Treasures from Our West: Photograph, Prince Albert I of Monaco with Buffalo Bill in Cody

Originally featured in Points West magazine in Spring 2013

When Prince Albert I of Monaco visited the United States in 1913, he traveled through large cities like New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., but received a most hearty welcome in Cody, Wyoming. There he joined William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, outfitter A.A. Anderson, and other local sportsmen for an extended hunt in the surrounding Yellowstone country. Here the prince is pictured in town with Buffalo Bill in front of a parade float sporting a banner that read: “Welcome to His Royal Highness Prince of Monaco ~ Cody Wyoming.”

Newspaper coverage of the prince’s trip throughout America often reported on his diverse interests in literature, art, education, and particularly science, and noted his hopes to visit universities as well as the Smithsonian Institution. The Lexington (Kentucky) Herald, though quoted Prince Albert as saying at the beginning of his travels, “…before anything else I want to go West and shoot big game.” He especially hoped to hunt bear, and in the end reportedly shot an elk, a deer, and a bear during his adventures in Wyoming with Buffalo Bill.

Black and white photograph. William F. Cody and the Prince of Monaco, Albert I on Sheridan Avenue in Cody, Wyoming, during the prince’s visit in fall 1913. Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection. P.69.1577

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