In January of this year, Prince Albert’s former accountant began a revenge tour, spilling all kinds of financial secrets of the House of Grimaldi. The accountant, Claude Palmero, had been fired last year and the dude has a grudge, although it seems like some of his information has checked out. Basically, Palermo claims that Albert is spending millions on his ex-girlfriends, baby-mothers and all of his kids, and that Albert’s wife Charlene spends like crazy and Albert lets her. Palmero also claimed that Charlene and Albert hired undocumented nannies for their children. There’s been some talk about what this all means and whether Albert is facing political pressure and… I just don’t see it? Monaco is a principality with a population of less than 40,000 people. Albert is basically a financially corrupt-yet-well-liked mayor of a small seaside town. And the mayor owns all of the casinos. Like, what are you gonna do? Anyway, Albert recently spoke to Paris Match and he shrugged off most of Palmero’s claims.

Prince Albert of Monaco has said his family and the public have supported him after his former accountant accused him of financial impropriety, but his wife Princess Charlene is ‘very upset for him’. The king, 66, spoke to Paris Match to mark his birthday two months after Claude Palmero revealed Charlene’s personal spending allowance rocketed to more than £1million-a-year. The leaked documents leaked documents also accused the royal family of hiring illegal immigrants as nannies.

Mr Palmero, 67, was in charge of palace finances for more than two decades but stepped down in July after he was targeted by an anti-corruption website. His damning report was leaked to French media earlier this year, with Albert not commenting on it at the time.

Speaking this week, he said: ‘Thankfully, my whole family is there for me, showering me with their affection, both my immediate family and the extended family of Monegasque. She [Charlene] was also very upset for me, and saddened by certain things that came out in the media. We supported each other. She has resumed many of her activities, more public engagements, to everyone’s delight.’

Mr Palermo’s ‘secret notebooks’ detailing the spending of the Monaco royal family were shared with French newspaper Le Monde in January. It was the ‘illegal migrants’ who made up much of Charlene’s full-time personal staff of eight that Mr Palmero was particularly worried about. The books also allege that Albert spends millions every year from a secret French bank account to pay his former mistresses and love children – with Jazmin Grimaldi, 31, and Alexandre Coste-Grimaldi, 20, receiving allowances of £344,000 a year each.

This was while Charlene was pouring £826,000 into redecorating her holiday villa in Calvi, on the island of Corsica, along with £860,000 to decorate her office back in Monte Carlo.

In a letter written in January 2017, Mr Palmero said another employee from the Philippines had been ‘illegal for five years’, despite solely being on a one-month tourist visa. ‘He gets paid 100 euros a day [£85] which is off the scale,’ Mr Palmero wrote.

Elsewhere in the interview, Albert said he was supported by his whole family and said Mr Palmero’s grievances were over ‘not accepting a courteous offer of retirement’. He added however that he had a ‘hard skin’ from past experiences.

Albert also discussed his children, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, who turn 10 this year. ‘She’s a little miss with an independent character and she expresses herself quite freely. We thought Jacques was more of an introvert, but he’s been gaining confidence for some time now. He looks out for his sister,’ he added. Albert also explained that the family are all ‘very very close’ and despite their young age the twins ‘understand their obligations’.

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, this piece sounds like some stuff was lost in translation, but the point is that Albert is fine and Charlene is fine, I guess. Like, Albert isn’t actually sweating any of this. Maybe I’m wrong! Maybe Albert is facing political pressure given all of these dramas, but he seems to be treating this as tittle-tattle from a grudge-wielding former employee. Also: Albert came out of it looking okay? He financially supports his exes and all of his kids and he allows Charlene to do whatever she likes?

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