Charlene's First Official Visit

This week, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco visited the land of the Rising Sun to talk about, of course, his favorite subject: environmentalism. What made this trip special was that it was his first official visit accompanied by his fiancee Charlene Wittstock. Although the couple have gone to many places and attended many events together, this was the first time Charlene accompanied the prince on an official visit overseas. They made the trip on Wednesday and attended a special dinner reception in Nagoya held by Ryu Matsumoto, Environment Minister, as part of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The following day Prince Albert and Charlene attended a presentation on "Monaco and Marine Protected Areas". This was no mere social occasion with government officials and assorted dignitaries from almost 200 different nations represented at the event. The conference will set new goals for 2020 to protect plant and animal species that are in danger of extinction to maintain biodiversity. They had earlier set a goal for greater protection by 2010 but had to admit that their goals had not been met.

The Prince of Monaco and his future Princess also visited Tokyo on Friday for the BirdLife International banquet. BirdLife International is a group of representatives from a number of countries which works to protect birds, bird habitats and conserve biodiversity. As seen above the Prince and Charlene met with HIH Princess Takamado, a cousin by marriage of His Majesty the Emperor. Prince Albert and Charlene plan to meet with HM Empress Michiko prior to leaving Japan on Monday.