How Many New Monegasques Were Just Inducted into the Great Monegasque Family?

Do you wonder how New Monegasques are welcomed in the great Monegasque universe? It’s a rare blessing and therefore there is a celebratory event crowning the achievement for which the Mairie takes the lead. And this typically happens every year, when the members of the Municipal Council welcome people who have acquired Monegasque nationality during the past year to the City Hall.

The new Monegasques are received in the charming Marriage Hall, perfect for a small congregation, the number being 68 new Monegasques who in 2023 acquired nationality by law or by sovereign order, published in the Journal de Monaco. If we look back for comparable numbers 60ish does not stand out as being unusual and we see there were even as many as 84 people who acquired nationality in 2019.

Thursday, March 14th, in the late afternoon, the traditional reception in honour of individuals who acquired Monegasque nationality during the past year, either by law or by Sovereign Order, was held. It’s a solemn and warm reception. 

Camille Svara, Deputy Mayor, Chloé Boscagli Leclerq, Charles Maricic, Georges Gambarini, Nada Lorenzi, Nathalie Vaccarezza, and Jean-Luc Puyo, members of the Communal Council, welcomed around thirty of the new Monegasques in the Marriage Hall.

Camille Svara welcomed these among the privileged 68 who now belong to the “great Monegasque family” before presenting them with highly symbolic gifts, including a reproduction of the original document of the Monegasque national anthem, written in 1931 by the Monegasque poet Louis Notari.
The reception concluded with the anthem, performed by the Children’s Choir of the Rainier III Academy.

The Monegasque Family 

There were 9790 Monegasque individuals recorded as of December 31, 2023. 67% of them obtained Monegasque nationality by descent, 19% by marriage, and 14% by Sovereign Order of Naturalization.

Th Municipal Councillors, wished them welcome to the great Monegasque family.
Acquiring nationality and in this case Monegasque nationality is not a simple administrative formality, it isn’t just a passport and rights to benefits. To become Monegasque is to adhere to the Principality’s culture, its traditions and numerous unique customs. It is to adhere to a community united around the Sovereign and His Family, to which all citizens are attached.

It is fitting that the ceremony is held in the Town Hall. The Town Hall (Mairie) is the oldest Monegasque Institution, also warmly called “the House of Monegasques”, which accompanies and supports citizens, compatriots and residents at every stage of life.

And so the reception concluded with the Monégasque Anthem, sung by the Children’s Choir of the Rainier III Academy and taken up by all the guests. 

New Monegasques during this ceremony are reminded of the great new possibilities and new responsibilities in the knowledge that Monaco welcomes them with open arms. And they welcome that embrace with great joy.