HSH Prince Albert has written the preface for a new book to be published in September on the topic of the major champagne houses and their families.

Author Françoise Gauthier has kept in touch with the Prince since first meeting him in 1985 during an event sponsored by Besserat de Bellefon, the champagne house founded in 1843. Mme Gauthier returned to Monaco in 1991, at which time she was in charge of public relations for Charles Heidsieck. She has visited the Principality and met the Prince almost every year.

“When I wrote the book, I was thinking of the Prince as someone who might write the preface. When I asked him, he accepted immediately,” Mme Gauthier said. “In his preface, Prince Albert says that champagne always plays an important part in convivial events, whether at the Palace or in Monaco’s other emblematic establishments.”