Playboy prince finally to marry

MONACO, Thursday

Prince Albert II of Monaco kept his worried subjects guessing for decades about his marriage plans and Saturday’s wedding to swimmer Charlene Wittstock will be a relief as much as a celebration.

Although he has fathered two children, a girl and a boy who were officially recognised after he had acceded to the throne, neither could succeed him as Monaco’s constitution requires its rulers to be born in wedlock.

The 53-year-old playboy’s long refusal to settle down eventually forced his tiny homeland to modify its constitution in 2002 in order to allow his sister Caroline to assume the throne if he dies without a legitimate heir.

Far more than the centuries-old traditions of the house of Grimaldi was at stake — if the line dies out without a legitimate heir Monaco would become a mere protectorate of France, and might lose its freedom to set low tax rates.

Albert’s existing children are Jazmin Grace, 20, whose mother Tamara Rotolo is an American former waitress and Alexandre Coste, six, whose French-Togolese mother Nicole Coste was a flight attendant.

After acceding to the throne in 2005, Albert frankly confessed that he had enjoyed his long period as a carefree single. “It has given me a certain freedom — but, be assured, I will marry,” he said.

He chose to invest his freedom in the sporting life. He took part in five Winter Olympics as a member of the national bobsled team and in 1985 he drove in the gruelling Paris-Dakar motor rally.

He was also appointed to the International Olympic Committee in 1985 and became president of the Olympic Committee of Monaco in 1993.

He is active in athletics, handball, tennis, squash and skiing, so it was no surprise that he decided to wed a woman who learned to swim at the age of three and has represented her adopted country, South Africa, in the summer Olympics.

In the performance of his many official duties, Albert has earned a reputation among Monaco’s population of 32,000 as pleasant and laid-back.

He is seen as more accessible and less autocratic than his late father.

In comparison with his elder sister Caroline and his younger sibling Stephanie, Albert has managed to keep his love-life largely out of public view, although he has been seen in the past with a string of different women.