Prince Rainier of Monaco - Biography - IMDb Prince Rainier of Monaco Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (13) Overview (3) 6 April 2005 , Monacoville, Monaco (lung, heart and kidney problems) Birth Name Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand de Grimaldi Mini Bio (1) Born the sole heir to the throne of the nation of Monaco, Prince Rainier lived his life by duty. The son of Charlotte Grimaldi, the illegitimate daughter of Monaco's Prince Louis, Rainier was the aging Monarch's only grandson and was therefore invested as his heir. He knew the constraints of duty immediately - as he was sole heir, he could not abdicate his throne for any reason, as there was no-one else to take it over. By law, Monaco must have a male Grimaldi as ruler, or the principality reverts to the ownership of France. While still a young man, Rainier was forced to break off plans to marry his girlfriend after tests showed she was infertile. While he cared for her, Monaco had to have an heir.

He soon became known as the wealthiest bachelor in the world, and for a short time even Marilyn Monroe was considered for his bride. Instead, he wed famous film star Grace Kelly in what was termed "the Wedding of the Century". A year later the new Princess Grace gave birth to their first child, daughter Princess Caroline of Monaco . A year after this event came the birth of their son and heir Prince Albert of Monaco , Marquis of Baux. A few years later Princess Stéphanie of Monaco arrived to round out the family. After the tragic death of Princess Grace in a car accident, Princess Caroline took on her mother's role as Monaco's unofficial First Lady. Caroline has three children (Andrea, Pierre, and Charlotte) by her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi (who died in a speed-boat accident) and a daughter (Princess Alexandra) by her third husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover. Princess Stephanie has two children by her short-lived marriage to bodyguard Daniel Ducruet and an illegitimate daughter, Camille. Prince Albert remained unmarried, and seemingly inherited his father's former title as the most eligible Prince in the world.

Rainer had many health problems in later life, and died in hospital on April 5th 2005 following a long illness, at the age of 81. Following his state funeral, attended by many world dignitaries and royalty, his son formally succeeded him as Prince Albert II of Monaco. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Nichol Spouse (1) ( 18 April 1956 - 14 September 1982) (her death) (3 children) Trivia (13) Seventh grandchild born. [1999] Succeeded his grandfather Louis Grimaldi (Prince Louis II). Rainier's mother, Princess Charlotte, renounced her rights to succession so that he could come to the throne. [May 1949] Had his look-alike puppet in the French show Les guignols de l'info (1988). Monegasque by nationality but is French, Italian, and Scottish by genealogy. At the time of his death he was the world's second-longest reigning monarch.

Drew up Monaco's latest constitution (1962), significantly reducing the power of the sovereign, ending autocratic rule, and placing power with the prince and a National Council of eighteen elected members. Served as a Second Lieutenant in the French army. His courage during the German counter-offensive in Alsace earned him the Croix de Guerre, the Bronze Star and the rank of Chevalier in the Legion of Honor. Although his grandfather, Prince Louis II, fought for the French during World War I, he supported the Nazi-installed Vichy government of his old army colleague, Marshall Petain, and did little when Italy invaded and occupied Monaco, setting up a fascist government. Louis's vacillation caused an enormous rift with Rainier. Died three days after the death of Pope John Paul II , the ruler of the world's smallest independent nation, the Vatican City. Monaco is the second smallest independent nation in the world. Underwent brain surgery after suffering an aneurysm in December 1999. Had a tumor removed from his lung on February 2nd 2000.

Monaco’s Prince Rainier dead at 81 - World news | NBC News Monaco’s Prince Rainier dead at 81 Europe’s longest-serving monarch was married to late Grace Kelly Below: Advertise Eric Gaillard / Reuters file Prince Rainier, second from right, attends a Monaco national day celebration with Prince Albert, left, Princess Caroline, second left, and Princess Stephanie, right, on Nov. 19, 2000. updated 4/6/2005 3:21:39 PM ET 2005-04-06T19:21:39 + - MONACO — Prince Rainier III, whose marriage to American film star Grace Kelly brought elegance and glamour to one of Europe’s oldest dynasties, died Wednesday at the hospital treating him for heart, kidney and breathing problems. He was 81. Rainier’s royal palace announced his death nearly a full month after he was first admitted with a lung infection to a heart and chest clinic that overlooks Monaco’s glittering, yacht-filled harbor. He had been Europe’s longest-reigning monarch.

The prince's funeral will be held on April 15 at the 19th-century Monaco Cathedral where he and Princess Grace wed. Prince Albert, Rainier’s son and heir, was at his side when he died at 6:35 a.m. Rainier’s doctors called Albert a little before 6 a.m. to tell him the end was near, the palace said. Rainier, who assumed the throne on May 9, 1949, also endured the tragedy of his famous wife’s death and relentless scandals — including international criticism of the principality’s tax laws — that plagued the final two decades of his rule. Recurring health problems The leader of Europe’s longest-ruling royal family, the Grimaldis, Rainier suffered recurring health problems in recent years. The silver-haired, portly prince underwent heart surgery in 1999. He had two operations the following year, including having a nodule removed from a lung, and was hospitalized in 2002 for fatigue and bronchitis. AP file The wedding of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Hollywood actress Grace Kelly on April 18, 1956. Rainier died early Wednesday.

Advertise Recurrent chest infections put him in the hospital on numerous occasions. Most recently, he was hospitalized March 7 at Monaco’s Cardio-Thoracic Center with a chest infection. He was placed in intensive care two weeks later with heart and kidney failure and hooked up to a respirator. Prince Rainier’s public appearances grew increasingly rare as his health deteriorated, although he attended Monaco’s top social event, the Red Cross Ball, in August 2004. A Mass for the royal family was being held in the chapel on Wednesday evening. The family and royal household will observe a three-month period of mourning, ending July 6, the palace said. Monaco government officials will observe a one-month mourning period. Drums used at the traditional midday changing of the palace guards were covered with black cloth Wednesday. Rainier's son to assume throne Monaco had been preparing for the demise of its prince for several years. Prince Albert is unmarried and has no children. Monaco changed its succession law in 2002 to allow power to pass from a reigning prince who has no descendants to his siblings. Albert has two sisters, Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie, both of whom have children.

Under Rainier’s leadership, the Mediterranean enclave partially shed its image as “a sunny place for shady people” and became a hub for the high-tech pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Rainier was known as the “builder prince” for his many infrastructure projects, and he increased the size of his territory by 20 percent with land reclamation. “I am like the head of a company,” he once said of his role in transforming Monaco. In 1993, Monaco gained the political recognition Rainier sought for his principality with its entry into the United Nations. But it was his April 18, 1956, marriage to Hollywood heartbreaker Grace Kelly that put Monaco on the world stage and defined the golden age of his reign. For many, her death in a car accident on Sept. 14, 1982, signaled the end of Monaco’s halcyon days. “She was always present and ready to do things either with me or for me if I couldn’t do them,” Rainier said of his late wife in a 1983 interview.

“Let’s say the change is that we worked as a team and the team has been split up.” Family had stormy past Rainier Grimaldi was the 30th descendant of Otto Canella, who founded the house of Grimaldi that has ruled Monaco since 1297. Born May 31, 1923, the son of a princess born out of wedlock, Rainier was heir to a family with a stormy past — a harbinger of the scandals to come. Advertise The marriage of his great-grandfather Prince Albert to Lady Mary Douglas Hamilton was dissolved in 1880. Albert’s son, Prince Louis II, had a youthful romance with a French girl in Algeria that produced Princess Charlotte, Rainier’s mother. In 1920, Charlotte married Rainier’s father, Prince Pierre de Polignac. Rainier was born in 1923 and his parents divorced soon after. Educated in England, Switzerland and France, Rainier undertook military service near the end of World War II. He became Monaco’s ruler at age 26 when his grandfather died in 1949.

As a youth, Rainier had a long romance with French actress Gisele Pascal, became a keen fan of jazz and studied oceanography, later helping to finance Jacques Cousteau’s Oceanographic Institute in Monaco. He also developed a love of fast cars. A glamorous marriage He met Grace Kelly in 1955 when he was 31 and she was the 25-year-old star attraction of the Cannes Film Festival. Kelly already had an Oscar from the 1954 film “The Country Girl,” one of only 11 movies she made. In January 1956, they announced their engagement and were married in April. Ten months later they had the first of their three children, Caroline. Albert’s birth came the following year, on March 14. Stephanie was born Feb. 1, 1965. Over the years, Rainier worked to consolidate his authority and expand Monaco’s economic base as a tax haven for international millionaires who gambled at the territory’s swanky casino. New luxury hotels, towering high-rises and some of the world’s most expensive real estate now hug Monaco’s coastline.

Gambling receipts account for only 3 percent of the revenues of the principality, home to slightly more than 32,000 people. Rainier also won battles with France to keep his principality’s ban on personal income tax and with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis for control of the company that operates Monaco’s gambling operations and most of its luxury hotels. In the years following Princess Grace’s death, Monaco’s royal family increasingly became grist for the world’s tabloids. Princess Caroline’s rocky first marriage ended in 1980, and her second husband was killed in a boating accident in 1990. Her third husband, German prince Ernst August of Hanover, was ordered to pay more than $440,000 in 2001 for yelling at an editor of a newspaper that reported he had urinated in public. Princess Stephanie was known for her tempestuous affairs. She had two children by a former bodyguard, then married him in 1995. The marriage lasted 18 months, ending after he was photographed cavorting poolside with a Belgian stripper.

She had a third child in 1998 and refused to reveal the name of the father. She later had a much-publicized romance with the director of the Swiss national circus. The reputation of Monaco itself has also fallen under scrutiny. In April 2002, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development listed Monaco as one of seven tax havens refusing to cooperate with a major international effort to end harmful tax practices and tax evasion. Even Rainier’s fairy-tale marriage to Grace Kelly was a target. A 1994 biography of Princess Grace claimed that the marriage had gone sour and that Rainier’s “neglect” forced her to find solace in alcohol — and younger men. © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Grace Kelly marriage claims anger Monaco royal family | Daily Mail Online comments A new film starring Nicole Kidman about the life of Grace Kelly has enraged the Monaco royal family, which has denounced the work as being full of fiction Late on a January evening in 1962, Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco is drinking heavily in her 235-room pink palace overlooking the Mediterranean.

When she gave up her Hollywood career to marry Prince Rainier – the ruler of the tiny tax haven – Grace Kelly, as she then was, believed that she had found the perfect husband. Six years later, however – after bearing him an heir, Albert, and an elder daughter, Caroline – she is so disillusioned she has decided she will flee back home to America, where she has been offered $1 million to star in Marnie, a new Alfred Hitchcock thriller. The fee – $7.6 million in today’s terms – is staggering. But it’s not the money that has attracted her, she confides to her husband’s chaplain and closest adviser, Father Francis Tucker, who has joined her in the pink palace for a glass of whisky. Rainier’s tyrannical rules and explosive temper have worn her out, the beautiful 32-year-old tells the elderly priest. What will happen, she asks him, if she accepts the Hitchcock role and seeks a divorce? ‘Your children will suffer most,’ replies Tucker. ‘They are heirs to a European throne. You’ll be lucky to see them again.

I suppose the world will also hang its head in disappointment.’ The shock scene is taken from the script of Grace Of Monaco, a new film in which Nicole Kidman portrays Grace as the lonely and desperate victim of an abusive husband. The project, which also stars Tim Roth as Rainier and Frank Langella as Father Tucker, was recently denounced by Grace’s son, Prince Albert, and his sisters Caroline and Stephanie, as ‘needlessly glamourised’ and riddled with ‘major historical inaccuracies and a series of purely fictional scenes’. But the 106-page script, which has been seen exclusively by The Mail on Sunday and is registered with the Hollywood Writers’ Guild, is based on hundreds of interviews biographers have conducted over many years with palace insiders and other first-hand sources. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The family’s real fear, it seems, may be that the film has broken a long-standing Hollywood taboo about bringing the truth about the marriage to the big screen – and it may set the stage for more embarrassing projects. While Rainier sleeps in a separate room from Grace in the script, and is said to be constantly ‘busy’ during the daytime, the production glosses over accusations that he was unfaithful.

‘This film really is a very slim slice of Grace’s life and it is nowhere near as negative as it could be,’ Wendy Leigh, a biographer of the princess, said last night. ACCORDING to her 2007 book, True Grace, the suave, cigar-smoking prince began cheating on Grace soon after she became pregnant during their honeymoon. Within months, he had taken at least three mistresses. ‘I think the family were hoping to stop the film and that this is their warning shot to producers who might want to do the full story about Rainier’s promiscuity and cruelty,’ Ms Leigh said. ‘Grace was humiliated and she was extremely unhappy. She was surrounded by decadence and Rainier’s disreputable friends.’ Blonde, blue-eyed and with a sultry sex appeal that casting directors compared to Marlene Dietrich, Grace herself was hardly an innocent. Grace Kelly, pictured left in 1955, is being played Nicole Kidman in a new film about her, Grace of Monaco Princess Grace of Monaco, actress Grace Kelly, with her family Prince Rainier, Princess Caroline and Prince Albert The daughter of a socially ambitious Philadelphia brickworks owner, she became infatuated with several of her leading men.

While shooting the Hitchcock thriller Dial M For Murder in 1954, she scandalised Hollywood by conducting an affair with her married co-star, Ray Milland. She met Rainier during a photoshoot in 1955 at his palace. Six years her senior, he was seeking a wife with the help of a crony, the Greek shipping baron Aristotle Onassis, played in the film by Robert Lindsay. His quest was a matter of urgency. If he failed to conceive a legitimate heir, Monaco would become a French protectorate under the terms of a 1918 treaty. After she submitted to an examination to prove she was capable of bearing children, he presented her with a 12-carat diamond engagement ring. ‘I fell in love with Prince Rainier,’ she confides in the film’s opening scene. ‘What followed was more difficult than I had thought.’ A silver Rolls-Royce delivers Alfred Hitchcock – played by Roger Ashton-Griffiths – to the palace, where he is greeted by Grace’s scheming lady-in-waiting, Madge Tivey-Faucon (Parker Posey).

Madge has been chosen for her job by Rainier – her chief qualification for the role being her willingness to spy on Grace’s every move. Hitchcock is puzzled that there is no sign of the prince. A palace retainer quietly tells him: ‘He never comes. Far too busy.’ Actress Grace Kelly (later Princess Grace of Monaco) and His Serene Highness Prince Rainier III of Monaco on 19th April 1956. Speaking little French, Grace is bored and homesick, occupying herself by preparing pumpkin soup and other American dishes for Ray, as she calls Rainier in rare moments of tenderness The Monaco climate does not agree with her. Her eyes are reddened from conjunctivitis and she suffers from hayfever and insomnia. Hitchcock turns up just as she is composing a secret letter to her mother to confide she is miserable and wants to end the marriage. Now Hitchcock is giving her the perfect excuse to leave in a matter of weeks. ‘Universal will pay you one million dollars,’ he says. ‘It’s going to be the role of a lifetime.’ ‘Do I look that unhappy, Hitch?’ she asks wearily. ‘You look tired, Gracie,’ he says.

It isn’t only Rainier’s tantrums and constant absences that have brought her marriage to the point of breakdown. As ‘his’ princess, she must submit totally to his rules which, according to the script, include smiling sweetly at his side and never voicing an opinion. At a New Year’s Eve party on the Onassis yacht, he grows red-faced with rage when she engages French President Charles de Gaulle in a debate about the UK-US special relationship. Rainier furiously confronts her when they return home. ‘This is not America, Grace! People don’t just speak their minds.’ ‘What did you expect me to say?’ she asks. ‘I don’t know. You used to be an actor. Act,’ he snarls. Madge, he adds, has informed him of Hitchcock’s visit. ‘She is very loyal,’ he reminds his wife. Pecking a kiss on her forehead, he retires for the night, closing the door to his bedroom behind him. Some biographers claim Rainier was violent as well as a control freak. During a tennis doubles match, he allegedly aimed a ball straight at Grace’s face.

When it hit her, the friend who was his doubles partner defended him, saying he was just ‘desperate to win’. The film treads carefully on the issue. He is verbally abusive to Grace, flying into a rage when she shears her long hair into a fashionable bob. He shouts that she did not seek his permission: ‘It looks dreadful. It yells of disrespect.’ When Grace finally plucks up the courage to tell Rainier that she would like to accept Hitchcock’s million-dollar offer of the leading role in Marnie, he assures her: ‘I won’t stand in your way.’ But his words ‘don’t ring true’, and when her plans for the movie are leaked to the press – she suspects by palace plotters – the prince’s 30,000 subjects are horrified. Smashing a glass he is holding to the floor, Rainier tells Grace he has changed his mind in the face of the outcry. ‘You’ll have to call Mr Hitchcock and turn him down,’ he orders. ‘We’ll make a show of how happy you are here.’ ‘That’s not your decision to make,’ she says. ‘I am the prince, and your husband,’ he storms.

‘You will and you must!’ In the end, the role of Marnie went to another Hitchcock protegee, Tippi Hedren. The film’s most contentious claim is that Grace eventually sought a divorce from Rainier. The director, Olivier Dahan, has not identified the script’s precise sources for the claim, but they would appear to include a mysterious book, Grace: A Disenchanted Princess, published under a pseudonym in France in 2004. It quoted one Rainier relative, Christian de Massy – whose mother, Princess Antoinette, was the prince’s sister – as recalling that Grace was heartbroken when she was forbidden to do Marnie. Controversial: British actor Tim Rother plays Grace Kelly's husband, Prince Rainer, in the film Despondent about life in a ‘golden cage’, she allegedly consulted an American divorce lawyer but, after being advised that she would lose her children, resigned herself to her fate in Monaco. The royals – who were shown the screenplay when Dahan applied for permission to shoot in Monaco – claim that to their ‘astonishment’, their ‘numerous requests for changes’ were ignored.

DAHAN has promised, however, that the film, which he started to shoot last August in Monaco and Paris, will be released on schedule early next year. ‘I think we have a misunderstanding,’ he said, insisting that he neither needs the royal family’s permission, nor has sought it. ‘We never asked them to endorse anything,’ he stresses. The new film draws to a close when Grace stumbles on evidence that Antoinette, portrayed by Geraldine Somerville, is conspiring with France to seize control of the principality in a coup. As part of this treacherous deal, de Gaulle has agreed that Christian, who at the time was just 13, will assume the throne. The Mail on Sunday is withholding the exact details of the suspense-filled denouement to the purported plot – which critics claim involves considerable licence on the film- makers’ part as Antoinette clashed with her brother in the Fifties. One clue, however: it leads to a reconciliation between Grace and Rainier, and she bears their third and final child, Stephanie.

The screenplay ends with one simple line: ‘Grace Kelly never acted again.’ Worn down by disappointment, she died in a 1982 car crash, apparently after suffering a stroke. Princess Grace's grandson to marry this month Princess Grace's grandson to marry this month Grace Kelly's oldest grandson set to wed his longtime fiance, mother of his son. Post to Facebook Princess Grace's grandson to marry this month Grace Kelly's oldest grandson set to wed his longtime fiance, mother of his son. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 1 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Princess Grace's grandson to marry this month By Maria Puente , USA TODAY Published 12:24 p.m. ET Aug. 6, 2013 | Updated 6:11 p.m. ET Aug. 6, 2013 Wedding bells are set to peal again in tiny Monaco later this month when the late Princess Grace's grandson marries his longtime girlfriend.

Princess Grace's grandson Andrea Casiraghi will wed fiance Tatiana Santo Domingo, here in May in Monaco, later this month. (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain Getty Images for Dior) Story Highlights Two of Princess Grace's grandchildren are set to marry First great-grandchild already here, another is on the way Grandson will wed first, to the heiress to a South American fortune Tiny Monaco will get to rejoice over more royal weddings soon, first when the late Princess Grace's oldest grandson marries his South American heiress fiancé, People is reporting today. Plus, his sister is expecting and engaged, too. A spokesman for the principality's Pink Palace told the magazine the private wedding of Andrea Casiraghi, 29, and Tatiana Santo Domingo, 29, will be Aug. 31. The two have been engaged for more than a year, and she gave birth to the couple's first child, a son they named Sacha, in March. Casiraghi's mother, Princess Caroline of Monaco, announced last July that the oldest of her four children was engaged but did not disclose details about the wedding.

Soon after the news of the wedding was posted, People's sources confirmed that his sister, Charlotte Casiraghi, 27, is expecting her first child with French comedian and actor Gad Elmaleh, 42, and the two are engaged and plan to wed this fall in a private ceremony. Andrea Casiraghi is the oldest grandchild of the late Princess Grace, the American movie star Grace Kelly who married reigning Prince Rainier in 1956 in the first celebrity royal wedding of the modern era. She died in a car accident in 1982; Rainier died in 2005. He was succeeded by their only son, Prince Albert, who ended decades of bachelorhood in 2011 by marrying South African Olympic swimming champion Charlene Wittstock in a glittering royal ceremony in Monaco. The Casiraghi children are not royal (their father, Caroline's second husband, was an Italian industrial heir who died in 1990), but Andrea is second in line after his mother to succeed Uncle Albert, should he not produce an heir himself.

Casiraghi and Santo Domingo, the U.S.-born daughter of very wealthy Colombian and Brazilian families, have been a couple for nearly a decade, having met at their Paris school through Charlotte. 16 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN 1 COMMENTEMAILMORE Read or Share this story: NEVER MISS OUT Life Be a pop culture maven. Get the news, reviews and the juiciest celebrity stories that keep you in the know, Monday-Friday.

'Why DOES the Prince of Monaco refuse to see our son?' Fashion designer who had a child with Albert claims it's 'impossible' for her 10-year-old to see his dad now he's married Princess Charlene | Daily Mail Online 'Why DOES the Prince of Monaco refuse to see our son?' Fashion designer who had a child with Albert claims it's 'impossible' for her 10-year-old to see his dad now he's married Princess Charlene Prince Albert had a son with fashion designer Nicole Coste during a six-year affair Coste says that while Albert was very hands on with Alexandre, now 10, during his first few years, he has now cut himself off from his son She blames this on the Albert marrying Princess Charlene in 2011 comments Prince Albert at a ball with his wife Charlene For the fabulously wealthy citizens of Monaco, it was the news they longed to hear. Princess Charlene, the glamorous wife of the country’s ruler Prince Albert, declared she was ready to start a family.

Her announcement that ‘kids will come’ not only delighted the principality’s conservative people who yearn for a House of Grimaldi heir, but it also put paid to rumours that the royal marriage is somewhat fractious. But for one bewildered boy, the news will herald more heartache. An heir will, in all likelihood, serve only to increase his yearning for recognition from the absent father he adores. Alexandre Coste Grimaldi is the ten-year-old illegitimate son of Monaco’s ruler, born after Albert romanced flight attendant Nicole Coste in a clandestine six-year relationship. Renowned for his roving eye, Albert – known as the ‘playboy prince’ who has been linked to a string of beauties including Naomi Campbell, Gwyneth Paltrow and Brooke Shields – demanded DNA tests before he accepted paternity. As his subjects reeled at the news of his liaison, he continued to disown Alexandre, even though behind the scenes he was more than happy to be part of his son’s life. But since his marriage to South African-born Princess Charlene in 2011, he has distanced himself from his only son.

Albert already has an illegitimate daughter, Jazmin, now 22. In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Nicole, who has fought hard – but unsuccessfully – for Alexandre to be recognised as a prince, tells how she was shunned by Monaco society and left to explain to her tearful son why his father no longer sees him. ‘The truth is that, I’m sorry to say, Albert hasn’t seen Alexandre since a brief visit last September. It has become impossible since he married that girl,’ she says referring to Charlene, 36. ‘I suppose as a new wife, how would one feel? But she should think about my innocent child. I don’t want to attack her but I think it is just jealousy and I don’t know why. I have been through hell in my fight for my son’s name and future.’ Understandably loath to go into the detail about her son’s distress, Nicole leaves it to a close confidante to explain how the distance has affected her son. ‘Alexandre misses his daddy dreadfully,’ the friend says. ‘He has started to feel sad and rejected.

He asks, “Why can’t I see Daddy?” He has to be told that his father is busy.’ Albert cuddles up with fashion designer Nicole Coste The row over Albert’s treatment of his son could not have come at a worse time for the Grimaldis. The principality is reeling from a dispute about Grace Of Monaco, a film about Albert’s mother, the late Princess Grace, which will have its world premiere at Cannes on May 14. Albert, 56, who was denied any input into the film, believes it will depict his late father Prince Rainier as a weak-willed ruler who controlled his wife’s life. He fears the fallout from both incidents will tarnish the reputation of Monaco – which he has ruled since his father’s death in 2005 – as a gilded location. Nicole’s relationship with Albert began as a chance encounter on an Air France flight from Nice to Paris in 1997. Albert was enchanted by the stunning stewardess with the bewitching smile who served him champagne in First Class. Albert cradles Alexandre as a baby ‘The strange thing is that I wasn’t even supposed to be on the flight,’ recalls Nicole.

‘I was on standby that day and was filling in for a colleague. ‘I always served in First Class so I was accustomed to dealing with VIPs. When I saw Albert our eyes met and I knew this was different. There was definitely an aura around him and we hit it off immediately. ‘I found him attractive with a twinkle in his eye. ‘He asked for my mobile telephone number. I didn’t write it on a napkin but on proper paper from the First Class cabin. I think he knew I wasn’t intimidated by him, that I felt comfortable in his presence. ‘I was charmed but no, it wasn’t love at first sight. That came later. Albert called me and asked me to come to Monaco for the weekend. It all seemed very natural and I bought my own ticket and stayed with him at his private apartment. I remember thinking, “Oh, this is nice.” ’ Nicole, whose father was a merchant in Togo, West Africa, admits she was excited and flattered by the attention. ‘I think he was attracted by my softness, but I was determined not to be a plaything. I needed him to respect me. So when we slept together we cuddled up but didn’t have sex.

‘I was determined that we wouldn’t make love until we got to know each other better. Albert respected that. I was no gold-digger. If anything, I bought him gifts.’ Indeed, Nicole had already demonstrated her mettle when she left Africa at just 15. One of five children, she was determined to make a better life for herself and so travelled to Paris to study. She admits: ‘I didn’t expect to fall for Albert. I recall waking up in the night and realising that I had fallen in love with him.’ Their liaison became the best-kept secret among Monaco society. Although they both attended red carpet events and mixed with socialites and celebrities, the majority of Albert’s subjects knew nothing of the relationship. ‘It is not my fault I fell in love with a Prince,’ Nicole says defensively. Inevitably, however, their initial passion waned and the relationship petered out. But in its final days, Nicole discovered she was pregnant. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share ‘When I first broke the news to Albert he was fine about it,’ she says. ‘He said I should keep the baby and promised to support me.’ However, months later the Prince’s enthusiasm waned.

‘I think Palace officials had got to him, possibly pointing out future inheritance problems.’ In spite of Nicole’s suspicions it is unlikely that was Albert’s motive. A year before Alexandre was born in 2003, Prince Rainier – concerned that Monaco would revert to becoming part of France if his son did not produce an heir – changed the constitution to decree that only the legitimate offspring of Albert or his sisters, Caroline and Stephanie, could inherit the royal title. This ensured that, should Albert die childless, Caroline or her children would ascend to the throne. When Alexandre was born Albert provided a generous financial allowance for Nicole and her son and moved them into an exquisite villa on the French Riviera. Though Alexandre’s birth scandalised Monegasque society, initially Albert was a loving father. Nicole says that she taught the Prince how to change his son’s nappies. ‘Albert and his son shared an affectionate, natural father/son relationship with trips and pirate-themed birthday parties,’ she reveals. ‘The Prince was proud of his son, often cuddling him warmly.

Albert has previously been linked romantically to Gwyneth Paltrow, left, and Naomi Cambell, right ‘Despite the end of our relationship a boy needs his father and I wrote to Albert saying this was not about money. Our son needs a father with whom he can talk, who will pay regular visits – not one who appears and disappears.’ But while Albert was, albeit in private, a hands-on father, he refused to acknowledge paternity. It was only when DNA tests proved he was the father that he accepted the situation. In 2005 he announced he was the father but decreed his illegitimate son would not inherit the throne. He did, however, vow that Alexandre would be cared for financially. When Albert met and then became engaged to South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock in 2010, his interest in his son waned. Nicole felt sidelined and snubbed by society friends who feared they would offend the new Princess-to-be if they consorted with her. Many criticised Nicole in public, dubbing her ‘audacious’ for demanding recognition and rights for her son.

She also caused anger by being pictured strolling with her son in the Monaco sunshine on the eve of Albert and Charlene’s wedding in 2011. ‘I was fed up being a secret,’ she says angrily. Both actress Emma Watson, left, and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, right, have worn Coste's designs ‘After the wedding I suffered because some socialites stopped inviting me to events if they thought the Prince and Princess would be there. They thought it would cause embarrassment. There is so much vicious gossip in Monaco. It is a beautiful place but also a small world. Too many are afraid of appearing disloyal to the Crown. ‘Once I was invited to a yacht party during the Grand Prix and some guests questioned why I was there. The guests said, “Prince Albert and Princess Charlene might sail into port and come on board for a drink. It would be awkward if she is here”.’ Since Nicole left Monaco last autumn and moved into a £7 million house in London’s Knightsbridge, she has carved out a new life for herself and Alexandre – and has added Grimaldi to her son’s surname.

Prince Albert has another illegitimate child, Jazmin Grimaldi, 22 Now 43, she is a fashion designer who numbers actresses Helen McCrory and Emma Watson, and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese among her clients. Next month she will open a stylish new boutique in Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge. ‘It’s great to be in England,’ she says happily. ‘In Monaco I felt I was living in a trap, but now I am free to be me. ‘I want to be recognised for excellence in clothing. I use only the finest fabrics and the best workmanship. But none of this has been easy. ‘I was with Albert for nearly seven years, when I didn’t know where it was going. I carry a lot of hurt inside. ‘I don’t want to see my son rejected. He sees other boys in his class have their fathers around and it is not good that he doesn’t even hear from his. I’m worried that this will upset Alexandre emotionally. ‘Although Albert is very generous I don’t feel I can contact him after his marriage. ‘At Easter, Alexandre said two things upset him. One was the British weather and the other was not seeing his father.

‘But I can’t make miracles happen. There is more to being a father than just money. ‘A son needs a father to love, help and guide him through life. We must find a way to make this happen. ‘As for me, I want people to know me as Nicole Coste, the talented fashion designer – not Nicole, that woman who once slept with the Prince of Monaco.’ Prince Albert declined to comment. Prince Albert of Monaco - Biography - IMDb Prince Albert of Monaco Jump to: Overview (2) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (25) | Personal Quotes (1) Overview (2) Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi Mini Bio (1) Prince Albert of Monaco was born on March 14, 1958 in Prince's Palace, Monaco as Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi. He has been married to Princess Charlene of Monaco since July 1, 2011. They have two children. Spouse (1) ( 1 July 2011 - present) (2 children) Trivia (25) Has his look-alike puppet in the French show Les guignols de l'info (1988).

A member of the International Olympic Committee. During his stints in the Winter Olympics as Monaco bobsleigh athlete (1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002), Albert lived in the Olympic Village, just like the other athletes. He was the first and still only person to have been both athlete and Olympic committee member at the same time. In celebration of his birth, a 101-gun salute was fired, the day after (15 March 1958) was declared a national holiday, and his father, Prince Rainier, pardoned all six prisoners in Monaco's jail. Albert's birth ensured that control of Monaco would not pass to France after Rainier's death, as per the treaty the two countries signed in 1918. Was born with the title Marquis le Baux ("Marcher Lord of The Beams"). Les Baux ("The Beams") is a village in France once held by the Grimaldis. Although the French Revolution abolished the privileges, the now-honorary title is carried successively by Princes Héréditaires of the Principality of Monaco. Holds a brown belt in judo.

Ascended the throne of Monaco on April 6, 2005, upon the death of his father, Prince Rainier of Monaco . He is now known as Prince Albert II of Monaco, 32nd ruler of Monaco. Official coronation date July 12, 2005. He is the 32nd ruler of Monaco, following the death of his father. [2005] Speaks French, Italian, English, Spanish and German. Shares a birthday with Albert Einstein , Michael Caine , Wolfgang Petersen , Billy Crystal , Mercedes McNab , Kylie Tyndall , Keaton Tyndall , Quincy Jones , Chris Klein , & Jamie Bell . Confirmed via his lawyer he has a son with a former Air France stewardess, Éric Alexandre Stéphane Coste, born on 24 August 2003 in Paris. Monaco's constitution specifies that only "direct and legitimate" descendants can assume the throne. Alexandre could be legitimated via legislation or if Albert marries the boy's mother (6 July 2005).

Admitted, in a statement from his lawyer, that he is the father of Jazmin Grace Grimaldi , born in 1992. Her mother is Tamara Jean Rotolo, a Californian woman (June 1, 2006). Princess Antoinette of Monaco - Telegraph Royalty Obituaries Princess Antoinette of Monaco Princess Antoinette of Monaco, who died in Monte Carlo on March 18 aged 90, was the eccentric older sister of Prince Rainier, and aunt to Prince Albert and the Princesses Caroline and Stephanie. Princess Antoinette with Prince Rainier and Princess Grace in 1956 Photo: GETTY 11:35AM BST 27 Mar 2011 At one stage Princess Antoinette had her eye set on the throne of Monaco for her son. When this idea came to nothing, she retreated from Monte Carlo to Eze — a village in the hills overlooking the Mediterranean — where she occupied herself with an animal sanctuary, consisting principally of dogs and cats.

The Princess was born in Paris on December 28 1920, the daughter of Prince Pierre of Monaco (formerly Comte Pierre de Polignac) and Princess Charlotte, and was baptised Antoinette Louise Alberte Suzanne. When Monaco had required an heir to prevent the principality being swallowed up by Italy, Prince Louis II, Antoinette’s grandfather, recalled that he had an illegitimate daughter — Charlotte — by Juliette Louvet, a washerwoman with whom he had had an affair while serving with a French regiment in Algiers. In 1919 Charlotte was legitimised, becoming Hereditary Princess of Monaco. The following year she married Comte Pierre de Polignac, a problematic union that was not helped by his being homosexual. Their unhappy marriage blighted the early lives of their children, Antoinette and Rainier, who became pawns in the bitter struggles between their parents. Pierre and Charlotte finally separated in 1930 and were divorced in 1933.

Antoinette and Rainier, meanwhile, spent much of their childhood staying with their grandfather, who was never in Monaco for more than three months a year, preferring Paris, his shooting lodge in the Ardennes, or grouse shooting with his Hamilton cousins in Scotland. Antoinette grew up as the unconventional member of the family. She was so petite that, as a child, she was known as “Tiny”. The tabloid press nicknamed her “Princess Tiny-pants”. Related Articles Hélène Pastor 22 May 2014 In the mid-1940s she embarked on a relationship with Alexandre-Athenase (Aleco) Noghès, a Monégasque-born lawyer and international tennis champion of Spanish descent. Three children were born out of wedlock: Elizabeth-Ann in 1947, Christian in 1949 and Christine in 1951 . Antoinette married Noghès in December 1951, but they divorced three years later .

Rainier had succeeded his grandfather in 1949, and in November 1951 he bestowed on his sister the title of Baroness de Massy; her son Christian, styling himself Baron de Massy, would go on to marry four times and to write a book about the House of Grimaldi. In about 1950 Antoinette, as the elder child, began to investigate the possibility of her replacing Prince Rainier on the throne of Monaco, with a view to her son eventually succeeding. She was supported in this endeavour by Jean-Charles Rey, president of the Conseil Nationale of Monaco, whom she had taken as a lover. At this time Rainier was enjoying a 10-year affair with the beautiful French actress Gisèle Pascal, whom he had met when studying at Montpelier University. They were living together in a villa at St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Antoinette, who was of a meddlesome disposition, circulated the rumour that Gisèle was infertile, hoping to secure the succession for her own son.

It began to be said that a doctor had examined the actress and confirmed the rumour — which was later dispelled when she had a child in her marriage to the actor Raymond Pellegrin. At any event, Gisèle and Rainier split up in 1953, and the succession was finally assured in 1956 when he married Grace Kelly and went on to have three children of his own. It was often suggested in the media that the sisters-in-law Grace and Antoinette were not on good terms. This was not the case. Certainly Antoinette could be a fiery, difficult character who would row fiercely with her brother. But despite her earlier attempts to influence the princely succession, she was extremely fond of him. Grace, meanwhile, was determined to maintain family harmony, and made it her business to act as a calming influence. In December 1961, in The Hague, Antoinette married her lover Jean-Charles Rey, but the marriage ended in divorce. She later married the well-known ballet dancer John Gilpin, whom she had first befriended when he was with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in Monte Carlo in the late 1940s.

In the meantime, Gilpin had been the long-time “beloved friend” of Anton Dolin, with whom he had worked at the Festival Ballet in London. Dolin had brought Antoinette to Gilpin’s first wedding, in August 1960, to the ballerina Sally Judd, a union which produced one child before ending in divorce in 1970. Antoinette’s marriage to Gilpin took place in Monaco on July 28 1983. Only six weeks later, however, on September 5, he died of a heart attack, aged 53, while visiting his flat at Orme Court in London . Like her brother, Princess Antoinette loved animals; and when she settled at the romantically named villa Le Bout de Monde at Eze in the early 1950s, she established an animal sanctuary there. Most of the inhabitants were dogs (boxers, collies, basset hounds, German shepherds) and cats, some of which were sent to her by Monaco’s Society for the Protection of Animals, of which she was president.

The Princess also maintained four large bird tables which attracted ring doves, starlings, blackbirds and robins, which would wait in the trees for feeding time. Staff were employed to care for the animals . As the years went by, so the number of animals multiplied, and in recent years visitors sometimes found it hard to get near the Princess. Some of her servants declared her to be “completely mad”, but the Princess merely said: “Every day spent with [my animals] gives me great happiness. They all give me unbelievable joy.” Prince Rainier died in 2005, to be succeeded by his son Prince Albert. Under the rules of the Monégasque succession, amended in 2002, Antoinette and her family lost their positions in line to the throne. Until 2007 — after which she suffered from declining health — she continued to attend the annual Red Cross Gala in Monte Carlo, taking a more prominent role after the death of Princess Grace, and often entering on the arm of Prince Albert.

She was able to celebrate her 90th birthday on the Feast of the Epiphany in January this year at a lunch given at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo by the Union des Femmes Monégasques. On her death, Prince Albert declared two weeks of mourning in Monaco. The funeral, held on March 24, was attended by Prince Albert; his fiancée, Charlene Wittstock; Princesses Caroline and Stephanie; and by many other members of the Monégasque Royal Family. She is survived by her son and elder daughter; her younger daughter died in 1989. Prince Rainier - Photo 3 - Pictures - CBS News Prince Rainier Next Prince Rainier III and actress Princess Grace Kelly wave from the palace terrace at Monaco on April 18, 1956. The couple is hosting a garden party for the people of Monaco on the palace grounds after being married in a civil ceremony at the palace a few hours earlier. Credit: AP Princess Grace Kelly waves to cheering crowds lining the road as she rides in an open car with Prince Rainier III following their marriage in a religious wedding ceremony in the Monaco Cathedral April 19, 1956.

Credit: AP Newlyweds Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly leave for the Royal Palace in an open car following their marriage in the solemn rites of the Roman Catholic Church in Monaco Cathedral April 19, 1956. Credit: AP Princess Grace and Prince Rainier III of Monaco are seen during their visit at the Atlantic City (N.J.) racetrack on Sept. 16, 1956. Credit: AP Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco walk in the loge of Vatican Palace on their way to the Vatican apartments for an audience with Pope Pius XII in the Throne Hall, April 30, 1957. They are accompanied by papal chamberlain Msgr. Federico Callori di Vignale, left, and a Swiss Guard, right background. Credit: AP Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco walk in St. Peter's Square as they leave the Vatican Palace after a private audience with Pope Pius XII in Vatican City, June 18, 1959. They are accompanied by Msgr. Federico Callori di Vignale, left, head of the pontiff's personal staff, and Msgr.

Mario Nasalli Rocca di Cornegliano, papal chamberlain Credit: AP Pictured at the Frank Sinatra Gala at the Sporting Club in Monaco June 9, 1962 ,are, left to right, Prince Rainier III of Monaco; Sinatra; Princess Grace, an old film friend of the singer; and newlywed Princess Sophia of Greece and Don Juan Carlos of Spain. In background are Prince Rainier's sister, Princess Antoinette, and her husband, Jean Charles Rey. Credit: AP Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Princess Grace, holding Princess Stephanie, pose with their children on the palace steps in Monaco in April 1966. At left, foreground is Prince Albert, the second oldest, and at center is Princess Caroline. The Prince and Princess of Monaco will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on April 18. Credit: AP After receiving the winner's cup of the 34th Grand Prix from Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, Austrian driver Niki Lauda puts it on the floor to listen to the national anthem, May 30, 1976.

Credit: AP Prince Ranier weeps as he follows the casket of Princes Grace in a funeral procession to Monaco's cathedral before the princess' burial Sept. 18, 1982. Flanking Rainer are daughter Caroline and son Albert. Behind them are Princess Grace's sister Peggy Conlan. Behind Caroline, is Princess Grace's brother John Kelly Jr. Credit: AP Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, right, speaks with Cuban President Fidel Castro, center, as Monaco's Prince Rainier looks on at left, as they attend the funeral Mass for former President Francois Mitterrand at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Thursday Jan. 11, 1996. Kings, princes and presidents descended on Paris for a somber, stately farewell to Mitterrand, the man who led France longer than anyone else this century. Credit: AP Prince Rainier III of Monaco smiles to his daughters Princesses Stephanie, center, and Caroline, right, as he arrives at the Monte Carlo sporting club to attend the traditional Red Cross charity ball Friday Aug. 8, 1997, as Monaco principality celebrates the 7OOth anniversary of the Grimaldi family's reign.

Credit: AP From left, Princess Stephanie, Prince Rainier's sister Princess Antoinette, Prince Ernst-August of Hanover and his wife Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and Prince Rainier attend a mass Sunday, May 9, 1999, in the Monaco Cathedral, during festivites marking Prince Rainier's Jubilee anniversary of his reign. Credit: AP Prince Albert of Monaco, second from left, chats with his father Prince Rainier, right, while his sister Princess Caroline of Hanover and her husband Prince Ernst August of Hanover, left, look on during Monaco National day ceremonies at the Monaco palace, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2000. Credit: AP Prince Rainier of Monaco, center, with his daughters Princess Stephanie of Monaco, left, and Princess Caroline of Hanover, arrive at the "Bal de la Rose", Saturday, March 22, 2003, in Monaco. Credit: AP Prince Rainier of Monaco waves to the crowd during the Monaco National Day parade at the Monaco Palace, Nov. 19, 2003.

Credit: AP Prince Rainier of Monaco, center, is applauded by Princess Stephanie of Monaco, right, and Prince Albert of Monaco, left, at the opening ceremony of the 29th Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival in Monaco, Jan. 20, 2005. Credit: AP Prince Rainier of Monaco attends the closing ceremony of the 29th Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival in Monaco, in this Jan. 25, 2005 file photo. Credit: AP Prince Rainier died, at the age of 81, on April 6, 2005, just four days after the death of Pope John Paul II. In this Dec. 19, 1997 file photo, the pope greets Princess Caroline of Monaco (unseen) as Prince Rainier looks on, upon their arrival at the Vatican for a private visit. Credit: AP Monaco palace's flag flies at half-staff, after Prince Rainier III of Monaco died following heart, kidney and breathing problems, April 6, 2005. This flag is the Grimaldi, or royal family, flag. Credit: AP

Question: Who is the only son of Prince Rainier of Monaco?
Answer: Prince Albert