Last Saturday, 7th October, Monaco’s Prince Albert II awarded the 2nd Princess Grace Humanitarian prize to the Duchess of Abercorn at the Ireland fund of Monaco Gala dinner at the Hotel Hermitage. The Duchess, Alexandra “Sacha” Hamilton, wife of the current Duke of Abercorn and 630th in line to the British throne, was awarded for her dedication to children’s’ education in Ireland. The award was presented to her witnessed by 250 people invited to Monte-Carlo. This prize ceremony takes place every two years to pay tribute to a winner of Irish nationality or involved in humanitarian acts in Ireland and a donation of 25,000 euros is given to their charity of choice. Princess Grace herself had strong connections with Ireland via her ancestry and the Irish remember her with great respect and affection. The Duchess of Abercorn is a direct descendant of the Russian Poet, Alexander Pushkin, and is founder of the Pushkin Prize, an arts charity that organizes creative writing workshops for Irish, Scottish and Russian school pupils to share ideas and collaborate. She has established a writing programme to help Irish children compose poems and prose, bringing together the Catholic and Protestant faiths, and was considered the ideal recipient this year. The Duchess is also the Honorary Secretary of the Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma & Transformation in Omagh, County Tyrone, to commemorate the 29 people that died after the 1999 bombing. This Monaco-based charity is part of the Ireland Funds, a worldwide organization that contributes to the development of modern Ireland and is dedicated to furthering education, culture, charitable entities and, above all, peace.
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on Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 at 8:34 am and is filed under Social Events, Political News.
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