Monaco is set to welcome the prestigious Olympic Flame for only the second time in history, following its first visit in 1968. The torch will pass through the Principality on Tuesday, June 18, ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

Six significant individuals make up an impressive torch bearing lineup, with Monaco’s own Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc naturally takin pole position as the first torchbearer in the procession. Leclerc will depart from La Rascasse before passing the flame to Alpine skier Alexandra Coletti, the first Monegasque woman to have participated in the Winter Olympic Games.

Coletti will then pass the torch to table tennis player Xiaoxin Yang, who was the Principality’s flag bearer in Tokyo and has qualified for the Paris games. Yang will subsequently start the climb up to Le Rocher along the Avenue de la Porte Nueve, before handing the flame to the Bobsledder Rudy Rinaldi, who completed his event in sixth place at the Beijing Games in 2022 and bore the flag in PyeongChang in 2018.

Monaco’s younger students will form a guard of honour along the ascending road to the rock, while the Carabinieri Orchestra will be in formation in front of the Palace. There, HSH Prince Albert, athlete in five consecutive Olympics, from 1988 to 2002, and member of the International Olympic Committee, will receive the torch and carry it to HSH Princess Charlène, an Olympic swimmer in 2000.

Image courtesy of the Prince’s Palace: The Sovereign first carried the Olympic Torch in 1996 for the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and another nine times for both the Summer and Winter Games

The Princess will then take the flame past the the Gate of Honour and a tribune of officials, in which the president of the Organising Committee for the Paris 2024 Games, Tony Estanguet, will be present.

the ceremony will be broadcast live on a giant screen installed on Monday, June 17 on the Palace Square. In order to get a good view of this monumental occasion, spectators are encouraged to arrive to the Palace Square well in advance of the Olympic Flame. The main road up to the palace will be closed to pedestrians between 13:00 and 14:45 and the path of the torch and the torchbearers themselves will be placed under high security.

Featured image courtesy of REUTERS/Louiza Vradi: Greek actress Mary Mina, playing the role of High Priestess, holds the 2024 olympic torch by the cauldron during the Handover ceremony in Athens