The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris will be officially starting on Friday, 26 July with the first-ever opening ceremony outside of a stadium. The International Olympic Committee began its pre-games meeting with royals from the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Bhutan in attendance.
Royals currently on the IOC
Princess Nora of Liechtenstein, Princess Anne of the United Kingdom, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and Prince Albert of Monaco were all present.
(Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport via Flickr CC)
Also at the meeting weree Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar and Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, and Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck of Bhutan. They are all serving members of the IOC right now.
The longest serving member
Princess Nora holds the distinction of the longest serving member after joining the IOC in 1984, Prince Albert has been a member of the IOC since 1985, Princess Anne became a member in 1988 and Grand Duke Henri joined the IOC in 1998.
( © Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli)
Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani became a member in 2002, Prince Feisal Al Hussein joined in 2010, and Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuk in 2018. Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud is the newest royal member of the IOC, having joined in 2020.
Royal Olympians
Both Princess Anne and Prince Albert have competed at the Olympic Games. The Princess Royal competed as an equestrian at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, while Prince Albert competed in bobsled at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, the 1992 games in Albertville, the 1994 games in Lillehammer, the 1998 games at Nagano, and the 2002 games in Salt Lake City.
(By David.deshayes – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wiki Commons)
On Tuesday, the IOC opened their meeting with discussions ahead of the games. The Committee also met with the 2024 Olympic Refugee Team.
