Albert II (Monaco)

14th Monaco ball . He is the eldest son of Rainier III and Grace Kelly . In early 2005, as his father Rainier III's illness worsened, he served as regent, and when Rainier III died in April of that year, he succeeded to the throne.

He was born on March 14, 1958 , the second child of Rainier III and Princess Grace Kelly . As soon as he was born, he became the heir to the throne of Monaco, and on April 20 of the same year, he was baptized at the Monaco Cathedral by Archbishop Jean Delais, Archbishop of Marseille. The godparents were Prince Louis de Polignac and Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain.

After receiving training from a young age, he moved to the United States in 1977. He entered Amherst College in Massachusetts under the name 'Albert Grimaldi'. During college, he joined the boys' social club 'Chi Psi' and lived in a dormitory. In mid-1979, he toured Europe and the Middle East with the Amherst University Glee Club (male choir). In the same year, he studied at the Alfred Marshall School of Economics and Management at the University of Bristol, England, through an exchange program, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1981.

From September 1981, immediately after graduating from college, to April of the following year, he received military training with the rank of second lieutenant aboard the French Navy rescue helicopter cruiser Joan of Arc. Between 1983 and 1985, he traveled between the United States and Europe and received practical training in financial management, communications, and marketing at leading companies such as JP Morgan , Louis Vuitton , Rogers & Wells, and Wells Rich & Green. Since May 1993, he has led the Monaco delegation attending the United Nations General Assembly, and in 2004, he attended the ratification ceremony of Monaco's formal accession to the Council of Europe held in Strasbourg , France, as chairman of the Monaco delegation.

In 1982, his mother, Princess Grace Kelly, passed away suddenly in a car accident at the age of 52. In an interview in 2017, he confessed that his mother's death was a huge trauma for him and his family. In particular, he recalled that his father "never regained his former self" after losing his wife.

On March 31, 2005, as King Rainier III could no longer perform his duties as king due to poor health, his son, Crown Prince Albert, took over as regent in his father's place. When Rainier III died on April 6, 2005[1] After the three-month mourning period commemorating the death of the late king, two coronation ceremonies were held.

The first coronation ceremony was held on July 12, 2005. Albert II's reign officially began at St. Nicolas Cathedral when the Archbishop of Monaco, Bernard Barsi, celebrated morning mass attended by Albert II. After the mass, King Albert returned to the palace and held a garden party, inviting 7,000 Monaco residents. After receiving two city keys symbolizing sovereignty in the royal palace courtyard, the event ended with a spectacular fireworks display.

The second stage, the formal coronation ceremony, was held at St. Nicolas Cathedral on November 19 of the same year. In attendance were his older sister, Princess Caroline, her husband, Prince Ernst of Hanover, and Caroline's three children, Andrea, Pierre, and Charlotte. In addition, a large number of royal family members were present, including his younger sister Princess Stephanie, his aunt Princess Antoinette, Baroness Massy, ​​the king's godson Jean-Leonard Taubert de Massy, ​​and his cousin Elisabeth Anne de Massy. Royal family members from 16 countries around the world also visited Monaco for the celebration, which ended with a special performance held at the Monte Carlo Opera Theater that evening.

On June 23, 2010, he announced his engagement to Charlene Wittstock . The first time I met Charlene Wittstock was at a swimming competition held in Monaco in 2000. They dated briefly, broke up, and reunited in Cape Town in December 2005. And on the first day of the new year, I applied for an official date. # It is said that he attended the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and proposed on the way back. On July 1, 2011, I took my wedding vows with Charlene, and the next day, I took my wedding vows. The sacrament of marriage was performed.

From the beginning of his reign, Albert II carried out comprehensive reforms in the judicial and legal fields, institutionalizing laws such as reorganizing child custody regulations, strengthening personal information protection in line with technological development, guaranteeing freedom of speech, realizing legal gender equality, and protecting the rights and interests of children and students with disabilities. He has led the construction of various community infrastructure such as public housing for the common people, railway infrastructure, tourism industry specialized education institutions, and secondary education facilities, and is currently leading national projects aimed at encouraging ethical economic activities and strengthening criminal responsibility. To this end, a system to eradicate money laundering and organized crime was introduced, and tax evasion was officially incorporated into Monaco's criminal code.

On August 27, 2015, Monaco officially apologized for its past actions in 1942, when it cooperated with the Nazi regime and deported a total of 90 people, including Jews and resistance members.[2] At the unveiling ceremony for the victims' memorial held at Monaco Park Cemetery, he bowed his head and said, "We have committed an irreparable mistake by handing over to the enemy authorities the women, men, and children who came to us as refugees to escape persecution in France." He then expressed deep reflection, saying, “They came to Monaco believing that Monaco would protect their neutrality in a desperate situation.”

In June 2023, Claude Palmero, who had managed royal property for over 20 years, was suddenly dismissed. Albert II said of this decision, "I was simply exercising my right to choose the manager of my assets, and subsequent events have proven that my judgment was correct." Palmero, who protested against this, filed a lawsuit against King Albert for damages worth 1 million euros (approximately 1.5 billion won), and continued the muddy fight by exposing the Monaco royal family's extravagant spending details to the French media.

According to Palmero's revelations, Even though Queen Charlene was paid about 1.5 million euros (approximately 2.2 billion won) in maintenance fees every year, she always lived with a negative bank account, and it is said that 600,000 euros (approximately 900 million won) of royal funds were illegally diverted at a time to make up for this . In addition, it was revealed that he hired a Filipino nanny who was staying illegally and illegally paid 300 euros per day in cash to a cook. In addition, it was revealed that Albert II had opened a secret account in a French bank without his wife's knowledge for the purpose of transferring large amounts of living expenses to ex-lovers and out-of-wedlock children. He sent $86,000 (about 110 million won) every three months to his daughter born out of wedlock from an American ex-lover, and on her 25th birthday, he bought her a $3 million (about 4 billion won) apartment in New York. His image suffered a significant blow when it was revealed that he gave 1 million euros (approximately 1.4 billion won) every year to his ex-lover, another flight attendant, in the name of business funds.[3]

Three years after getting married, on May 30, 2014, his wife Charlene announced that she was pregnant. And about three months later, on August 9th, they announced that they were twins. On December 10, 2014, twin siblings Jacques and Gabriella were born at Princess Grace Hospital. Although Gabriella was born two minutes early, Monaco has a male-first succession system, so Jacques became the hereditary duchess.