Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
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Princess Stéphanie of Monaco. |
Princess Stéphanie (
Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth Grimaldi, born
1 February 1965 in the
Palais Princier,
Monaco) is the youngest child of
Grace Kelly and
Rainier III of Monaco. Formerly Mme.
Daniel Ducruet, formerly Mme.
Adans Perez-Lopez and (rumored) formerly Mme.
Mathieu Snaet she has been at some time a singer, swimwear designer, fashion model, and circus performer — her mother lovingly called the princess her "wild child" — she is the sister of
Albert II of Monaco and
Princess Caroline.
She was the passenger in the car when her mother was killed in an accident on a mountain road
13 September 1982. Rumours persist to this day that Stéphanie was driving. She was unable to attend her mother's funeral because she was in hospital with injuries from the crash.
In
1986 the princess opened a café and a jeans boutique on Rue Grimaldi.
In the summer of 1986 Stéphanie released her first LP,
Ouragan, which reached the international Top 10. The singles "Irresistible" and the French version of
Ouragan also became hits. Because the second tour in the late 1980s flopped, the princess stopped her attempt in the music industry. In
1991, Stéphanie released her second album, which was unsuccessful. She also recorded
In the Closet with
Michael Jackson for his album,
Dangerous. She then ended her pop music career.
Long the
enfant terrible of European royalty, her affairs and antics were reported to have driven Prince Rainier to despair. At 15, she had an affair with Spanish singer
Miguel Bose and at 16, began an affair with
Paul Belmondo, son of French film star
Jean-Paul Belmondo, and two years her senior. Over the years she was reportedly engaged to actor
Rob Lowe, music producer
Ron Bloom, Mario Oliver Jutard,
Jean Yves Lefur and, most famously,
Eskander Laribi. When cocaine dealer Laribi was shot dead outside a Nice post office, his girlfriend, Virginie Tereberrou, arrived at the scene driving a Chevrolet belonging to the Princess whose diplomatic immunity prevented her from becoming a potential witness in the subsequent trial.Notorious for her penchant for romancing her servants, in
1991 she became pregnant by her bodyguard
Daniel Ducruet. She gave birth to their son,
Louis, on
26 November 1992, and daughter,
Pauline, on
4 May 1994. She married Ducruet on
1 July 1995, but divorced him in 1996 after the publication of photographs of him cavorting poolside with Muriel ("Fili") Houteman, the reigning "Miss Nude Belgium" (some sources say "Miss Topless Belgium"). Stéphanie then had another child, "her clone"
Camille, born on
15 July 1998, who was allegedly fathered by
Jean Raymond Gottlieb, another of her bodyguards.This has never been publicly confirmed or refuted and the princess has refused to put the father's name on the birth certificate.
Though they were born out of wedlock, Louis and Pauline are in line to the throne of Monaco because they were legitimized when their mother married Ducruet; Monegasque law recognizes such children as dynastic. Camille, however, is not recognized as dynastic and will have no claim to the throne unless Stéphanie marries Gottlieb, or she is legitimized by legislation.
Stéphanie retreated to the French ski resort of Auron and had an affair with Corsican bartender
Pierre Pinelli. She made headlines in
2002 when she lived with married elephant tamer
Franco Knie in a trailer and traveled throughout Europe with his circus act. She later became involved with her father's butler,
Richard Lucas, a married father of two, before turning her attentions to a palace gardener.
On
12 September 2003 she married
Adans Lopez Peres, a Portuguese trapeze artist 10 years her junior. He is a fifth-generation performer, the eldest son of an acrobat-clown and a classically trained
flamenco dancer.
Lopez Peres is one half of the
Peres Brothers, a circus act with his younger brother, Ivan. Rumours that she married the acrobat because she was pregnant with his child turned out to be false.
On
22 July 2004 Germany's illustrated
Bild newspaper reported that Stéphanie split from Peres, has contacted lawyers to obtain a divorce, and is seeing Ducruet again. However, that fall,
Hello! magazine published photographs of the princess with a man the magazine identified as her new boyfriend,
Franck Brasseur, a married
croupier.
