On Thursday June 1st and Friday June 2nd, H.S.H. Prince Albert II visited the Haute-Loire department as part of His regular visits to areas historically linked to His family.
The Sovereign Prince, accompanied by the Prefect, Mr. Eric Etienne, visited three communes belonging to the Historic Sites Grimaldi of Monaco: Lavoûte-sur-Loire, Polignac and Saint-Pal-de-Chalencon.
On Thursday June 1st, H.S.H. the Prince was welcomed in the morning in Lavoûte-sur-Loire by the mayor, Mr. Jean-Pierre Beaumel, before a visit to the Château de Lavoûte-Polignac, owned by a cousin of the Sovereign, Duke Armand-Charles de Polignac. Prince Albert II's grandmother, Princess Charlotte, stayed at Lavoûte several times between 1915 and 1917, where she met Count Pierre de Polignac, whom she married in 1920.
The Sovereign then proceeded to the Place de la Mairie for an official ceremony and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque in memory of the day.
In the afternoon, Prince Albert was received in Polignac, a village nestled in the heart of volcanic country and birthplace of the illustrious Polignac family. Accompanied by mayor Jean-Paul Vigouroux and princes Alain and Ludovic de Polignac, the Sovereign Prince visited the Polignac fortress. He then took part in a ceremony in front of the church, during which he was presented with the town's honorary citizenship.
On Friday June 2, after a private tour of Le Puy-en-Velay, prefecture of the Haute-Loire, in the presence of the town's mayor, Michel Chapuis, and the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, H.S.H. the Prince visited Saint-Pal-de-Chalencon, a village at the northern end of the department, on the borders of the Loire and Puy-de-Dôme. Along with Mayor Pierre Brun, the Prince unveiled a commemorative plaque and took part in an official ceremony on the church plaza, in the presence of the local population.
