Meet Prince Albert Of Monaco's Love Children
While the British royal family has been dominating headlines for the past few years, there is another royal family residing just on the other side of the English Channel that has its own share of jaw-dropping family drama. This family is none other than the Grimaldis — no, not the Grimaldis of "The Princess Diaries" fame, but the wealthy rulers of the principality of Monaco.
Once led by the dashing Prince Rainier III and his glamorous wife, Grace Kelly, this Mediterranean country is now overseen by the pair's son, Prince Albert II. If you look at Prince Albert today, the middle-aged father of four may not seem like the type to stay out all night dancing his way through the French Riviera, but for the majority of his youth, that was exactly what the prince was known for. These wild European adventures eventually resulted in two love children and years of scandal that rocked the Grimaldi family to its core.
A notorious playboy, Prince Albert courted a seemingly endless stream of girlfriends and was even once spotted getting cozy with supermodel Naomi Campbell. However, the mothers of his two illegitimate children were neither well-known nor well-connected, resulting in both women having to fight for their children to be recognized by the Monégasque throne. Thankfully, Prince Albert seems to now have a cheerful relationship with both of his illegitimate children. In celebration of this uniquely blended family, let's meet the two love children of this scandal-courting monarch.
Jazmin Grace Grimaldi
Prince Albert's first child, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, was born on March 4, 1992, in Palm Springs, California. Her birth was the product of a brief love affair between the Prince of Monaco and Californian Tamara Rotolo. People reports that Tamara first met the prince on the French Riviera in 1991 when she was vacationing in the wake of her separation from then-husband David Schumacher. After meeting at a Monaco tennis tournament, Prince Albert and Tamara became very intimate and quickly entered into a love affair.
Nine months later, Jazmin was born. She spent the majority of her life in California, where she experienced a relatively normal childhood despite her royal connections. Speaking to Harper's Bazaar in 2015, Jazmin recalls happy memories of playing on her middle school basketball team, excelling in her local theater community, and singing in her church choir. After leaving high school, she moved to New York to study business at Fordham University.
Currently, the prince's daughter is pursuing a career in music and television, having scored a small part in the show "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" in 2019. Her other acting credits include roles in theater productions of "The Glass Menagerie" and "Uncle Vanya." As for her music, Jazmin released her first two singles in 2019, titled "Thankful" and "Fearless." Monaco Life reported that she collaborated with her partner, Ian Mellencamp, on the production of the duet "Thankful."
Her identity was not revealed until 2006
Although Jazmin now has a loving relationship with her father, that was not always the case. Though she was always aware of her father's princely status, she did not meet him face-to-face until she was 11 years old. As she was growing up, her mother, Tamara Rotolo, would pass along messages from Prince Albert, but overall theirs was a distant relationship. However, in 2006, Prince Albert decided to go public with the news that he had a child living across the Atlantic, paving the way for a more intimate relationship.
Once the news of Jazmin's paternity was public knowledge, she took the opportunity to visit Monaco for the first time. "I wanted that moment to connect with my father," she told Harper's Bazaar, "to get to know him, and to have him get to know me." She reflected on her early years, saying, "Not having had that figure around, I missed that. It's wonderful that it happened when it did, and we've been enjoying a great relationship ever since."
Today, she travels back and forth from the U.S. to Monaco quite often and has managed to forge a close relationship not only with Prince Albert, but also with his wife Princess Charlene, and her twin half siblings, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques. Jazmin has even befriended distant family members, including her paternal cousin Pauline Ducruet, who is the daughter of Princess Stéphanie of Monaco.
Grandmother Grace Kelly had a profound effect on Jazmin
From ordinary California girl to Monégasque royalty, Jazmin's journey not only includes the revelation that her father is a prince but also the revelation that her grandmother was none other than screen icon Grace Kelly. The blond was Hollywood royalty throughout the 1950s, starring in two Alfred Hitchcock films and even winning an Oscar in 1955 for her role in "The Country Girl." However, she would leave it all behind to become true royalty, marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Prince Albert, as well as his two sisters, were a product of the marriage.
Although Jazmin never met her grandmother, Grace Kelly has had a profound impact on her life. Even before she connected with the Monégasque side of her family, Jazmin recalls being dazzled by photographs of her glamorous grandmother. "I love the pictures where she's quirky and smiling," the American told Harper's Bazaar. "She seems so natural and carefree."
Jazmin discussed her fondness for the late icon, reporting that one of her most cherished rooms in Prince Albert's Monaco estate is the late actor's dressing room, filled with her old possessions. The actor and singer even went so far as to channel her grandmother in a series of photographs for the magazine, showing her wearing a series of Old Hollywood-inspired gowns and a hairdo that is uncannily similar to Grace's signature blond bob (via Instagram).
Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste
Eleven years after Jazmin was born, one of Prince Albert's partners gave birth to his second child, a son named Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, born in 2003. The prince's first son was also born out of wedlock, resulting in a sticky situation for mother and father alike. Unlike Jazmin's birth, which was the product of a passionate summer fling, Alexandre's birth arose out of a multiyear affair between Prince Albert and a French-Togolese woman named Nicole Coste.
The pair reportedly first met on a flight in 1997, where Nicole was working as a flight attendant and Prince Albert was a passenger. In an interview with The Daily Mail, Nicole recalled how their affair began, stating, "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."
She said it was the Prince of Monaco who made the first move, asking for the flight attendant's phone number. The unlikely pair dated for years, though the relationship was kept strictly out of the spotlight. By the time the romance had run its course, Nicole discovered that she was pregnant. Now, at 19 years old, Alexandre seems to be thriving.
Prince Albert was reluctant to publicly acknowledge Alexandre
Although Alexandre and Jazmin were born several years apart, their entrances into public life happened in quick succession, with Prince Albert publicly acknowledging both brother and sister in 2005 and 2006 respectively. However, while the battle to confirm Jazmin's paternity was mostly kept quiet, the drama surrounding Prince Albert's reluctance to publicly acknowledge his son became European tabloid fodder.
According to The Daily Mail, Prince Albert was originally a doting father to the newborn Alexandre. Nicole Coste, the prince's former partner and Alexandre's mother, reports that her old flame provided financial support for both her and her son, and even helped change the young Alexandre's "nappies" a time or two. However, Prince Albert slowly began to disappear from his infant son's life.
After both private and public urging from Nicole Coste, including a tell-all interview with Paris Match, Prince Albert finally recognized his relationship publicly in 2005, after his father's death. At the time, Alexandre was only 23 months old. Today, the father and son are reported to have a happy and healthy relationship, bonding through their shared love of sports and passion for politics. The father of four even took on the responsibility of throwing Alexandre a grand 18th birthday party hosted at the fashionable Jimmy'z club in Monaco (via South China Morning Post).
Jazmin and Alexandre have a close relationship
Surprisingly, Prince Albert's two love children seem to have a close bond despite their age gap and having grown up in different parts of the world. Jazmin, who has an active social media presence, revealed her close relationship with her half brother on her Instagram in a now-deleted post. On Alexandre's birthday, she shared a sisterly congratulations to her little brother. Sharing a photo of the two embracing, she wrote, "It's a celebration. Happy birthday my little brother Alexandre!" (via The Daily Mail).
Despite Jazmin growing up in California and Alexandre being raised in France, adjacent to the Monaco elite, much of their bond can be explained by the fact that the half siblings underwent similar trials in their early years. From DNA tests to scheduled visits to Monaco to unwanted media attention regarding their relationship with their father, Jazmin and Alexandre have more in common than meets the eye.
In addition to their similar childhoods, it seems both half siblings have decided to pursue careers in show business. While Jazmin is an active singer and actor, the younger Alexandre has reportedly been scouted for a career in modeling. The South China Morning Post reports that the teenager has been taking advantage of his own Grace Kelly-like genes by accepting small modeling gigs when he has free time away from school.
Neither love child is in the line of succession
Despite both Jazmin and Alexandre being the first children to be born to Prince Albert, neither is in line to inherit the Monégasque throne. While some may view this as a devastating blow to the prince's illegitimate children, others may see this as a mutually beneficial situation, as both Jazmin and Alexandre are still expected to inherit significant portions of Prince Albert's personal fortune, according to Yahoo.
The erasure of Jazmin and Alexandre from the line of succession was not an individual decision made by Prince Albert but was mandated by Monaco's laws. Each new monarch must be a "direct and legitimate" descendant of the previous monarch (per Monte Carlo). Therefore, because neither Tamara Rotolo nor Nicole Coste was married to Prince Albert at the time of their children's births, these "illegitimate" children will not ascend to the throne.
However, if anything might soothe the blow of "commoner" status, it will be a piece of Prince Albert's billion-dollar fortune. Some might even regard Jazmin and Alexandre's situation as being preferable to that of Prince Albert's official two descendants, twins Gabriella and Jacques. Unlike the twins, the prince's eldest children have mostly been able to skirt unwanted media attention as well as chart their own trajectories in life, all without losing the financial privilege that comes with being the child of a sitting monarch.
There is a potential third love child
Just as the initial revelation of Jazmin and Alexandre's connection to Prince Albert shocked Monaco society, the small principality may be in for another earth-shattering tabloid moment, as rumors of a third love child have been circulating in the press. The Telegraph reported that the Prince of Monaco has been hit with a court case claiming that he fathered a child with an unknown Brazilian woman in 2005.
Through his lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, Prince Albert has fervently denied these claims, saying, "Our only comment is that the purported facts are false and the claims being made by the plaintiff are unfounded." While Jazmin and Alexandre — Albert's first two love children — seem to have settled into a loving dynamic with their father, these new claims of a third love child could perhaps upset the hard-won harmony of Prince Albert's blended family.
According to Tatler, court documents claim that the spontaneous affair between Prince Albert and the woman took place while he was already in a relationship with Princess Charlene, though the two wouldn't officially marry until 2011. This couldn't come at a worse time for the first couple of Monaco, as reports have long been swirling that Albert and Charlene's marriage is in jeopardy. Still, he maintains that any claims of him fathering a third illegitimate child are a "hoax"; however, only time will tell how this latest scandal will resolve.
Monaco's constitution was changed because of Albert's playboy antics
Fully understanding the magnitude of these paternity scandals might require opening up a history book or two, as Prince Albert's public aspersions not only jeopardized his personal relationships, his marriage, and the reputation of his homeland, but the existence of his love children also once threatened to redefine the political makeup of Monaco (via BBC).
The story goes all the way back to when Prince Rainier III began grooming the young Albert for his future as monarch. ABC News reported that Rainier was deeply invested in his son's royal training and was a strict teacher, often bringing Albert to important meetings. Despite Rainier's instruction, Albert began making headlines not for his royal patronages or charitable outings, but for his playboy antics. Before his death in 2005, Rainier pressured his son to settle down and produce an heir who would be able to carry on the royal name.
Out of fear that his son would forever remain a bachelor, Rainier modified Monaco's constitution in 2002. Under the original law, the principality would be adopted by France in the absence of a male heir to the monarchy. However, Rainier safeguarded against this by ensuring that his two daughters, Princesses Caroline and Stéphanie, could also be considered legitimate heirs, along with their offspring.
Today, Prince Albert has a good relationship with his love children
Despite all the legal drama and scandal-courting headlines that have plagued them, Prince Albert and the two love children he has accepted into his life, Jazmin and Alexandre, seem to have carved out a family dynamic that works for them. In 2022, the trio made headlines once again — this time for positive reasons — as the father and two half siblings were photographed embracing during an outing in New York City (via The Daily Mail).
The photograph was originally posted to Instagram by Nicole Coste, mother to Alexandre, who has also been spotted being friendly with her old flame at various aristocratic events throughout the years, such as a Monégasque charity ball in 2021. In Nicole's photo, various dishes and drinks can be seen on the table in front of the trio, hinting that the blended family enjoyed a meal together while catching up.
This photo also comes on the heels of another heartwarming photograph that captured all four of Prince Albert's children (via The Daily Mail). Older sister Jazmin is seen in the middle, with her arms around Alexandre and her much-younger twin half siblings, Gabriella and Jacques. It was Jazmin who originally shared the photo on her Instagram, though it has since been deleted. It was shared by a variety of publications eager to celebrate such a wholesome display of togetherness from a family that has seen its fair share of drama.