At this time last year I was in Kyiv, Ukraine mourning with my mother after the tragic passing of my brother in early February. Because I could not be at the Ball in person my husband set up a Skype call which allowed me and the people at the Ball to chat 'live' while I was 8014 km away on the other side of the world. These images are screen shots. My plan was to surprise everyone with these photos at the Royal Ball this year, but we got a surprise of our own when we found out that we were not invited back to the Royal Ball.

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to come and speak to me through Skype. Your smiling faces had brought some joy to my life for the first time since my brother's passing.

A special thank you to everyone who inquired whether we would be at this year's event. I am very touched by your kind words, and we regret very much that we will not be seeing you at this year's Ball.

We hope you enjoy the photos.

Since we put together a beautiful new 3D set for portraits, before we learned that we won't be at the Ball this year, we will be having a 'Fairytale for a Princess' special on Sunday, April 17th.

The details will be posted very soon.

We hope you have a wonderful time at this year's Ball