An unprecedented event took place last Monday at the Lviv opera. The Solomiya Krushelnytska Opera and Ballet Theater hosted the Ukraine-France Grand Royal Ball. The event, dedicated to the memory of Princess Anna Yaroslavna, was held to raise money for the Lviv oblast specialized children’s hospital and Lviv children’s hospital. Over 100 Ukrainian philanthropists and entrepreneurs were invited to the charitable event. The price for an invitation to the Ukraine-France ball was 1000 hryvnias.
Prince Charles-Philippe d’Orleans, heir to the French throne, opened the ball. Prince d’Orleans is a direct descendant of Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of France and daughter of Kyiv prince, Yaroslaw the Wise. He arrived in Lviv on January 11. This is Prince d’Orleans’ third visit to Ukraine. The first one took place two years ago. At that time, in addition to Lviv, he also made trips to the Carpathians and Kyiv, where he had a meeting with President Kuchma.
Prince d’Orleans was scheduled to arrive in Lviv together with Princess Beatrice de Bourbon Cecil. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend due to a recent death in her family. In her place, president of the Association of the Royal Families of Europe, Jean-Henry Auclaire, accompanied Prince d’Orleans. Incidentally, this was the seventeenth trip to Lviv in the last 18 months for this Frenchman of Ukrainian origin.
Mr. Auclaire noted that charity royal balls are a tradition in France. In the last 15 years, over 50 such events took place in Paris. Every year, the Association of the Royal Families of Europe organizes such events. Two years ago, they contacted the Vesna [Spring] French-Ukrainian society, headed by the renowned opera singer and French-Ukrainian, Uliana Chaikivska. Because the Vesna society has supported Lviv children’s hospitals for the last ten years, it was decided that the first grand royal ball in Ukraine would take place in Lviv.
