Monaco (5) -- Analyses-- April-June 2006

Prince of Monaco bound for North Pole

14.04.2006

Monaco's Prince Albert II is planning on being the first royalty to set foot on the North Pole and draw attention to global warming. Weather permitting, the prince will make the trip before April 20 with the assistance of Russian scientists and military, the Itar-Tass news agency reported Tuesday. Albert will fly to Kiruna in Sweden and then visit the Russian Barnso weather monitoring station situated on drifting ice 65 miles from the North Pole. Further north, he will use a floating bridge connecting the mainland with the Russian drifting Polar station "North Pole-34," the report said. The prince's media office said Albert also wants to pay tribute to his great grandfather, Albert I, who launched an Arctic research campaign a century ago, but never made it to the North Pole himself.

Beginning***Europe