Category: Charlene Wittstock

In January of this year, Prince Albert’s former accountant began a revenge tour, spilling all kinds of financial secrets of the House of Grimaldi. The accountant, Claude Palmero, had been fired last year and the dude has a grudge, although it seems like some of his information has checked out. Basically, Palermo claims that Albert is spending millions on his ex-girlfriends, baby-mothers and all of his kids, and that Albert’s wife Charlene spends like crazy and Albert lets her. Palmero also claimed that Charlene and Albert hired undocumented nannies for their children. There’s been some talk about what this all means and whether Albert is facing political pressure and… I just don’t see it? Monaco is a principality with a population of less than 40,000 people. Albert is basically a financially corrupt-yet-well-liked mayor of a small seaside town. And the mayor owns all of the casinos. Like, what are you gonna do? Anyway, Albert recently spoke to Paris Match and he shrugged off most of Palmero’s claims.

Prince Albert of Monaco has said his family and the public have supported him after his former accountant accused him of financial impropriety, but his wife Princess Charlene is ‘very upset for him’. The king, 66, spoke to Paris Match to mark his birthday two months after Claude Palmero revealed Charlene’s personal spending allowance rocketed to more than £1million-a-year. The leaked documents leaked documents also accused the royal family of hiring illegal immigrants as nannies.

Mr Palmero, 67, was in charge of palace finances for more than two decades but stepped down in July after he was targeted by an anti-corruption website. His damning report was leaked to French media earlier this year, with Albert not commenting on it at the time.

Speaking this week, he said: ‘Thankfully, my whole family is there for me, showering me with their affection, both my immediate family and the extended family of Monegasque. She [Charlene] was also very upset for me, and saddened by certain things that came out in the media. We supported each other. She has resumed many of her activities, more public engagements, to everyone’s delight.’

Mr Palermo’s ‘secret notebooks’ detailing the spending of the Monaco royal family were shared with French newspaper Le Monde in January. It was the ‘illegal migrants’ who made up much of Charlene’s full-time personal staff of eight that Mr Palmero was particularly worried about. The books also allege that Albert spends millions every year from a secret French bank account to pay his former mistresses and love children – with Jazmin Grimaldi, 31, and Alexandre Coste-Grimaldi, 20, receiving allowances of £344,000 a year each.

This was while Charlene was pouring £826,000 into redecorating her holiday villa in Calvi, on the island of Corsica, along with £860,000 to decorate her office back in Monte Carlo.

In a letter written in January 2017, Mr Palmero said another employee from the Philippines had been ‘illegal for five years’, despite solely being on a one-month tourist visa. ‘He gets paid 100 euros a day [£85] which is off the scale,’ Mr Palmero wrote.

Elsewhere in the interview, Albert said he was supported by his whole family and said Mr Palmero’s grievances were over ‘not accepting a courteous offer of retirement’. He added however that he had a ‘hard skin’ from past experiences.

Albert also discussed his children, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, who turn 10 this year. ‘She’s a little miss with an independent character and she expresses herself quite freely. We thought Jacques was more of an introvert, but he’s been gaining confidence for some time now. He looks out for his sister,’ he added. Albert also explained that the family are all ‘very very close’ and despite their young age the twins ‘understand their obligations’.

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, this piece sounds like some stuff was lost in translation, but the point is that Albert is fine and Charlene is fine, I guess. Like, Albert isn’t actually sweating any of this. Maybe I’m wrong! Maybe Albert is facing political pressure given all of these dramas, but he seems to be treating this as tittle-tattle from a grudge-wielding former employee. Also: Albert came out of it looking okay? He financially supports his exes and all of his kids and he allows Charlene to do whatever she likes?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgid.

Apparently, Prince Albert of Monaco fired his longtime accountant last year and the guy, Claude Palmero, is going on some kind of revenge tour through the French press. Palermo kept detailed accounts in every way, accounts of Prince Albert’s spending habits and those of his wife Princess Charlene. Albert had/has an intricate payment system to all of his children conceived before he married Charlene, and Albert and Charlene also employed undocumented immigrants as nannies. Some highlights from the Mail’s reporting:

Charlene’s allowance: According to Palmero’s notes, Princess Charlene, who at 45 is 20 years the Prince’s junior and spent four months in a hospital in 2021/2 for ‘deep fatigue’, was routinely given an allowance of around £1.2 million a year – but still managed to overspend. In 2017, she reportedly needed more than £500,000 to pay off a substantial overdraft. Two years later, the speed at which Princess Charlene apparently burned through money so worried the Prince’s accountant that he wrote in his notes: ‘It’s crazy! I have no control over the Princess’ spending.’

Charlene’s real estate: Charlene poured nearly £2 million into renovating a holiday house in Corsica and redecorating her office, Palmero said. He also claimed she rented another house on the French island where she spent time apart from Albert. Palmero’s notes also show that on one day in April 2016, she asked for £60,000. On another occasion, in 2020, Palermo recorded a one-off payment to Charlene from Albert of £171,000, plus £4,200 in cash.

Charlene’s family gets money too: Meanwhile, Charlene’s family, in particular her brother Sean with whom she runs a charity, were also benefiting from the spectacular largesse of husband Albert, with Sean receiving £786,000 to buy a house in 2022. He now runs a coffee shop in Monaco.

Albert’s finances are struggling because of all of his kids? The entries in Palermo’s notebooks seem to suggest that Prince Albert’s chaotic personal life has drained his riches. He has two acknowledged love children: Alexandre, by former air hostess Nicole Coste, born in 2003; and Jazmin, by U.S. estate agent Tamara Rotolo, born in 1993. According to Le Monde, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, 31, Albert’s love child with Rotolo, receives £73,000 every three months – despite not being part of the royal family. Palmero noted she was given £4,200 for her 18th and a flat in New York worth £2.6 million seven years later.

Nicole & Alexandre Coste: Palmero also noted that the palace was paying for kidnap and ransom insurance for Alexandre, 20, Albert’s son with Coste. The Prince acknowledged paternity of Alexandre in 2005. In 2015, Alexandre’s mother persuaded Albert to back her fashion business, which was fronted by a shop in London’s Knightsbridge, Le Monde said this week. Palmero noted in 2015 that it was ‘on course [to cost] one million [euros] a year’.

Albert’s private accounts: Libération, another of the French newspapers to whom Palmero spoke, said the Prince had an account at French bank BNP under the name AG for ‘Albert Grimaldi’. The newspaper said the account was used to pay Albert’s former mistresses and their children without his wife knowing. Prince Albert married Charlene in 2011. But Palermo notes that Coste ‘fears’ what Princess Charlene might do to her cosy financial arrangements upon the death of Prince Albert, which is why she had an apartment in London put in the name of their son Alexandre.

Charlene’s nannies: However, some of the most potentially damaging comments in Palmero’s notebooks refer to Charlene’s staff. He notes she employed nannies and other domestic staff who were illegal immigrants, or living in Monaco illegally. ‘Her Serene Highness the Princess makes people work for her who are not compliant,’ Mr Palmero warned Albert. He also referred to ‘a moonlighting Filipino woman who ties up dogs in the shower’. In a letter written in January 2017, he said another employee from the Philippines had been ‘illegal for five years’, despite being on a one-month tourist visa. ‘He gets paid 100 euros a day [£85] which is off the scale,’ Mr Palmero wrote.

[From The Daily Mail]

The stuff about Charlene’s allowance and her overspending… like, we still don’t know where she lives even now. She spends some time in Monaco, but she reportedly lives in Switzerland now? Or maybe somewhere else. I genuinely hope she squirreled away some money. The undocumented nannies situation is awful, especially given that Albert and Charlene were blowing through millions on ridiculous stuff, yet they couldn’t pay a regular, fair salary to a nanny with a valid work visa? The stuff about Albert’s other bank accounts and the money he gives to his other kids and mistresses… I mean, I expected that? No one is even sure how much Albert is even worth.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Throughout the past year, I’ve remarked on the fact that Princess Charlene seems almost happy these days. She has Resting Sadface, for sure, but she seems relatively content with her situation, especially following her hospitalization and treatment in Switzerland in 2021-early 2022. Now, do I believe that Charlene and Albert have a healthy or loving marriage? No. I don’t, but I’ve assumed that they’ve worked out some kind of arrangement over the past 18 months, one which pleases Charlene and gives her some kind of peace. Back in March, Charlene and Albert formally denied that they had separated… but new European reporting suggests that they are living separate lives and it’s totally fine with them.

Princess Charlene of Monaco is ‘living in Switzerland’ and only sees her husband Prince Albert for ceremonial reasons, reports in German and French media have claimed. The royal, 45, has spent the summer of a yacht trip with her 65-year-old husband and their twins Jacques and Gabriella, eight. But she has not returned to the Palace and is living in abroad, fuelling speculation about the state of the marriage.

A source close to the couple told French newspaper Voici that the former Olympic swimmer and son of Grace Kelly are just a ‘ceremonial couple’.

The report adds that Charlene has promised to return to Monaco on official occasions and is now allowed to see her children more often. Albert and Charlène are now good partners, take turns taking care of the children,’ a source added to German newspaper Bild.

[From The Daily Mail]

I don’t know, this sounds reasonable to me? Like, I totally believe that Charlene spends much of the year away from Albert, either at the “summer home” or in Switzerland. But she returns to Monaco for events and they’ve worked out some kind of lowkey custodial arrangement with their kids. This whole three-year episode with Charlene has been such a question mark, but she’s come out of it looking healthy and happy – whatever arrangement they have, it’s working.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.