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Day: 11 March 2026

Prince Albert attends Commonwealth Day celebrations in London

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2026

Prince Albert II travelled to London on Monday 9th March at the invitation of the Commonwealth Secretariat to attend Commonwealth Day, the annual gathering that brings together member nations from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Americas, the Pacific and Europe.

This year’s theme was ‘Unlocking opportunities together for a prosperous Commonwealth’. The day opened with the traditional ceremony at Westminster Abbey, held in the presence of the British royal family. Prince Albert attended alongside Monaco’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Evelyne Genta.

In the evening, King Charles III and Queen Camilla received the Prince at St James’s Palace for the official reception marking the occasion.

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Photos credit: Commonwealth Secretariat / Dean and Chapter of Westminster / Picture Partnership

 

 

France’s first all-electric sprint powerboat series is looking for founding teams

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2026

A new electric powerboat racing series will launch in France this summer, bringing electric competition to national-level sprint racing for the first time.

The Formula 60 Electric Championship has been developed by Molabo, a German electric propulsion company, and Protenergies, a French firm specialising in electric and hydrogen mobility solutions. The series uses the Formula 4 race boat — a standard platform already widely used in European sprint powerboat racing — fitted with a 50 kW electric drive system and a swappable battery bank in place of the combustion engine.

Four race weekends are scheduled across France for the inaugural season: Albi on 7th and 8th June, Mâcon on 27th and 28th June, Chalon-sur-Saône on 29th and 30th August, and Caen on 5th and 6th September. The series will run under the French national federation (FFM), with international expansion under the UIM framework planned for 2027.

The organisers are currently seeking founding teams ahead of a 29th March deadline. Those who join at this stage will have a say in shaping the championship’s technical and competitive rules, and will receive support across technical integration and media communications. The number of available entries is described as limited.

“The transition to electric is technically straightforward,” said Adrian Patzak, Chief Commercial Officer at Molabo. “With the championship launch confirmed, the inaugural Formula 60 Electric grid is now being finalised, with only a limited number of team entries still available.”

The series arrives as electric powerboat racing grows more visible at the top of the sport. The UIM E1 World Championship — a global series using purpose-built hydrofoil RaceBird boats, with team owners including Tom Brady and Rafael Nadal — brings its 2026 season to Monaco in July, with a newly formed Team Monaco entering for the first time. Formula 60 is designed as an accessible national-level entry point for teams and sponsors looking to compete in electric racing without the investment required at the elite tier.

Teams can contact racing@molabo.com before 29th March to register interest.

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Photo: Molabo speed record, image provided

 

Monaco accredits ambassadors from four countries and welcomes new Quebec delegate

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2026

Monaco has accredited four new ambassadors and received the newly appointed Delegate General of Quebec, in a series of diplomatic formalities marked by a working lunch at the HĂ´tel Hermitage on Tuesday 10th March.

Isabelle Berro-Amadéi, Minister-Counsellor for External Relations and Cooperation, hosted the lunch, receiving the credentials of Rubén Estuardo Najera Contreras, Ambassador of Guatemala; Sanjeev Kumar Singla, Ambassador of India; Sir Thomas Drew KCMG, Ambassador of the United Kingdom; and Dr Teeko Tozay Yorlay, Ambassador of Liberia.

Henri-Paul Rousseau, Delegate General of Quebec, was also present, having presented his letters of appointment to the Sovereign earlier that morning.

According to a statement by the government, the discussions, held in the presence of Ludmilla Raconnat Le Goff, Delegate for Attractiveness to the Minister of State, and Guillaume Rose, Executive Director General of the Monaco Economic Board, covered the state of bilateral relations and areas of cooperation between Monaco and each of the countries represented.

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From left to right: Dr Teeko Tozay Yorlay, Ambassador of Liberia; Sanjeev Kumar Singla, Ambassador of India; Isabelle Berro-Amadéi, Minister-Counsellor for External Relations and Cooperation; Rubén Estuardo Najera Contreras, Ambassador of Guatemala; Sir Thomas Drew KCMG, Ambassador of the United Kingdom; and Henri-Paul Rousseau, Delegate General of Quebec. Credit: Stéphane Danna – Direction de la Communication

 

 

Monaco’s Palace warns public of sophisticated WhatsApp impersonation scam

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2026

The Prince’s Palace has issued a warning over a fraud scheme in which scammers are impersonating official Palace representatives on WhatsApp to extract personal information and money from members of the public.

According to the Palace, the scam has been active since the start of 2026. Those behind it create fake WhatsApp profiles posing as Palace staff, using the contact to build trust before soliciting funds under the guise of donations or investment opportunities.

The fraudsters are using voice-imitation technology and fabricated images and videos to appear credible, and are capable of manipulating their phone numbers to make it appear that messages are coming from an official institutional number. Fake official-looking documents are also being circulated as part of the deception.

What to watch for

The Palace advises the public not to share any personal information — including identity documents, addresses, email addresses or bank details — with unknown contacts, and not to pass on information about third parties. Anyone who receives a suspicious message is urged not to respond and not to click on any links.

What to do if contacted

Anyone who believes they have been targeted is advised to collect any available evidence — including the WhatsApp contact profile, any email addresses used and any documents received — and report it immediately to Monaco’s SĂ»retĂ© Publique on +377 93 15 30 15. Any contact claiming to represent the Palace should be verified through official channels before any information is shared.

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Photo credit: Cassandra Tanti

 

Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic among world’s best set for Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2026

Nine of the world’s top ten tennis players will descend on Monaco next month as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters returns to the Monte-Carlo Country Club from 4th to 12th April for its 119th edition. 

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz heads the entry list, joined by world number two Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic — finalist at the Australian Open earlier this year — Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik. Daniil Medvedev, Jakub Menšík, Casper Ruud, Jack Draper and Flavio Cobolli are also confirmed. In total, 18 of the ATP’s top 20 are expected to compete, making this the strongest field the tournament has assembled in recent years.

The draw was announced by tournament director David Massey at a press lunch in Paris on Tuesday 10th March, in the presence of Melanie-Antoinette de Massy, President of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the Monte-Carlo Country Club and the Fédération Monégasque de Tennis.

Monégasque interest

The tournament will carry particular local significance this year. Valentin Vacherot, who in 2025 became the first Monégasque player to reach a final on the ATP main tour when he won the Rolex Shanghai Masters, enters the main draw directly and can expect strong home support. Stefanos Tsitsipas, a three-time Monte-Carlo champion, also returns.

In doubles, the Principality has recent cause for optimism. Romain Arneodo and Manuel Guinard won the doubles title here last year after entering on a wild card, while Hugo Nys claimed the Masters 1000 doubles title in Rome in 2023 alongside Poland’s Jan Zielinski.

Format and infrastructure

The main draw will feature 56 singles players — 45 direct acceptances, seven qualifiers and four wild cards — alongside 28 doubles teams. The draw takes place on Friday 3rd April at 17:00.

For the second consecutive year, the Monte-Carlo Beach Club will be fully privatised and transformed into a Players’ Village for competitors, their teams and families. The facility is being expanded this year to include a gym of more than 320 square metres and a dedicated relaxation area. Spectators will find a redesigned public village with new screens and an additional rest area on site.

On the technology side, the Electronic Line Calling Live system powered by Hawk-Eye will again be used for automated line calls, with Video Review available for instant challenge decisions. A new HawkVision broadcast system deploying 60 digitally unified cameras will offer viewers a courtside perspective directly behind the players.

Charity initiative

The tournament’s Points for Change initiative, run in partnership with BNP Paribas since 2023, raised €37,204 for GEMLUC — the MonĂ©gasque cancer research group — in 2025. This year the funds raised will go towards external breast prostheses for patients treated for breast cancer at the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace.

The tournament will be broadcast in full in France on Eurosport, with a daily match on France.tv and the final on France 4. International broadcasters include The Tennis Channel, Sky Italia, Sky UK and Sky Germany. A children’s day is planned for Sunday 5th April during the Easter weekend.

Photo credit: Celina Lafuente de Lavotha

See also: 

Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters 2026: what was revealed at the official launch

Maria Callas costumes on rare US display at Washington exhibition

by: Cassandra Tanti
11/03/2026

Six stage costumes worn by Maria Callas during her years at Teatro alla Scala are on display in the United States for the first time, in an exhibition at George Washington University’s Luther W. Brady Art Gallery in Washington DC that runs until 21st March.

The costumes, which belong to Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, represent Callas in four roles: Ifigenia in Ifigenia in Tauride, Amina in La Sonnambula, Anna in Anna Bolena, and Fiorilla in Il Turco in Italia. Their journey to the United States was made possible through a joint effort between the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington and the Embassy of Greece.

The exhibition places each costume against an enlarged scenic sketch used as a backdrop for the respective opera, and is accompanied by costume designs by Nicola Benois and Piero Tosi, photographs of Callas in performance, and recordings of her singing each role. The selection of costumes and images was made by Caterina d’Amico of the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation, with all images courtesy of Fondazione Teatro alla Scala. The work of directors Franco Zeffirelli and Luchino Visconti, both central figures in Callas’s career at La Scala, is also documented throughout.

The interpretive labels accompanying the exhibition were written by students in the Costume History programme at GW’s Corcoran School of Arts and Design, under Professor Tanya Williams Wetenhall, whose students researched Callas, the designers, and each of the operas featured.

Callas at La Scala: Costumes for Ifigenia, Amina, Anna, Fiorilla is free and open to the public, Wednesday to Saturday between 13:00 and 17:00, until 21st March 2026.

Callas maintained a deep personal connection to Monaco throughout her life. She once said of the Principality, “Monaco is the only place where I can rest,” and in 1960 she performed at a gala hosted by Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace at the Salle Garnier — a night the Principality has since honoured with an annual gala held in her name.

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Callas at La Scala, photo credit: Hanna Leka