Monaco Ocean Week 2019: the highlights

The plastic oceans

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and its partners are organising the 3rd edition of the Monaco Ocean Week, from March 24th to 30th, 2019.

Aimed at debating and finding solutions to protect the marine environment, especially in the face of the challenges of climate change, the event opens with the Monaco Blue Initiative and continues throughout the week in the Principality.

Conferences, presentations and debates

Screening of the first Ocean X movie: Oceans: Our Blue Planet
Oceans: Our Blue Planet offers an odyssey to go further in the discovery of the oceans, the majority of which is still unexplored. New technologies have made it possible to discover mysterious worlds populated by amazing creatures that go beyond what one could have imagined.
Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 pm at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

Results of the first ever marine megafauna observation campaign ever conducted throughout the Mediterranean Sea
This conference will be dedicated to an exceptional initiative of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Wednesday, March 27 from 18H to 20H at the Yacht Club of Monaco

International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI): Urgent Action to Save Coral Reefs from Extinction
Corals, critical habitats for marine biodiversity, are threatened with extinction by 2050. ICRI members, which Monaco co-chairs alongside Australia and Indonesia until 2020, will meet for the first time in the Principality.
Tuesday, March 26 from 8:30 to 10:00 at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco
In English – Restricted seats

The challenge of right whale conservation in Patagonia, Argentina
At least 605 whales have died on Argentine shores since 2003, including 538 newborns. In 2012 alone, 113 babies died. Today, scientists around the world are working to find an answer and determine why so many whales are dying.
Tuesday, March 26 from 10H to 12H30 at the Monaco Yacht Club
English – restricted seats

The plastic oceans
Photo: The Plastic Oceans Foundation/David Jones

Initiatives to combat plastic pollution

“Biomarine Blue Bioplastic” workshop or how to accelerate the production of bioplastics
The goal of this workshop is to take concrete action and build partnerships between seafood industries, technology providers and large corporations.
Sunday, March 24 from 2-4 pm at the Novotel Monaco
In English – Restricted seats

Winners BeMed 2019, micro-initiatives to fight against plastic pollution in the Mediterranean
Plastic pollution in the oceans is one of the most worrying ecological disasters for our future. Once released into the natural environment, plastic can take up to 500 years to
disappear. The new winners from all the Mediterranean countries will present their projects.
Wednesday, March 27, from 14H to 20H at the Novotel

Exit at sea: marketing campaign for red tuna
Monaco was the “first state without bluefin tuna”, following a moratorium introduced in 2008. At that time, stocks of bluefin tuna are particularly low and the species close of ecological extinction.
Friday, March 29 or Saturday, March 30 – Restricted Media Places

Sensitising young people to ocean preservation
Beyond Plastic Med passes the baton Throughout the day, Bemed’s animators will welcome schoolchildren around fun and participative activities to raise awareness about the extent of plastic pollution in our oceans. Its consequences on humans and the environment.
Tuesday March 26th from 9am to 4pm at Stars’N’Bars

Launch of the Monaco Marine Educational Area
A marine educational area is a small coastal sea area managed in a participatory way by the children of a primary school, thus promoting the knowledge and protection of the marine environment by a young public. This concept, born in 2012 in the Marquesas Islands, has recently been set up in the Principality of Monaco.
Wednesday, March 27 from 10am to 12pm at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

Students on Ice: in the presence of Laurent Ballesta, photographer, diver and marine biologist, a battle between high school students for the chance to take part in the Students on Ice 2019 Arctic Expedition.
Each year, this contest reserved for Monegasque high school students allows two winners to leave for a stay at the end of the world.
Tuesday, March 26 from 12:30 to 12h at the Technical and Hospitality College of Monaco

Scottish six-car team completes Monte Carlo Classique

Will Broadhead Photography

A team of six classic cars made it around the Monte Carlo Classique circuit, having driven all the way from Scotland and then back again.

Led by three-time Rallye Monte-Carlo Classique finishers, Blue Diamond Riley Services, all cars finished the winter rallye. With five pre-war Rileys competing, alongside one post-war MG.

They departing from Clydebank on Wednesday 30th January. The cars passed through Banbury en route to Monte Carlo, where they completed the rally on 2nd February.

The BDRS team is comprised of a 1931 Riley 9 WD Tourer, 1933 Riley 9 Monaco, 2 Riley Sprites (including the car that competed in the Monte in 1936 and finished 68th!), a 1936 Riley 12/4 Kestrel, and a 1949 MG TC.

Both the TC and 9 WD are veterans of the Monte, having completed the event in 2018 and 2016, respectively. The team also had a truly international feel, with two crews travelling from America to compete.

All six cars departed from Clydebank for the Classique alongside the Historique competitors and the Monte Heritage runs.

The large daily distances, high altitudes and steep gradients challenged the cars as well as the drivers.

Will Broadhead Photography
Credit: Will Broadhead Photography.

Blue Diamond Riley Services’ managing director John Lomas said: ‘What a journey! It’s finally hit home what we’ve all been through as friends, teammates and drivers. Not to mention how incredible the cars have been.

‘We’re retracing history but with modern know-how and much-needed wet weather kit. Would I do it all again? Absolutely! 2020 here we come.’

More information on the rally can be found at https://blue-diamond-services.co.uk/blue-diamond-riley-services-monte-carlo-classique/.

Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella visit Africa

Prince Jaques in Africa

Monaco’s royal twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, have visited their mother’s homeland for the first time. The trip was captured by Princess Charlene on her Instagram account with a video and a caption that read: “First African Experience.”

Princess Charlene has apparently been promising the twins that she will show them their African roots for two years now, and the three had an opportunity to go on a wild African safari during their stay.

Princess Gabriella is in Africa with mum Princess Charlene. Photo: screen shot Twitter
Princess Gabriella is in Africa with mum Princess Charlene. Photo: screen shot Instagram

Princess Charlene attended the ‘Midmar Mile’ event as part of The Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation – the “aQuellé Midmar Mile”. It is one of the world’s most popular open water swimming trials and one which she participated in in 2011. She also met up with her former South African swimming coach, Mr Graham Hill, who is now the national coach.

The 2019 event attracted more than 17,000 swimmers from around the world.

 

 

World’s largest and most exclusive gathering of family wealth

(Left to right) Ing Marco Casiraghi, Anthony Ritossa - Chairman Ritossa Family Office, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou - Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, Eric Brundage Publisher - Monaco Life, Sofia Michelakis - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Giuseppe Ambrosio - President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association.

Top family offices and elite investors from Monaco and around the world will travel to Dubai in March for the 8th Global Family Office Investment Summit hosted by Anthony Ritossa. It will be followed by the Next Grand Event in Monaco in June.

The March summit is organised around the theme ‘Investing in a New Age’ and will take place at the Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah Beach under the High Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum.

A consortium of important Monaco families will play an integral role in the event’s success by sharing investment ideas with 400+ elite family offices, prominent conglomerate business owners, sheikhs, royal families, private investment companies, international business moguls, sovereign wealth funds, and industry professionals.

Among those traveling to Dubai from Monaco are: H.R.H. Prince Michel de Yougoslavi, grandson of King Umberto of Italy and Prince Paul of Yugoslavia; Giuseppe Ambrosio, President, Monaco Single & Multi-Family Office International Association; Markus Lehner, Principal, Markus Lehner Family Office; Mario Kozma, Investment Manager, Tyrus Capital; and Eric Brundage, Publisher of Monaco Life.

“We are very pleased that such an esteemed group of Monaco investors will travel to Dubai in support of the 8th Global Family Office Investment Summit,” said Anthony Ritossa, Chairman of Ritossa Family Office, a family business dating back 600 years to the Venetian Empire in Europe.

The summit brings together the world’s leading experts geared toward identifying actionable strategies for generating returns in a low-rate, high volatility market. Facilitated by family offices, the summit will provide two days of private peer-to-peer conversation, networking and cross-border thought leadership designed to make you think about what to look out for, how you are investing, and why.

“The summits in Dubai and Monaco are dedicated to private, invitation-only, peer-to-peer conversation, networking and cross-border thought leadership and are intended to educate substantial, like-minded families on how to stay ahead and monitor emerging and sustaining trends in wealth management,” said Eric Brundage, Publisher of Monaco Life. “As such, they are the perfect event for Monaco’s leading families.”

“The summit is a good mix of families, products and services,” added H.R.H. Prince Michel de Yougoslavie Grandson of King Umberto of Italy and Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. “This sharing of current activities, and future trends is very important in such gatherings as a vehicle to move forward into 2019.”

(Left to right) Ing Marco Casiraghi, Anthony Ritossa - Chairman Ritossa Family Office, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou - Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, Eric Brundage Publisher - Monaco Life, Sofia Michelakis - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Giuseppe Ambrosio - President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association.
(Left to right) Ing Marco Casiraghi, Anthony Ritossa – Chairman Ritossa Family Office, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou – Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, Eric Brundage Publisher – Monaco Life, Sofia Michelakis – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Giuseppe Ambrosio – President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association.

Anthony Ritossa’s 8th Global Family Office Investment Summit will take place from 2nd to 4th March, while the Next Grand Event will be held in Monaco from 18th to 20th June.

“What makes these events exceptional is that they are organised by a family office for like-minded family offices,” said Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of Monaco Single & Multi-Family Office International Association.

For details on future events and the invitation-only 8th Global Family Office Investment Summit in Dubai, please email info@RitossaSummits.com or visit RitossaSummits.com.

To view a list of event participants, visit – http://ritossasummits.com/agenda.pdf.

Prince Albert pays homage to Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld waiving in Paris

Prince Albert II of Monaco has paid tribute to the legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who passed away in Paris on Tuesday at the age of 85. Lagerfeld has long been recognised as “a member of the family” by Princess Caroline of Hanover and “a great friend of the Principality”, according to the Prince.

Speaking to local newspaper Monaco Matin, Prince Albert admitted to recently learning of Karl Lagerfeld’s health concerns. “I knew he was tired and had been suffering for some time,” said Prince Albert. “I had talked about it with my sister Caroline who was to see him a few days ago and unfortunately it had been postponed, now we understand why.”

The most prolific designer of the 20th and 21st centuries, Karl Lagerfeld was an instantly recognisable figure around the world with his signature ponytail, fingerless gloves and dark glasses. He is credited with transforming luxury French fashion house Chanel and was at the creative helm of Fendi and his own label. For the past seven years, he has been the creative director behind Monaco’s iconic Rose Ball, which is held every March.

But aside from his obvious talent and quick wit, he was a also philanthropist.

“It is a great person who has disappeared, not only a great creator but a man who has marked the world of fashion and art,” said Prince Albert. He referred to Lagerfeld as a particularly generous man, adding: “He was one of our most important donors to the Monaco Red Cross.”

Princess Caroline and the German designer had been close friends for many years, going so far as referring to Lagerfeld as “a member of the family”.  On Tuesday night she posted to her Twitter account: “Bon Voyage my dear friend. I am broken.”