In brief

War in Ukraine: there will be no Monte-Carlo Gala this year

The Monte-Carlo Gala for Planetary Health 2021
Eric Mathon / Princely Palace

The Prince Albert II Foundation’s charity event, organised since 2017, would have been held at the end of September.

It is one of the highlights of the Monegasque calendar, but it will be suspended this year. According to fellow journalists at Monaco-Matin, the traditional Monte-Carlo Gala has been cancelled for 2022, due to the war in Ukraine.

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Olivier Wenden, vice-president of the Prince Albert II Foundation, said in the newspaper’s columns: “It seemed reasonable to us to put it on hold at least this year in this context of war in Ukraine and international instability.”

This event, launched in 2017 to support the protection of the oceans, and which has since raised funds for the preservation of the planet, brings together big international stars each year , such as Leonardo Di Caprio in 2017, Orlando Bloom in 2018, Robert Redford in 2019 or Sharon Stone in 2021. For Olivier Wenden, the event would have been “a bit too showy in this difficult international climate.”

However, there is no question of cutting off all forms of fundraising, as the Prince Albert II Foundation supports numerous environmental projects throughout the world. In 2021 alone, some twenty projects have been given the green light.

According to Monaco-Matin, two private events are said to be replacing the Gala this autumn: the first, on 1 October, at the Hermitage Hotel with a dinner and concert by Mika for around one hundred guests. The second will take place in Singapore on 28 October and will take the form of an Ocean Ball attended by the former Consul of Monaco, Jacqueline Deromedi, and her son Jean-Marc. An auction to finance projects in Asia will be organised.