Prince Albert will inherit Monaco’s throne without fulfilling the order delivered in blunt terms by his father a few years ago. "Before succeeding me, he must give himself an heir," Prince Rainier once said.

At the age of 47, Monaco’s new ruler remains the 'world’s most eligible bachelor'. He says there is no urgency for him to marry and have children, and in a sense he is right. In 2002, Prince Rainer changed the law to allow women to inherit the Monegasque throne, and thus pave the way for Prince Albert’s sisters, Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, and their seven children, to enter the line of succession.

The reform took a weight off Prince Albert’s shoulders: under a 1918 treaty, Monaco will be absorbed into France if ever the ruling Grimaldi family fails to provide a sovreign. Although that threat has been rebuffed, the prince knows he will continue to be haunted by ‘l’actualite sentimentale’ unless and until he finds a bride.

The dozen or so paparazzi who make a living out of the Grimaldi children have photographed Albert over the years with models such as Claudia Schiffer, Emma Sjoberg and Tasha de Vasconcellos, and actresses such as Angie Everhart. Each time, their magazines predict an imminent marriage and then, when the engagement fails to materialise, they speculate on the prince’s sexuality. The rumours have had no outward effect on Prince Albert’s standing among Monaco’s fervently royalist residents - more than 90 per cent told a recent opinion poll they wished to see him succeed his father. But many privately admit they would be happier if their party-going prince settled down. Monaco’s success as a tax and investment haven depends upon its stability, and its stability depends upon its ruler.

His marital status apart, Prince Albert has a curriculum vitae that appears highly appropriate for a Monegasque ruler. He was educated at the lycee Albert 1er in Monaco, where he obtained the baccalaureate, and then at Amherst College in Massachusetts. There followed a tour of duty in the French navy on the Joan of Arc aircraft carrier and work experience at an investment bank, an international law firm and a French luxury goods group. Back in Monaco he chaired the Yacht Club, the Red Cross, the International Television Festival and the 700th anniversary celebrations of the Grimaldis's arrival on the throne. Between all this, he found time to indulge in his true passion: sport. He never became the professional footballer he hoped he would be, but hardly ever misses a Monaco home game, and has participated in four Olympics games as a member of the country’s bobsleigh team.

Albert is good-looking, polite, speaks four languages fluently - French, English, German and Italian - and has made no gaffes since assuming day-to-day responsibility for Monaco’s affairs during his father’s ill-health over the past year. Yet doubts remain. Commentators say he has shown little sign of his father’s cunning and determination. They describe him as discreet to the point of being shy and he has a slight stutter when he speaks in French, the language of his father, although none in English, the language of his mother, Princess Grace. One reason may be his ubringing. Prince Rainier was reportedly severe with his son, and far more liberal with his daughters, Princess Caroline 48, and Princess Stephanie, 40.

The two sisters are as extrovert as their brother is guarded. Both are headstrong and expansive, and neither has his reluctance to marry. Princess Caroline’s first husband was a playboy jet-setter, her second a property developer, who was killed in a speedboat accident, and her third is Prince Ernst of Hanover.

Princess Stephanie married her bodyguard, Daniel Ducruet, but left him when he was photographed by a swimming pool in the arms of a Belgian stripper. She then had a child with another of her bodyguards, whom she also left, before enjoying a series of ‘aventures amoureuses’, most recently with an elephant trainer. She is now married to a Portuguese acrobat.

The princesses have rarely been out of the French glossy nagazines, but that may change if Prince Albert has his way. "I am prepared to believe the family is interesting in the eyes of the media but the goings on of its private life are too often seen as merging with what really happens in the country,’ he once said. "Maybe we’ve made mistakes."

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