December 1, 2009 – As part of a 2-day visit to Washington DC in conjunction with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, His Serene Highness Prince Albert was the guest of honor at a private fundraising dinner hosted by AOL co-founder James V. Kimsey.
Attendees included AOL’s Steve Case, MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor, Susan Eisenhower, President Eisenhower Group and granddaughter of the former president, John Fahey, President & CEO of National Geographic Society, ambassadors from Denmark, Monaco, Morocco and Portugal, and the board of the Foundation’s U.S. chapter including John B. Kelly, president and Maguy Maccario, vice president and Monaco’s consul general and minister counselor, whose New York office underwrote the dinner.
Guests dined overlooking the Potomac River at Kimsey’s property in McLean while dessert was served in the adjacent Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marden House.
Harvard’s Professor Edward O. Wilson, recipient of the 2009 Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Award for biodiversity, was also present to belatedly receive his trophy from the hands of H.S.H. Prince Albert (Prof Wilson was unable to attend the awards ceremony in October in Monaco.) During his acceptance he said, “The 21st century, I believe, is going to be known as the Century of the Environment, and in science as the Century of Biology. This is the time that we will either settle down as a species or completely wreck the planet.”
While in Washington DC, H.S.H. Prince Albert also attended the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Antartic Treaty and gave an address at the opening ceremony of the Antartic Treaty Summit at the Smithsonian Institution. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution later signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
The visit also included an address at the National Press Club, 96 after his great-great-grand father Prince Albert I; the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Pew Environment Group; a visit to the National Geographic Society; and a reception at the residence of Monaco’s Ambassador organized by BirdLife International.
