Font-Romeu – Main visit: Albert II of Monaco at the Grand Hotel
On December 28, 1920, Prince Albert 1st of Monaco (1848 – 1922), a regular guest at the Grand Hotel, was the sponsor of the inauguration of the Font-Romeu winter sports resort, along with Emmanuel Brousse. A century later, Albert II of Monaco is following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather to inaugurate the esplanade of the Grand Hotel which now bears his name. A visit rich in symbols.
It’s not every day that a prince travels to Cerdanya. And it was an honor for the town to receive Prince Albert II of Monaco this Thursday. “For the town, it’s great and a source of pride. He moved for a very particular reason which is the esplanade of the Grand hotel, a real symbol of Font-Romeu. This place is on the initiative of one of the presidents of the Syndicat du Grand hôtel, supported by a municipal councilor and all the benevolence of the sovereign, spoke Alain Luneau, mayor of Font-Romeu. An event that should have occurred 100 years after the launch of our winter sports resort, but the pandemic will have wanted it otherwise”. It is the commemoration of the centenary of the disappearance of Prince Albert 1uh of Monaco, June 26, 1922, which brought together Font-Romeu and the Principality, “no less prestigious occasion”. And above all the opportunity to evoke this learned prince whose forays into the North Pole were famous, sportsman, high promoter of tourism, as well as his questions, from 1920, on the protection of nature and the safeguarding of biodiversity. Proud of his ancestor, Albert II of Monaco painted his portrait.
“He was seduced by the beauty of natural spaces” Albert of Monaco
” The Pyrenees of my great-grandfather Albert 1stuh are an adventure always recommended. After discovering this massif during his childhood, he made a first foray here in 1912, in Formiguères, then in Mont-Louis and Font-Romeu in 1920. During the inauguration in 1920, here, Albert 1uh called to look with love at the mountains, because they gave us the best elements for the preparation or the restoration of our organism, for his protection against bad temptations and the passions that kill. He was seduced by the beauty of natural spaces, interested in the potential, the civil and religious heritage of the region, sensitive to hunting resources. He spent three stays here between the summer of 1920 and the summer of 1921. Stays favorable to the search for inner peace, ” this peace so important for a man who tried until the end to offer his mediation, to attempt an arbitration between France and Germany to avoid the destructive world conflict “. 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 died on June 26, 1922.
Worthy heir of Albert 1uhPrince of the oceans
Albert II of Monaco, worthy heir to the Prince of the Oceans whose first name he bears, develops identical concerns, shares the same scientific curiosity and is very committed to the protection of the environment and the fight against revealed evolution. of the climate. He did not fail to mention the national park and the two regional parks created throughout the Pyrenean massif. “The combination of sustainable development and the preservation of biodiversity continues to be, in our time, an absolute necessity”. Within the framework of the Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the sovereign has opened the door to collaboration for projects aimed at reconciling human activity and the preservation of wildlife.
Prince Albert, a regular at Creps-CNEA
Before being guided through the Museum without walls, which both appreciated and impressed him, the Sovereign Prince delighted in the visit to Creps-CNEA. Indeed, a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985, a top athlete, he has taken part in five bosleigh Olympics. ” And in 1987, I came to train here. 30 to 50 million euros will be invested there and that delights me. It is a center of excellence for the preparation of French and foreign athletes, but it will also become a research center in physiological matters and training methods, especially in hypoxia. The CNEA beyond the Paris 2024 Games will become a very large European training center, even on a global scale. I am very happy to have returned there and I hope that, in the future, it will be able to welcome some Monegasque athletes.“.