Inside The Lives Of Monaco's Royal Family

prince albert ii and his wife Princess Charlene are the happy heads of the royal family in Monaco but their lives have been anything but steady sailing you'll want to keep watching to learn all about their scandal filled family it's so intriguing from illegitimate children and rumours of wedding day dramas to major issues surrounding the line of succession not to mention how Grace Kelly upheld the curse on the family and there are dangers now let's dive into the lives of Monaco's royal family the royal family of Monaco is even more fascinating than the unusual country over which it rules the Principality of Monaco is a sovereign city-state of the French Riviera it's the second smallest independent state in the world after the Vatican that is but the royal family of Monaco known as the house of Grimaldi is anything but small in terms of intrigue and scandal the current head of the family Prince Albert ii of monaco is now married to the stunning Charlene Wittstock a Zimbabwean South African former Olympic swimmer she had big shoes to fill is the new serene Highness Princess of Monaco the previous holder of that title was her famous mother-in-law the American actress Grace Kelly but before Charlene and Albert became official when they Wed in 2011 the prince was caught up in paternity suits and DNA tests along with the rumors surrounding his illegitimate children new laws were laid down about the succession to the throne the whole family and the future of the house of Grimaldi was thrown into jeopardy let's briefly head back to the beginning of this Royal Family's rocky past the Grimaldi dynasty actually started out in Italy but in 1297 its leader Francesco Grimaldi headed to France and took the lordship of Monaco fast forward to the 20th century and the Sovereign Prince of Monaco is Rennie the third in 1956 he married Grace Kelly the beautiful American actress she became Princess consort Grace of Monaco they were glamorous and well-loved leaders until she died in a car crash in 1982 at the young age of 52 her tragic death led the press to bring up the fabled curse of the family once more this curse was brought up again in 1990 when Grace Kelly's eldest daughter Princess Caroline's 30 year old husband tragically died in a motor accident the curse then switched from these tragic early deaths to scandals about paternity from 1984 Rania's son albert began to help his father conduct the affairs of state it all got pretty controversial though when Albert started hating the headlines for all the wrong reasons as a successor to the throne of Prince Albert needed to settle down with a wife and have his own legitimate children to continue the line but Albert had other ideas remaining a determined bachelor he was dubbed the playboy Prince it was thought by some that it was Albert's reluctance to get married and start a family that prompted Randy here to change Monaco's constitution in 2002 the law had stated that the Principality of Monaco would become part of France if there was no legitimate male heir so that would mean if Albert remained childless out of wedlock there would be no line to continue as it turns out Albert did get married but not until he was 53 his wife Charlene is 20 years his junior and was 33 years old when they Wed they had a long courtship after first meeting at a swimming event in 2000 they made their first public appearance together in February 2006 at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Italy but an awful lot had happened in the year preceding this big appearance Albert's father Rainier died in April 2005 shortly after reports about Albert's illegitimate children started circulating in May 2005 former Air France flight attendant Nicole cost claimed her youngest son was Prince Albert's originally from Togo in West Africa Nicole said she met the prince on a flight in 1997 this led to an alleged secret six-year relationship and the birth of her son Alexander in August 2003 DNA tests were carried out and on July 6 2005 Albert officially confirmed that Alexander was his son this was just days before he was enthroned on the 12th of July in 2005 although Albert's accession to the throne had taken place it was confirmed that Alexander would not be in line to the throne after his father the next reports of Albert's illegitimate children came out just months after he made his first public appearance with Charlene just a few days later Albert officially confirmed that he had an they're illegitimate child this second child was by then 14 years old and a high school student in America his lawyer released a statement to confirm that the Prince officially recognized the paternity that was legally established several weeks previously although Albert had wanted to protect his daughter Jasmine's identity the press interest had grown to great it was reported that Albert had met Jasmine's mother tomorrow on the cote d'azur in july 1991 the californian former waitress was on holiday and became pregnant after brief liaison with Albert like Albert's other illegitimate child Jasmine also wasn't in line to the throne that was because only a child born into Catholic wedlock could be part of the line of succession this story was a happy ending however as Albert and Jasmine have a good relationship in April 2008 een the father and daughter were pictured laughing together as they sat in the Royal Box at a Monte Carlo Masters tennis match Charlene's stuck by Albert throughout that turbulent time of fraternity tests the couple has a love of sport in common in sporting prowess - they both competed in the Olympics Albert participated in no less than five Olympic Games as a member of the national bobsled team from Calgary in 1988 to Salt Lake City in 2002 he's also served on various Olympic Committee's and other sporting boards and foundations Sport was actually Charlene's career before settling down with Albert in 1996 at the age of 18 Charlene won the South African championship her mom was a swimming coach and her dad was a sales manager in 2000 she came in fifth at the Sydney Olympic Games with her team and it was that year that Charlene first met Albert she qualified for the Beijing Olympics but stopped competing in 2007 by this time Charlene was well and truly part of Albert's royal life they continued dating and in June 2010 the couple announced that they were engaged they had a year-long engagement but it wasn't without its issues that is according to the press the final weeks were plagued by rumors of problems in their relationship French magazine L'Express reported that Charlene had experienced a serious case of cold feet in the lead-up to the big day it was claimed that the bride-to-be even attempted to flee Monaco reports alleged that Charlene made her way to nearby niece Airport with a one-way ticket to South the press reports claimed that the reason for her last-minute jitters was that she discovered her husband Abby's private life was not as exemplary as she had thought which is pretty clear now later Press reports in France suggested Charlene had wanted to call off the wedding because of claims that Albert had fathered a third illegitimate child the palace press office responded to the reports by saying they were based on jealousy and aimed at spoiling a happy event the civil ceremony did go ahead as planned on the 1st of July 2011 and was followed by a religious ceremony two days after their wedding the Sunday Times newspaper went so far as to claim it was a sham marriage the Vapor accused Albert of having Charlene's passport confiscated at nice Airport but she had reluctantly agreed to marry Albert in exchange for money with a view to obtaining an annulment after a seemly interval the Prince sued the publication over these seriously defamatory allegations a statement was released in agreement with the paper which stated that none of the allegations were true Albert received a High Court apology and substantial damages from the publication their wedding had a starry guest list which included royalty and heads of state as you'd expect at a royal wedding but it also included famous faces from the world of fashion including designer Karl Lagerfeld and supermodel Naomi Campbell that's because Charlene's elegant style and interest in fashion has meant her sartorial star has risen high her wedding dress was designed by Giorgio Armani that was no surprise to those who followed Charlene's fashion choices because our money is a favorite of hers she's explained that she identifies with his style which he describes his sober elegant and sophisticated and when you're part of a royal family you get dressed by the best Charlene revealed that our mannie's team knows what she likes and what suits her and she describes that style as natural she's become a firm fixture on Fashion Week front rows and is often in best-dressed lists in September 2018 she wowed in a black lace gown at the accros runway show during Paris Fashion Week accros is another favorite label of the princesses the Swiss brand even exclusively designed an outfit for Charlene for one of her most important occasions she wore white cashmere coat and jersey dress when she presented her newborn twins to the world on the balcony of the palace in January 2015 they named their twins Jacques and Gabriela and as the male heir Jacques is now next in line to the throne Charlene shares photos of her adorable kids on her Instagram account in September 2018 she made her followers milk when she uploaded pictures of Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella's first day at school Albert has also spoken publicly about his children in the 2018 book titled albert ii of monaco the man in the prince he explained that he aims to give Jacques good advice about his future role in the royal family Albert feels it is very important that Jacques gets to know how the government and the different administrations work from a young age Albert believes that he should have done so much more diligently when he was young if only he had gotten to know the institution's princess Gabriela isn't left out of Albert's plans either although she isn't heir to the throne her father sees that she will have her part of the job to do after everything that Albert and Charlene have gone through it seems like the couple are stronger than ever and they have wonderful children to help keep the Monaco royal family thriving for years to come which members of monocles royal family are you most fascinated by which part of their history do you think as most scandalous let us know in the comments and please give this video a big thumbs up thanks for watching

Channel: TheThings Celebrity

Views: 1,793,990

Keywords: The Talko, Monaco, royals, Princess Charlene, Charlene Wittstock, Prince Albert II, Princess Gabriella, Prince Jacques, illegitimate, Olympics, Prince Rainier III, Grace Kelly, Jazmin Grimaldi, Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, inside the lives, death, Royal family, 1218

Id: RyYwIdXYVOE

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 23 2018