Monaco's Prince Albert II has confirmed has canceled at the last moment his participation in a charity event organized by his Star Team for Children association and the Bulgarian Ski Federation at top Bulgarian winter resort of Bansko.

The emblematic celebrity has sent a letter to the Bulgarian Ski Federation apologizing for his absence at the sixth annual charity show – World Star Ski Event, to take place in Bansko on January 28-29, 2012.

Albert II is skipping the Bansko event because of "urgent changes in his program", according to the letter.

The Bansko event will aim at attracting children to get involved in sport activities and collecting money for the needy children.

The rest of the global celebrities taking place in the A.S. Star team for the children arrived in Bansko on Friday.

Former Italian racing driver Riccardo Gabriele Patrese and former world rally champion Ari Vatanen are among the stars expected to participate in the charity event.

Other sports stars taking part in the event include Vitaly Petrov, Emanuele Pirro, Loris Capirossi, Jure Kosir, Frederic Covili, Sergei Bubka, Hristo Stoichkov, Stefka Kostadinova, and Marc Girardelli.

A.S. Star Team for Children was created in 1993 by Prince Albert of Monaco and Arch.Mauro Serra. The idea of creating this team arose from the fact the most important world sports and show business personalities live in Monaco.

The purpose of the "star team" is to collect funds for Monaco charity associations which are helping underprivileged children in the world. To this day, the team has held 32 sports and society events.

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