Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, a 14-year-old resident of Palm Desert, California, has officially been recognized as the illegitimate daughter of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Thierry Lacoste, lawyer for Prince Albert, said in an interview that Albert “officially recognizes a paternity that was legally established a few weeks ago.”
Prince Albert initially planned to keep his fatherhood of Jazmin secret until she turned eighteen, but he decided to officially announce it amid increasing speculation about the girl’s father. French media reports said that Jazmin’s mother, Tamara Rotolo, had a two-week affair with the prince in 1991 when she vacationed on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France. Tamara’s father, Sam Rotolo, said it was no secret to the family who Jazmin’s father was. He said Albert provided financial support for them over the years. Since becoming pregnant, Tamara had made the claim that her daughter was Prince Albert’s daughter, and Jazmin’s birth certificate had listed the father as “Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi” of “Monaco.”
After the public announcement recognizing Jazmin as a true child of Prince Albert, hordes of reporters and photographers flocked to Palm Desert, where residents quickly responded protectively. Police warned the reporters that they would be arrested if they set foot on school grounds. As Jazmin left the school one afternoon after school, she was escorted to an armored sport utility vehicle. She did not respond to the reporters as they shouted questions, and left seated in the back of the SUV with two bodyguards up front. The SUV was escorted by two sheriff’s deputies on motorcycle.
School grounds for Jazmin were at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, a small private school in Palm Desert that currently has about 155 students and offers schooling from preschool through eighth grade. Except for the bodyguards, Jazmin would seem like any other girl at the school where she graduated from eighth grade last week. Photographs of Jazmin taken as she left the school show her as a normal teenager with a ponytail and a school uniform. Her “unadorned” appearance reflects one of her school’s goals to keep children focused on education; makeup, tattoos, extreme hair styles, fingernail polish, and jewelry are all banned.
In her six years at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, Jazmin stands out as an achiever, getting mentions in the local paper along with schoolmates for making the honor roll and winning educational contests.
It turns out that Jazmin is not the only illegitimate child of Prince Albert II. In July 2005, Prince Albert admitted that he was the father of a 3-year-old boy named Alexandre. After photos of Prince Albert holding the little boy were shown in the magazine Paris Match, Prince Albert was convinced to confess. So, now little Alexandre has an American half sister.
Quoting one of the prince’s confidants, Le Figaro declares, “There are no other hidden children.” Because both children were illegitimate, they will never be in line to the throne. The children will, however, get a generous allowance from their billionaire father and will be welcome to visit Monaco to visit or to live.
Sources:
1. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/International/story?id=2028033&page=2
2. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2030128&page=1
3. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=4972856
4. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060601/en_afp/monacoroyalpeopleus_060601195153
5. http://go.sosd.com/servlet/nrp?cmd=sty&cid=RIM&pgn=1&ino=401363&cat=California&lno=1
6. http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/sns-ap-monaco-prince-child,0,1949311.story
Such promiscuity and it is not condemned? I should be ashamed to have such a man in authority!
It’s amazing how much it’s like the story of the Princess Diaries
! In that, the girl, Mia, has Grimaldi in her name. :D