Albert II, Prince of Monaco

, at the Floriade garden exhibit in Netherlands, 1972 Prince Albert was born in the Prince's Palace of Monaco on 14 March 1958, as the second child of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. At the time of his birth, he was heir apparent to the throne. Albert was a dual citizen of both the Principality of Monaco and the United States of America by birth, before renouncing his American citizenship in his early adulthood. He was baptized on 20 April 1958, by Monsignor Jean Delay, Archbishop of Marseille, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Monaco. His godparents were Prince Louis de Polignac and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. ==Hereditary Prince==

Military service Albert spent a year training in princely duties before enrolling at Amherst College, in Massachusetts, in 1977 as Albert Grimaldi. He joined Chi Psi fraternity and lived in the Alpha Chi Lodge. Albert spent mid-1979 touring Europe and the Middle East with the Amherst College Glee Club, and also undertook an exchange program with the University of Bristol, at the Alfred Marshall School of Economics and Management, in 1979. He graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He speaks French, German, Italian, and English. From September 1981 to April 1982, Albert trained on board the French Navy's helicopter cruiser , attaining the rank of Ship-of-the-Line Ensign (2nd class), and is currently a reserve Lieutenant Commander. From 1983 to 1985, he took training courses with companies J.P. Morgan & Co, Louis Vuitton, Rogers & Wells, and Wells, Rich and Greene in the United States and Europe, studying financial management, communication, and marketing. Since May 1993, the Prince has led the Monegasque delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 2004, the Prince presided over the delegation of Monaco in Strasbourg, France, for the official accession of the Principality onto the Council of Europe. Prince Albert's mother, Princess Grace, died at age 52 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in 1982. In 2017, the Prince stated during an interview that his mother's death was a traumatic event for him and his family, revealing that his father was "never the same man" after the loss. Sports career Albert was an enthusiastic sportsman, participating in cross country, javelin throwing, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, rowing, sailing, skiing, squash and fencing. He became a judo black belt in 1985. Albert competed in the bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympic Games for Monaco, taking part in both the two-man and four-man events. In the two-man bobsleigh Albert finished 25th at the 1988 games in Calgary, 43rd at the 1992 games in Albertville, and 31st at the 1994 games in Lillehammer. In the four-man bobsleigh Albert finished 27th in 1992, 26th at the 1994 games in Lillehammer, and 28th at both the 1998 games in Nagano and the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. Albert was Monaco's flag bearer at the 1988, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics. Albert has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985, and his maternal grandfather, John B. Kelly Sr., and maternal uncle, John B. Kelly Jr., were both Olympic medalists in rowing. On 31 March 2005, following consultation with the Crown Council of Monaco, the Palais Princier announced that Albert would take over the duties of his father as regent since Rainier was no longer able to exercise his princely functions. ==Reign==

Accession The first part of Prince Albert II's enthronement as ruler of the Principality was on 12 July 2005, after the end of the three-month mourning period for his father. A morning Mass at Saint Nicholas Cathedral presided over by the archbishop of Monaco, the Most Reverend Bernard Barsi, formally marked the beginning of his reign. The evening ended with a fireworks display on the waterfront. The second part of his investiture took place on 19 November 2005. Albert was enthroned at Saint Nicholas Cathedral. The Princely family was in attendance, including his elder sister, Princess Caroline with her husband Ernst, Prince of Hanover and three of her four children, Andrea, Pierre and Charlotte; as well as his younger sister Princess Stéphanie, his paternal aunt Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy, his godson, Jean-Léonard Taubert de Massy, and his cousin Elisabeth-Anne de Massy. Royalty from 16 delegations were present for the festivities throughout the country. The evening ended with a dedicated performance at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Prior to 2002, Monaco's constitution stipulated that only the last reigning prince's "direct and legitimate" descendants could inherit the crown. Under the current constitution, neither Jazmin nor Alexandre are in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne as they are not Prince Albert II's legitimate children, and he emphasised their ineligibility to inherit the throne in statements confirming his paternity. Prior to the birth of Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, Prince Albert's elder sister, Caroline, Princess of Hanover, was heir presumptive and, according to the Grimaldi house law, bore the traditional title of Hereditary Princess of Monaco. Following their births, she is now third in line. Princely activities in 2012 In the early years of his reign, Prince Albert oversaw multiple judicial and legal reforms, including the regulation of custody, protections of the privacy of the individual in the face of technological growth, freedom of the press, legislative gender equality, and the protection of children's rights and disabled students. in October 2013 Since his ascension, the Prince has overseen the construction of various community facilities, including social housing, railway infrastructure, educational institutes for the hospitality industry, and secondary education. He currently heads an initiative to promote ethical economic activity, criminal liability, the adopting of systems to combat money laundering and organized crime, and the introduction of tax fraud into Monegasque criminal law. In July 2011, Albert married South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock. On 27 August 2015, Prince Albert apologized for Monaco's role in facilitating the deportation of a total of 90 Jews and resistance fighters to the Nazis in 1942, of whom only nine survived. "We committed the irreparable in handing over to the neighboring authorities women, men, and a child who had taken refuge with us to escape the persecutions they had suffered in France," Albert said at a ceremony in which a monument to the victims was unveiled at the Monaco Cemetery. "In distress, they came specifically to take shelter with us, thinking they would find neutrality." Between 2006 and 2022, Albert's chief of cabinet was Georges Lisimachio. In June 2023, Albert dismissed Claude Palmero, the manager of the Prince of Monaco's assets who had been serving for over two decades. Albert said of the decision, "I exercised my right to choose the asset manager of my choice. Events have shown how much this decision was the right one." Palmero proceeded to sue Albert for €1 million and leaked information of the palace's spending to the French media. ==Personal life==

In 2016, Albert purchased Princess Grace's childhood home in East Falls, Philadelphia, which was originally built by her father Jack Kelly Sr. Upon acquiring it, he stated the house might be used as a museum space or as offices for the Princess Grace Foundation. Prince Albert does not have direct ownership of the Prince's Palace, but does possess personal homes in both La Turbie and Marchais. Albert, a well-known automotive enthusiast, owns vehicles like the BMW Hydrogen 7, the Lexus LS 600h, the Lexus RX 400h, He also owns a Dassault Aviation Falcon 7X, a 14-passenger leisure jet, currently stationed at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Albert was close friends with the artist Nall and owns some of his works. On 19 March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, it was announced that Albert II had tested positive for COVID-19, making him the first monarch and head of state to have contracted COVID-19. It was reported that he had begun to self-quarantine from within his apartment, performing his work and duties from there. In April 2022, he tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time and observed a brief period of self-isolation. In 2021, Albert became the first head of state to fly in an electric plane, flying on 14 September 2021 in a Pipistrel Velis128 operated by Elektropostal with pilot Raphaël Domjan from Nice Airport in France over Monaco. The plane flew for 30 minutes at a maximum altitude of 900 feet. Paternity claims • Tamara Jean Rotolo – Prince Albert was reportedly listed as the father of Jazmin Grace Grimaldi on her birth certificate, registered in Riverside County, California, United States. The case went to trial in 1993 and was eventually dismissed by Superior Court Judge Graham Anderson Cribbs, who refused jurisdiction and found that there was "insufficient connection between [Prince Hereditary] Albert and the State of California to justify hearing a suit [in California]", justifying the statements of the Prince's lawyer. On 31 May 2006, after a DNA test confirmed the child's parentage, Albert admitted, via statement from his lawyer, that he is Jazmin's father. • Nicole Coste – In May 2005, a former Air France flight attendant from Togo claimed that her youngest son, born Éric Alexandre Stéphane Tossoukpé on 24 August 2003 in Paris, France, whom she called Alexandre Coste, was Prince Albert's child, and stated that his parentage had been proven by DNA tests requested by the Monegasque government. She further declared that the Prince had signed a notarized certificate confirming paternity, of which she had not received a copy. The Paris Match published a ten-page interview with Coste, including photographs of Albert holding and feeding the child. Coste also told the publication that she was living in the Prince's Paris apartment, and receiving an allowance from him, while pretending to be the girlfriend of one of his friends in order to maintain discretion. She also stated that the prince had previously last seen the boy in February 2005. The prince's lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, announced that as a result of the international publicity over these revelations, Prince Albert was suing the Daily Mail, Bunte, and Paris Match for privacy violations. On 6 July 2005, a few days before he was enthroned on 12 July, the Prince officially confirmed via his lawyer Lacoste that Alexandre was his biological son. He calls himself Alexandre Grimaldi. • Bea Fiedler – In a suit filed around January 1989, a German model and former adult film actress claimed her son Daniel was the prince's child from an October 1986 tryst. A judge reportedly dismissed the suit, despite the fact that Prince Albert had submitted a DNA sample to be tested, as the genetic sample had not been rendered in front of a witness. Fiedler rejected the DNA blood sample as truly belonging to the prince. • In December 2020, a Brazilian woman filed a paternity suit against Albert, claiming that he had fathered a child with her during his relationship with Charlene. Albert's lawyer described the claim as a 'hoax'. Marriage Prince Albert met South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock in 2000 at the Mare Nostrum swimming meet in Monaco. Their engagement was announced by the palace on 10 June 2010. The wedding was originally scheduled for 8 and 9 July 2011, but was moved forward to prevent a conflict with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Durban on 5–9 July, which they both attended. The couple had invited members of the IOC, including president Jacques Rogge, to their wedding. The couple were married in a civil ceremony on 1 July 2011 in the Throne Room of the Prince's Palace. and Mozambique. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene had twins, Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès, and Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, on 10 December 2014. Jacques is the heir apparent to the throne. ==Charity work and patronages==

, September 2013 Albert holds patronages with AS Monaco, the World Olympians Association, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Peace and Sport Organization, the No Finish Line International charitable non-profit Organisation and Junior Chamber International. He holds official and honorary presidencies within the Monaco Red Cross, Comité Olympique Monégasque, Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance, The Automobile Club de Monaco, The Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo, and Jumping International de Monte Carlo. Albert is affiliated with International Paralympic Committee, Junior Chamber International, and Art of the Olympians. Albert is also a global adviser to Orphans International. Environmental interests In 2001, at the 36th Congress of the Mediterranean Science Commission held in the Principality, the CIESM Member States unanimously elected Monaco in the person of Prince Albert to the presidency of the commission. Prince Albert served as the International Patron of the "Year of the Dolphin", saying "The Year of the Dolphin gives me the opportunity to renew my firm commitment towards protecting marine biodiversity. With this strong initiative we can make a difference to save these fascinating marine mammals from the brink of extinction." The Zoological Garden of Monaco (Jardin Animalier) was founded by Prince Rainier in 1954. Rainier was petitioned unsuccessfully for many years by Virginia McKenna, founder of the Born Free Foundation, to release a pair of leopards at the zoo. He intends to convert the Jardin into a zoo for children. During the trip, he stopped at the South Pole, making him the only incumbent head of state to have visited both poles. Paris, 2010 In June 2009, Prince Albert co-authored an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal with Charles Clover, the author of The End of the Line, a book about overfishing and ocean conservation issues that had recently been made into a documentary by Rupert Murray. In the piece, Prince Albert and Clover note that bluefin tuna have been severely overfished in the Mediterranean, and decry the common European Union practice of awarding inflated quotas to bluefin fleets. Albert also announced that Monaco would seek to award endangered species status to the Mediterranean bluefin, Thunnus thynnus, (also called the Northern bluefin) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This was the first time a nation had called for the inclusion of Mediterranean bluefin under CITES since Sweden On 16 July 2009, France declared that it too would seek to have Mediterranean bluefin listed as an endangered species. Only hours later, the United Kingdom followed suit. On 19 September 2017, Prince Albert expressed his great interest for the preliminary draft of the Global Pact for the Environment presented by French President Emmanuel Macron in the context of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly. He added that he will be very attentive to the future of this Pact, which he qualified as a "universal, legally binding agreement, which recognises the right of future generations to sustainable development." The film had its world premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in October 2021. On 12 February 2020, Albert and Victor Vescovo reached the bottom of Calypso Deep, a depth of 16,762 ft, in a submarine. They were only the second team to do so after a French group in 1965. ==Titles, styles, honours, and arms==

Titles and styles • 14 March 1958 – 16 March 1958: His Serene Highness Albert, Hereditary Prince of Monaco • 16 March 1958 – 6 April 2005: His Serene Highness Albert, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, Marquis of Baux • 31 March – 6 April 2005: His Serene Highness Albert, Prince Regent of Monaco • France: Capitaine de frégate de la Marine Nationale (2 April 1992 – present) Honours National orders • : • Grand Master of the Order of Saint-Charles (since 6 April 2005; Knight Grand Cross, 1979 – 2005) • Grand Master of the Order of the Crown (since 6 April 2005) • Grand Master of the Order of Grimaldi (since 6 April 2005; Knight Grand Cross, 1958 – 2005) • : Grand Cross of the Order of The Balkan Mountains (26 November 2004) • : Grand Officer of the Order of Burkina Faso (17 February 2012) • : Golden Grand Cross of the Order Juan Mora Fernández (2003) • Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (25 July 1997) • Commander of the Order of Maritime Merit (9 December 2015) • Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit (14 May 2024) • Medal of Honor for Commercial and Fishing Sailors (19 October 2022) • Great Gold Medal of the Society for the Encouragement of Progress [SEP] (7 October 2024) • : Grand Cross special class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (9 July 2012) • : Knight of the Collar of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (per 4 October 2021; Knight Grand Cross, 27 January 1983) • : Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance (before 07/2011) • : • Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm (27 November 2023) • Member 1st Class of the Family Order of the Crown of Indra of Pahang (DK) (7 November 1997 & 27 November 2023) • : Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali (12 February 2012) • : • Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (14 October 2022) • Grand Collar of the Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ (21 November 2025) • : Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania (2009) • : • Collar of the Order of San Marino (2015) • Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Agatha (2010) • : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Double Cross (2017) • : Order for Exceptional Merits (2006) • : • Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (per 31 July 2011; Knight Grand Cross, 15 October 1997) • : Grand Cordon of the Order of 7 November (September 2006) • : • Recipient of the 70th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf (30 April 2016) • Recipient of the 50th Birthday Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf (30 April 1996) Dynastic orders • : • Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation (27 April 2023) • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (1 March 2003) • House of Petrović-Njegoš: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I • House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (Franco-Neapolitan branch): • Knight of the Order of Saint Januarius (6 November 2017) • Bailiff Knight Grand Cross with Collar of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (6 November 2017) • Zayed International Prize for the Environment (1 February 2014) • Pierre and Marie Curie University: Doctor Honoris Causa (23 March 2017) • Tel Aviv University: Doctor Honoris Causa (12 June 2018) • University of Lapland: Doctor Honoris Causa (19 February 2019) • Metropolitan City of Genoa: Paganini Ambassador (26 June 2023) In 1996, Prince Albert received the Eagle Award from the United States Sports Academy. The Eagle Award is the academy's highest international honor and was awarded to Prince Albert for his significant contributions in promoting international harmony, peace and goodwill through the effective use of sport. On 23 October 2009, Prince Albert was awarded the Roger Revelle Prize for his efforts to protect the environment and to promote scientific research. This award was given to Prince Albert by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Prince Albert is the second recipient of this prize. In October 2017, Prince Albert received the Lowell Thomas Award from The Explorers Club, a non-profit group that promotes scientific exploration. The award is presented by the president of the club on special occasions to groups of outstanding explorers. The Club cited Prince Albert's dedication to the protection of the environment, commemorating his status as the first head of state to reach both the North and South poles. On 14 October 2019 at the Comenius University in Bratislava, he received the honorary title "doctor honoris causa" for activities in the field of protection of natural and cultural heritage within his efforts to combat climate change. Commemorative coins As Monaco's head of state, Prince Albert II is depicted on both standard-issue and collector's coins, such as the €5 silver Prince Albert II commemorative coin, the first commemorative coin with his effigy, minted in 2008. On the obverse, the prince is depicted in profile with his name on the top of the coin. On the reverse, the Grimaldi coat of arms appears; around it, the words "Principauté de Monaco" (Principality of Monaco) also appear along with the nominal monetary value of the coin. ==Arms and emblems==