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Prince Albert II of Monaco will soon celebrate his 65th birthday. The famous playboy has aged and settled down, and now he cares more about raising children and charity than social entertainment. In the weekly HELLO column, we tell ten interesting facts about Albert Alexander Louis Pierre Grimaldi.
Current Prince of Monaco (state associated with France) — son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He was born on March 14, 1958, a subject of the Principality of Monaco and a US citizen, but renounced US citizenship as a teenager.
His mother — American Grace Kelly — before the wedding, she was one of the highest paid and respected actresses in the world, an Oscar winner, starring in such masters as the king of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. At the peak of her career in 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival, she met Prince Rainier III of Monaco, who was looking for a bride. A year later they got married, and the actress became a princess. She had to forget about filming a movie forever and devote her life to charity and raising children: Albert and his sisters Carolina and Stephanie.
After graduating from the Lyceum named after his great-grandfather Prince Albert I in Monaco, the heir to the throne went to continue his studies in the United States — at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He studied economics, English literature, political science and played music at the Amherst Glee Club. This club, founded in 1865, was both a student society and a vocal ensemble. In the summer of 1979, the young prince even went on a tour of Europe and the Middle East with the club. But simultaneously with the end of his studies, his musical career also ended.
Albert was also an avid sportsman. He excelled in javelin throwing, swimming, tennis, rowing, sailing, skiing and judo. As a member of the Monaco national bobsleigh team, he competed in five Winter Olympics from 1988 to 2002. The heir to the throne lived with the rest of his national team. When asked by journalists why, instead of staying in a luxury hotel, he lives in the Olympic Village, he answered:
I think it’s necessary. This — part of the Olympic experience. Those who do not stay with the team are missing out on an important part of this life.
In April 2005, Prince Rainier III of Monaco died, and after a solemn investiture ceremony, his son took his place. He became the sovereign prince of Monaco, and at the same time received more than 20 other titles due to the monarch of this dwarf state. For example, His Grace Prince Albert II is Duc de Valentinois, Marquis de Baux, Comte de Polignac, Comte de Carlade, Baron de Calvinet and du Bouy, Seigneur de Saint-Remy and Matigon.
In his youth, the prince was handsome and had a reputation as a playboy. According to the yellow press, when he was 19 years old, Albert met American actress Kathy Lee Crosby at a tennis tournament. The girl was ten years older than him, but this did not interfere with the novel. Princess Grace was not happy with this relationship. But as soon as she ensured that her son broke up with a smiling blonde, the paparazzi filmed him hugging African-American singer Michelle Freeman. During the prince’s studies in the United States, tabloids continually reported that the prince was “flicking” the winners of local beauty contests and young TV presenters. All this was watched with concern by his mother. In an interview in 1981, she admitted:
Premature gray hair can be inherited. You can get it from your children.
Unfortunately, Princess Grace did not have time to see her beloved son settle down. She died in a car accident when he was 24 and his playboy career was in full swing.
Of course, not without illegitimate children. In 1992, California waitress Tamara Rotolo announced that Albert was the father of her newborn daughter, Jasmine Grace Grimaldi, and sued him. The prince disputed the lawsuit, but in 2006 a paternity test confirmed that the child was indeed his. Albert repented of the sins of his youth, agreed to support his daughter financially and invited her to live and study in Monaco. By this time he was already the happy father of Alexander — son of Togo stewardess Nicole Coste. His paternity was also confirmed by DNA tests, but this time Albert, taught by bitter experience, did not bring the matter to high-profile litigation. He settled Nicole and Alexander in his apartments in Paris, and told his acquaintances that this — girl and child of his friend. But, as you know, everything secret becomes clear. The scandal erupted right before Albert’s wedding to South African swimming champion Charlene Wittstock.
The prince met the beautiful Charlene during the Monegasque stage of the Mare Nostrum swimming series in 2000. She was born in 1978 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to sales manager Michael Kenneth Wittstock and professional diver and swimming coach Lynette Wittstock. In 1989, her family moved to South Africa, and there, at the age of 18, Charlene won the national swimming championship. The prince’s acquaintance with the charming sportswoman did not develop at first. In 2001, Albert even announced his engagement to actress Angie Eckhart, but they soon broke up. And in 2006 — one year after his accession to the throne — the prince appeared at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Turin in the company of Charlene. It is clear that it was time for the 46-year-old monarch to settle down. Miss Wittstock soon moved from South Africa to Monaco, and in 2010 Albert and Charlene announced their engagement.
But something went wrong. As the British newspaper Daily Mail reported, on the eve of the wedding celebrations scheduled for July 1-2, 2011, the relationship between the bride and groom deteriorated sharply. A few days before the ceremony, Charlene was stopped at the Monaco airport, from where she was going to fly home to South Africa, and returned to the Grimaldi Palace. It is not surprising that at the solemn wedding, the bride and groom did not look at all like lovers. Photographers managed to capture the moment when the young wife leaving the church of Sainte-Devotte secretly wiped her tears. According to rumors, shortly before this, Charlene learned about the existence of Albert’s illegitimate son Alexander, and that the prince still maintains a close relationship with his mother Nicole. Neither persuasion, nor promises, nor a luxurious three-day wedding that cost Monaco $ 55 million, nor a honeymoon in South Africa in a luxurious room for $ 8,000 per night, saved the day. And to this day, the relationship of this couple leaves much to be desired.
According to the current constitution, daughter Jasmine and son Alexander cannot be considered heirs to the Monegasque throne, since both of them were born out of wedlock. And if the ruling prince dies without leaving legitimate children, the throne passes to his brothers and sisters and their descendants. Therefore, before the appearance of children in the family of Albert and Charlene, the heiress of the prince was his sister Caroline, Princess of Hanover. But on December 10, 2014, the Princess of Monaco gave birth to twins Jacques and Gabriella. The prince’s son received the title of Marquis de Baux, and the daughter — Countess de Carlades. Jacques became Crown Prince and future Prince of Monaco.
It seemed that after the birth of children, relations in the family improved, but in mid-December 2020, a certain lady from Brazil sued the prince, demanding to recognize her child, conceived after her marriage to Charlene. Albert took advantage of the legal immunity due to the monarch, and his lawyers said that this was a “hoax”. But, given the Don Juan reputation of Albert, many in Monaco were inclined to believe the unknown Brazilian woman rather than their monarch. The tabloids were expecting a new escape of the princess, and they waited! In early 2021, Charlene traveled to her native South Africa on a charity mission. — draw attention to the problem of illegal hunting of rhinos, and disappeared for almost a year.
Her foundation’s website reported that she had contracted a severe ENT infection. The princess underwent an operation, after which she was not allowed to fly by plane until at least October. She returned to Monaco only at the beginning of November 2021, and … again disappeared from the field of view of the paparazzi. After the press reported that the princess was absent from the celebrations in honor of Monaco Day on November 19, Albert admitted that his wife was being treated at an unnamed European medical institution of unknown profile. The final reunion of Albert with Charlene took place only in the spring of 2022. She again began to perform representational functions, and in an interview with the Monaco newspaper Matin explained:
My health is still unstable and I don’t want to move forward too fast right now… my journey has been long, difficult and very painful.
Nevertheless, she increasingly appears in society with Prince Albert, helps him to engage in charitable activities, accompanies him during visits and official events. Together they are engaged in raising children and preparing the little prince and princess for their future roles. This was confirmed to the magazine in a recent interview. People and her husband:
Every time there’s an event coming up, Charlene and I discuss it, and if we both feel the kids should be in it with us, we tell them what it means. Usually on the day of the event, we gather them in a room and explain what will happen and why it is important.
The twins, he says, “are very good students.”
They are wonderful. Of course, like all parents, I can say that they would do well to be more attentive in school. But they’ve just turned 8, and like all kids this age, they can get a little distracted.
Source: Hellomagazine
Ashley Fitzgerald is a journalist and author at Gossipify, known for her coverage of famous people and their lives. She writes about a wide range of topics, including celebrities, influencers, social media stars, and public figures. Her articles are known for their in-depth analysis and unique perspective. She is respected for her ability to keep readers up to date with the latest news and trends of the famous people.
