Why I post about Nicole
My entrance into the world of royalty started when read New York Times article dated July 7, 2005 Thursday, titled “Prince of Monaco Acknowledges Son by French-Togolese Woman.” This was the first time I ever heard of Prince Albert. I knew of Princess Grace, but I never followed the lives of her children. The first paragraphed caught my attention and intrigued me, especially the part about the fairy tale. I am a sucker for love stories and fairy tales.
In what is either a fairy tale come true or a true confession of an expensive indiscretion, Prince Albert II of Monaco on Wednesday officially recognized paternity of a boy born to a French-Togolese woman nearly two years ago, automatically conferring on the boy the eventual rights to a thick slice of his billion-dollar fortune.
A little further down the NYT writer described the relationship as this:
Ms. Coste, 33, was born to a merchant in Togo and came to France to study when she was 17. She was a flight attendant for Air France when Prince Albert, a passenger, asked for her phone number. The love affair that ensued lasted several years until, according to her, Prince Albert's father intervened. She says Alexandre was conceived when she and the prince briefly reunited to celebrate her 31st birthday.
I was really impressed that a rich European had a “love affair that ensued several years” with his African love. I wanted to know more about this love affair that was almost caught short by his father. It seemed that fate was on their side when the lovers caught together and conceived Alexandre. This article was very supportive of Nicole’s account of the relationship. Then the below paragraph raised my suspicion that maybe this is not quite the fairy take I hoped.
Ms. Coste lives in the prince's two-bedroom apartment in the upscale 16th Arrondissement in Paris and will have use of a house on the French Riviera, half owned by Prince Albert and half by his son, Mr. Vaconsin said. But he said she needs more space to accommodate her two other children, from a previous marriage. Those children now live nearby with their father. The prince's statement, released by Mr. Lacoste, said, ''His Serene Highness Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco'' was ''stunned'' by the Paris-Match photo spread showing him holding and feeding young Alexandre. Last month, a court awarded the prince 50,000 euros, about $60,000, in damages after he sued Paris-Match, alleging invasion of privacy.
The statement said the prince deplored the fact that the revelation was made within days of his father's death.
Regardless, my interest in these two lovers was sown. After googling Ms. Coste, I came across several message boards and links to her Paris Match and L’Express interview. My fairy tale account of the prince, his African lover, and his love child soon faded. Further direct quotes from Prince Albert clearly erased any notions of a fairy tale union that I was holding. Unlike a core group of admirers of Nicole, I saw this story as the below New York Times writer (dated 10 Sept 2005) and Prince Albert saw it as.
''It was a very difficult moment for me,'' he said with characteristic understatement, adding that he is still ''coming to terms'' with the unintended fatherhood. When asked if he believed he was tricked into having a child, as the mother's account suggested, he was unflinching. ''Yes, I think I was set up,'' he said.
No one has to re-write Nicole’s life in this forum to comment on this situation (or need a medical license in psychiatry). She already wrote it; some people just cannot or refuse to read it as it was written.