Font-Romeu – Grand hotel: Prince Albert II of Monaco present this Thursday
On Thursday, Prince Albert II comes to inaugurate the commemorative plaque on the esplanade of the Grand Hotel.
the Thursday June 16Mayor Alain Luneau and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II will inaugurate the commemoration plaque on the esplanade of the Grand Hôtel.
Inaugurated in 1920
Indeed, the Grand Hotel was executed in 1920 by Albert I of Monaco. When the First World War broke out, Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922) had to put an end to his oceanographic campaigns and his travels. To continue his physical activities, he spends several weeks each summer in the Pyrenees, which he discovered in his youth and where he practices camping, walking, hunting and fishing. When the war was over, the prince continued his stays during the summers of 1919, 1920 and 1921. Prince Albert I stayed at the Grand Hôtel de Font-Romeu in 1920. He found that the village had a “well-preserved picturesque appearance”. He returns there at the end of the year, invited for the official inauguration of the winter sports resort. In his speech, he then urges us to look “these mountains with love because they offer us the best elements for the preparation or the restoration of our organism, for its protection against bad training and the passions that kill. We want to keep them so beautiful under their white coat, as under the adornment green given them by the summer sun, because it is a great school for youth; a marvelous field for the formation of character within a fortified envelope. […]. To achieve this goal, nothing better exists now than National Parks […]. In the Pyrenees, they would preserve as a whole the treasures of nature; they would put an end to the emotion which grows in men of taste, by stopping the decay which threatens the sites”. Health problems interrupted the stay in the summer of 1921. Prince Albert I was urgently sent to Font-Romeu before being brought back to Paris. He then writes: “Despite the splendid atmosphere of Font-Romeu which determines in me an extraordinarily rapid convalescence, demanding special care that I find myself as soon as possible in a large center. But when my window wide open lets the powerful atmosphere of the high mountains […]I feel life reborn even in the most suffering parts of my person”.
Thursday June 16, the public is invited for an installation from 11 a.m. The ceremony will begin at 11:30 a.m. and end at 12 p.m. A wine of honor will be served to all participants.