Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
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Princess Stéphanie of Monaco (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. She was formerly Mme. Daniel Ducruet and Mme. Adans Lopez Peres. She has been at one time a singer, swimwear designer, and fashion model; 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.
[edit] Music career
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.
[edit] Marriages and affairs
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 1992 she became pregnant by her bodyguard Daniel Ducruet. She gave birth to two children:
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, 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.
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 autumn, Hello! magazine published photographs of the princess with a man the magazine identified as her new boyfriend, Franck Brasseur, a married croupier.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Princess Alexandra of Hanover |
Line of succession to the Monegasque Throne | Succeeded by Louis Ducruet |
