H.S.H. Prince Albert II visited the Azores on Thursday, October 13, and Lisbon on Friday, October 14, the first two stages of a four-day trip to Portugal and Spain as part of the commemorations of the centenary of the passing of Prince Albert I.
The Azores archipelago was of major importance in the scientific career of Prince Albert I, as he carried out half of his twenty-eight scientific campaigns there between 1885 and 1914.
H.S.H. the Prince was welcomed by the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, Dr. José Manuel Bolieiro, and by H.E. Mr. Henrique de Polignac Mascarenhas de Barros, Ambassador of Monaco to Portugal, upon his arrival in Ponta Delgada, the capital of the Azores located on the island of São Miguel. After a tour of the city via the avenue Prince Albert I, inaugurated in 1904, the Monegasque Sovereign laid a wreath of flowers at the foot of the bust of His great-great-grandfather, on the main pier of Ponta Delgada.
Prince Albert II was received at the town hall, before inaugurating an exhibition at the Carlos Machado Museum, recalling the friendship and collaboration of His great-great-grandfather with the scientist and photographer Francisco Afonso Chaves (1857-1926). The day ended with an official dinner at the Sant'Anna Palace.
During the second stage of the trip, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and the President of the Republic of Portugal, H.E. Mr. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, inaugurated on October 14, in Lisbon, an exhibition that pays tribute to the friendship between the two sovereign oceanographers, Prince Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922) and King Carlos I of Portugal (1863-1908), focusing on the travels and scientific campaigns of Prince Albert I in Madeira, the Azores and Lisbon. Entitled "The oceanographer friend. Prince Albert I of Monaco and Portugal (1875-1920)" and organized by the "Albert I - 2022" Committee, this exhibition will be held at the Lisbon Navy Museum until December 18, 2022.
In the evening, the Monegasque Sovereign was received at the Belem Palace where he was decorated by the Portuguese President with the Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry.
