Albert II, Prince of Monaco

Albert II[1][2] (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is the Sovereign Prince of Monaco and head of the Princely House of Grimaldi. He is the son of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly.

He was born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, and attended the Lycée Albert Premier before studying political science at Amherst College. In his youth, he competed in bobsleigh during Winter Olympic finals before retiring in 2002. Albert was appointed regent in March 2005 after his father fell ill, and became sovereign prince upon his passing a week later. Since his ascension, he has been outspoken in the field of environmentalism and an advocate of ocean conservation,[3] and adoption of renewable energy sources to tackle global climate change,[4][5] and founded The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation in 2006, to directly raise funds and initiate action for such causes and greater ecological preservation.

Albert is one of the wealthiest royals in the world, with assets valued at more than $1 billion,[6] which include land in Monaco and France. He owns shares in the Société des Bains de Mer, which operates Monaco's casino and other entertainment properties in the principality.[7][8]

In July 2011, Prince Albert married South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.[9] They have two children, the twins Princess Gabriella and Hereditary Prince Jacques. Prince Albert is also father to two children born prior to his marriage, American-born Jazmin Grace Grimaldi and French-born Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste.

Prince Albert was born in the Prince's Palace of Monaco on 14 March 1958, as the second child of the Prince and Princess of Monaco. At the time of his birth, he was heir apparent to the throne. He has Irish, German, and Monegasque ancestry. The Prince was a dual citizen of both the Principality of Monaco and the United States of America by birth, before renouncing his American citizenship in his early adulthood.[10] He was baptized on 20 April 1958, by Monsignor Jean Delay, Archbishop of Marseille, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Monaco.[11] His godparents were Prince Louis de Polignac and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain.[12]

Albert graduated with distinction from the Lycée Albert Premier, in 1976. He was a camper, and later a counselor for six summers at Camp Tecumseh,[12] on Lake Winnipesaukee, Moultonborough, New Hampshire, in the 1970s. He spent a year training in princely duties before enrolling at Amherst College, in Massachusetts, in 1977 as Albert Grimaldi. He later joined Chi Psi fraternity.[12] Albert spent mid-1979 touring Europe and the Middle East with the Amherst College Glee Club, and also undertook an exchange program with the University of Bristol, at the Alfred Marshall School of Economics and Management, in 1979. He graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. [13] He speaks French, English, German, and Italian.[12] From September 1981 to April 1982, Albert trained onboard the French Navy's helicopter carrier Jeanne d'Arc, attaining the rank of Ship-of-the-Line Ensign (2nd class), and is currently a reserve Lieutenant Commander.[14] From 1983 to 1985, he took training courses with companies J.P. Morgan & Co, LVMH, Rogers & Wells, and Wells, Rich and Greene in the United States and Europe, studying financial management, communication, and marketing. Since May 1993, the Prince has led the Monegasque delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 2004, the Prince presided over the delegation of Monaco in Strasbourg, France, for the official accession of the Principality onto the Council of Europe.

Prince Albert's mother, Princess Grace died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in 1982. She was aged 52.[citation needed] In 2017, the Prince stated during an interview that his mother's death was a traumatic event for him and his family, revealing that his father was "never the same man" after the loss.[15]

On 19 March 2020, amid the large-scale outbreak of COVID-19, it was announced that Albert II had tested positive for the infectious disease, which is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. It was reported that he had begun to self-quarantine from within his apartment, performing his work and duties from there.[37] This makes Albert II the first monarch and head of state to have contracted COVID-19.[38] He is the second head of a royal house to contract the virus, after Karl von Habsburg.[39] On 31 March, it was announced that he had made a full recovery and would begin to self-quarantine with his family.[40]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_II,_Prince_of_Monaco

I wonder WHICH, "virus," he has. An actual biological one, or a corruption one.

>>13990731

Not sure there is any realtion between the two, but Grace being killed in a car accident, sounds like shades of Diana.

>>13990749

Relation.

>>13990731

This kind of stuff makes me wonder if some of these people, were threatened, and in some cases, had loved ones killed, in order to force their compliance, by nefarious powers.

Some more of this guys, "interests."

In 2001, at the 25th Mediterranean Science Commission hosted in the Principality, the member states unanimously elected Monaco head of the Commission, with the Prince chairing the Commission.[14]

The year 2007 was declared as (International) Year of the Dolphin by the United Nations and United Nations Environment Programme.[49] Prince Albert served as the International Patron of the "Year of the Dolphin", saying "The Year of the Dolphin gives me the opportunity to renew my firm commitment towards protecting marine biodiversity. With this strong initiative we can make a difference to save these fascinating marine mammals from the brink of extinction."[citation needed]

The Zoological Garden of Monaco (Jardin Animalier) was founded by Prince Rainier in 1954. Rainier was petitioned unsuccessfully for many years by Virginia McKenna, founder of the Born Free Foundation, to release a pair of leopards at the zoo.[50] Prince Albert met McKenna after his accession to the throne, and agreed to release the leopards as well the zoo's hippo and camel.[12] He intends to convert the Jardin into a zoo for children.[50]

In January 2009, Prince Albert left for a month-long expedition to Antarctica, where he visited 26 scientific outposts and met with climate-change experts in an attempt to learn more about the impact of global warming on the continent.[51] During the trip, he stopped at the South Pole, making him the only incumbent head of state to have visited both poles.[52][53]

Prince Albert II at the 5th Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands. UNESCO, Paris (2010)

In June 2009, Prince Albert co-authored an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal with Charles Clover, the author of The End of the Line, a book about overfishing and ocean conservation issues that had recently been made into a documentary by Rupert Murray. In the piece, Prince Albert and Clover note that bluefin tuna have been severely overfished in the Mediterranean, and decry the common European Union practice of awarding inflated quotas to bluefin fleets.[54] Albert also announced that Monaco would seek to award endangered species status to the Mediterranean bluefin, Thunnus thynnus, (also called the Northern bluefin) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This was the first time a nation had called for the inclusion of Mediterranean bluefin under CITES since Sweden[54] at the 1992 CITES Conference, which was vehemently opposed by Japan who eventually threatened retaliation through trade barriers.[55] Sweden withdrew its proposal.

On 16 July 2009, France declared that it too would seek to have Mediterranean bluefin listed as an endangered species.[56] Only hours later, the United Kingdom followed suit.[57]

On 19 September 2017, Prince Albert expressed his great interest for the preliminary draft of the Global Pact for the Environment presented by French President Emmanuel Macron in the context of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.[58] He added that he will be very attentive to the future of this Pact, which he qualified as a "universal, legally binding agreement, which recognises the right of future generations to sustainable development."[58]

I sometimes wonder if they comp or force some of these people into putting their money where the bosses TELL them to put it. Who knows.