ANNALES MONÉGASQUES – REVUE D’HISTOIRE DE MONACO

ANNALES MONÉGASQUES – REVUE D’HISTOIRE DE MONACO
PUBLICATION DES ARCHIVES DU PALAIS PRINCIER

Published in 2022

In 1902, Prince Albert I made the journey from Paris to Villers-sur-Mer (Calvados) on a motorcycle, and above all, between 1903 and 1905, every May, he covered the Monaco-Paris route with an English motorcycle Humber Beeston. He sometimes made long detours through southwestern or eastern France and even Switzerland. During these rough and dangerous one to two week journeys, he traveled incognito, often alone with his mechanic for company. In 1905, Charles Sauerwein, his aide-de-camp and scientific collaborator, joined him. The Prince’s autograph diary provides a rich, unpublished and valuable testimony to the burgeoning and still risky motorcycling practice of the Belle Époque, and beautifully illustrates a little-known facet of the monarch, who was one of many pioneers of long-distance travel in motorcycle, which he practiced until the end of his life.

At the end of the commemorations of the centenary of the death of Prince Albert I, which marked the year 2022, Monegasque Annales publishes the first part of the reports of the symposium The Careers of a Prince. Lives and Territories of Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922), which was held in Monaco on September 24 and 25. In a first theme, Sport and life in the open air, the pioneering nature of Prince Albert’s motorcycle practice is the subject of a richly illustrated monograph. Between 1903 and 1905 he made several tours of France, connecting Monaco and Paris on a Humber Beeston motorcycle. His autograph diary provides a rich, unpublished and precious testimony to the burgeoning and still dangerous practice of motorcycling of the Belle Époque. Hunting, another sporting passion of the prince, deserved a thorough study. The numerous documents available allow us to paint the portrait of a follower of a reasoned hunting practice, which made Albert I a forerunner who anticipated the current debates on the subject. In the theme Armed Forces and Exercises of Power, an article explains an important episode from Prince Albert’s youth: the funeral of Victor Hugo, 2 June 1885, through a letter he addressed to his father, telling him what he saw , anonymously, in the middle of a huge crowd. His admiring and respectful account is closely aligned with moderate press coverage.
The theme of Radiance and the Prince’s international obligations are discussed in three articles. The first dwells on the prince’s paradoxes regarding the colonial fact.
Finally, a study gives an overview of the participation of the Prince, as a member, from 1885, in the Geographical Society of Paris, the oldest in the world. In a final theme, Artistic culture and sponsorship, a study looks back at the creation, on February 7, 1907, in the opera of Monte Carlo, i.e. in a monarchy, of the opera Thérèse, by Jules Massenet, whose performance takes place at the time of the French Revolution. This creation mainly brings into question the political and artistic sensitivity of Albert I. Finally, the final article attempts to portray the “elusive” Princess Alice of Monaco, the Prince’s second wife, through the eyes of her contemporaries. Loved, adored, celebrated, envious, sometimes hated, she championed the cultural life of the principality for fifteen years.

En 1902, le prince Albert I^er effectua le trajet de Paris à Villers-sur-Mer (Calvados) en motocyclette puis surtout, entre 1903 et 1905, chaque année au mois de mai, il réalisa l’itinéraire Monaco-Paris avec une motocyclette anglaise Humber Beeston, effectuant parfois de grands détours par le Sud-Ouest ou l’Est de la France, et même la Suisse. Pendant ces rudes et périlleux périples d’une à deux semaines, il voyageait incognito, avec bien souvent pour seule compagnie son mécanicien. En 1905, Charles Sauerwein, son aide de camp et collaborateur scientifique, l’accompagna. Le journal autographe du prince offre un témoignage riche, inédit et précieux sur la pratique motocycliste naissante et encore hasardeuse de la Belle Époque, et illustre à merveille une facette méconnue du souverain, qui fut l’un des nombreux pionniers des voyages au long cours en motocyclette, qu’il pratiqua jusqu’à la fin de sa vie.

The book is new. Soft cover, 374 pages, French text.

ISBN : 978-2-903147-52-5