Dinner, meetings, forum... The program of Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Monaco is taking shape

Ten days before the event, the Prince's Palace of Monaco announced the first details this Wednesday regarding the visit to the Principality of President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene will welcome the presidential couple together for the first time in Monaco on June 7 and 8. The format chosen for this visit, which celebrates "the strong and centuries-old bonds of friendship between the two countries," the Prince's Palace recalls, is that of a state visit. The highest level of Monaco's protocol program. The two days will be punctuated by official events, economic and environmental events.

Dinner in the Throne Room

On Saturday, June 7, the Prince and the President will meet in a private audience at the Prince's Palace.

The two heads of state know and appreciate each other well. They have already met several times in recent months. Prince Albert II had been hoping for a suitable time slot to receive Emmanuel Macron in the Principality for some time. A first visit had been planned for spring 2020, but was postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. In January, President Macron made his first official trip to Monaco, under unfortunate circumstances, to attend the funeral of Minister of State Didier Guillaume.

Following the private audience on June 7, a state dinner will be served in the Throne Room of the Prince's Palace for a selection of privileged guests. The Macrons will then spend the night in the Principality. Perhaps at the Hôtel de Paris, Monaco's most prestigious palace located on the Casino Square in Monte-Carlo?

Asked about the matter on Wednesday, the deputy chairman of the SBM, owner of the hotel, Stéphane Valeri, said that it was "not unthinkable" that the presidential couple would stay at the SBM, while specifying that he could not confirm anything for security reasons.

Since the beginning of Albert II's reign in 2005, every French president has visited the Principality. However, the last sitting French president to have stayed overnight in the Principality—as the format of the state visit suggests—was François Mitterrand, who was received by Prince Rainier III in January 1984, along with his wife Danielle.

Sequences focused on marine activity

On Sunday, June 8, President Macron will be expected in the morning at the offices of the Monegasque company SeaWergie. The company, which specializes in thalassothermal energy, will present to the Élysée Palace guest its techniques for using marine thermal energy, which supplies certain buildings in the Principality with heating and cooling needs.

At the same time, and in the same neighborhood, Brigitte Macron will join Princess Charlene on Larvotto Beach, where a Water Safety Day will be held. This event, organized regularly by the Princess Charlene Foundation, teaches young people the proper actions to take to prevent drowning and how to help someone in danger in the water.

The common thread of these two sequences: the sea. It will be the common thread of the presidential couple's state visit, which takes place at the same time as the Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) in the Principality.

The forum dedicated to the blue economy and its stakeholders will be closed on Sunday by Emmanuel Macron and Prince Albert II who will take part, after the discussions at the Grimaldi Forum, in a lunch bringing together "heads of state, heads of government and representatives of royal families," announced the Prince's Palace, warning that "further details relating to the program will be released soon."

From Monaco, on the afternoon of June 8, President Macron and Prince Albert II will then travel to Nice for the start of the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, which will take place from Monday, June 9 to Friday, June 13.