Forbes has published its annual billionaires ranking for 2026, with a record 3,428 people worldwide now holding billionaire status – 400 more than the previous year.Â
Their collective fortune reaches $20.1 trillion and at the very top of Forbes’ list, once again, sits Elon Musk, whose $839 billion fortune, built through Tesla and SpaceX, puts him in a league of his own.
Among those listed are two residents of Monaco, ranked 664th and 1,074th respectively.
Stephano Pessina – $6.3 billion
Stephano Pessina, aged 84, has been one of Monaco’s most prominent residents since becoming a naturalised citizen in 1992. His wealth traces back to 1977, when he stepped into his family’s pharmaceutical distribution business in Naples and began an acquisition spree that would span decades.
The endpoint of that journey was Walgreens Boots Alliance, the American-British pharmacy giant he now chairs. The company has faced headwinds recently, with falling share prices and store closures, but Pessina has not stepped away.
David Nahmad – $4 billion
David Nahmad, aged 78, arrived in Monaco via a rather different route. Born in Beirut to a Syrian-Jewish family, he and his brothers gravitated towards art as young men in Milan during the 1960s, eventually amassing a collection that few institutions could rival.
The family is said to hold between 4,500 and 5,000 works, among them more than 300 Picassos, kept in a Geneva storage facility. France has recognised his cultural contributions with the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Away from the art world, he also holds an unlikely distinction: 1996 Backgammon World Champion.
Together the two men account for just over $10 billion, a figure that reinforces Monaco’s status as a place where exceptional wealth tends to settle
Monaco will release a commemorative stamp on 28th March to mark the historic first apostolic visit of Pope Leo XIV to the Principality.Â
Although Pope Paul III passed through Monaco in 1538, no pope has made a formal apostolic journey here since.
Priced at €2.25 and limited to 42,000 copies, the stamp will be printed by offset in a vertical format of 30 x 40.85 mm and sold in sheets of 10. Photography is credited to Vatican Media.
According to the Office des Timbres de Monaco, collectors will be able to purchase the individual stamp, the full sheet, a special first-day cover envelope and an exclusive insert on the day itself at three locations: the Stamp and Coin Museum, the Place de la Mairie in Monaco-Ville, and in the Fontvieille district near the Stade Louis-II at the corner of Avenue des Castelans and Rue de l’Industrie.
The Prince’s Place reopens its Grands Apartments to the public on March 30th, and the final room is opening with the work still very much in progress.Â
The former marble alcove chamber has been closed for several years while conservators uncovered and restored its 16th century Renaissance frescoes.
When visitors walk in from 30th March, they will find two conservators still on the scaffolding above them, working brush in hand, centimetre by centimetre.
Restoration work in progress, photo by Monaco Life
The room is expected to be complete within a few months — but the decision to open it early was deliberate as there are few experiences quite like watching a Renaissance masterpiece being brought back to life above your head.
However, the reopening room conceals a further surprise. During restoration work, conservators discovered a second ceiling sealed above the existing one, perfectly preserved and never exposed to light, humidity or human presence for centuries.
More than 3,000 photographs have been taken inside the hidden space, revealing frescoes in a remarkable state.
As the first ceiling’s own frescoes make it impossible to access, visitors will be able to discover it through a video display in the room.
The first ceiling, meanwhile, is the one visitors will see being actively restored above their heads.
Restoration of the ceiling, photo by Monaco Life.
The central scene, previously uncovered, shows Bellerophon, mounted on the winged horse Pegasus, confronting Zeus and being cast down for the sin of pride.
Having slain the monstrous Chimera, Bellerophon believed himself equal to the gods… and was punished for it.
Full restoration of the room is expected within three to four months.
A journey through the underworld, on a palace ceiling
The throne room contains the project’s more incredible revelation: a ceiling covered in Renaissance frescoes that has not been definitively identified as a complete visual narrative of Homer’s Odyssey, a discovery only recently confirmed.
At its heart is is the ‘Nekuia’, the haunting scene in which Odysseus travels to the edge of the underworld, digs a pit with his sword, and waits as the souls of the dead rise to drink the blood of slaughtered animals and briefly regain their power of speech.
The ‘Nekuia’ scene in the throne room’s ceiling, photo by Monaco Life
Agamemnon, Achilles and others who fell at Troy all appear. Surrounding this central scene, the wider ceiling traces the full arc of the journey, from the binding of the Cyclops to the hero’s return to Ithaca, where only his dog and old nurse recognise him.
The symbolic thread is one of identity lost and recovered. From the moment Odysseus tells the Cyclops “I am nobody”, he travels nameless until he finally stands at the table of a foreign king and declares himself the hero of Troy.
A project a decade in the making
What began in 2013 as routine maintenance on the palace exterior became, once scuffing revealed traces of 16th century Genoese painting beneath later decoration, one of the most significant heritage projects in Europe.
The broader restoration, including façade works beginning later, this year are set for completion by mid-2028, after which the focus shifts permanently to conservation
By 2030, millennials will be up to five times richer than they are today, representing the biggest transfer of wealth in history. However, according to new research unveiled in Monaco last week, what that generation chooses to do with it may look very different from what the sustainability world is hoping for.Â
That was the central concern of the conference organised by the Offroad Club Monaco on 11th March at the Oceanographic Museum. Academics, athletes, entrepreneurs and officials united by the club’s concept ‘The Wake of Monaco’, tracing new routes powered by sport and human connection.
Among those present at the conference were Mayor Georges Marsan, National Council President Thomas Brezzo, and Romain Ciarlet, Vice-President of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
What the research says
Professor Annalisa Tarquini of the International University of Monaco has spent years studying ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Her latest work now focuses on the next generation: young people aged 20 to 30, born into significant wealth.
Her findings are shocking. Even though these young consumers are better informed about sustainability than their parents, this awareness doesn’t automatically mean action. When choosing between a heritage luxury brand and a sustainable alternative at the same time, they choose heritage.
On the contrary, it’s social impact, effects on communities and people less fortunate, that moves them the most, not environmental causes.
“We excepted sustainability to be their priority,” Tarquini told the audience. “What we found was that they talk much more about the effect of their choices on people than about protecting nature.”
Additionally, they are sceptical about greenwashing, allergic to technical language, and hungry for authenticity. So, her conclusion is that, if we want this generation to engage with sustainability, we need to meet they where they are. “We need to communicate sustainability in a way that speaks to their values,” Tarquini said. “Not in a technical way, but rather an attractive one.”
Professor Annalisa Tarquini of the International University of Monaco presenting her research, photo credit: Monaco Life
Monaco already using luxury as the message
Monaco, it turns out, has already been doing just that. The principality is already one of the world’s greatest symbols of wealth and one of the most committed advocates for ocean conversation.
Now, rather than this being a contradicting paradox, Monaco leans into it, using the language of adventure, performance and spectacle to carry the environmental message.
For example, the Princess Charlène Foundation, led by Gareth Wittstock, organised a 24-hour water bike crossing from Corsica to Monaco — an extreme physical challenge to promote water safety. FIA World Endurance Championship driver Francesco Castellacci was among the athletes who took part. Not a campaign, not a report but a kind of challenge that speaks to the young generation.
Maxime Nocher, 12 times kitefoil world champion, had his career cut short by an accident. Rather than stepping away though, he channelled his energy into Team Monaco, developing camera technology to detect debris and abandoned fishing nets at sea, and competing in hydrogen-powered buggy racing to push clean energy into motorsport. His approach combines spectacle, sport, and performance with an environmental message.Â
Alberto Domenico Vitale, Chairman and CEO of Vitale 1913, turned a documentary about ocean plastic into a jewellery collection. Ethically sourced coral, developed in partnership with Monaco’s Scientific Centre, worn by people for whom jewellery is a language. In this way, he turned a lecture into a luxury object.
Offroad Club Monaco Massimiliano Mordenti went even further by setting a world record for long distance travel on bioethanol-powered jet ski, combining sport and adventure with sustainability.
All of these are not conventional green campaigns, but they communicate sustainability through the language that the next generation understands. As Tarquini’s research suggests, this may in fact be the only language that works.
“Find the values,” she said. “Communicate authentically. And do it in a way that is attractive.”
A portrait of Lavinia Bingham, Countess Spencer, a direct ancestor of Princess Diana, is set to go under the hammer at a Monaco auction house this week, after spending decades in the hands of a British family settled in Monaco.
The painting, attributed to Sir Joshua Reynolds and estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000 euros, will be the centrepiece of Accademia Fina Art’s prestige sale on 19th March, with a public preview running until Wednesday.
Reynolds painted the Countess Spencer, wife of the 2nd Earl Spencer, around 1784. The work was engraved the following year and shown at London’s Royal Academy in 1878, then again at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1883–84. After that, it largely disappeared from public view, passing through a succession of private hands before being rediscovered with a British family long based in Monaco.
The painting is the second of two versions Reynolds made of the same composition. The first has hung at Althorp House, the Spencer family seat in Northamptonshire, since the 19th century. The auction house describes the second version as the more accomplished of the two, suggesting Reynolds, having resolved the technical challenges in his first attempt, was freer to concentrate on finish and surface in the second.
Sir Joshua Reynolds painting depicting Lavinia Bingham, photo by Monaco Life
The painting that got away…twice
When it came up for sale at Christie’s in May 1821, as part of the estate of Reynold’s nieces the Marchioness of Thomond, a family representative failed to bid in time and the painting was knocked down to a Mr Wansey for just £57.15.
Christie’s wrote to Wansey days later on behalf of the family if he would consider giving it back. He declined. By 1901 the painting had changes hands again, this time for £3,650. It now carries an estimate of up to 200,000 euros.
Scholarly records had noted the painting’s existence for over a century. It was listed in the 1899 Graves and Cronin catalogue of Reynolds’s work and again in David Mannings’s definitive 2000 catalogue, where it was described as a replica with variations and recorded as “untraced”.
The auction house says the paper trail behind the work, including the 1821 Christie’s correspondence, insurance documents from 1901, and a British government exemption inventory dated 1945, supports its provenance.
The auction sale also includes a panel painting attributed to Peter Paul Rubens, depicting the Penitent Magdalene and dated to around 1600, his Italian period, when he was closely studying Titian in Venice. It carries an estimate of 150,000 to 200,000 euros.
Other highlights include a lady’s cylinder desk attributed to the royal furniture supplier Jean-François Oeben, an English baroque cabinet in Japanese lacquer from around 1685, and a 1906 portrait by Italian futurist Umberto Boccioni, estimated at 200,000 to 400,000 euros.
The auction begins at 2:30pm on 19th March. Bidding is also available. by telephone and absence bid. Full catalogue details are available at accademiafineart.com.
The Princely Government is set to host the fifth edition of the PropTech Symposia on 19th March, bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, researchers and policymakers to explore the latest developments in property technology.Â
Set to take place at the Yacht Club de Monaco from 5pm, the annual conference will focus on the theme ‘PropTech: Accelerator of Innovation & Growth in Real Estate,’ examining how technology is reshaping the property and construction sectors worldwide.
The conference will be held in English and moderated by the Government’s Communications head Geneviève Berti, and will feature speakers of international standing including a presentation of the PropTech Barometer 2025, an annual benchmark tracking major shifts in the global property market.
