Princely Family visits exhibition on Prince Rainier III's first Minister of State

For the first time, the Ministry of State is hosting an exhibition entitled, in translation, “The Prince’s vision. Jacques Rueff, Minister of State under Rainier III, 1949-1950.”

Prince Albert II, Princess Caroline, Princess Stéphanie and Camille Gottlieb opened the brand-new exhibition, which will be on display until 26 January 2024 in the lobby of the Ministry of State.

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Who was the Prince Rainier III’s first Minister of State? A few weeks after the death of Prince Louis II in 1949, Jacques Rueff took up the position, and today he is still the only Minister of State to have been personally chosen by a Sovereign. “It was at the express request of the young Prince Rainier III, who was 26 at the time. Jacques Rueff agreed, as a personal mission born out of duty and friendship, to take on the role of Minister of State,” explains Michaël Bloche, curator of the exhibition and director of the Mission de Préfiguration des Archives Nationales, speaking to Monaco Info. A curatorship he shares with Thomas Fouilleron, Vincent Vatrican and Audrey Bloche.

*Many archive images dating from the beginning of Prince Rainier III’s reign are on display* © Communication Department

A former member of the Académie Française and friend of Prince Pierre, Jacques Rueff was renowned for his economic theories, which were progressive for their time, and is considered to be the “father” of the new franc, issued in 1960. Their year-long collaboration enabled Prince Rainier III to lay the foundations for the policies of the following decades: economic prosperity, urban and tourism development, international influence and recognition. The two men already had an experience in common, the Military Mission for German Affairs in Berlin in 1945, where Jacques Rueff had been commissioned by Prince Pierre to accompany his son, Rainier.

Before and after his time in the Principality, Jacques Rueff had a distinguished career in France and abroad: in Raymond Poincaré’s office, at the League of Nations, the Banque de France, Sciences Po Paris, the Inter-allied Reparation Agency and the United Nations, then, after his year in Monaco, the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community and later the European Economic Community.

*The exhibition can be seen in the lobby of the Ministry of State until 26 January 2024.* © Communication Department

This exhibition is the first by the future Monegasque national archives. It shows previously unpublished documents from the Rueff collection, held by the French National Archives, but also from the Service central des archives et de la documentation administrative, the Palace Archives, the Audiovisual Institute and the Monaco Médiathèque, as well as items kept by Jacques Rueff’s daughter.

More info

Ministère d’Etat, place de la Visitation, 98000 Monaco
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5 pm.
Individual visits by prior arrangement until 17 November 2023.
Free admission for individuals from 20 November 2023 to 26 January 2024.
Guided tours by prior arrangement on Wednesday 15 November, 13 December and 17 January, from 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm
Group visits by prior arrangement: Tel: +377 98 98 49 15 / Email: scada@gouv.mc