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Behind the curtain: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory debuts in Monaco

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
13/12/2025

Cascades of chocolate, Oompa Loompas, and the marvellous Willy Wonka himself are about to take over the Grimaldi Forum as Monaco becomes the first to host a magical new production of Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

The musical made its world premiere on December 12th before embarking on an international tour, bringing Roald Dahl’s beloved tale to life. The production follows young Charlie Bucket as he wins a Golden Ticket and joins four other children on a journey though Willy Wonka’s extraordinary chocolate factory, encountering everything from the famous TV room and mixing room to the nut sorting room along the way.

During open rehearsals on Friday, Monaco Life sat down with the creative team to discover what it takes to create a world of pure imagination on stage.

During the rehearsal, photo by Monaco Life.

Finding the child within

For Sam Varley, who plays Charlie Bucket, the key to portraying the young protagonist isn’t pretending to be a child at all. “It’s less about presenting myself as a little boy, which is less interesting, and more about finding the childhood that is within us all, all the time,” he told Monaco Life.

The actor, who grew up on Roald Dahl’s stories, sees the role as a celebration of wonder. “I think part of what this story is about is finding your joy and your innocence unperturbed by adulthood, believing in magic and allowing yourself to be truly awed by anything.”

Standing on stage surrounded by the elaborate illusions, Varley admits he’s barely acting. “It’s so awe-inspiring anyway that I just allow myself to be as amazed as I am. I think that reads as joy, and childhood is joy.”

During the rehearsal, photo by Monaco Life.

The genius of Wonka

Haydn Oakley faces the challenge of bringing the complex chocolatier Willy Wonka to life, a character known for his quick mood shifts between whimsy and darkness. But the actor, doesn’t find it particularly difficult. “Luckily, I’m closer to Wonka than further away, so I just kind of lean into that part of my own personality,” he says laughing.

As a father of two young children aged seven and five, Oakley has strong views on the darker elements woven through Dahl’s storytelling. “I think children’s brains are probably more accepting of that kind of Roald Dahl darkness that we give them credit for,” he explains. “If anything, there’s a safety in what we’re doing here experiencing those darker undertones in this sort of environment and enjoying what they are.”

He hopes adults will rediscover their own sense of play. “As adults, we prevent ourselves from enjoying those things and thinking that we have to build up walls. So hopefully, people will leave this production feeling more childlike themselves.”

During the rehearsal, photo by Monaco Life.

Directing with imagination

Director and choreographer Grant Murphy has taken an unconventional approach to staging the production. In the final rehearsal room run, he stripped away everything physical. “They had no props, no set, no costume elements, and I asked them to just imagine everything. Like a child would when they’re playing in the garden.”

This technique, Murphy explains, helps the performers maintain the show’s sense of wonder even when surrounded by elaborate technical elements. “Once we open, I’ll be asking the cast to continue imagining that they’re in an empty room with nothing in it and all of the stuff around them is coming from their minds.”

He even suggests a playful interpretation: “Maybe Charlie imagined everything that everyone sees. Could all of this just been in your imagination?”

For now, the cast prepares to bring this magical world to Monaco, before taking it to stages around the globe. The show will be performed in English with French subtitles.

With waterfalls of chocolate, breathtaking illusions, and songs including ‘The Candy Man’, ‘I’ve Got a Golden Ticket’, and ‘Pure Imagination’, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory promises an unforgettable theatrical experience for the whole family this Christmas season.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory runs at the Grimaldi Forum from 12th to 14th December.  Tickets start from €45.

Additionally, during every performance, one lucky child under 12 will have the opportunity to win their very own golden ticket!

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Main photo by Monaco Life.

Monaco launches regular business roundtables to address economic concerns

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
12/12/2025

Monaco’s new delegate for attractiveness, Ludmilla Raconnat Le Goff, has convened the first in a series of regular meetings bringing together the Principality’s business community to tackle three key challenges: relations between businesses and the state, conditions for economic development, and Monaco’s image and perception abroad. 

The first session, held on December 11th at the Monaco Yacht Club, gathered representatives from FEDEM, the Monaco Economic Board, the banking association, and various professional bodies. Minister of State Christophe Mirmand was also present.

Raconnat Le Goff said the meeting stemmed from numerous one-on-one conversations with business leaders that revealed these recurring themes across all sectors.

“I want us to have very concrete discussions based on real examples of what businesses experience today,” she told the press, rather than “pilling up generalised complaints”.

The first theme addresses relations between businesses and the state, including concerns about administrative delays and complicated procedures. The second examines whether certain legal structures or texts “for certain sectors are no longer really adapted” and may need reviewing.

Minister of State Christophe Mirmand at the session, photo credit: ©Stéphane Danna / Direction de la Communication

International perception gap

The third theme proved particularly striking. “When I explain our economic reality abroad, people say ‘we didn’t know that’,” Raconnat Le Goff noted, referring to recent trips in Paraguay and Jeddah.

“Monaco is known for a certain historical image that is dear to us – the glamour, festive events, sporting events,” she said. “But the reality of Monaco, the fact that Monaco is a place where it’s good to live, where it’s good to work, where it’s good to develop professional activity – that’s not necessarily perceived. The reality of our economic fabric ranging from industry to tech via services and finance is not known.”

To address this, the principality plans increased international engagement in 2026, joining networks of state agencies focused on attractiveness and meeting with foreign advisers.

Quality over quantity

However, Raconnat Le Goff dismissed any mass attraction strategy, highlighting quality over quantity. “Monaco is two square kilometres with limited real estate, limited possibilities. So we’re not in this mass policy.”

Instead, the focus is on attracting “high value-added companies” across diverse sectors rather than over-specialising. “I think we shouldn’t forbid ourselves anything in principle. Over-specialisation doesn’t seem appropriate either because it puts us at the mercy of a sector of activity.”

The sessions are likely to be held every four to six weeks.

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Main photo credit: Stéphane Danna, Direction de la Communication

Monaco launches real-time parking app in two-year Handipact review

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
04/12/2025

On December 3rd at the Méridien Beach Plaza, Lionel Galfré, Monaco’s Delegate for Disability, presented a review of the Handipact policy launched two years ago. The initiative was built on a fundamental principle: “Nothing about us without us”.

“We wanted voluntary, concerted action, with everyone, for the whole of society,” Galfré explained. “We’ve placed people with disabilities at the heart of our approach.”

The policy created a working group bringing together eight Monegasque associations representing different types of disability, ensuring that those with lived experience shape the initiatives that affect them.

Nine pillars of action

Over the past two years, Handipact has delivered tangible results. A bespoke 20-minute training module on disability awareness had been created and made available to all public sector employees. Meanwhile, field testing was conducted with associations and the public car parks service to ensure theoretical accessibility translated into practical reality.

In October, Monaco also launched StreetNav, a smartphone applications that Galfré described as “a kind of Waze for people with reduced mobility”. The app provides real-time information about obstacles, lifts and accessible routes through Monaco’s challenging terrain.

“Our territory is complex, hilly and constantly evolving,” Galfré noted. “It’s essential to have information updated in real time.”

During Handipact 2025, photo by Monaco Life

Within days, another innovation will launch as well: an application identifying accessible parking spaces in real time, showing whether they’re occupied and providing geolocation. “To my knowledge, I don’t have other examples of territories doing this.” Galfré said.

The Principality has also redesigned its disability card with an internationally recognisable logo. “It’s my pass. I show it, it’s identifiable everywhere, even abroad,” Galfré explained. “It’s a tiny detail, but until you’ve experienced it, you don’t know how important it is.”

Lastly, more than 400 commercial establishments have been approached with practical guidance on improving accessibility, supported by information about government assistance and free advisory services.

International recognition

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, commended Moanco’s approach via video message, noting that people with disabilities die on average 20 years earlier than those without due to health inequalities. This is why he thanked Monaco for sharing data and insights from its Handipact programme, which will contribute to the WHO’s regional progress report.

“Monaco shows that a small state can have a big impact,” Kluge said.

Handipact awards

The Handipact Trophy 2025 was awarded to the Grimaldi Forum for its attention to inclusion during the ‘Couleurs!’ exhibition created by Monegasque artist Caroline Bergonzi, while a special prize went to the Association Monégasque des Handicapés Moteurs for its investment in Handipact projects throughout 2025.

The event. marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, forms part of Monaco’s programme as World Capital of Sport 2025.

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Main photo of Lionel Galfré by Monaco Life.

Monaco marks world AIDS day with Palace tribute and new testing centre

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
02/12/2025

The Prince’s Palace lit up in red on Monday night in a gesture of solidarity with those affected by HIV and AIDS. The illumination served both as a tribute to lives lost and a reminder that the battle against stigma and infection continues. 

Inside the Oceanographic Museum, a more intimate ceremony unfolded as Fight Aids Monaco displayed eight memorial quilts honouring 93 people who have died from AIDS-relayed illnesses. Princess Stéphanie, who heads the association, attended alongside her daughter Camille Gottlieb and local officials for the emotional tribute.

However, this year, Monaco combined symbolic gestures with practical action in the fight against HIV.

New testing centre opens

The day also marked a step forward in prevention efforts, with Fight Aids Monaco launching a weekly rapid testing service at its headquarters. Every Tuesday morning, the centre now offers free, confidential screening for HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other sexually transmitted infections.

Results are delivered within 30 minutes through a rapid diagnostic test, with complete anonymity guaranteed. The service aims to reach people who might be hesitant to visit traditional testing centres.

“We wanted to create a space for people who are still afraid of others’ judgement, of walking into a screening centre,” Princess Stéphanie explained to Monaco Info. “In the Fight Aids premises, it’s perhaps a more reassuring place with our teams who are trained in dialogue before, during and after testing. Because it’s important, whether the result is positive or negative, to have information.”

She also stressed that the new facility complements rather than replaces existing services at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, offering an additional option for those seeking discretion.

Prevention remains key

The Princess highlighted that while the tools to combat HIV exist, testing and awareness remain crucial. Recent UNAIDS figures show around 1.3 million new HIV infections were recorded globally in 2023, with a concerning rise among younger people.

“We’ve already worked with numerous rapid tests to reach out to communities for screening,” Princess Stéphanie said. “It’s really important, and for us it’s also recognition of what we do, that this happens at the Fight Aids premises.”

Since its founding in 2004, Fight Aids Monaco has combined education, prevention, medical support and social care. The new testing centre is the latest evolution in that mission, removing barriers of cost, fear and delay that can prevent people from knowing their situation.

For those wishing to use the service, the testing centre operates every Tuesday morning at Fight Aids Monaco headquarters at ‘La Villa Pasteur, 15 Bd Charles III’, offering free and confidential screening.

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Main photo credit: Frédéric Nébinger

The story behind the new exhibition that explores the unique relationship between Prince Albert I and King Carlos I

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
26/11/2025

An exhibition honouring Prince Albert I and King Carlos I has opened to mark the first official visit by a Portuguese president to Monaco. 

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa arrived on November 21st for the historic state visit, during which he and Prince Albert II viewed the exhibition at the Saint-Martin Gardens.

The display, titled ‘Sovereign Oceanographers: Albert I, Prince of Monaco and Carlos I, King of Portugal”, chronicles the friendship between the two rulers who shared a passion for marine science.

Prince Albert I was a pioneer of modern oceanography. During his travels, he forged a close bond with King Carlos I, inspiring the monarch’s scientific work and exchanging frequent correspondence.

The exhibition, photo by Monaco Life.

A friendship forged at sea

The two first met in 1879 when Prince Abert I stopped in Lisbon aboard his yacht Hirondelle. The then 16-year-old Carlos sketched the vessel in pencil during the visit.

But their friendship became stronger when both ascended their thrones in 1889, only a month apart. By 1894, when Prince Albert and his second wife Princess Alice visited Lisbon, the bond extended to their spouses as well, since King Carlos had married Marie-Amélie of Orléans in 1886.

The exhibition reveals how Prince Albert encouraged Kind Carlos’s oceanographic work. King Carlos studied Portuguese coastal waters during campaigns between 1896 and 1900 using successive yachts, all named after his wife.

Both rulers also published their scientific findings and created exhibitions of their discoveries. Prince Albert established a modest pavilion at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition, while King Carlos displayed his collections at Lisbon’s Polytechnic School in 1897.

Their correspondence, counting around 100 letters over more than a decade, focused on oceanographic techniques and discoveries.

Tragedy and legacy

However, the friendship was cut short by King Carlos’s assassination in Lisbon on February 1st 1908. The King and his eldest son, Crown Prince Luís Filipe, were both killed in the attack. In a letter to Queen Amélie, Prince Albert wrote of “the agony that grips me when I think of the tearing of your heart as a mother.”

The tragedy depicted in the exhibition, photo by Monaco Life.

At the 1910 inauguration of the Oceanographic Museum, Prince Albert paid tribute to his fallen friend. Meanwhile, the museum’s façade bears the name ‘Amelia’ in honour of King Carlos’s research vessels.

Prince Albert also made a pilgrimage to Lisbon in 1920, where he spoke at length about King Carlos, describing him as “my student, for it was I who led him to do oceanography on the coasts of Portugal”.

The exhibition, which runs until February 26th, builds upon a show at Lisbon’s Maritime Museum in 2022 that marked the centenary of Prince Albert I’s death.

Now, with the first official visit of Portugal’s president, a bust of King Carlos I was installed in the Saint Martin Gardens opposite a stele dedicated to Prince Albert I, which was unveiled in 1998.

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Main photo by Monaco Life.

Princely family celebrates National Day with adoring crowds

by: Kyriaki Topalidou
19/11/2025

Monaco marked its National Day on Wednesday with a rich display of heritage, dignity, and national pride. From solemn religious observance to the precision of military ceremony, the celebrations reflected the Principality’s enduring traditions and close ties between the Sovereign and his people.

The day began solemnly at 9:30am with a Te Deum at Monaco Cathedral, where Prince Albert and Princess Charlene were joined by Princess Caroline and Princess Stéphanie. Archbishop Dominique-Marie David led the thanksgiving mass, accompanied by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and Monaco Cathedral Choir.

Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella at Monaco’s National Day, photo credit: Michaël Alesi / Palais princier

By 11am, attention shifted to the Palace’s Cour d’Honneur, where Prince Albert presided over military ceremonies honouring Monaco’s four uniformed units.

The Prince personally awarded rank insignia to 31 promoted members of the Force Publique and presented the Order of Saint-Charles to three servicemen, along with medals of honour to 16 Palace staff.

The Princely Family enjoying a demonstration by the Carabiniers, photo by Monaco Life.

This year’s celebrations also marked 150 years of Monaco’s diplomatic representation in Italy, with 33 musicians from the 3rd Carabinieri Regiment of Lombardy joining the Prince’s Carabiniers Orchestra in a specially adapted musical programme.

But the day’s most anticipated moment arrived at the Palace Square, where crowds had gathered in eager anticipation. When Prince Albert, Princess Charlene, and twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella finally appeared at the Palace window, cheers erupted across the historic square. Princess Stéphanie and her children Louis Ducruet and Camille Gottlieb also appeared at a separate window, adding to the joyous scene.

The crowd gathered outside the Palace, awaiting for the Princely Family, photo by Monaco Life.

“I would do anything to be here, even if it was raining, I would have come,” one Monegasque resident told Monaco Life. She couldn’t single out a favourite moment: “I loved everything from start to finish, everything was amazing.”

Another local reflected on what the day represents: “The National Day is always a great joy, there is always so much prestige, but it’s also a reflection of a prosperous Principality and a Prince who is close to the population.” The appearance of the Princely Family, she added, remained the emotional highlight: “That is something that always brings joy.”

The day proved once more that Monaco’s National Day continues to be one of the Principality’s most beloved annual celebrations, drawing not only residents but visitors alike to honour Monaco, it’s heritage, the Sovereign Prince, and the entire Grimaldi family.

See more in our video reel below…

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Main photo credit: Michaël Alesi / Palais princier