To mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Monaco’s Prince Albert II has travelled to the north of France to meet with WWII military veterans, visit the Mémorial de Caen and witness a parade in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, one of the first villages to be liberated by the Allied Forces during the Battle of Normandy.  

Over the course of Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th June, Prince Albert has paid homage to those who fought and those who lost their lives during the D-Day landings in 1944. 

As it is the 80th anniversary of Operation Neptune, which has gone down in history as the biggest seaborne invasion of all time, Prince Albert’s well-timed visit afforded him the opportunity to meet with military veterans from the US who served in the Battle of Normandy on his first day in the region.  

This treasured encounter took place at the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, one of the first villages liberated by the Allies following the Normandy landings, following a parade through its streets. 

See more: Prince Albert II follows his great-grandfather’s footsteps in Cantabria

Monaco’s Prince also visited the Mémorial de Caen’s ‘The Dawn of the American Century 1919 – 1944′ exhibition, which will be open to the public until January 2025, and Camp Geronimo, a reconstruction of a World War II military camp. 

There was time allowed for a little fun too, and the adventurous Prince Albert seemed overjoyed to have the opportunity to take to the skies in a Piper Cub, a single-engine light aircraft designed in the 1930s, and explore some of the region’s most significant memorial sites from above.  

He also paid a visit to MoHo, a next-generation collaborative concept in Caen that unites students, entrepreneurs, business leaders, researchers, scientists and artists under one roof, providing them with a safe space to “collectively address contemporary world issues”.  

On Thursday 6th June, 80 years on from the landings, Prince Albert will attend both the official British ceremony marking the anniversary of the event and the international celebration on Omaha Beach. 

To see more photographs from Prince Albert’s Normandy trip, click on the images below:

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Photo credits: Michael Alési / Palais Princier de Monaco