Friday 29 July 2005

Who is HSH Prince Albert II Anyway?

As Prince Albert begins the process that will consolidate his position as absolute monarch of the Principality of Monaco, the world will be wondering just who is this 47-year-old bachelor and how will be follow the tough act that was his father, Prince Rainier? 

Pretty much everyone knows he is the only son, and second child of his parents, Rainier III and the late Princess Grace, the American film actress who died in a car accident in 1982. Albert I (1848-1922) had married twice: the first time to tenth Duke of Hamilton of Scotland�s daughter Lady Mary Douglas-Hamilton. Five months after the wedding the couple had a violent argument. Mary took off to Germany where supposedly she had an affair with a Prussian officer, who is allegedly the father of her son Prince Louis. Albert headed off to the American Wild West to go hunting with Buffalo Bill. 

His second marriage was an unsuccessful match with an American heiress and widowed French Duchess, whose father wanted her to marry into royalty. They divorced in 1902.It seems to be a Grimaldi family trait that parents and children should hate each other. Albert hated Louis because he could not forgive his mother for running off in the middle of the night, nor for not being his real son. As soon as Louis turned 18 Albert sent him off to the French Foreign Legion. Louis� only child Charlotte was the product of an affair between Louis and a divorced French laundress named Marie Juliette Louvet, whom he had fallen in love with and taken off to Algiers, where he was stationed.  

When she turned 21 Charlotte was officially adopted by her father, and legitimized so she could inherit the throne. The following year, because his family needed the money and Charlotte needed a husband, a marriage was arranged between her and Count Pierre de Polignac. A Society dandy and total snob he was thrilled when Louis made him a Prince. Although Pierre tried Louis never did approve of him. Charlotte, however, was a force to be reckoned with. She once single-handedly convinced some French revolutionaries to leave her father on the throne. But once she had her requisite son, Rainier, she left Pierre and set out on an affair with a doctor Del Masso. When he attempted to leave her she shot at him (but missed).

Rainier was born in 1923. He and his older sister Antoinette (Tiny) lived in a violent world where revolutionaries within Monaco, and French interests outside, were angling to make Monaco a French dependency. (The 1918 treaty between the two states that if the throne of Monaco is vacant even for one day the principality reverts back to French control). Once their parents� divorce was final Pierre was thrown out of the country. The siblings were then raised entirely by their grandfather, and nanny Kathleen (Winston Churchill�s cousin). Tiny hated both her parents, and her mother hated her back. Charlotte renounced her claim to the throne in 1944, in favour of Rainier. When he was ten Rainier was sent to boarding school in England, where he was constantly taunted for being foreign, fat and bad at sports. He ran away once but was caught. Finally he ended up at school in Switzerland but because he distrusted everyone, felt loved by no one and had no father role model, he grew up very shy, insecure and awkward with any type of confrontation.  

After graduating from the School of Political Sciences in Paris he joined the Free French Army where he saw action fighting the Nazis. He ended his career as a colonel. Shortly after his 21^st birthday Louis named him his official heir. This position held just social duties. It wasn�t until five years later when Louis� health began to fail, that Rainier was brought in to take over governing the principality. Rainier became His Serene Highness Rainier III on April 11, 1950 during an official day of ceremony.  

So now Rainier was a 26-year-old bachelor ruler who had to provide an heir or his people could revert back to French rule, and have to pay French income taxes, where now they paid none. Tiny renounced her and her children�s claim to the throne in 1951.

Rainier had a major affair in college with a slightly older French film actress when he was 19. Although his family did not approve, that was not the major reason there was no marriage. Rainier did not want Gisele to work, and although she loved him, Gisele refused to give up �acting�. She quit for three years but had to go back. Anyway, Rainier was an ambitious young man, wanting to do what he could for his people. He was embarrassed by the sleazy reputation Monaco seemed to project. It took five years for Gisele to get it that this was never going to work out. She embarked on an affair with her co-star, whom she eventually married. Rainier was incensed that she had broken up with him, instead of him with her, the way he planned. 

Prince Rainier Grimaldi III of Monaco met Miss Grace Patricia Kelly in 1955, when he was 32 and she was 26. She was surprised at his perfect English, and at having to curtsy to him. As she waited to meet him for the first time (he was late) she practiced her curtsy while he secretly watched her. She saw him in the mirror as she fixed her makeup. She froze, gathered herself, turned and gave him a perfect curtsy. This first meeting had been hard to arrange, but now that it had neither of them actually wanted it to end, despite the clicking cameras that followed them as they toured his private zoo on the palace grounds. 

Grace herself had had more than a few affairs with her much older, much married but philandering co-stars, and had the unwarranted reputation as a �home-wrecker�. Clark Cable was one such example. Her mother, Margaret, who turned up on their movie set in London to chaperone, scuttled this. Grace then desperately wanted to marry designer Oleg Cassini. Her father Jack eventually convinced Oleg to beat it. At the time of her meeting with Rainier she was juggling Oleg and French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont. That ended when she learned Jean-Paul was arranging with the paparazzi to have his photo taken with her just to advance his own career. By 1955 Grace had had it with Hollywood, her parents� interference, and frustrated by the realization that everyone around her was falling in love, getting married and having children-and she wasn�t. 

Their lives had been so completely different. Rainier�s family all despised each other; Grace�s was close-knit and loving. Rainier had never had a close relationship with his parents and had few friends; Grace�s parents were over-protective, and she had lots of friends to confide in. What they had in common is that they were both devout Catholics. Monaco had to have a Princess the Vatican would approve of.  

Antoinette, always jealous that although the eldest she was passed over for the throne because she was a girl, kept secretly plotting to get it back for herself. Rainier decided that the rot in his family tree could be stopped with an entirely new branch. He needed his special Princess, and he needed her now. His major father figure, Father Francis Tucker, born in the U.S., could see how Rainier felt about Grace and he approved of her. She was young enough to bear children, practiced the right religion, was beautiful and from a wealthy family. But was she willing to give up her career, as Gisele had not been? Rainier made it his life�s mission to get her if he could. He did but the courtship did not go smoothly. Despite their initial joy, getting Monaco�s acceptance was a hard slog. 

The wedding in the grand cathedral took place on April 19, 1956, the day after a very hectic and exhausting civil ceremony. Nine months and four days later Grace gave birth to Caroline Louise Marguerite. Five months later she was pregnant again and on March 14, 1958 the long awaited heir, Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre was born. The Monegasques literally danced in the street and Albert was greeted with a 101-gun salute. But having two kids within barely a year of each other had weakened Grace�s constitution, especially as she was breastfeeding, and she caught a lot of colds and sore throats. She also missed her freedom to come and go unescorted and unphotographed. She missed just talking to her girlfriends; she missed the movie business too. 

Rainier�s sister had made an unholy alliance with Rainier�s enemy Jean Charles Rey, who opposed him on the National Council. She never stopped trying to undermine him. They were planning a coup d�etat to replace Rainier with her son Christian as heir. As absolute ruler Rainier simply suspended the Council and booted both Rey and Antoinette out of the palace. He ruled by divine right (the only monarchy that still makes that claim) and he could make up any law he wanted. Because of this he had always been surrounded entirely by sycophants and users. 

Grace had two miscarriages before giving birth to her last child, Stephanie Marie Elizabeth in 1965. Caroline was the most intelligent, a spitfire and a good student. Albert had been taken over by Rainier and began the process of learning to be ruler of Monaco when he was two. Stephanie was spoiled rotten, undisciplined and out of control very early. 

But what was different from Rainier�s childhood was that he was determined his children would know they were loved by their father. He spent time with the older ones playing with them and lavishing toys on them. Grace was the voice of authority. Even Rainier called her �the government� as she ruled the roost. 

Grace moved to Paris where Caroline and Stephanie were educated. Albert stayed home and did his schooling there. It wasn�t until he was eight that he started the public school across the street from the palace. He was blonde and resembled his mother while his sisters took after their father. He was a quiet, reserved, introspective child. As he grew he came to love sports. He watched and played soccer all his life. He came to love fast cars and fast boats. He has a black belt in judo. He speaks both English and French. He spent his summers at camp in the U.S., getting to know his Kelly relations. He got his BA at Amherst College in Massachusetts because Rainier thought Princeton and Harvard were too progressive. He did his military service in the French Navy, serving on the Jeanne d�Arc. 

Rainier had never wanted �Albie� coddled by his mother. Caroline had been a bit of a prima donna and had bullied her brother. Albie took it in his stride. He had been an altar boy at his family�s private chapel and knew exactly what to do and why. Grace had to make appointments to see him as he had been separated from her. Caroline was Grace�s responsibility and Albert was Rainier�s. While his mother and sisters were away Albert was no trouble. No teenage rebellions like Caroline and then Stephanie, both insisting on inappropriate marriages at young ages. 

Princess Grace died in 1982 when she had a stroke while driving with Stephanie along the winding road near Monte Carlo. Grace had never liked driving and was always very cautious. Her death devastated Rainier and the girls. Albert, as he had been taught, exhibited no emotion-royalty simply does not. It would not be in him to do so anyway. Caroline became de facto Princess and her father�s consort. She remains so with her brother, and will until he marries. Rainier died this past April, and Albert waited a respectful time before publicly acknowledging that he fathered a nearly two-year-old child. He hinted there could be others out there. 

So, who is His Serene Highness and what kind of ruler for Monaco will he be? 

He is nearing 50. He is unmarried and his choices for a suitable Princess, one who does not have a �past�, is Catholic, of child-bearing age, and is willing to give up her career, may be few and far between. 

He is an athlete, is well educated, did his military service, and is thoughtful and reserved. His spoken English accent is East Coast American. He is just as at home in palaces, racecar pits, tennis courts, Parisian nightclubs and his own Council Chambers. Yes-men too surround him and it is hoped that he has the experience by now to tell whom he can trust and who he can�t. 

Up until now he has kept a low public profile. Stephanie adores him and hopefully he will now be able to protect her from herself. She and Rainier had just had too different ideas of what a Princess�s conduct should be. He has been brought up almost since birth for this job. Rainier had laboured hard to rebuild Monaco�s image. He had hoped by his marriage to Grace that his heirs would be spared the family plotting and infighting that had plagued them for generations. Because she disapproved of her sister�s behaviour Caroline and Stephanie had become estranged (unfortunately Stephanie�s recent behaviour has again caused a complete rift in their relationship). Honor, Loyalty and Duty are Albert�s watchwords and Grace would have been proud of his dedication to Monaco�s future. Caroline married Prince Ernst of Hanover in 1999, the year of Rainier�s Golden Jubilee. During his speech Rainier spoke of Grace and got choked up. Albert leaned forward, ready to help his father should he falter. 

As his daughters let their tears fall, Rainier then spoke of his son. �My heir sees the third millennium opening up before him. He, together with all of us, will have to face that challenge. It�s a proud principality, altruistic and confident in its future, that I would like to leave for him.� As his voice gained strength Rainier continued, �His active participation in state affairs is preparing him for this, and you are there to assure me and to assure him of your support, your faith, and determination�. Stephanie offered her sister a rose and it was accepted. The Prince and his children stood in the bright sunshine, reconciled and strong, as the public cheered. 

Albert�s powers now include proposing legislation, exiling anyone he chooses, rewriting the constitution, and having control over every one of his citizen�s lives. There is no army, just a highly visible police force. Security for his wealthy visitors is high tech and prevalent. 

In 2002 Monaco�s constitution was amended to permit Albert to pass power to his nephews should he have no legitimate children of his own, where before it could only go straight to the monarch�s children. The succession as it stands at this time is: 

Albert

Caroline

Andrea Casiraghi (her children with the late Stefano Casiraghi. They were legitimized in 1993. Caroline had married Casiraghi before the Vatican had recognized the annulment of her first marriage to Philippe Junot)

Pierre Casiraghi

Charlotte Casiraghi

Alexandra of Hanover (child with Prince Ernst of Hanover)

Stephanie

Louis Ducruet (children born before their parents are married are legitimized upon

Pauline Ducruet  (the marriage, under Monaco civil law)

Camille Marie Kelly Grimaldi is out of the succession, as Stephanie has never disclosed the name of her father. 

Albert is liked and admired for the way he treats everyone equally but has two bodyguards at all times. His diplomatic experience includes presiding over the ceremony in 1993 when Monaco was accepted into the U.N. 

He has a history of dating actresses and models, but has shown no sign of wanting to marry anyone. Albert understands that any woman he marries will have to put up with the inevitable comparisons to his mother, and will have to very strong to overcome that. Grace may be a tougher act to follow than Rainier will be. 

He once declared that he thinks he�ll be ready to take over the throne when the time comes. The time has come. He has prepared himself for this role all his life. Now all he needs is another Grace Kelly to come into his life. The Grimaldis have ruled Monaco for more than seven centuries, the oldest continuous rule in Europe. His Serene Highness Albert II may turn out to the best yet now he has the chance to come into his own. 

Bon chance, Mon Seigneur. May your mother�s magic and your father�s vision be your ever- present guiding stars.

Anon.

- The Court Jester