involves secrecy and threats, elsewhere we've seen violent punishments, creepy torture techniques, and some seriously impressive slave-army takeovers. Now that the season has wrapped up, take a look at the craziest moments of season three!
Yesterday was Prince Philip's 92nd birthday. And although he's spent the day at the hospital, he was joined by his son Prince Edward and wife Queen Elizabeth.
Before Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth, she married the handsome foreign prince from Greece, who also happens to be her third cousin. According to Sally Bedell Smith's biography, Elizabeth the Queen, Philip came from a tumultuous background despite his lineage. Born in 1921 on the island of Corfu, he moved to Paris with his parents, Alice Marie and Prince Andrew of Greece, at age 1. By age 8, he'd headed to England for boarding school. With generous good looks and confidence, Philip made his way in England with the help of royal relatives. He would later be invited to have lunch with the royal family, and that's when Elizabeth reportedly fell for him. During World War II, Philip and Elizabeth wrote each other letters, and by 1946 he was back in London and making regular visits to Buckingham Palace. During that Summer, he spent a month at the royal family's Balmoral Estate, where he proposed. Their wedding was held at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947.
During their almost 66 years of marriage, 61 of them during Elizabeth's reign as the monarch, Prince Philip has been as constant as the queen herself, although he's a bit more controversial, making quite a few insensitive gaffes. But when he's not giving the press an unfortunate quote to run, he's either by the queen's side, working as a patron for nearly 800 charities, or, until recently, enjoying carriage racing. Let's look back at pictures of Prince Philip over the years.
Today's actors have only made it to space on screen, but some stars could actually travel out of this world as early as this year. Justin Bieber is the latest star to book a seat on a Virgin Galactic suborbital flight, joining a string of A-listers set to board the company's spaceships. As the first commercial spaceline, Virgin Galactic plans to operate several flights aboard spaceships that carry six passengers and two pilots. A seat will cost you more than $200,000. After passengers spend a few days preparing with their crew, they'll bast off from a spaceport in New Mexico for a short flight that includes several minutes of weightlessness.
As of now, the company is still testing, but Virgin Group owner Sir Richard Branson hopes to launch the first full space flight by the end of the year, making space tourism a probable reality. Besides Bieber, see which stars are planning trips.
We wish Queen Elizabeth II a royal anniversary fit for a queen! (And thank her for giving us a day off today!) The British monarch celebrated 60 years since her coronation last week with a service celebration attended by Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton. Over the past six decades, Queen Elizabeth has witnessed much change across the world and in her own family, while always remaining a constant herself. To mark her anniversary, here are some little-known facts that will help you get to know Queen Elizabeth II. And if you'd like to know more, check out must read Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith.
Liam Hemsworth joined Twitter yesterday despite not being so fond of the site back in October 2009, when he convinced his now-fiancée, Miley Cyrus, to deactivate her account. Both stars have active accounts as of Wednesday, and Liam's first official tweet read, "Glad to be on board. Thanks for following." While he's only following 13 people, including Miley, Liam has already racked up over 70,000 followers in less than 48 hours. To celebrate his induction to the social media site, we've rounded up a list of celebrities who have a history of changing their minds about the micro-blogging site. From Megan Fox's confusion with Twitter's purpose to Ashton Kutcher's online silence following a controversial tweet, celebrities go back and forth with 140 characters.
Click through now to see all the Twitter quitters and find out why — at the end of the day — they can't seem to stay away!
Sex and the City premiered 15 years ago yesterday — and while the fashion trends and technological references may not hold up (how did Carrie Bradshaw not have a cell phone until, like, season six?), we can always count on the love and dating advice doled out by the fab four. Even though Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte don't always get it right when it came to love, their relationship battle scars have definitely taught them (and us) plenty over the years. So we couldn't help but wonder: what are the show's most honest, valid pearls of wisdom? In celebration of the 15th anniversary of one of our most beloved TV shows, we've rounded up 15 Sex and the City quotes about love that stand the test of time.
