Princess Charlene has launched her anti-poaching campaign for rhinos in Africa, Chasing Zero, with a very simple message and dramatic self portrait.
“If we don’t do something to save our rhinos and endangered animals soon, it will be too late,” says the Princess on her Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation South Africa website. “With our #chasingzero initiative, we can stop the atrocity of wildlife poaching and educate people about conservation and preservation. Your support and contributions make an enormous difference.”
Princess Charlene shared the campaign with her 281,000 followers on Instagram, including a black and white photograph of herself in traditional dress and dramatic makeup.
As encouragement for people to donate to the cause, the Princess is offering two tickets to the Monaco 2022 F1 Grand Prix including flights and accommodation, as well as other exciting prizes.
In a recent interview with South Africa Radio 702 host Mandy Wiener, the Princess revealed that she had partnered with her husband’s Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to help save the rhinoceros.
“There is a deterioration of a species, the rhinoceros, that has walked this planet for millions of years and is on the verge of extinction. Something needs to be done about this. I am using every network and every means possible to get the attention of the world, to get everyone behind me to stop this,” said Princess Charlene, who also revealed that she is unlikely to return to the Principality until October due to a severe ear infection.
Greece on Monday received €4 billion, its first tranche of money from an €800 billion EU recovery fund meant to help the bloc bounce back from the impact of the pandemic and at the same time make their economies greener and more digitalised.
The European Commission on Monday disbursed the €4 billion to Greece in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country’s grant and loan allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
Greece is one of the first countries receiving a pre-financing payment under the RRF. The pre-financing will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Greece’s recovery and resilience plan.
The Commission will authorise further disbursements based on the implementation of the investments and reforms outlined in Greece’s recovery and resilience plan. The country is set to receive €30.5 billion in total over the lifetime of its plan (€17.8 billion in grants and €12.7 billion in loans).
Today’s disbursement follows the recent successful implementation of the first borrowing operations under NextGenerationEU. By the end of the year, the Commission intends to raise up to a total of €80 billion in long-term funding, to be complemented by short-term EU-Bills, to fund the first planned disbursements to Member States under NextGenerationEU.
Part of NextGenerationEU, the RRF will provide €723.8 billion to support investments and reforms across Member States. The Greek plan is part of the unprecedented EU response to emerge stronger from the Covid-19 crisis, fostering the green and digital transitions and strengthening resilience and cohesion in our societies.
Greece’s sustainable reforms include financing the interconnection with the Cyclades Islands and increasing the potential for renewable energy sources as well as storage capacity, supporting the digital transition, and strengthening active labour market policies to increase full-time employment, also for long-term unemployed and disadvantaged people.
“I am delighted that today Greece will receive the first disbursement of funds under NextGenerationEU,” said President Ursula von der Leyen. “This is the start of the implementation of Greece’s ambitious recovery and resilience plan, Greece 2.0, and the beginning of a greener and more digital future for the country. The European Commission will stand right by your side, to make this plan a success.”
Contemporary art trade show returns to the Big Top
International contemporary art trade fair art3f is back in the Principality this month giving art lovers and collectors a chance to discover new talent as well as uncover treasures from already established artists.
The Chapiteau of Fontvieille will be hosting the art3f art trade fair for the first time ever in Monaco from 21st to 23rd August. Known for being a showcase for up and coming talent and for offering amazing pieces at reasonable prices, the art3f exhibition boasts a warm and friendly atmosphere for art lovers to mingle with artists, learn about art and perhaps find just the right piece to add to one’s home.
The fair’s website calls the event “unbiased and uninhibited”, exhibiting more than 3,000 works from a carefully selected group of painters, sculptors, photographers and ceramists, over 200 in all. The artists are on site to answer questions, giving the event an air of intimacy not always experienced at gallery shows.
A bar and restaurant will also be available for “gourmet breaks”.
Art3f’s first stop this year is the Principality and will be followed by shows in Paris, Luxembourg, Lausanne, Marseille and Nantes, to name a few.
AS Monaco hit the pitch against Nantes at home in front of fans for the first time in 10 months, ending the evening with an acceptable but not wholly satisfying final score of one to one.
On a night that saw the return of supporters, new uniforms and the debuts of Monaco’s newest recruits, Jean Lucas and Myron Boadu, fans of the Red and Whites had high hopes for the night.
As it turned out, they didn’t have quite the ending they had hoped for, but still came out with a respectable one to one tie against a well-organised Nantes team.
“We had hoped for a victory, but the other team did too,” said Coach Niko Kovac after the game. “They only had one chance and made it count. For our part, we had a lot of chances without being able to score more. We’re a little disappointed, but that’s football. We started off the same way last season (2-2 against Reims), and now we must move forward.”
Monaco’s Gelson Martins opened scoring 14 minutes into play, giving him the distinction of making the first Ligue 1 goal of the season. He knocked it through the far left post after a fantastic pass from teammate Caio Henrique.
The team played well, but not as well as they should have considering they had possession for three-quarters of the match and had three times the number of attempts on goal, outgunning Nantes on that front 15 to five. Still, the tries mean nothing without the conversions.
Coach Kovac acknowledged this saying, “Last season we didn’t concede a lot of goals in these phases of the game. Mistakes can happen, and sometimes they can cost you a goal, at other times not. We had plenty of possession and we created chances for ourselves. We will have a better result next time.”
Despite not securing the win, it was a good enough start to a season which will no doubt ramp up quickly.
Monaco returns on Tuesday at 8pm with another home game, this time in the rematch against Sparta Prague for the third preliminary round of Champion’s League play, followed by more Ligue 1 action on Friday at 9pm where they head to Lorient.
Minister of Public Works, Environment and Town Planning Marie-Pierre Gramaglia has announced she will be retiring from her post on 1st September.
After more than a decade heading up the Ministry of Public Works, Environment and Town Planning, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia will be departing her position on 1st September, making way for Céline Canon-Daigoni to take her place.
Gramaglia has been a trailblazer in the Monaco government, being the only woman currently to head a governmental department. On top of this, her job was to oversee construction projects in the Principality, a traditionally masculine field.
Gramaglia was trained at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies in public and private international law and also became a qualified notaire. She started her career in the private sector before turning to public service in 1993. Amongst her many roles, she was technical advisor to the Finance Department in 2005 and Director of Electronic Communications in 2008.
In 2011, she was elevated to her current position where she became known as “Madame Chantier”.
Canon-Daigoni, who is a graduate of University of Aix-Marseille and IAE Lille, followed up her undergraduate studies by going on to obtain a Master of Science at Staffordshire University.
She started out at auto parts manufacturer Mecaplast before joining the management team at the Department of Economic Expansion, then Fiscal Services from 2001 to 2010. After, she was named Secretary General to the Department of Health and Social affairs, where she simultaneously took on the role of Deputy Chair at the Monaco Institute of Sports Medicine. In 2018, she took on the job of Secretary General at the Oceanographic Institute.
Now she will overseeing the Principality’s construction projects, including the new expansion of the Princess Grace Hospital.
La Chèvre d’Or: Fine dining with soul and authenticity
It’s what legends are made of, a mystical medieval village perched high on a rocky cliff face, mythical beasts and a golden goat, food that allows you to travel through the centuries, and a panorama that takes you to the heavens.
But La Chèvre d’Or is no fairytale. It is a very real oasis hidden in a sweltering, tourist-filled Riviera, and it’s just 20 minutes-drive from Monaco.
In 1953, investor Robert Wolf fell in love with Château de La Chèvre d’Or and turned it into a restaurant. According to local historians, Walt Disney convinced Wolf to acquire a cluster of private houses in the village and transform them into hotel rooms. The hotel later became associated with the prestigious Relais & Châteaux, and today La Chèvre d’Or has 45 rooms and suites, surrounded by beautiful, manicured layered gardens.
La Chèvre d’Or in Eze Village, photo provided
At its heart remains the restaurant of the same name, which obtained its first Michelin star in 1975 and its second in 2000. Since 2016, that distinction has been maintained by Executive Chef Arnaud Faye, who was awarded the prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2019.
Each year from April to October, 42-year-old Arnaud creates intricate dishes that are deeply researched and considered interpretations of the Riviera’s regional and historic cuisine.
“When I arrived here from the Domaine de Chantilly, my vision was the same as a tourist,” Arnaud tells Monaco Life. “I toured Eze, Nice, Vence, Saint Paul de Vence… to see what guests here expect. For me, it is important to have on each plate a different touch of Riviera cuisine, but with a more modern vision.”
Views of the Eze coastline and St. Jean Cap Ferrat from La Chèvre d’Or, photo provided
That vision manifests itself in the classic Mediterranean entrée of tomatoes and mozzarella. With this, his signature dish, Chef Arnaud Faye fills sweet cherry tomatoes with rich, creamy burrata. It is finished with a tomato infused water, fennel sorbet and fig leaves for a summer dish that is laden with history, flavour and texture.
The same theory is played out with another peasant ingredient, rabbit, a notoriously dry protein which the chef cleverly manages to turn sumptuous through a technique of sous vide and roasting on a bed of wild herbs. This is served with smoked octopus, eggplant prepared two ways, and jus with girolles, lending depth, richness and fragrance.
Chef Arnaud Faye’s signature cherry tomato and burrata dish, photo by Monaco Life
In magnifying the produce of the Riviera, Arnaud pays particular attention to the vegetables, something he developed a passion for while working the gardens of his grandparents in Auvergne, central France, as a child.
“For me, this is very important, because it is always possible to cook beef or veal, but what I find really interesting is the vegetables,” says Arnaud. “I work the vegetables to create different textures, tastes and aromas. I only use seasonal produce from local producers, so I have a farmer near Villefranche who grows my cherry tomatoes, for example, and I get my courgettes from Nice.”
La Chèvre d’Or and the golden goat, photo by James Pouliot
Arnaud’s cuisine is an obvious celebration of the terroir that stretches from the rocky foothills of the Mercantour to the intense blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Lamb, he adds, is sourced from the local countryside, while the ‘catch of the day’ depends on what the fisherman have brought in on their boats that morning.
Each dish shines with technique, soul and authenticity.
The play on textures is also embraced by Pastry Chef Julien Dugourd, whose dessert of white and yellow peaches with verbena is a sophisticated masterpiece. A wide variety of Chef Julien’s exquisite desserts can also be enjoyed in Les Remparts, a terrace restaurant where guests can choose from an extensive Mediterranean menu prepared by Chef Benjamin Zannier, in collaboration with Executive Chef Arnaud Faye, surrounded by arcades of jasmine, ivy and bougainvillea, and immersed in that extraordinary view.
Textures of white and yellow peaches by Pastry Chef Julien Dugourd, photo by Monaco Life
There is no outdoor terrace at the two Michelin starred restaurant La Chèvre d’Or. Instead, large floor to ceiling windows frame the azure waters that is dotted with luxury superyachts, capturing an image of the Riviera as if it were frozen in time. It also adds to the intimate, elegant ambiance of the restaurant, which seats a maximum of only 48.
As anyone who frequents La Chèvre d’Or will tell you – especially habitual guest U2 frontman Bono – visiting this restaurant is like being welcomed in to a home, despite the perfection that comes with being a two-starred establishment.
Restaurant Director Marc Piquet is a seasoned professional, whose warmth and knowledge sets the tone for a truly memorable experience. Maître d’Hôtel Pauline Gachet won the prestigious Georges Baptiste Cup in 2019, and Chief Sommelier Phillipe Magne has been perfecting his craft at La Chèvre d’Or for 32 years. His charm is matched only by his extensive knowledge of champagne and wine. When the restaurant closes in October for six months, Phillipe tours the country in search of fine labels to serve his guests, accumulating a reserve that now remarkably boasts 26,000 bottles.
“I always propose different houses, the large and famous ones like Moët & Chandon and Taittinger, but also smaller producers who are sometimes better than the big houses,” Phillipe Magne tells me from behind his intriguing display of chilled champagnes.
Guests can choose from an extensive wine list that extraordinarily includes 45 wines by the glass, or they can, like myself, put their trust in Phillipe to make the perfect pairing.
The view from La Chèvre d’Or is just like looking down from the heavens, photo by Monaco Life
In the end, it is easy to understand why La Chèvre d’Or is honoured among celebrities, politicians, royalty and the elite.
But it is a destination for all who wish to experience the true flavours, heart and hospitality of the French Riviera, a vibrant reminder of how powerful time, place and story is when it comes to food.
The ‘From rocks and waves’ lunch menu is a five-course gastronomic experience for 160€ per person, or 90€ for three courses. The eight-course ‘From rocks and waves’ dinner menu includes langoustine, crab and pigeon, and is priced at 260€, paired down to five courses for 220€ (prices exclude wine).
Top photo of Executive Chef Arnaud Faye by Cassandra Tanti for Monaco Life, all rights reserved. See our gallery below for more pictures:
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The elegant dining room of La Chèvre d’Or, photo provided
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