The bespectacled and soft-spoken Prince Albert II of Monaco may not necessarily look the part of a Prince Charming (“Where are those glass slippers?” he joked while visiting the National Press Club), but it’s obvious whom he views as his damsel in distress: Mother Nature.
Monaco’s head of state visited with reporters Monday to talk about his great passion, the environment, in advance of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“It is our survival that is at stake,” he stated quietly and convincingly, as he noted the visible changes of the Earth on his expeditions into the Arctic and the Antarctic.
Prince Albert is the first head of state in history to voyage to both the North and South poles.
“One thing for sure — it is happening,” he said, again citing his own explorations and dismissing any notions that climate change science could be unsound. He made note that he was visiting the club 96 years after his great-great-grandfather did the same, but journalists and their guests today were much more interested in hearing about his famous American mother, actress Grace Kelly.
“Which one of your mother’s movies was your favorite?” he was asked.
“I would have to go with ‘Rear Window,’ ” he said. “I like all of them.”
