Day: 29 July 2018

The symbolic unveiling of the first caisson of the Portier land extension project on Thursday night marked a major step towards the realisation of the ambitious project that will involve increasing the land area of Monaco by six hectares.

Many guests were invited by SAM Anse du Portier, which is directing the project, to attend an unveiling in the presence of HSH the Sovereign Prince on board a launch. He was accompanied by Andrea Casiraghi, Martin Bouygues, CEO of Bouygues, Guy Thomas Levy-Soussan, Managing Director of SAM L’Anse du Portier, Serge Telle, Minister of State, and Monseigneur Barsi, Archbishop of Monaco, who blessed the structure.

The ceremony marked the first visible step in what represents an emblematic project for the Principality, the Government said. Seventeen other caissons will join the first one over the next 12 months, to form a protective belt designed to counter the effects of sea swells. The maritime infrastructure will be fully completed by 2020.

The land extension will cover 60,000 square metres, and will include a public park of one hectare, 3,000 square metres of shops, a 9,000 square-metre extension to the Grimaldi Forum, a port, housing, offices and more public facilities, including a 160-space car park.

For the tens of thousands of returning holidaymakers heading north from the Riviera on the A8 motorway on one of the busiest weekends of the year, it was always going to be a very challenging time with serious traffic jams expected.

But conditions were made much worse on the evening of Saturday, July 28, when a truck caught fire at about 22:00 near Arcs-sur-Argens. The northbound lanes of one of France’s busiest motorways were closed for several hours, forcing drivers to choose other routes or seek shelter for the night.

Before the closure, it proved very difficult for firefighters to reach the vehicle to douse the flames, due to gridlock, and the fire spread to tinder-dry vegetation at the side of the motorway. Eleven fire trucks and 35 personnel were involved in dealing with the conflagration. It wasn’t until Sunday morning that the incident was brought under full control.

Meanwhile, the Lyon region was put under an orange alert on Sunday, July 29, with temperatures expected to peak at 34 degrees in the city itself. Montelimar was expecting a high of 37. Monaco will experience a peak daytime high of 34 on Tuesday, July 31, and nighttime temperatures will hover around an uncomfortable 25 or 26 for the next two weeks.

July 26, 2018, marked the one-year anniversary of the Patronage of Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco of Lifesaving South Africa, sport24.co.za reports.

In a star-studded event held at the Beverly Hills Hotel in uMhlanga, Durban in 2017, HSH Princess Charlene was announced as the Patron to Lifesaving SA and a partnership with the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation South Africa was established with Lifesaving South Africa.

In conjunction with the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation SA the Watersmart Program will reach more than 36,000 pupils in over 260 schools in 2018, which is to start at the end of July, 2018.

The Watersmart program will be presented as part of the grade four school curriculum during the third term.

Lifesaving South Africa and the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation South Africa will launch a “Learn to Swim” program later in the year with the aim of teaching 5 000 disadvantaged children to swim, taking the school based Watersmart program into a practical nine-week pool program.

We thank HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco for her vision and dedication to reduce death by drowning and we look forward to continuing to work with her Foundation.

“Together we will save lives – one person, one family, one community at a time,” said HSH Princess Charlene.

For more information, visit www.lifesaving.co.za.

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) has announced the winners of the 2018 Princess Grace Awards. The Awards will be presented at the annual Princess Grace Awards Gala and continue the legacy of Princess Grace of Monaco, who helped emerging artists pursue their artistic goals during Her lifetime.

In total, the Foundation is awarding over $1 million to artists in theatre, dance, and film. In the presence of Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, this year’s Gala will be held at Cipriani 25 Broadway on October 16, 2018.

The evening will be co-chaired by Dennis and Phyllis Washington and Anne Sweeney and Phillip Miller.

For the tenth year in a row, celebrated artist Alex Soldier, known for his mastery of precious miniatures, has created an objet d’art to represent the Princess Grace Awards.  The Award, realised as a wearable pin, symbolically combines the three art forms lauded by the Foundation: theatre, dance, and film by using precious metals and Swarovski crystal accents.

Winners of the Awards for theatre, dance and film who distinguish themselves in their artistic disciplines since receiving their Princess Grace Awards are eligible for the Foundation’s Princess Grace Statue Award.

This year, Sam Gold, Tony Award winning director for Fun Home and Kyle Abraham, Bessie Award winner and founder of the dance company Abraham.In.Motion (A.I.M) will each receive Princess Grace Statue Awards. In addition to a $25,000 unrestricted cash gift, Kyle and Sam will be presented with a bronze statue of Princess Grace created by the Dutch artist Kees Verkade. To date, sixty-six artists have received this Award.

Toby E. Boshak, Executive Director of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA shared, “It is our pleasure to announce the 2018 Princess Grace Award winners, who represent some of the nation’s most outstanding emerging performing artists. We look forward to following these artists’ careers and continuing to help them throughout their artistic journeys.

This year’s Princess Grace Statue Award recipients, choreographer Kyle Abraham and director Sam Gold have excelled in their crafts, creating groundbreaking work and enriching the artistic landscape for the 21st century. Kyle and Sam epitomise the artistic excellence for which this Award stands and serve as incredible role models for this next generation of Princess Grace Award winners.”

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA is a non-profit, publicly-supported foundation, headquartered in New York City and founded 36 years ago by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to honour his wife, Princess Grace’s legacy.

The Foundation’s mission is to identify and assist emerging talent in theatre, dance, and film by awarding grants in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships. Since its inception the Foundation has given awards to nearly 800 recipients.

The “highlight of summer” was how HSH Prince Albert described the Monaco Red Cross Ball on Friday, July 28. The event also celebrated its 70th anniversary.

The Sovereign Prince and Princess Charlene, together with their fellow guests, enjoyed a performance by Seal at the annual charity event.

Prince Rainier III presided at the first gala, held by the newly founded Monaco Red Cross, in 1948. Ten years later Princess Grace of Monaco became chairwoman of the event. Prince Albert told People magazine: “Pretty soon after their wedding, in ’58, Mom took it on and then it became something else.”

The Princess used her strong connections with major stars such as Sammy Davis Jr., Shirley Bassey and Ella Fitzgerald headlining the Gala, which is the charity’s main source of income.

“It is special. The Red Cross Gala is unique. There’s great history there. It’s the highlight of the summer in terms of social and charity events,” Prince Albert told the magazine.

“I remember we would see Mom and Dad get ready for it when we were kids,” the Prince recalls. “It was always something to see. I didn’t attend it until I was 16. But I haven’t missed too many years since then.”

“Mom remained president until her passing [in 1982], and I’ve been privileged to head the Monaco Red Cross since then,” he said.

Are you a winner or a looser?

Sorry, that was a bit rude. Let me start again by pointing out that this depends on ones perspective, but also by being the first to reach the egg out of millions of sperms makes us all winners from the very beginning. Nevertheless, most of us feel like winners in some part of our lives, and losers in other. Let me ask you a question, when you get plenty of invitations to super yacht parties during the Monaco Grand Prix or to the prestigious Amber lounge, does it make you feel successful? Maybe for a day or two, but is it enough in the long run?

SO, with the Rolex Tennis masters and the Formula one Grand Prix behind us, we have been exposed to many impressive sport achievements, and it got me thinking, what does it take to become a winner in sport compare to a winner in life?

I use to be a competitive cross country skier when I was young. I entered competitions every winter and won all of them, for a while.But when the competition became harder and I started loosing, I quit the competition all together. I actually did not put the skis back on for another 10 years. I had no coach except my step dad, and he was basically making sure my skis were prepped correctly and gave me a kind good luck, and that was  it.

In Norway, where I grew up, we are thought from early age that it is more important to participate than to win.This is a healthy approach, but when did that ever bring anyone to the olympics? Looking at this statement now, the first thing that comes to mind is that they were creating winners in life and not on the sports arena. So what do we do in 2018 if we feel like junior has a sports potential? First of all, we are so happy they are doing something else than playing on their iPads or playstation, that we instantly look up to the sky and nod with gratitude thinking our prayers have finally been heard. We show up at practice or at least competitions, and then we post photos all over social media of our successful children, feeling this is adding to our already successful life. As the mother of a famous pianist so bluntly put it, in a strong German accent btw: “you will practice the piano and you will like it!” But what does the psychologists say about the matter?

It turns out that talent only counts for ten percent and the rest is all winner instinct, mental toughness and of course relentless practise. It helps to have a good team behind you, and as a professional athlete you are competing only against yourself, preforming better all the time.  A psychologist at Stanford University say that masterful athletes have confidence in their abilities to control their behaviour, maintain their motivation, and establish a positive living environment. Being able to avoid distractions, and having social support and good relationships with their coaches all led to better performance. Isn’t that what we want in life as well? The truth is that there is not much difference between the two. What we often forget is that in order to perform well, we need to feel well, and that our mental state of mind is indeed linked to our environment. After all the most important thing in life is to be happy, and now it is our job to find out what exactly that is, for both our children, and ourselves…

Renate Bibow Mjelde