Quotes from Albert II, Prince of Monaco

We are a small country and we have limited influence so we are neutral.

Even if you are a small country, as we are, that doesn't prevent you from having big aspirations.

Jews are an important part of our kingdom, and I am happy you chose to gather here in our country.

I kissed my first girl when I was 13.

If I were to write my epitaph... Epitaph? Hey, shut-up Albert. I'd want to be remembered as someone who loved his sport and tried his best.

I've always tried to protect my private life as much as possible, and that is the hardest part because that is what a lot of media are more interested in - the private aspect more than the official side of things.

I'm straight and always have been. When our family gets together, we joke about it or throw our hands up in desperation because there is very little we can do. If we make a big fuss about correcting these rumors, it just creates more attention and turns the whole thing into a soap opera.

Sometimes there's a very special relationship between a mother and her son.

Everything happening at the South Pole, like the North Pole, has repercussions everywhere on the planet.

We're an independent sovereign country and that's very important to Monaco.

That's been the key to the good success of Monaco - the closeness between the Grimaldi family and the Monegasques.

It's true that Ferrari and Monaco are the two most important things to F1.

I want to place morality, honesty and ethics at the center of my government's preoccupations, of its councilors or all the principality's decisions.

Mothers are always sending me pictures of their daughters.

You know my mother during her lifetime was unable to set up a foundation for the arts. She always had that idea and did help the arts in many other ways but never was able to set up her own foundation, so we did it in her name after her passing.

I did my first speech when I was 17, well, my first formal speech. So I've had time to deal with it, and to adjust to it, but I can't say I'm like gung-ho on public speaking or interviews for that matter.

I consider myself a private person most of the time so it's hard to perform in a very public situation and have to do... public appearances and speeches depending on what it is and what the situation is.

I guess every athlete has in the back of his mind being good at a sport and making it big.

Monaco's neutrality is one of our main attributes - the role of small countries is to act as go-betweens between big nations.

Oceans, in their beauty and mystery, unite human beings whatever their situation, nationality, or faith.

The Paris agreement represents a huge step forward. It would have been preferable, of course, to start the process many years earlier, and a lot of question marks remain on how nations will ratify it, adhere to it and report their carbon reductions. But this is a remarkable ray of hope for our planet.

I've practiced a lot of different sports. I stopped counting after 15.

I want the full Olympic experience.

Certainly, when I started bobsledding I didn't think of being in the Olympics some day.