Prince Albert of Monaco has reportedly been branded a “weak” leader who “uses money to buy family peace.”
After questions were raised about the Monegasque royal family’s finances, journalists in the principality commented on the character of the 65-year-old prime minister.
A file exposing the “secret notebooks” of Claude Palmero, who was in charge of the Palace’s finances for more than two decades and a confidant of Prince Albert until he was overthrown last summer, revealed surprising claims about the palace’s finances. royal family, particularly those of the Princess. Charlene, 45 years old.
The entries, which were shared with Le Monde newspaper in France, detailed the exorbitant costs spent by the Princess on things such as the baptisms of her twins Jacques and Gabriella at around £600,000 and an overhead allowance of more than £1 million. by year.
Now, talking to tatlerone of the journalists who broke the story revealed that Charlene has a “crazy desire to spend money” that her husband grants her to keep the peace.
Journalists in France and Monaco have claimed that Prince Albert of Monaco, 65, is a “weak person” who does not like confrontation as questions continue to arise over the royal family’s finances.
Gérard Davet, investigative journalist for Le Monde, said: ‘Prince Albert says yes to everything. Charlene feels very alone in the palace; then her best friend is possibly the Prince’s money.’
He added that the only person who ever took a stand on Charlene’s expenses was Palmero, who filed several lawsuits against Prince Albert after his overthrow last year, including for defamation and wrongful dismissal.
After a colonel working in the Palace removed Palmero from his office and handed him his severance letter, the Prince publicly accused his loyal ally of more than 20 years of corruption, something Palmero strongly denies.
Speaking about Albert’s treatment of Palmero, an anonymous journalist in Monaco said: “Albert is a weak person… “I think his heart is in the right place, but he avoids confrontation.”
Princess Charlene has a “crazy desire to spend money,” according to reporters, and her husband supposedly says “yes” to anything she wants to buy.
They speculated that the Prince’s disposition was because he experienced “a lot” of confrontation when his late father, Prince Rainier III, was alive.
Elsewhere in the interview, Davet reveals that files he and fellow reporter Fabrice Lhomme uncovered suggested that Princess Charlene and her sister-in-law, Princess Caroline, “are not friends.”
FEMAIL has contacted the Monegasque Palace for comment.
Among the explosive claims uncovered in the file were allegations that Princess Charlene hired illegal immigrants on less than £90 a day to work for her, despite her personal expenses allowance soaring to £1 million a year.
Mr. Palmero’s records suggested that “illegal immigrants” made up much of Charlene’s eight-person full-time staff, something the accountant expressed concern about.
“Her Serene Highness the Princess makes non-compliant people work for her,” Palmero warned Prince Albert, also referring to “a moonlighting Filipino woman who ties up dogs in the shower.”
Prince Albert of Monaco is alleged to spend money to ‘keep peace’ within the royal family
In a letter written in January 2017, he said another employee from the Philippines had been “illegal for five years” despite only having a one-month tourist visa.
“He is paid 100 euros a day (£85), which is off the scale,” Palmero wrote.
In December 2014, Charlene gave birth to Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, and immediately placed them in the care of illegal immigrant nannies.
‘Update on hiring babysitters… We are completely illegal (even her tourist visa expired on January 7),’ Palmero wrote on January 15 of that year.
“Not only are they in an illegal situation, but they also entered with a false passport,” added Mr. Palmero.
Despite this, Palmero released almost £600,000 to celebrate the birth and baptism of the children.
Just one day in April 2016, Charlene asked for the equivalent of £66,000, and this was “definitely too much”, Palmero said, especially as she was also planning to rent a second villa in Corsica.
‘It’s not much?’ the accountant asked, concerned that the princess was taking money from funds that were not declared in terms of taxes.
“These practices are dangerous,” warned Palmero.
“Not only are they in an illegal situation, but they also entered with a false passport,” added Mr. Palmero.
The former head of royal wealth management in the Mediterranean tax haven claims he desperately tried to control Charlene’s “dangerous” spending and at one point prevented the 45-year-old South African from hiring new staff.
The books also allege that Albert spends millions each year from a secret account in a French bank to pay his former mistresses and his beloved children; Jazmin Grimaldi, 31, and Alexandre Coste-Grimaldi, 20, receive allowances of £344,000 a year each.
This was while Charlene was spending £826,000 redecorating her holiday villa in Calvi on the island of Corsica, along with £860,000 to decorate her office in Monte Carlo.
Charlene paid her personal chef the equivalent of £250 a day from petty cash, Palmero said, while her South African family also received hundreds of thousands of pounds.
In February 2017, the accountant also released the equivalent of more than half a million pounds to pay off the Princess’ overdraft.
In December 2019, an alarmed Palmero noted that Charlene had spent “around €15m (£13m)” in eight years, despite her allowance being “€7.5m” ( £6.4 million).
This was while Charlene was also investing a combined sum of almost £2million into the holiday villa in Calvi and redecorating her office.
‘It’s crazy!’ Mr. Palmero wrote. “I have no control over the princess’s expenses.”