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Day: 9 March 2026

Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio claims record fourth Primo Cup title

by: Cassandra Tanti
09/03/2026

Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio has won the Primo Cup-UBS Trophy for the third consecutive year, taking his overall tally to four victories and setting a new record for the event. Sailing G-Spot for Yacht Club de Monaco, he topped the J/70 fleet at the 42nd edition of the regatta, which concluded on Sunday after three days of racing in shifting conditions off Monaco.

More than 300 sailors from ten nations competed across three one-design classes — J/70, Smeralda 888 and Longtze Premier — with a Cape 31 also present for a demonstration. Organised by Yacht Club de Monaco in collaboration with UBS, with support from Monaco City Hall and North Sails, the event also served as the fourth and final act of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series.

J/70: a fourth title for G-Spot

With more than 40 boats on the start line, the J/70 fleet formed the competitive core of the regatta. After seven races, G-Spot finished ahead of Euro Voiles of France and the Swiss crew on Situationship. “The level was very high, with at least 20 boats capable of competing at the front,” said Serena di Lapigio. “We are very proud to have won the Primo Cup for a fourth time.”

In the Corinthian category, Euro Voiles took the Monaco City Hall Special Prize. Skipper Louis Barbet credited the venue’s demanding conditions as part of the appeal. “The conditions are often challenging which makes for an interesting regatta,” he said. Swedish crew Magnus Ullman on El Otro, competing in their second season, echoed that sentiment. “The level is very high and for us it’s a great opportunity to learn by observing the top teams.”

Longtze Premier: Shensu sweep all six races

The Swiss crew aboard Shensu produced a dominant performance in the Longtze Premier class, winning all six races. Crescendo, also Swiss, finished second, with the Belgian crew on Exocet completing the podium.

Smeralda 888: Favale edges a tight fleet

The Smeralda 888 class, which opens its season at the Primo Cup and holds the event’s participation record with 33 editions, lived up to its reputation for close racing. Swiss sailor Marco Favale on Millenium Falcon edged out Charles de Bourbon des Deux-Siciles on Vamos mi Amor into second, with Achille Onorato’s Canard à l’Orange third after six races.

An all-Monegasque Winter Series podium

The Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series concluded with G-Spot taking the 2025-2026 championship, ahead of two fellow Monégasque crews: Pierrik Devic’s Fraser Yachts and Nico Poons’ Charisma V H992 Sailing Team.

YCM Vice-President Pierre Casiraghi described the Primo Cup’s appeal as lying in its mix of experience levels. “The Primo Cup brings together sailors of different levels, which is what makes the format so special. As you improve you measure yourself against those more experienced than you.”

American sailor Dawn Riley — the first woman to lead an America’s Cup team and a two-time Whitbread Round the World Race veteran — was among those competing this year. She described the event as a meaningful bridge between recreational and professional sailing. “This regatta represents a major transition between ‘I sail dinghies with an instructor’ to ‘I want to become a professional’ or ‘own my own boat’.”

The 43rd Primo Cup-UBS Trophy is scheduled for 4th to 7th March 2027. Before then, Yacht Club de Monaco’s next major event is the inaugural Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting Rendezvous, running from 21st to 24th March 2026 in partnership with The Explorers Club of New York.

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Photo credit: Studio Borlenghi

European Commission sets out gender equality strategy through to 2030

by: Cassandra Tanti
09/03/2026

At the current pace of change, it would take 50 years for the European Union to reach full gender equality. That figure, cited by the European Commission ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th March, underlines the scale of the challenge facing policymakers — and the urgency behind the bloc’s newly published gender equality strategy for 2026-2030.

The strategy builds on the Roadmap for Women’s Rights endorsed by all EU member states in 2025, translating its broad objectives into specific policy actions. Its scope is deliberately wide, covering economic participation, healthcare, political representation, online safety and the role of men and boys in driving cultural change.

Tackling violence and abuse online

One of the strategy’s most prominent concerns is cyberviolence, which the Commission identifies as disproportionately affecting women and girls. Measures are planned to combat sexually explicit deepfakes and so-called deepnudes, alongside broader efforts to strengthen protections for women in digital spaces.

Closing the pay and pension gaps

On economic equality, the strategy focuses on full implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive across member states and commits to working with the European Investment Bank to improve access to finance for women entrepreneurs. It also aims to draw more women into research, innovation and STEM careers, while encouraging men into sectors such as health, education and care work, where they remain significantly underrepresented.

Healthcare and global commitments

A joint initiative with the World Health Organization is planned to improve the quality and accessibility of women’s healthcare across the bloc. Internationally, the Commission intends to launch a new gender action plan for 2028-2034 and a flagship initiative called Shield, focused on sexual and reproductive health and support for survivors of gender-based violence.

The role of men and boys

Perhaps the most notable shift in emphasis from previous strategies is the explicit focus on engaging men and boys as agents of change. The Commission flags growing polarisation between young women and men — accelerated in part by disinformation — as a specific risk, and plans targeted measures to counter it.

The strategy also commits to defending existing rights against any rollback, a pointed signal given the political direction of several EU member states in recent years.

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Photo credit: Antoine Schibler, Unsplash

 

€299 a month to find a date: Inside Monaco’s most ambitious start up pitch night

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
09/03/2026

Seven startups took to that stage at the K2 March Investor Lounge in Monaco last week, at the Méridien Beach Plaza, pitching for investment in front of a room of investors. 

Now in its eight edition, the event founded by Badr Moudden and Alexandros Dohn has become one of Europe’s more intimate startup funding platforms. Here are three that caught our attention.

What €299 a month gets you if you’re a man

Brian Lynn and Daniel Osvath, co-founders of Pulse, brought the most eyebrow-raising pitch of the evening, with a dating app where women get in for free – but men pay €299 a month. The logic is exclusivity and verification. “People are tired of swiping,” Lynn said, nodding towards platforms such as Tinder and Bumble. “You don’t really get quality matches a lot of the time.”

Every user at Pulse is manually verified, requiring social profile submissions and a face video check to prevent scammers and fake profiles. Launched just a few months ago, it already has close to 3,000 sign ups.

Lynn says the app is most active in “international hubs like Dubai, London, and Monaco”. In fact, he counts himself among those who’ve already found a match.

Brian Lynn and Daniel Osvath presenting Pulse at K2 Match, photo credit: Monaco Life

Healthcare that comes to your door

Sehar Shahid was the next pitch that sparked interest. After having spent 15 years as a pharmacist, she said she got tired of watching the industry fail. After having worked for an online pharmacy she described as “very unregulated”, she spent years consulting for others to improve their standards, before deciding to build one herself. “I thought, you know what, I could set up an online pharmacy and show them how it’s done properly,” she said. And thus, the 24-hour pharmacy was born.

The model is very simple. Patients go online, book a consultation, and a UK-registered clinician reviews and approves the prescriptions, all within a single day, delivered to their door by the next morning. “Healthcare that fits around your lifestyle,” as Shahid put it. In a world of overloaded doctors’ surgeries, and two-week waiting times, it’s a proposition that’s hard to argue with. Currently UK-only, she has firm plans to go global.

Cutting the analyst out of the loop

Benedikt FDM Jaletzke, co-founder of Felix Research alongside James Hall, came with a pitch aimed at the finance world. “In our core markets alone, it’s about twenty-five billion dollars a year in paying people alone,” he said, referring to the vast teams of analysts employed by investment funds.

His AI platform puts much of that work directly in the hands of fund managers, cutting out the days-long back and forth with junior staff. A former private equity professional himself, Jaletzke estimates his tool saves 10 to 20 hours per user per week, all while offering an “infinitely better” return on investment that existing platforms like Bloomberg or Refinitiv.

The remaining four pitches were no less ambitious. Marc Graham, attending the Investor Lounge for the second time, presented Everybody Read, an education AI platform. Meanwhile, Andrew Ridgway, attending for the sixth time and earning investments each and every time, took to the stage twice: once for Everybody Counts and again for Everybody Creates, both social impact ventures.

Florian Breipohl, in his second time as well, rounded out the evening with Everkite, a renewable energy startup developing high-altitude wind technology.

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Main photo credit: Monaco Life.

“Real life Princess Diaries”: Jazmin Grimaldi opens up about her story while announcing debut album

by: Cassandra Tanti
09/03/2026

Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, the daughter of Prince Albert II of Monaco, is working on her debut album — and she wants the world to know it on her own terms.

In a social media video posted last week to mark her 34th birthday, Jazmin talks about her story in detail, introducing it as the “real life Princess Diaries” — referring to the popular 2001 film in which a teenage girl discovers she is heir to the throne of a fictional European principality.

She speaks at length about her identity, her art, and her decision to stop letting others write her narrative. “People have tried to define me for years,” she says. “Whether labeled as princess, or love child, or the horrible word of ‘illegitimate,’ I learned that my worth is not up for negotiation.”

Jazmin has been a public figure since 2006, when her father Prince Albert II acknowledged her at the age of 14. Born and raised by her American mother Tamara Rotolo in Palm Springs, California, she then became publicly known as Jazmin Grimaldi and has since built a career as a singer and actress. She holds no title and no claim to the Monégasque throne.

Royalty, she is keen to point out, is only part of who she is. “My father is Prince Albert of Monaco, my grandmother is Grace Kelly. Royalty is part of my story, but it’s not everything in my story.”

It is music, she says, that will tell the rest of it. “Who I am, my own voice, what I want to say, and how I want to say it — I think through my art is the best way to encapsulate that.”

 

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A post shared by JAZMIN (@jazmingrimaldi)

Her half-brother Alexandre Grimaldi has spoken warmly of her ambitions, drawing a line from Jazmin’s career to that of their grandmother. “She’s sort of following in our grandmother’s footsteps in Hollywood,” he said. “We always talk about that and about how she wants to continue her legacy.”

For Jazmin, the album represents something beyond music. “I’m deciding that I am stepping into my power,” she said. “I’m not hiding or feeling ashamed or less than anymore.”

The album is due for release later this year.

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Two commercial spaces available to let at Fontvieille Shopping Centre

by: Cassandra Tanti
09/03/2026

The Prince’s Government is inviting applications to lease two commercial spaces at the Fontvieille Shopping Centre, as a renovation and restructuring project for the site remains under consideration.

The first space is a ground-floor retail unit of approximately 51 square metres — previously occupied by Yamamay — along with a storage unit of around 15.84 square metres located in zone A14 of the first basement level car park. The second is a kiosk of approximately 35 square metres, formerly known as Le 29, also on the ground floor, with an adjoining terrace plot of around 48 square metres.

Both spaces are restricted to retail use. Restaurant activity is excluded from both, and any commercial use requiring the installation of an extraction system is expressly prohibited in the kiosk unit. Professional services and office use are also excluded from both spaces.

Viewings are scheduled for Friday 13th March. The retail unit and its storage space will be open between 2pm and 3pm, followed by the kiosk and terrace between 3pm and 4pm.

Application files can be collected from the Administration des Domaines, located on the fifth floor of 5 promenade Honoré II, Hall A, Monday to Friday between 9:30am and 5pm, or downloaded via the Prince’s Government’s Mon Entreprise portal.

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Main photo credit: Kyriaki Topalidou, Monaco Life

Why did the Prince’s Palace light up in blue?

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
09/03/2026

The Prince’s Palace was illuminated in blue this Saturday 7th March as part of a worldwide commemoration organised by Interpol to mark its annual Remembrance Day for police officers killed in the line of duty. 

Member countries were invited to light up police stations, public buildings and national landmarks in blue to honour officers who died while on duty. The tribute moved from one time zone to the next through the course of the day.

Throughout the world, the day was marked with moments of silence, lowering of flags, laying of wreaths, and reading names of fallen officers.

Interpol also shared photographs and testimonies from officers around the world as part of the event.

The commemoration gave an opportunity to reflect on the personal cost of this career choice, where men and women – real human beings behind the uniform – take on the risk of the job in service of public safety.

“Every day, in every corner of the world, police officers put on a uniform, say goodbye to their families, and walk toward uncertainty, toward danger, toward a moment that may change their lives forever,” said Interpol’s Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza.

Monaco’s historic connection with Interpol

“Today, we honour those who have fallen, those who continue to serve, and those who support them. Their sacrifice reminds us that policing is both a public mission and a truly vocational, personal commitment,” added Interpol President Lucas Philippe.

Monaco has longstanding ties to international policing. In 1914, Prince Albert I hosted the first International Criminal Congress in the Principality, an early step towards what eventually became the International Criminal Police Organisation – Interpol.

Today, Monaco is one of the organisation’s 195 members.

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Main photo credit: Stéphane Danna, Communication’s DepartmentÂ