In pictures: Prince Albert II Turns 68 amid a historic year for Monaco
Prince Albert II had the honour of presenting the medals for the men's downhill and men's snowboard big air events © Christian Petersen/Getty Images - Prince's Palace of Monaco
This Saturday, 14 March, Prince Albert II celebrates his 68th birthday in a Principality that is preparing for some extraordinary events.
Before Pope Leo XIV sets foot in Monaco for the first time and La Vuelta transforms its streets into a cycling arena, we look back at some of the highlights of a year in which Prince Albert II has, once again, demonstrated the extent of his commitment.
A Prince loyal to the Olympic Games
The start of 2026 offered Prince Albert II a doubly symbolic occasion. On Monday 2 February, he travelled to Milan for the opening of the 145th session of the International Olympic Committee at La Scala, before attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday 6 February.
A return to Italy steeped in significance: on 10 February 2006, in the Olympic stands in Turin, he made his relationship with Charlène Wittstock official before the eyes of the whole world. A member of the IOC since 1985 and himself a former Olympic bobsleigh athlete, the Sovereign has never strayed from the sporting values that shaped his life long before his accession to the throne.
A Prince who safeguards the poles
Few heads of state have set foot in Antarctica. Prince Albert II did so in 2009, and since then, he has never ceased to champion its cause. On 14 January, as Honorary President of the Ice Memory Foundation, he attended the inauguration of the first ice sanctuary in Antarctica. Dug beneath the Franco-Italian Concordia station and maintained at -52°C, this cavern houses ice cores extracted from glaciers threatened by global warming.
Carved out beneath the Franco-Italian Concordia station and kept at -52°C, this cavern houses ice cores extracted from glaciers threatened by global warming – millennia-old archives that Prince Albert II sought to protect: “We now have a historic responsibility to build up a heritage of glacial archives for our children.”
In early March, after co-organising the Polar Symposium “From the Arctic to the Antarctic” at the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, he spoke in Rome at the Arctic Circle Forum to advocate for scientific cooperation and respect for indigenous communities, in the face of the ambitions of the major Arctic powers. These commitments build on his early polar expeditions and the ongoing work of his Foundation, established in 2006 to bring these causes to the international stage.
The Prince welcomes the Supreme Pontiff
In two weeks’ time, on Saturday 28 March, Monaco will experience an unprecedented moment in its history: the visit of Pope Leo XIV, the first Pope to set foot in the Principality since Paul III in 1538 – a gap of nearly five centuries. The programme includes a welcoming ceremony in the Cour d’Honneur of the Palace at 9.25 am, joint addresses from the balcony at 10.10 am, a journey in the popemobile to the Cathedral and the Church of Sainte-Dévote, followed by a public mass at the Stade Louis-II at 3.30 pm.
Whilst this exceptional event illustrates the strong spiritual ties that unite Monaco and the Vatican, Prince Albert II was also among the first to congratulate Pope Leo XIV upon his election in May 2025.
A Prince, a voice for peace at the UN
Prince Albert II consistently cultivates this diplomatic dimension. In September 2025, during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he called for strengthened multilateralism, recalling the founding values of international cooperation at a time of growing tensions.
On the sidelines of that same session, Prince Albert II took a historic diplomatic step: on 22 September, at a conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, he formalised Monaco’s recognition of the State of Palestine. “Peace cannot be decreed; it is built through a shared determination,” he concluded before the General Assembly.
A Prince with a passion for sport
The Sovereign’s commitment to sport is not limited to the Olympic Games. In September 2025, he travelled to Kigali, Rwanda, to attend the first World Cycling Championships held on the African continent. A month later, on Monday 27 October, helmet on his head, he mounted his bike to ride the 9.6 kilometres of the future inaugural time trial of La Vuelta 2026 himself, alongside the race’s general manager and professional cyclists.
Monaco will host the grand departure of the Tour of Spain on Saturday 22 August 2026, thereby becoming the only city-state in the world to have hosted the start of all three Grand Tours: the Giro in 1966, the Tour de France in 2009, and now La Vuelta.
A Prince who champions the Grimaldi heritage
Preserving the historical ties between Monaco and its former European strongholds is one of the guiding principles of Prince Albert II’s reign. In June 2025, the entire Princely Family accompanied him to Place du Palais to inaugurate the 6th Meeting of Grimaldi Historical Sites. Eight French and Italian municipalities had made the journey for two days of festivities.
A few months later, on 10 October 2025, Prince Albert II gathered elected representatives from some 150 French and Italian local authorities at the Monaco Yacht Club to celebrate the tenth anniversary of this network, launched in 2015 on the initiative of the former mayor of Menton, Jean-Claude Guibal. A network stretching from Alsace to Calabria, from Brittany to Puglia.
In images: Prince Albert II visits Italy to honour his Grimaldi ancestors
This commitment continues into 2026: in early March, Prince Albert II visited the Balzi Rossi Prehistoric Museum on the Franco-Italian border, a site directly linked to the history of the Grimaldi family.
A Prince championing female entrepreneurship
Prince Albert II’s commitment to women has been demonstrated through two significant gestures in recent months. In April 2025, he presided over a sober and moving commemorative ceremony at Monaco’s cemetery to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of Josephine Baker. A few weeks later, in June, Prince Albert II honoured the first European summit for women entrepreneurs held in Monaco with his presence.
Held under his patronage, this event brought together sixteen national delegations to promote female entrepreneurial cooperation across the continent.
His trip to Africa for the World Cycling Championships last September also provided an opportunity for a gesture that received less media attention but was just as revealing. In the Musanze region of Rwanda, he visited beekeeping schools supported by his Foundation, where women in economically vulnerable situations learn beekeeping techniques to gain independence.
Driven by a relentless international schedule, which recently took him to London on 9 March for Commonwealth Day, Prince Albert II never neglects his Principality. It must be said that the year 2025 had already made a lasting impression. Last July, on the Place du Palais, surrounded by Princess Charlène, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, he celebrated his twenty years on the throne with the people of Monaco.
The coming months promise to be just as busy. The Monaco Grand Prix is fast approaching, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters will set the tone for spring, not to mention the start of La Vuelta and the papal visit. At 68, Prince Albert II embodies, with remarkable consistency, a sovereign who is firmly rooted in and committed to his time.