Albert van Monaco vervolgt media voor privacy-schending
Prins Albert van Monaco gaat gerechtelijke stappen ondernemen tegen een krant en twee tijdschriften, die onlangs uitpakten met het verhaal dat hij een zoontje heeft bij een voormalige stewardess.
Alexandre De advocaat van de prins zei intussen dat een DNA-test bevestigt dat Albert de vader is van de 20 maanden oude Alexandre. De prins vervolgt niet de vrouw, maar wel de media die het verhaal publiceerden.
Hij zegt vervuld te zijn met afschuw omdat de media zo diep in zijn persoonlijk leven hebben gegraven. Daarom zal hij het Britse dagblad The Daily Mail en de tijdschriften Paris-Match en Bunte vervolgen voor schending van de privacy.
Volgens de 33-jarige Nicole Coste, de moeder van Alexandre, ontmoette ze prins Albert acht jaar geleden tijdens een vlucht van Nice naar Parijs.
MONACO'S Prince Albert II won 50,000 euros ($A78,600) in damages overnight against the French magazine Paris-Match for its recent 10- page spread and photos alleging he had a love child with a Togolese stewardess.
The court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre that found the prince's right to privacy had been violated also ruled that Paris-Match and its owner, Hachette Filipacchi, pay 4,000 euros ($A6300) in court costs and publish a front-page declaration of the verdict in its next issue, according to the judgement. Prince Albert - who became Monaco's ruler upon the death of his father Prince Rainier in April - has said through his lawyer he plans to sue several European publications for reporting on the alleged affair with flight attendant Nicole Coste.
The lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, said in May that suits were also to be filed against Britain's Daily Mail and the German weekly Bunte.
In the Paris-Match interview published in early May, Coste, 33, described her supposed years-long affair with Albert, whom she said she met on a Paris-Nice flight in July 1997, and her claims that a paternity test confirmed that the 47-year-old prince was the father of her son Alexandre.
The article was illustrated with several pictures of Albert holding a child in his arms.
The prince, the second child and only son of Rainier and the late Grace Kelly, is a bachelor.
Lacoste said that Albert was to issue a statement on the reports about the child on July 7, when the official period of mourning over Rainier's death comes to a close.
Prins Albert van Monaco erkent vader te zijn Uitgegeven op 06 juli 2005 om 17:33 uur
(Novum) - Prins Albert II van Monaco heeft erkend een kind te hebben verwekt bij een Togolese stewardess van vliegtuigmaatschappij Air France. Dat heeft zijn advocaat Thierry Lacoste woensdag bekendgemaakt.
Het kind, Alexandre genaamd, wordt in augustus 2 jaar. De prins heeft beloofd de verantwoordelijkheid voor zijn zoon op zich te nemen en hoopt dat de jongen rustig, zonder al te veel aandacht van de media, kan opgroeien, aldus Lacoste.
Het Franse tijdschrift Paris Match maakte in mei melding van het illegitieme kind van Albert. Het blad interviewde de moeder van het kind, de Togolese Nicole Coste, die zei Albert in 1997 in een vliegtuig te hebben ontmoet. De twee kregen een verhouding en in augustus 2003 werd een zoon geboren.
Volgens zijn advocaat was Albert erg kwaad dat het nieuws over zijn zoon zo kort na de dood van zijn vader, prins Rainier van Monaco, naar buiten werd gebracht. De moeder zei in Paris Match dat zij haar geheim had prijsgegeven om haar zoon een goede toekomst te geven en in de hoop dat hij in het bijzijn van zijn vader zou kunnen opgroeien.
Albert is ongetrouwd. Hij is de enige zoon van wijlen prins Rainier en actrice Grace Kelly. Hij volgde zijn vader na diens dood in april op als staatshoofd van Monaco.
Albert of Monaco goes public about his 22-month-old love child
PRINCE ALBERT II, the newly installed ruler of Monaco, admitted yesterday that he has an illegitimate 22-month-old son from an affair with a Togolese flight attendant.
Prince Albert began a five-year affair with Nicole Coste after being served by her on an Air France flight from Paris to Nice in 1997, but until yesterday had never publicly acknowledged the relationship or that the boy, Alexandre, was his.
The bachelor prince, who is 47, made the admission despite having accepted a €50,000 (£34,000) damages payment from the magazine that first published the allegations.
Thierry Lacoste, the royal family's lawyer, put an end to florid speculation about the boy by issuing a statement saying that the prince "recognises this child as his own and expresses the hope that he can enjoy his childhood and adolescence in a calm and untroubled way, kept well away from the glare of the media".
Even though Prince Albert has no other children, the boy will not be in line to become ruler of the principality. The statement said that because Alexandre was "illegitimate" he "will not be in the official line to the throne and will not carry the name Grimaldi".
However, the flight attendant's son will have full inheritance rights to the Prince's fortune, estimated to be worth €2 billion (£1.35 billion). The statement said: "He will have the same inheritance rights as other children of the prince, should he have other children."
Ms Coste, who already had two children, became pregnant on a trip to New York in 2002. She went public over the affair after Prince Albert became ruler in April, but rejected allegations that she was a gold digger. "My meeting with Albert was very natural, there was nothing calculated about it," she said. "In these accusations there is a lot of jealousy and maybe a little racism."
Their relationship broke down soon after the conception, but Prince Albert stayed in touch with his son, and is reported to be making maintenance payments.
Ms Coste broke the scandal in a ten-page spread in Paris Match, which carried photographs showing Prince Albert cradling the boy. She said this week that she had decided to come forward because "I was afraid that Albert would go back on recognising his son".
Prince Albert, the son of Prince Rainier and the late Hollywood actress Grace Kelly, ascended to the throne after his father died in April.
The statement accepting paternity was issued on the last day of the official period of mourning for his father. The prince's decision to go public after months of silence was said to have been taken because of "his moral convictions". He asked the press "to adopt a responsible manner similar to that adopted in comparable circumstances involving other public figures, and to respect his private life and that of the minor child".