PICTURES. Prince Albert II, in the footsteps of Prince Albert I in Portugal
The Sovereign traveled to the Azores on October 13, then to Lisbon the next day: two first stages of a four-day trip to Portugal and Spain, as part of the commemorations of the centenary of the disappearance of the Prince Explorer.
It was a trip in four stages that Prince Albert II made on October 13 in Portugal, and more precisely in the Azores. A place that was not chosen at random, since this archipelago was of major importance for Prince Albert I, who carried out half of his 28 scientific campaigns between 1885 and 1914.
Received by the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, and by the Ambassador of Monaco to Portugal, Henrique de Polignac Mascarenhas de Barros, the Sovereign toured the city via Prince Albert I Avenue, then laid a wreath of flowers at the foot of the bust of his great-grandfather.
The Sovereign then went to the town hall, before inaugurating an exhibition at the Carlos Machado Museum, which recalls the friendship and collaboration of the Prince Explorer with the scientist and photographer Francisco Afonso Chaves.
The next day, the Prince and the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, included, in the capital, the exhibition “The Oceanographer Friend”, at the Lisbon Navy Museum, which pays tribute to the friendship between the two sovereign oceanographers: Prince Albert I and King Carlos I of Portugal.
” It is really a very, very beautiful tribute and I am really very happy to have been able, of course, to be present, with a delegation from the Principality, but also that there is this beautiful exhibition which illustrates in such a beautiful way those very special bonds of friendship which were very important in the life of Prince Albert I “, commented the Sovereign to Monaco Info.
Finally, Prince Albert II was received at the Palace of Belem, where he was decorated by the Portuguese President with the Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique.