Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest

Monaco has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in Template:Escyr. The country's only win in the contest came in Template:Escyr, with "" performed by Séverine. As a result, Monaco was expected to host the contest in Template:Escyr, but it ultimately declined. The Monégasque participating broadcaster in the contest was (TMC). Monaco is the only microstate to have won the contest to date.

Monaco finished last at its first contest in 1959 before achieving three top three results in the 1960s. Two of these were achieved by François Deguelt, who finished third with "" in Template:Escyr and second with "" in Template:Escyr. "" by Romuald also finished third in Template:Escyr. Severine's victory in 1971 was the first of five top four results in eight years. The others were achieved with "" by Romuald (who returned to place fourth in Template:Escyr), "" by Mary Christy who was third in Template:Escyr, "" by Michèle Torr, fourth in Template:Escyr, and "" by Caline and Olivier Toussaint who were fourth in Template:Escyr. After participating in Template:Escyr, Monaco was absent from the contest for 25 years.

Monaco is the only country along with Morocco to have internally selected all of its participants. While some countries organise televised national finals, it is believedTemplate:By whom that TMC does not have enough funding to organise national finals.

Monaco returned to the contest for three years from Template:Escyr to Template:Escyr but failed to qualify for the final on all three occasions. TMC then withdrew from the contest, stating that regional voting patterns in the contest have effectively given Monaco no chance of qualifying for the final.

History

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1965 - Marjorie Noël.jpg

Marjorie Noël performing "Va dire à l'amour" in Naples

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1976 rehearsals - Monaco - Mary Christy 3.png

Mary Christy performing "Toi, la musique et moi" in The Hague

(TMC) was a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It participated in the contest representing Monaco since its Template:Escyr in 1959.

TMC participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and Template:Escyr. Afterwards the it withdrew from the contest for financial reasons and lack of interest. It only returned in Template:Escyr, 25 years after its last participation. It withdrew again in Template:Escyr, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years.

Monaco won the contest in Template:Escyr with the song "", performed by Séverine. The Monégasque victory is rather uncommon in the history of Eurovision as neither the songwriter, the singer, nor musical director were from the country they represented, something which was also the case with four of Template:Esccnty's five victories. Séverine furthermore declared to journalists that she had never set foot in Monaco, forgetting that the song's music video was filmed there. Séverine's producer was dishonest with her and stole her prize, thus she never got paid for her victory, even after suing him. Nevertheless, the singer is still a great fan of the contest.

Monaco's next best placing is second place, which it has achieved once in Template:Escyr. It has placed third three times, in Template:Escyr, Template:Escyr, and Template:Escyr; and last twice, in Template:Escyr and Template:Escyr. Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others being Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, the Template:Esccnty, and Template:Esccnty.

Hosting withdrawal

Monaco is the only country that has won the contest but has never organised it. After winning in 1971, TMC planned to organise the Template:Escyr as an open-air show, setting the date in June rather than in early spring. Due to a lack of funding, TMC sought help from the French public broadcaster, the (ORTF), which agreed to organise the contest. Because TMC wanted the contest to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never came through. In July 1971, TMC informed the EBU that it was unable to organise the contest. The EBU asked Template:Esccnty's (TVE) and Template:Esccnty's ARD, which respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest. Since both broadcasters declined to host the 1972 contest, it was eventually held by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Edinburgh.

Absence

Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004 to 2006. During its three-year return, all the artists representing the country, Maryon (2004), Lise Darly (2005), and Séverine Ferrer (2006), failed to qualify for the final. TMC broadcast the Template:Escyr, making the country eligible to participate in the Template:Escyr, but TMC decided against it.

TMC had announced that it was possible Monaco would return to the contest in Template:Escyr after a two-year absence, following talks with the EBU, as well as new voting measures implemented in the contest that year. Despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009. The EBU announced they would work harder to bring Monaco back into the contest in Template:Escyr alongside other lapsed participants.

The former head of the Monégasque delegation Philippe Boscagli accused certain countries of geopolitical voting, alleging the existence of Eastern European, Nordic, and Old European voting blocs, henceforth hindering Monaco's chances for qualification. With regards to the non-qualification of the Monégasque entry in 2006, "La Coco-Dance", he claimed that the audience voted more for the show than the song. Furthermore, TMC is now part of the TF1 Group, the leading private broadcaster in France, and is nowTemplate:When available everywhere in France. TMC programs no longer revolve around the principality. As TF1 Group is the biggest competitor to the French public channels, it is unlikely that TMC would again broadcast the contest. When TMC did so between 2004 and 2006, its audience was much smaller than that of the French public channel. In those years, it was the government and the municipality of Monaco who chose the contestant and funded the delegation, while it is usually the responsibility of a broadcaster or a producer.

Possible return

On 22 November 2021, L'Observateur de Monaco reported that €100,000 have been allocated towards "initiating the application of the Principality to the Eurovision 2023 competition" in the state budget for 2022. Monaco’s potential return to the contest would have required co-operation between the Monégasque government and broadcaster TMC which is owned by France's TF1 Group, however, in December 2021, the Monégasque government announced the launch of a new national public broadcaster, TVMonaco, which would be fully owned by the government, opening up a possibility of Monaco returning to the contest under the sponsorship of the Monégasque government starting in Template:Escyr. However, the channel's launch was later delayed to 1 September 2023. Upon its launch, TVMonaco became a member of Monaco Media Diffusion, the broadcasting company which represents Monaco in the EBU, meaning that the country is, starting in 2024, once again eligible to participate in Eurovision events. However, TVMonaco decided against taking part in the Template:Escyr. The broadcaster's editor-in-chief, Frédéric Cauderlier, ascribed the decision to the tight deadline and to being forced to concentrate on other matters in the early stages of the launch. The broadcaster gained full independent EBU membership in late March 2024.

Participation overview

Due to the country's very small size, all Monaco's entrants came from outside the principality, although French-born Minouche Barelli, who represented the principality in 1967, shared her time between Paris and Monaco, acquired Monegasque citizenship in 2002, and died in the principality on 20 February 2004 at the age of 56. The large majority of the participants were French, with also one Yugoslavian, Tereza Kesovija, and one Luxembourgish, Mary Christy (born Marie Ruggeri). Several singers selected to represent Monaco are key figures of the French scene, such as Françoise Hardy and Michèle Torr. Luxembourg, another small country, also sent a great number of French artists to the contest. At the 1967 contest, the Monegasque entry, "", sung by Minouche Barelli, was written by Serge Gainsbourg. He had already composed the winning entry in 1965, "", sung by France Gall for Luxembourg. Jean Jacques, who represented Monaco in 1969, was the first child to take part in Eurovision. He was 12 years old, making him the first preteen to participate and the first participant to be born after the inauguration of the contest.

Table key

1	First place
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
Template:Escyr	Jacques Pills	""	French	11 ◁	1	colspan="2" rowspan="21" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	François Deguelt	""	French	3	15
Template:Escyr	Colette Deréal	""	French	10	6
Template:Escyr	François Deguelt	""	French	2	13
Template:Escyr	Françoise Hardy	""	French	5	25
Template:Escyr	Romuald	""	French	3	15
Template:Escyr	Marjorie Noël	""	French	9	7
Template:Escyr	Téréza	""	French	17 ◁	0
Template:Escyr	Minouche Barelli	""	French	5	10
Template:Escyr	Line and Willy	""	French	7	8
Template:Escyr	Jean Jacques	""	French	6	11
Template:Escyr	Dominique Dussault	""	French	8	5
Template:Escyr	Séverine	""	French	1	128
Template:Escyr	Anne-Marie Godart and Peter MacLane	""	French	16	65
Template:Escyr	Marie-France Dufour	""	French	8	85
Template:Escyr	Romuald	""	French	4	14
Template:Escyr	Sophie	""	French	13	22
Template:Escyr	Mary Christy	""	French	3	93
Template:Escyr	Michèle Torr	""	French	4	96
Template:Escyr	Caline and Olivier Toussaint	""	French	4	107
Template:Escyr	Laurent Vaguener	""	French	16	12
Template:Escyr	Maryon	""	French	colspan="2" rowspan="3" Template:N/A	19	10
Template:Escyr	Lise Darly	""	French	24	22
Template:Escyr	Séverine Ferrer	""	French, Tahitian	21	14

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Philippe Boscagli

Conductors

Conductors

Year	Conductor	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Franck PourcelTemplate:Efn
Template:Escyr	Raymond Lefèvre
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Michel Colombier
Template:Escyr	Raymond Bernard
Template:Escyr	Alain Goraguer
Template:Escyr	Aimé Barelli
Template:Escyr	Michel Colombier
Template:Escyr	Hervé Roy
Template:Escyr	Jimmy Walter
Template:Escyr	Jean-Claude Petit
Template:Escyr	Raymond Bernard
Template:Escyr	Jean-Claude Vannier
Template:Escyr	Raymond Donnez
Template:Escyr	André Popp
Template:Escyr	Raymond Donnez
Template:Escyr	Yvon Rioland
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Gérard Salesses

Commentators and spokespersons

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Spokesperson	Ref.
Template:Escyr	Radio Monte-Carlo	Robert BeauvaisTemplate:Efn(TMC) Unknown (RMC)	rowspan="2" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	colspan="2" Template:N/A	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	Radio Monte-Carlo	rowspan="2" Template:N/A	rowspan="12" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr	Radio Monte-Carlo	Robert BeauvaisTemplate:Efn
Template:Escyr		Template:N/A	Template:Efn
Template:Escyr		Pierre TcherniaTemplate:Efn
Template:Escyr		Robert BeauvaisTemplate:Efn
Template:Escyr		rowspan="15" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		rowspan="3" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr		Sophie Hecquet
Template:Escyr		rowspan="5" Template:N/A
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	colspan="2" Template:N/A	Template:N/A	Template:N/A
Template:Escyr	TMC Monte Carlo	Template:Ill	Anne Allegrini
Template:Escyr		Bernard Montiel and Template:Ill
Template:Escyr		Bernard Montiel and Template:Ill	Églantine Éméyé
Template:Escyr–Template:Escyr	colspan="2" Template:N/A	rowspan="2" Template:N/A	Template:N/A