Day: 19 November 2017

It was a busy National Day weekend for the Princely family.

On Friday, November 17, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene distributed gift baskets to beneficiaries of the Monaco Red Cross on the occasion of the national holiday. Parcels were also offered to town halls of neighbouring municipalities.

The next day, Princess Charlene and her soon-to-be 3-year-old twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, had a traditional tea with Monsignor Barsi.

The Princely Couple were the centre of attention on Sunday, November 19. Monaco’s Fête Nationale.

The tradition of National Day dates back to the reign of Prince Charles III, who in 1857 decided that November 4, the Sovereign’s Patron Saint Day, would be declared “Celebration of the Sovereign”.

Prince Rainier III first changed the holiday to April 11 and then moved it to November 19.
Although November 15 is the day of Saint Albert the Great, Prince Albert II kept the November 19 to celebrate National Day as a tribute to his father.

Sunday’s celebration’s started at 9:30 am with the Presentation of Arms and distribution of rank badges and medals in the Court of Honour of the Prince’s Palace.

The Thanksgiving Mass took place from 10:15 am until 11:15 am with a Te Deum at the Cathedral of Monaco.

This was followed at 11:35 am with a military parade in the presence of a detachment of France’s 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment on Palace Square.

The Princely Family made their traditional visit from the Palace windows.

Shortly before 4 pm, Prince Albert made his way over to Fontvieille to participate in the last lap of No Finish Line, which after 194 consecutive hours officially closed its 18th edition raising €436,963 for Children & Future. (More details Monday on MonacoLife.net.)

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Town Hall to get a face lift

Following the success of the first solar flight around the world, the Solar Impulse Foundation launched the second phase of its programme – the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions – during COP23, with the goal of selecting 1,000 solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way, and bring them to decision makers at COP24, the Foundation reports.

“We need to embrace efficient technologies, because they are much more than ‘ecological’, they are ‘logical’. They create jobs and generate profit, while also reducing CO2 emissions and protecting the environment. Even if climate change didn’t exist, they would make sense. Clean growth is much better than the dirty status quo we have today,” said Bertrand Piccard, Initiator and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation.

The Constituent Assembly of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions took place on Wednesday, November 15, in the Bonn Zone of COP23, launching the flagship initiative, with Prince Albert starting the countdown on stage.

This is a major milestone for the World Alliance, which at present already counts 474 members that together combine more than 500 potential solutions. It can now officially begin to identify and select Efficient Solutions, which it defines as products, services, clean technologies and processes, not limited to the production of renewable energy, that are profitable and sustain economic growth, while protecting the environment and optimising the use of natural resources.

“Today, thousands of solutions exist that can boost economic growth while preserving nature, but they remain unknown to decision makers and are not implemented at industry level,” said Bertrand Piccard. “Our goal is to select 1000 solutions that are both clean and profitable and bring them to decision-makers to demonstrate that they must urgently stop compromising for minimal targets and adopt much more ambitious environmental and energy policies.”

Examples of potential solutions already submitted by Members range from deep water offshore turbines, solar desalination plants, containers to transform organic waste into energy, air filters that capture C02 emissions and turn them into renewable fuels, hydrogen-based devices that can be added on cars to increase fuel efficiency, to free electric car chargers. Over the next year, all solutions submitted will be assessed to evaluate their deployability, sustainability and viability.

Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment, added: “Doom and gloom won’t get us anywhere, and let’s not forget that climate change is a problem that we can innovate our way out of. What we need are concrete solutions that can be applied at scale. These solutions are already out there, but many are hidden — in places like research labs and small start-ups, or otherwise as pilot projects that never made it to scale. It’s important now more than ever to put these solutions in the limelight and show what is possible when we embrace positive change.”

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The Tourism and Convention Bureau (DTC) held its traditional annual evening event in front of more than 350 tourism professionals in the Principality at Rainier III Auditorium on the evening of Thursday, November 16.

The bureau’s Director, Guillaume Rose, presented DTC’s new theme: “Visit Monaco”.

Also presented was the new version of the website visitmonaco.com, which will be put online very soon, redesigned to focus on images and experience, and the new Facebook page, which is already active, entitled “My Monaco,” exclusively for local event information.

Responsible tourism will be at the heart of all future initiatives, helped by the slogan “Green is the new Glam,” which will be used in all international marketing.

Dirk Glaesser, Executive Director of the World Tourism Organisation, spoke about the tangible change towards sustainable and responsible tourism, a policy objective that is at the heart of the DTC’s future programmes.

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Minister of State confirms tourism success and addresses local works

The Monaco-Matin Eco Club met on the morning of Friday, November 17, in the presence of Jean Castellini, Minister of Finance and Economy. The venue was MonacoTech, the state Incubator and Accelerator startups programme, inaugurated on November 8 by Prince Albert and Xavier Niel.

Jean Castellini opened the debate by recounting the birth of MonacoTech, closely linked to the creation of the Observatory of Industry in 2015. He also mentioned the Principality’s interest in welcoming young innovative companies and the enthusiasm that they may develop in growing their businesses in Monaco.

Representatives of three startups based in MonacoTech – Gangz, Laneva, and Novetech Surgery – as well as from various local entities and companies in the Principality and the neighbouring region spoke on the theme of the meeting: “What innovation from the Principality?”

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Breaking news! Her Serene Highness is feeling blue! No, not sad – how could anyone be sad on National Day, the grandest day of the year in the Principality? – literally BLUE.

Along with the rest of the Grimaldi family, Princess Charlene emerged from the palace in a cobalt blue velvet custom designed Akris coat with navy blue satin details. A bold move that garnered a few side eyes and had me humming the tune “she wore blue velvet”.

Underneath the Princess opted for a simple velvet shirt-dress accessorised with navy blue leather gloves a navy blue suede pumps.

What really set the look off was a navy blue hat worn tilted to side like a society lady from eras past also designed by the house of Akris. Minimal makeup with a coral lip and simple diamond studs complimented this simple but stunning ensemble that the photographers couldn’t get enough of.

Stepping out of the Cathedral on the arm of Prince Albert, the sun accentuated the crispness of the velvet as excited watchers gleefully captured the scene on their phones.

Princess Charlene has been a supporter of Akris for some time now attending the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London in a grey coat from the house and posing for her official engagement photos in a pale silk green gown.

Princess Charlene, this is one for the stylebook!

Instagram sensation and style blogger Louis Pisano writes SuperficialLivingDiary.com. Article first published November 19, 2017. 

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