"Monaco King Gifts $4 Billion New York Apartment to Illegitimate Child Without Wife's Knowledge"

Annual Spending of Approximately 1.4 Billion Won for Extramarital Children

Prince Albert II of the Principality of Monaco was revealed to have secretly paid tens of billions of won to an illegitimate child and a former lover without his wife's knowledge.

The British daily The Times reported this on the 23rd (local time), citing the French newspaper Le Monde. Le Monde obtained documents from Claude Palmero, who was once Albert II's asset manager, and exposed the matter. Palmero worked for the Monaco royal family for over 20 years but was dismissed last year due to financial mismanagement and negligence.

According to documents related to royal expenditures kept by Palmero, Albert II regularly sent money to a former American lover he met before marrying Princess Charlene and to their daughter born from that relationship.

He paid $86,000 (about 110 million won) every three months to the daughter. On her 25th birthday, he reportedly gifted her an apartment in New York, USA, worth $3 million (over 4 billion won). The daughter is currently 31 years old, but it is unclear when the payments began.

Albert II was also found to have paid large sums annually to another former lover, a flight attendant, under the pretext of supporting her business. Palmero's documents noted that the business required an annual expense of 1 million euros (about 1.4 billion won).

Albert II also had an illegitimate child with this flight attendant. He reportedly covered insurance costs to prepare for possible kidnapping or ransom demands involving this illegitimate child, who is currently known to be 20 years old.

Albert II initially denied these facts, but after the French media reported on the matter, The Times reported that he dismissed his chief of staff. Albert II's lawyer claimed that the expenses exceeding the official budget were covered by Albert II's personal funds and that royal funds were not misappropriated.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is visiting the United States to attend the 78th United Nations General Assembly, is shaking hands and taking a commemorative photo with Prince Albert, the monarch of Monaco (left), at the South Korea-Monaco summit held in New York on September 19 last year (local time).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

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