A cloud of black clouds threatens a storm over the Principality of Monaco, one of the smallest kingdoms that nevertheless concentrates the highest number of millionaires in the world and which today seems overshadowed by a new scandal. The British newspaper The Times reported the news these days: Last week, Prince Albert’s former advisor and accountant, Claude Palmero, was arrested in Monte Carlo. He had faithfully served the prince for 22 years and was fired by Albert last year over leaks and the shadow of alleged corruption in the Principality.
As reported by the English newspaper, Claude Palmero was arrested and interrogated for several hours by the Monegasque police following an investigation launched for “breach of confidentiality, invasion of privacy and proceeds from two illicit activities”. According to the Timesthe former accountant was eventually released by police without charges. Palmero’s lawyer, Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, denied reports in the French national press that he had been arrested by police on corruption charges.His arrest, however, could be evidence of the ongoing legal battle, which would involve the Prince of Monaco and his former right-hand man, The World, A few months after his dismissal, he serialized the contents of five secret accounting books detailing the controversial spending of the princely family of Monaco.
Palmero’s diary entries suggested an unflattering glimpse into Prince Albert’s personal life and his “generosity” which allegedly led him to drain his wealth. The notebooks of the former financial advisor shed light on the prince’s excessive spending, who, among other things, allegedly gave large sums of money to his former lovers and their children.without his wife’s knowledge, according to the newspaper Liberation. In the notebooks, Palmero also accused Princess Charlene of having hired two nannies without proper residence permits to take care of her children, as he revealed The World. Revelations damaging to the reputation of the prince, at the helm of the principality since 2005 after the death of his father (Prince Rainier III), to which Albert responded as follows: “(Palmero’s) attacks against me and against the state (of Monaco) show his true nature and the little respect… he has for the (royal) family and for the Principality.”
But let’s take a step back to when it all began. The fuse in the peaceful Principality of Monaco was lit by Les Dossiers du Rocher, a WikiLeaks-style websitecreated anonymously, who one day decided to reveal part of the financial affairs of the tiny state on the French Riviera, publishing a series of hacked emails exchanged between Albert’s main advisers and showing some official documents that would have testified to widespread corruption in the Palace. Prince Albert, who initially dismissed the claims as false, defending his collaborators, later changed his mind and in June 2023 launched the “clean hands” operation that led to the ousting of all four of his most loyal staff, known as G4.
The quartet of trusted men of the Prince of Monaco included, in addition to Claude Palmero, administrator of the assets of the Principality and part of the personal assets of the Prince and his family, also Laurent Anselmi, chief of staff, Thierry Lacoste, lawyer of the Prince and his childhood friend and Didier Linotte, president of the Supreme Court of Monaco. Palmero, who denied any wrongdoing, immediately started a personal lawsuit against the Monegasque princely family and attempted to contest the dismissal, also taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Claude Palmero has been the wealth manager to the Princes of Monaco since 2005, when he was hired by Prince Rainier, taking over from his father André Palmero. Born in Monaco 68 years ago, Palmero lived in the utmost luxury from childhood thanks to his family ties to the Grimaldis, witnessing the Principality’s golden age under the leadership of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier who made Monte Carlo the international center of glamour. Rainier, having full confidence in the Palmero family, considered him the right person for the job. The World he called him the eminence grise of the Principality, the “holder of all secrets, from the prince’s private accounts to government investments.”
Princess Charlene’s Stellar Spending
Palmero did not leave the Palace empty-handed, but before leaving his coveted seat, he made sure to take with him the five folders of notes he had taken during his many years of faithful service, noting down one by one all the expenses incurred by the family of the Monegasque princes.
A few months after his dismissal, the French newspaper The World came into possession of the former accountant’s secret diaries, containing a series of statements that made Prince Albert appear to be a weak monarchat the mercy of the whims of the women of the family: his wife Charlene first and foremost but also his sisters Stéphanie and Carolina, accused by Palmero in his writings of using the jewels of the Principality as personal fashion accessories. In particular the older sister, always according to the written notes of the former confidant and reported by The Worldwould also have removed his brother from the management of the family castle in Marchais, in the north-east of France. As a good accountant, Palmero, obviously, also gave the numbers by writing down in black and white all the expenses that the prince would have incurred and it is in front of these alleged considerable figures that the Palace of Monaco would have begun to tremble.
“The princely budget would seem to be a bottomless pit,” he wrote. The World. According to the French newspaper, in 2023, the total annual salary for Albert’s wife was close to 1.5 million euros. But Prince Albert’s generosity, as emerges from Claude Palmero’s accounting books published by the newspaper, would also have extended to the two recognized illegitimate children of the sovereign of the Principality, namely Jazmin Grace and Alexandre Coste. The notebooks show that the former would have received 86,000 dollars (equal to approximately 79,000 euros) per quarter, to which should be added an apartment in New York worth 2.6 million pounds. Alexandre Coste’s security insurance, on the other hand, amounted to one million euros per year, Palmero wrote. According to the French newspaper, Prince Albert would also have helped his former lover, Nicole Coste, to open a boutique in London. The former financial advisor wrote in 2015 that it was “on track (to cost) one million (euros) per year”. This was also reported by the Daily Mail who dedicates a long article to the story.
The daily newspaper Liberationanother newspaper that published extracts from Palmero’s notebooks, after speaking with the prince’s former confidant, wrote that Albert had a secret account in a French bank from which he regularly drew to finance his former lovers and their children. According to the notebooks of the former accountant, in 2012, the prince would have drawn from one of these funds to also manage the so-called “Mission K”, which involved the recovery of compromising photographs of Prince Albert which, it is said, The Worldwas in possession of a woman (who remained anonymous), paid through an intermediary. Michel Darrois, Alberto’s lawyer, denied that his client had ever made such a request.
Nannies and service staff not in compliance
What worried the former accountant most, however, was Princess Charlene’s constant need for money. The speed with which the former South African swimming champion was spending money alarmed the prince’s former right-hand man so much that he noted it in his notes: “It’s crazy! I have no control over the princess’s spending.” One day in April 2016, Albert’s wife asked for a whopping 77,000 euros in cash: “It’s less than last year, but it’s still clearly too much,” Palmero stressed. The former accountant also claimed to have given the princess 970,000 euros to renovate her villa in Corsica and another million euros to fix up her office in Monte Carlo. Charlene then planned to rent a second villa in Corsica: “Isn’t that too much?” asked the accountant, discovering that the personal chef was paid 300 euros a day.
Palmero’s most damaging comments, from what we read in the French newspaper, referred to people who worked in the service of the princess.. In December 2014, Charlene gave birth to twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, and entrusted them to the care of two nannies who, according to Palmero’s published notes, were illegal immigrants (from the Philippines). One employee mentioned in the notebooks remained “illegal for five years with a one-month tourist visa. She was paid 100 euros a day.” “Not only is their status illegal, but they also entered with a false passport,” wrote the former accountant who in 2021 vetoed new staff hires requested by Charlene. In a statement released to The Worldthe prince’s lawyers countered that if this were true, then Palmero was at fault since he had authorized payments to alleged illegal immigrants.
Who are Alberto’s children born out of wedlock?
As we were saying, a lot of the money, According to what Palmero writes in his notebooks, they would have been intended for the two illegitimate children of Prince Albert: Alexandre born in 2003 and Jazmin born in 1993.
Alexandre Coste was born from Prince Albert’s relationship with Nicole Coste, a former French-Togolese Air France stewardess, whom he met on a flight from Nice to Paris in 1997. It is said that the two fell in love at first sight after the flight attendant poured the royal some champagne. The son’s secret was kept until 2005 when Nicole, tired of being in the shadows, gave a scandalous interview to Paris Match spilling the beans. Albert acknowledged Alexandre’s paternity, saying that the boy would not inherit the throne but would support him financially.Nicole and the prince have remained on good terms over the years, even being seen together at some public events.
A year after announcing his illegitimate child, Albert was forced to reveal that he also has a daughter, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, born from his relationship with former waitress, now Californian real estate agent, Tamara Rotolo. The two met during a vacation on the French Riviera in 1991 and had a fleeting summer relationship. In 2006, after several negotiations with lawyers, Prince Albert also recognized Jazmin as his daughter. In September 2020, a third alleged illegitimate daughter of Prince Albert emerged. The girl, who was 15 at the time and had grown up in Brazil, wrote a letter in which she said it was the fruit of a love affair dating back to 2004. The story, which caused quite a stir with the details of the relationship released to the media by Marisa (the girl’s mother), then suddenly fell into oblivion.
After several years of bachelorhood, Prince Albert finally announced his engagement to Charlene Wittstock, a South African Olympic swimmer, in 2010. The wedding took place in 2011 and was preceded by much gossip according to which Charlene, after learning shocking details about the prince’s private life, did not want to hear about getting married anymore and threatened to ruin everything.. In the end the wedding took place and the couple had twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella (the only heirs to the Monegasque throne). Today the two princes of Monaco, after months of ups and downs, appear very close and in love but what secrets do we still have to discover?
Source: Vanity Fair
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