As a child this Englishwoman shared her love of life with all around her. Now living in Monaco, 20 years ago she founded one of the Principality’s most active charities: Les Enfants de Frankie.
In the Monaco frenzy you will sometimes spot a car with a red ball bobbing on the end of its aerial, which in this context makes everyone smile. The little foam ball is highly symbolic since it represents Frankie the Clown’s red nose and is sold in aid of sick, handicapped and disadvantaged children in Monaco and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. It also symbolises the story of Francien Giraudi, a dynamic woman who came to the Principality 40 years ago with her husband. An interpreter by profession, she soon got involved in community life and became vice-president of Les Voisins, the association that helps new arrivals, and continued so for 10 consecutive years. At the time she was also regularly taking her daughter, who suffered from a kidney disease, to the Children’s Hospital in Boston. “Seeing what they did there, I started thinking about how I could help the children of our region,“ she explains.
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Initially Francien Giraudi organised Christmas parties for the kids, but this live wire was itching to share the limelight with Father Christmas: “So I started dressing up as lots of different animals, and then I became a clown.“ So was Frankie born, along with his Christmas (Le Noël de Frankie), today one of the charity’s most magical events, for which its army of volunteers works with hospitals, social services and orphanages to bring joy to some 10,000 children. Already a Knight of the Order of Grimaldi, this true artist who loves flower arranging, painting, photography and sport has now deservedly been named Monte-Carlo Woman of the Year. Her clown doesn’t need words, he says it all with his eyes and gestures.
Les Enfants de Frankie - Le Soleil d’Or,
20 bd Rainier III, Monaco - Tél. +377 93 300 800
By Tanja Stojanov
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice