Prince Albert II appoints Olivier Wenden as his new chief of staff

The Vice-President of the Prince Albert II Foundation will take up his new position on 2 March, succeeding Christophe Steiner after two and a half years in this strategic role.

The Prince’s Palace announced in a statement on Thursday 30 January the appointment of Olivier Wenden as Chief of Staff to the Prince. The 44-year-old Monégasque, a well-known figure in diplomatic and environmental circles, is set to leave the Prince Albert II Foundation, where he has worked for over a decade.*

Educated at Lycée Albert Ier, then Sciences Po Bordeaux and the Sorbonne in international trade, Olivier Wenden has always had the ambition to serve the Principality. His career path led him to the National Council and then to the Department of External Relations and Cooperation before joining the Albert II Foundation in 2014.

* The press release does not specify whether he will retain his positions as Vice-President and Managing Director of the Prince Albert II Foundation.

Years of service to the environment

At the head of the Foundation, first as executive director and then as vice-president since 2019, replacing Bernard Fautrier, Olivier Wenden has helped to raise Monaco’s environmental profile on the international stage. Under his leadership, the organisation has supported nearly 700 projects around the world and developed a network of ten foreign branches.

“It was an incredible opportunity. I was 33 years old and there were many challenges to overcome. Working for the Sovereign is in itself a great challenge,‘ he explained about his arrival at the Foundation. A regular at major climate conferences alongside Prince Albert II, with whom he confided to Monaco Tribune that he had ’a relationship of respect and trust”, he has notably led flagship initiatives such as Monaco Ocean Week and the Students on Ice programme.

Prince Albert II paid tribute to the work of Christophe Steiner, who has been in post since September 2023, praising “his sense of duty, his loyalty and his unreserved commitment” during a period described as “demanding for the Principality’s institutions”. The handover will take place on 2 March 2026.