The opening ceremony kicked off at 2pm, with all 24 teams parading before the Prince and Princesses. Each team’s captain was dressed in traditional clothing from their home nation, waving to the crowd.
France’s team parading before the crowds, photo by Monaco Life
The procession concluded with the ceremonial official group photograph bringing together the captains, Prince Albert II, Princess Charlène, Princess Gabriella and Princess Akiko of Mikasa.
Then, pool play kicked off at 2:30pm.
Prince Albert II, Princess Charlène, Princess Gabriella, Princess Akiko of Mikasa and the captains of the teams during the official group photo, photo by Monaco Life
Thirty-six matches took place across Friday afternoon and evening, played simultaneously across two pitches named in honour of Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella.
The competition was divided into six pools of four teams each (A through F) with every side playing the other three teams in their pool on Friday, before the knockout stages on Saturday. The final pool matches concluded around 6:30pm.
All matches were played in a seven-a-side format with 13-minute games, and all players were under 12 years old.
This year’s competition marked the most international edition to date, with 24 teams representing 23 nations. Sides travelled from South Africa, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Japan, India, Singapore, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Ecuador, Georgia, Greece, the United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Andorra, and the United Arab Emirates, while Monaco was also represented.
Saturday brought the knockout stages, with the Bowl, Trophy and Cup competitions all decided across a packed day of rugby.
The MonacoUSA Association has welcomed the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Monaco on 28th March, describing the occasion as carrying particular significance for Americans living in the Principality.
Pope Leo XIV is the first American-born pope in the history of the Catholic Church, a fact that has resonated deeply with the American community in Monaco. “It’s particularly exciting that it is an American-born Pope who has made the decision to finally visit Monaco, which has had a close diplomatic relationship with the Vatican since 1875,” said Association Director Annette Anderson, adding that the visit takes on added meaning in 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
The association also used the occasion to recognise the role of Prince Albert II in making the visit possible. “Prince Albert’s role in welcoming Pope Leo for this historic visit underscores Monaco’s unique position as a centre for diplomacy and cultural exchange,” Anderson said.
The association highlighted the Prince’s broader record of global engagement, describing his commitment to dialogue, humanitarian initiatives and environmental stewardship as having positioned Monaco as an influential voice on the world stage.
The MonacoUSA Association, which supports and connects the American community in Monaco while promoting cultural exchange between the United States and the Principality, said Pope Leo’s message of compassion, service and moral leadership reflects values shared across nationalities among those who live and work in Monaco.
The papal visit on 28th March will be the first by a sitting pope to the Principality.
The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation presented its 2025 impact report presentation on Thursday 19th March at Marius, giving donors and partners a glimpse of what lies ahead.
In his speech, Romain Ciarlet, Vice Chairman and CEO of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, was careful to make one thing clear. “We raised these funds from investors, not donors — I want to specify that. It’s very important.”
He was talking about the ReOcean Fund, the Foundation’s impact investment vehicle, which targets companies delivering measurable benefits to ocean health. It has raised €75 million against a €100 million target and will complete four new investments totalling roughly €20 million in 2026. It is, by any measure, a significant departure from the grant-making that has defined environmental philanthropy for decades.
The reason for the shift is that young companies with credible solutions struggle to access the capital they need to scale, and donors alone cannot fill that gap. So the Foundation has positioned itself as a bridge, using its networks and credibility to bring commercial investors into territory they might otherwise avoid.
And this approach is already producing results. One recent investment is in Bound4Blue, a Spanish firm founded by aerospace engineers, whose rigid suction sails can reduce fuel consumption on commercial vessels by 15 to 20 per cent. Another is in NatureMetrics, a British company that uses environmental DNA to measure biodiversity, a tool increasingly in demand as corporate biodiversity reporting requirements tighten.
Turning talks into commitments
The Foundation’s initiatives have also translated into hard commitments, with the most convincing example being the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, which it hosted ahead of last year’s United Nations Ocean Conference. The Forum mobilised €8.7 billion in new pledges toward 2030 ocean goals. A second edition now takes place on 28th and 29th May 2026. “These were not just talks,” Ciarlet said. “There were commitments.”
Funding the people who live in nature
However, investment is only one part of the equation for the Foundation. On the other end of the scale sits work that supports people that actually bear the consequences.
In Pakistan’s Indus Delta, home to one of the world’s largest mangrove ecosystems, the Foundation supported a project run by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that Ciarlet described as emblematic of the Foundation’s vision.
“It led to the creation of two marine protected areas, the restoration of nearly seven thousand hectares of degraded mangrove ecosystems, and it really empowered communities,” he said. “Mangroves absorb carbon and restore biodiversity — it’s common sense.” Thousands of local people were trained and helped to build livelihoods that work with nature rather than against it.
Romain Ciarlet during the presentation, photo credit: Monaco Life
Backing Indigenous communities directly
That model – funding communities directly, bypassing international intermediaries – runs through most of the Foundation’s land-based work.
In 2026, three Indigenous-led organisations will begin on-the-ground implementation of forest protection projects in the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin and South-East Asia, following a competitive selection process that drew over 80 applicants. “We do everything to empower local communities, and especially Indigenous communities around the globe,” Ciarlet said.
Studies suggest that 91 per cent of land managed by Indigenous communities is in good or fair ecological condition. Protecting forests through the people who actually live in them, the Foundation argues, is simply more effective than the alternative.
Also in 2026
Other initiatives include the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, co-founded by the Foundation in 2020, which will distribute an estimated €12 million across programmes in seven countries in a second funding round.
Meanwhile, The Donors’ Initiative for Mediterranean Freshwater Ecosystems (DIMFE) will hold its first ever Forum in Croatia to mark its fifth anniversary.
The MedFund will continue expanding its support for Mediterranean marine protected areas, with €760,000 in new five-year funding approved for protected areas in Turkey, Croatia and Lebanon.
And lastly, the Re.Generation programme will welcome a new class of young environmental leaders to Monaco from 22nd to 31st May.
The finding points to a potential shift in Monaco’s fiscal structure. While the Principality has long relied on VAT as its primary source of revenue — it still represents 51.5% of total state receipts — the growing weight of financial sector profits is reshaping the tax base in ways the report’s authors treat with some caution.
A record surplus built on evolving revenue drivers
The 2024 budget closed with a surplus of €192.7 million on the general budget, and €310.3 million across all state operations including special treasury accounts — the strongest result in recent years. Revenues grew by 5.8% to €2.3 billion, driven by VAT receipts of €1.2 billion and the surge in corporate tax.
However, the report notes that recent years benefited from exceptional revenues linked to the Mareterra land reclamation project, which generated significant VAT income from real estate transactions. In 2024, VAT from property transactions fell by €86.4 million as these revenues wound down, marking the end of a particularly strong cycle of real estate-driven receipts.
Prince Albert II was presented with the Annual Public Report 2025 this week by the Commission Superieure des Comptes Remet
VAT holds steady, customs duties fall
Beyond corporate tax, the broader tax picture is mixed. Total VAT receipts, which include both domestic collections and Monaco’s share from France under the bilateral fiscal convention, edged down by 1.3%, though non-property VAT grew by 7.6%, reflecting continued economic activity in sectors including temporary employment services, construction and retail.
Customs duties fell 14.3%, partly due to changes in collection arrangements with French authorities.
Legal transaction revenues — covering property transfer duties and other civil acts — rose 7.1% to €249 million, though property transfer duties themselves fell by 6.9% as the volume of high-value transactions declined.
Expenditure rising, retirement costs flagged
On the spending side, ordinary expenditure reached €1.26 billion, up 4.9%. Personnel costs grew by 5.2% to €412.4 million, with government headcount rising by 46 to reach 3,923.
The Commission notes that more than one in two civil servants benefited from an individual advancement measure in 2024, and raises concerns about the long-term cost trajectory of the public sector pension system.
Monaco’s generous retirement system is facing renewed scrutiny after the Principality’s latest public accounts report highlighted structural imbalances and long-term sustainability concerns.
The report, presented to Prince Albert II on 16th March, notes that more than half of civil servants opt for early retirement, with 60% of departures in 2024 occurring before the standard age. In some cases, pensions can be accessed from as early as 50, depending on years of service and personal circumstances.
A growing financial imbalance
This early exit trend is directly linked to mounting financial pressure on the state. The report highlights that pension contributions remain limited compared to payouts, with revenues covering only a fraction of total expenditure.
In 2024, pension-related payments reached €107.6 million, while contributions totalled just €10.7 million, leaving the state to fund the majority of the system .
The number of retirees continues to rise steadily, driven both by demographic factors and the expansion of the public workforce. By the end of 2024, Monaco counted 2,527 pension beneficiaries, a figure that has increased consistently year on year .
The report also highlights that recent policy decisions have not significantly addressed the imbalance, and calls for a broader review of retirement conditions and funding mechanisms.
A system rooted in tradition
Monaco’s retirement framework reflects longstanding policy choices designed to provide favourable conditions for public sector employees. However, as the report makes clear, these advantages come with increasing fiscal implications.
The Commission concludes that further analysis is needed to evaluate whether the current structure can be sustained over time, particularly in light of rising life expectancy and continued growth in the number of beneficiaries .
Chef Antonio Salvatore has unveiled a new spring menu at La Table D’Antonio Salvatore at Rampoldi Monaco, alongside a significant shift in how guests can experience his restaurant.
The change is straightforward: where the Michelin star restaurant previously offered a single preset tasting menu, guests can now choose how they eat. A full multi-course tasting menu of up to eight courses remains available for those who want complete immersion, but shorter options of two or three courses have been introduced alongside a full Ă la carte offering. The idea, Salvatore says, is that fine dining should not be a one-size-fits-all proposition.
A menu that announces itself before it begins
Even before the first course arrives, La Table D’Antonio Salvatore signals that this is something different. Each menu is hand-painted and numbered, delivered signed at the end of the meal as a keepsake — a detail that speaks to Salvatore’s deeply personal approach to hospitality. The olive oil on the table carries artwork commissioned by the chef himself, another quiet expression of a creative sensibility that runs through every element of the experience.
On the tasting menu, that creativity announces itself early. A delicate tartlette of parmesan, lemon and green asparagus sets the tone, before a theatrical Monaco egg — one of the kitchen’s signatures — raises the expectation for what’s to come.
Chef Antonio Salvatore’s signature egg makes the spring menu at his namesake Michelin star restaurant
Spring on the plate
That expectation is well placed. What follows is a carefully proportioned journey through the season. Freshly churned butter arrives shaped and coloured as the Italian peninsula, divided into sections each carrying a different flavour — a playful, personal flourish that recalls the chef’s roots. Beef tartare topped with osciètre caviar gives way to ravioli filled with loup de mer, then a Breton lobster served alongside a provolone mousse, before the menu turns to a richly satisfying pigeon.
A citrus palate cleanser — lemon granita, arancia jelly and maraschino — cuts through beautifully before a final dessert of white chocolate mousse, lemon confit, citron jelly marshmallow and finger lime, delicate but unmistakably spring.
The menu’s centrepiece is a Menton lemon, which runs as a thread through multiple courses and reflects Salvatore’s broader philosophy: a contemporary Mediterranean cuisine built on absolute respect for local, seasonal produce at its peak.
The Breton lobster served alongside a provolone mousse
The signature finale
The meal ends with two of the restaurant’s most memorable flourishes. A chocolate globe arrives at the table with a small wooden hammer — guests are invited to smash it open enthusiastically.
Nearby, an all-chocolate structure styled as catacombs invites diners to reach into its crevices and retrieve an almond white chocolate surprise. Both are theatrical without being frivolous, and perfectly in keeping with a kitchen where imagination is as important as technique.
The delightful palette cleanser of arancia jelly and maraschino
A setting unlike any other in Monaco
La Table D’Antonio Salvatore occupies the basement of Rampoldi Monaco, a refined and serene space that feels entirely removed from the Principality above it. Tucked below street level, the room has a quiet intimacy that is genuinely rare in Monaco — and that, combined with Salvatore’s commitment to keeping the restaurant open almost year-round, makes it one of the most distinctive dining addresses in the Principality.
The restructured menu format — from a full eight-course tasting to shorter two or three-course options — is designed to bring that experience to a wider range of occasions and a younger, more international clientele, without compromising the standards that earned it its Michelin star.
The spring menu is now available at La Table D’Antonio Salvatore.
