Out and About with Prince Albert

The Sovereign Prince has not been letting up with his busy schedule. September 25 found Albert II in Germany at the "Challenge Future" congress in Bochum which addressed environmental and climate change issues. Her Highness the Begum Aga Khan was also on hand for the event. However, all of this stress on environmental activism has not caused the Monegasque government to scale back its on-going campaign to encourage the super-rich to settle in Monaco. The most luxurious sales-pitch programs are reserved for those categorized as "URI's" or Ultra-Rich Individuals. If you're a plain, old grubby millionaire I'm afraid you will not qualify. To get the full red-carpet treatment of a URI you have to have a worth of tens of billions of dollars. I guess I'll have to stand in line with the "poor" folks.

On the 26th he laid the foundation stone for a new museum on the French island of Corsica to be named after his late father Prince Rainier III. The museum will be devoted to archaeology and training students in that field. Corsica and Monaco, as you have read, share a patron saint and Prince Albert has visited several times. Prince Rainier III last visited in 2003 and it was decided to name the museum in his honor.

Yesterday, Prince Albert was on hand for the opening ceremonies of the VI Francophone Games at the Camille Chamoun Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. It is the first time since the inception of the Francophone games in 1989 that they have been held in an Arab country. There are set to be 3000 athletes from 68 Francophone countries competing in the games.