US Edition 
Prince Albert: We want more for Monaco
More than any other place in the world, its name is synonymous with wealth, luxury and glamour - the mere mention of Monaco conjures up images of the grand prix, Grace Kelly and the glitterati.
But the world’s most densely populated country, which has more millionaires per head than any other nation, is on the look out for even more successful people.
The principality, which takes up less than one square mile, is especially looking for young professionals and entrepreneurs to continue to modernise and invigorate its economy.
Prince Albert II flew to London in person to launch a new consular service, one of whose main aims is to attract Britons to live and work in his country.
In his first ever press conference in Britain, held at the Ritz hotel in London, he smiled at suggestions that the country needed the money, but said he wanted people to know "Monaco was open for business".
Speaking with an American accent he adopted from his mother Princess Grace, he said he also wanted to throw off the image - undeserved in his view - of his country as epitomised by the Somerset Maugham quote: "A sunny place for shady people".
"I wish he had never said that. All we want to say is that we are open for business," he said. "We are not going to distribute leaflets on the street corner, but we welcome you.
"We may be small in size but we have a lot to offer. Visit us - that would be great. Live in Monaco if there is room - that would be wonderful."
There is a good reason for Monaco, which is currently planning a new floating suburb for 4,000 people and trying to expand its financial sector, to pick Britain to drum up business.
British born residents of the Principality, which include retail magnate Sir Philip Green, Shirley Bassey and Roger Moore as well as assorted Formula One racing drivers, make up the third largest ex-pat community behind France and Italy.
There are currently 2,200 Britons living in the Mediterranean state out of a total population of around 32,000, and Prince Albert said they made a significant contribution.
"The British community is very active and very generous in many different areas," he said. "I can only have high praise for them."
The Prince, who recently signed a new treaty with France giving Monaco more autonomy, pledged at his inauguration in 2005 to place morality, honesty and ethics at the centre of all policy and immediately tightened the country’s financial rules.Monaco now complies fully with international money-laundering regulations.
Although incredibly wealthy, with the kind of police, education and health services most country’s would dream about, Monaco has an ageing population.
The average age of its population is 42, one of the highest in the world. The average in Britain is 39.
It is also facing increasing competition from other tax havens and Prince Albert wants to modernise the image of the country to keep it ahead of the young pretenders.
The Prince also used his trip to London to launch his new Environmental Foundation.
The charity, which has the former environment secretary John Gummer and Sir Victor Blank, chief executive of Lloyds TSB as advisers, aims to promote green issues and support environmental initiatives.
Prince Albert agreed that Monaco, with its yachts, sports cars and Formula One grand prix, was not exactly known for its restraint, but said its residents like everybody else would have to learn to reduce their carbon footprint.
"It is not only Monaco, we will all have to change our habits," he said. "Everybody has to come to realise that and I am sure everyone will."
The Prince, who said he was considering introducing a Monaco congestion charge like the one in London, added that he believed "it was about persuading not forcing people".
The Prince, often nicknamed the Green Prince, said he had first become interested in the environment when his parents gave him a National Geographic poster in the 1970s that highlighted how man had polluted the world.
"The issues then are not resolved, not by a long shot," he said. "I still have this poster and it plays an important part in my will to do more for the environment and for Monaco to do the same."
The Prince, who has pledged to place morality, honesty and ethics at the centre of Monaco’s activities, said that his country had joined up to the Kyoto agreement because he felt a "moral imperative to sign it".
But he diplomatically refused to be drawn on whether others should follow suit.
"I am not going to comment on countries that have not adhered to that," he said.