Times are changing!
05/28/2014
It is a tradition at the Monaco Grand Prix for the Prince to open the race track with the Monegasque flag around 45 minutes before the start of the race.
In 1968, this was Prince Rainier lll. with his wife Princess Gracia Patricia in a Mercedes-Benz 280 SE convertible.
Last Sunday, this ceremony took place electrically for the first time. The current Prince and Princess Albert ll and his wife, South African ex-swimmer Charlene Wittstock, were chauffeured around the Grand Prix circuit in a Tesla Model S with an electric motor rather than a petrol engine.
The only thing that remained unchanged, apart from the race track, was that neither Prince Rainier nor Albert were chauffeured, as they both preferred to drive themselves. And, of course, both gallantly opened the car door for their wives.
