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Remembering Princess Grace: 40th anniversary of her passing

by: Stephanie Horsman
13/09/2022

September 14th is a difficult day for the Princely family as it is the day they lost their beloved mother, Princess Grace, who died of injuries sustained in a car crash in 1982. Wednesday marks the 40th anniversary of her passing.

It’s hard to imagine four decades have passed since the death of Princess Grace. Her memory and spirit are still so much a part of the Principality, and her legacies continue to touch people to this day, making her presence seem as if she were still here on some level.

Her son, Prince Albert II, spoke about his mother to Monaco Matin, saying he talks to his children, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, about their iconic grandmother and what a source of light and inspiration she was. He also shares what his plans are to mark the anniversary of her death on 14thSeptember.

“I think we’ll go to her grave, and we’ll have some family time. There’s been a lot of evocations of my mother in recent years. Documentaries, exhibitions, lots of events that invoke her memory. We thought that it was not absolutely useful to do something special for these 40 years,” said the Prince.

Her untimely loss aged only 52 was a shock to the world, and provoked great outpourings of grief and emotion, similar to another royal passing being played out in the UK this week with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Grace led a fairy tale existence, first as an Oscar-winning screen idol and Hitchcock blonde, and then as a real-life Princess upon marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956.

“It’s so incredible and it warms the hearts of my sisters and the whole family,” the Prince went on to say. “Her memory is not only very vivid, but it has crossed generations who have taken the time to be interested in my mother, in her life, in her image and what she was able to leave as a memory. Her presence is still very much felt. Her heritage is still very present in the Principality and elsewhere in the world. All the time, people I meet talk to me of her, even people who did not know her.”

The Princess’s contributions to Monaco are felt even now. She has been credited with not only turning the Principality into an international centre for glamour, but also for her charitable works, which focused heavily on the welfare of the sick and children.

Princess Grace, photo source Palace Archives

The story of her death is now legend. On the morning of 13th September 1982, the Princess and her youngest daughter Princess Stephanie leave their country house, Roc Agel, in the hills above Monaco in a Rover 3500 at about 9:30 in the morning.

As they descend, they pass a truck driver who notices the car speeding toward a hairpin turn and watches helplessly as the car careens over the cliff, falling 40 metres in the garden of the former artistic director of Loews, Jacques Provence.

“The Rover fell three meters from us!” Provence later told Jean des Cars in the 1990s. “This place on the road was reputed to be very dangerous: we had already experienced four car crashes. In the seconds that followed this terrible shock, we did not know who was inside of the car.”

Firemen arrived on the scene and extracted Stephanie, before using a blowtorch to free Princess Grace. Both were rushed to the hospital, but it was Grace who was by far in the worse shape. Despite all efforts being made to save her life, she died the following day of her injuries.

Investigations following the accident concluded that the Princess suffered a stroke which made her lose control of the car.

Prince Albert recalls that day, saying “there were never any doubts” as to the official word on the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, despite a flurry of rumours spread at the time.

To celebrate the life of Princess Grace, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and the De Dannan group will pay tribute to Princess Grace with a concert featuring traditional Irish music and the world premiere of a new piece entitled the Princess Grace Symphonic Suite.

The show will be held on Thursday 15th September at 8pm at the Rainier III Auditorium. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the website on https://www.opmc.mc/en/concert/tribute-to-princess-grace/

 

 

 

Photo above source: Palace Archives

 

 

 

Prince and Princess lay first stone at future SPA site

by: Stephanie Horsman
13/09/2022

Nearly two years after the decision was made, the first stone was laid for the future building that will house the Society of the Protection of Animals in the picturesque mountain village of Peille.

Situated between Monaco and Menton in the hills lies the “perched” town of Peille, future home of the Society of the Protection of Animals (SPA) animal shelter, which officially broke ground on Monday in a ceremony attended by both Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene.

The Princely couple lay the first stone at the site, and a plaque noting the moment has already been placed to commemorate the occasion. Both the Prince and Princess have been active in animal rights and protection acts: the Prince through his foundation’s environmental actions and the Princess through hers, most recently her trip to South Africa working with the highly threatened rhinoceroses of the region. 

It was revealed during the ceremony that Princess Charlene is the new president of the Monaco SPA, taking up a position left vacant since the death of Baroness Elizabeth-Ann de Massy in 2020.

Photo credit Eric Mathon, Prince’s Palace

The SPA location in current use in the village of Èze is woefully inadequate, being both too small to accommodate the animals in residence as well as being rather run down. After over a decade of deliberation, the French authorities and the government of Monaco finally found a suitable alternative, being the Peille site.

The hold-up stemmed from reluctance by the mayors of local municipalities to build and house a new refuge and in the end, two towns were selected as possibilities, namely Blausasc and Peille. Ultimately, it was Peille that was selected.

Monaco had considered a site near the Jardin Exotique, but found it unsuitable as space is at such a premium in the Principality and the room needed to allow animals some leg room just wasn’t there.

Photo credit: Eric Mathon, Prince’s Palace

Works were originally set to start in the summer of 2021, but due to unforeseen delays, the ground-breaking only began now, a full year later than expected.

The new SPA shelter is set to be move-in ready by the end of 2023 and will be home to abandoned and abused animals from all over the area. In the meantime, the Èze facility will continue operations as best as they can.

 

 

Photo above credit: Eric Mathon, Prince’s Palace

 

 

 

 

New-look AS Monaco Women start with a win

by: luke@monacolife.net
13/09/2022

AS Monaco Women began their Régional 1 season with a comfortable 4-0 victory against Toulon Elite Futsal to get their promotion chase off to the perfect start. 

It is all change of the Principality’s Womens’ side this season. Stéphane Guigo has been replaced on the sideline by the experienced Laurent Banide, who has previously managed the Monaco men’s side on two occasions.

The squad itself is also much-changed. Monaco have added seven recruits, which has reinforced a strong side that almost secured promotion last season, beofre faltering at the final hurdle in the promotion play-off against former professional side Toulouse.

The star recruit is undoutedly Marina Makanza, the former Marseille and Montpellier attacker, who has been capped 15 times by the French national team.

She opened her account on the first gameweek of the season. Her penalty added to an early goal from Moeko Morse. A Léa Malaret double completed the scoring against Toulon to secure the comfortable 4-0 victory.

Monaco go second in the table; their result was bettered only by AS Cannes, who beat FCF Monteux Vaucluse 5-0. Last season, Monaco went unbeaten in the regular championship, and they will be hoping to match that record this year. Unlike last year, there are no play-offs and the first-placed side will be automatically promoted. Hoping to maintain their record, AS Monaco Women will next face Tarascon next weekend.

 

 

Photo source: AS Monaco Women

 

 

 

Monaco cap perfect week with victory

by: Luke Entwistle
12/09/2022

AS Monaco edged Olympique Lyonnais 2-1 at the Stade Louis II on Sunday evening to secure their third victory in the space of a week and significantly scale the Ligue 1 table.

Only a week ago, Philippe Clement’s side languished in 16th place in the Ligue 1 table, but by the end of their thrilling victory against Peter Bosz’s Lyon, they were up to seventh, and just two points behind their opponents on the night, who had enjoyed a blistering start to the season.

The context that surrounded the game makes the victory all the more impressive. Monaco were yet to win a game at the Stade Louis II this season in four attempts. Although there were admittedly mitigating circumstances for some of those results, notably some incredibly harsh red cards, the first victory of the season in front of the home fans was sorely needed.

As Clement told Monaco Life, “You mustn’t forget that this is the first time that we have played 11v11 in the championship at the Stade Louis II. I didn’t have any doubt in my mind about the fact that we hadn’t won at home.”

Preparation for the game was also difficult and put into sharp focus Sunday night’s achievement. Following their 1-0 win against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, the team only arrived back in the Principality late on Friday and had one day to prepare.

Whilst there were some signs of fatigue in some players late-on, Monaco matched a more refreshed Lyon side’s energy.

The first-half of the tie was littered with half-chances. Lyon had their own chances, but the best fell to Monaco. Krépin Diatta hit the foot of the post with a swivelled volley and seconds later, Breel Embolo’s free header from eight yards out was straight at Anthony Lopes in the Lyon goal.

Although an entertaining game, there was a distinct lack of goals. That changed in the second-half. Monaco have greatly improved from direct set-pieces, and there was further evidence of that against Lyon.

Caio Henrique’s corner was well met by Benoît Badiashile, who had worked himself a free header and made no mistake with the finish. Monaco earned another set piece just minutes later and it was once again Henrique who found one of his centre-backs.

This time, his free-kick was met by Guillermo Maripán, who doubled Monaco’s lead. Half of Monaco’s goals this season have now come from set pieces, an area of Monaco’s game that has been under-exploited in recent times.

However, Lyon weren’t out of the game and launched a barrage on Monaco’s goal. Alexander Nübel, who had one of his finest games in a Monaco jersey had already saved brilliantly from Alexandre Lacazette and he was repeatedly called upon in the final moments.

The Bayern Munich loanee couldn’t do anything about Karl Toko Ekambi’s volley, but he secured the three points late on with a brilliant close-range stop from Moussa Dembélé, who looked destined to level the scores.

But Monaco held on to cap a perfect week. Mentally, they now look to have definitively consigned their Champions League play-off defeat to the past and their rapid ascent up the table is a manifestation of that. They next face Ferencvaros in Monaco on Thursday before travelling to Reims on Sunday.

 

Photo by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life

 

 

 

AS Monaco’s ‘La Diagonale’ academy centre inaugurated

by: Luke Entwistle
12/09/2022

La Diagonale, AS Monaco’s academy training complex, was inaugurated on Thursday just days after the historic inauguration of the club’s performance centre in La Turbie.

Called ‘La Diagonale,’ the building, which houses AS Monaco’s academy, is located just a stone’s throw away from the Stade Louis II. The arches of the iconic stadium can be seen from the windows of the modern complex, and act as a visual reminder both for the young players, as well as the staff, as to why they carry out the work they do.

The building, situated in Cap d’Ail, was completed in 2020, but the Covid pandemic delayed its official inauguration, which happened on Thursday in the presence of Prince Albert II and Monaco CEO Jean-Emmanuel de Witt.

As de Witt told Monaco Life, the construction of La Diagonale, as well as the performance centre perched upon the hill that overlooks the Principality, are “inextricably linked.”

“This year we took the decision to create the ‘Elite Group’ rather than playing in National 2. Why did we do that? Because we want to reduce the gap between the young players and the professional players. The two infrastructures that you’ve seen this week, in the space of just a few days, work hand in hand,” said de Witt. “It [the construction of La Diagonale] fits completely into the club’s philosophy. We recruit players very, very early [scouting as young as 10 and recruiting from 13]. Then we train them in football, but also in Monégasque football. Every team has its style and so it’s very important, both in terms of values and in terms of football, that we can train them to develop within our professional squad in the future. That’s what we hope.”

Monaco are well-known as a formatory club, and so the new centre, which brings together all elements of day-to-day life under one roof, is important to withhold that image. However, the most important thing is the development of these players, not just as footballers, but as humans, as was stressed during Monaco Life’s tour of the facilities.

A gym, a swimming pool, a medical department, classrooms and accommodation are all on sight, minimising lost time through travelling between sites. As youth goalkeeper Alain Zadi, who has often trained with the club’s first team, told Monaco Life, “Everything we need is here.”

On an educational level, the academy is already producing stellar results, with the club maintaining a 100% success record in the baccalaureat three years on the trot. And the results are showing on the pitch. Benoît Badiashile, Eliot Matazo, Maghnes Akliouche and Soungoutou Magassa are just the latest in a long line of academy products that have gone on to lay for the club’s professional side.

La Diagonale allows the club to perpetuate the it’s philosophy of promoting and trusting young players, whilst also showcasing the best of Monégasuqe football and attracting the best youth to the club. That’s a winning combination, which the club hope will allow them to consolidate their position amongst the European elite and hunt for more silverware in the immediate, as well as the distant future.

 

 

 

Photo: Ekaterina Rybolovleva, Prince Albert II and  Juan Sartori by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life.

 

 

 

 

Verstappen wins in Monza, Leclerc takes second

by: Luke Entwistle
11/09/2022

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame a five-place grid penalty to win the Italian GP on Sunday in a highly strategic race as Ferrari let it slip on their home turf.

Monégasque driver Charles Leclerc lined up on pole position having narrowly beaten Verstappen, who had a five-place grid penalty, which dropped him to seventh. Teammate Carlos Sainz finished third on Saturday, but a grid penalty saw him drop back to 18th.

It was English driver George Russell who therefore lined-up next to Leclerc on the front row of the grid on Sunday. Leclerc comfortably held his lead off the grid, but the real danger was further back. By the first corner of the second lap, Verstappen had already made his way up to third.

The reigning world champion clearly had pace, as he has in recent races. But this race was as much decided by strategic calls and tyre degradation as it was by raw pace. Leclerc saw an opportune moment to make an (almost) free stop under a virtual safety car, and took it.

However, it was too early, and Verstappen could hugely extend his first stint, allowing to take the advantage of his increasingly distant title rival. A pit stop in Monza is said to cost around 24 seconds, the longest on the F1 calendar. The decision to stop Leclerc twice, compared to Verstappen’s one-stop strategy, was the latest in a series of questionable Ferrari tactical calls.

Without having to overtake Leclerc on track, Verstappen inherited the lead of the race. A late safety car following a technical failure to Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren looked to give Leclerc another chance of snatching the victory in front of the adoring Tifosi that had attended en-masse throughout the weekend.

However, there wasn’t enough time to restart and the race finished behind the safety car, to the disappointment of everyone, even Verstappen, who was ultimately the major benefactor of the decision.

As a result, Leclerc remains truly cut adrift from Verstappen, who could wrap up consecutive titles in the coming races. 116 points currently separate the duo, who at the beginning of the season were inseparable both in the standings and on-track. Russell rounded off the podium and Sainz had a magnificent recovery drive to secure fourth.

In front of their home fans, it was ultimately a disappointing weekend. There is a tacit acceptance that the title is over, but there was hope of a Ferrari win, which could spark scenes similar to those experienced during Leclerc’s win in 2019. It wasn’t to be.

Monza, however, is always special for Ferrari, and therefore for Leclerc. “Monza is always incredible. Starting from pole, I did want to take the win. However, that’s not how it went today. Seeing the tifosi under the podium made it a lot better.”

Due to the cancellation of the Russian GP, there is now a gap in the calendar, and there isn’t a race until Singapore in early October.

 

 

Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office