Albert I, prince of Monaco, was a learned prince, navigator, and humanist. His curious mind, driven by an ideal of peace and justice iconic of the Belle Époque, led him to travel the world from Monaco to the Azores, through Norway, Lisbon, and Paris. Based on archival letters, speeches, news articles, and photographs, history professor Stéphane Lamotte’s Albert I of Monaco honors his life a hundred years after his death. His reign witnessed the rise of photography, and he was an early adopter of the medium during the time the French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn launched into an ambitious photographical project called Archives of the Planet.

The prince also had a close relationship to nature and the origins of life and had a strong interest in protecting biodiversity. He founded the Institute of Oceanography and the Institute of Human Paleontology and pursued a long list of other notable endeavors. Beautifully illustrated, Albert I of Monaco memorializes his life and work and the history of his era.