THEY had all but concluded that the bachelor prince would never have children. Now the inhabitants of tiny Monaco are in the unusual position of trying to guess how many illegitimate offspring he has produced — and how many mothers might step forward claiming that Prince Albert II is the father of their child.

They are not yet taking bets: to some residents of conservative Monaco it is a distasteful subject, even if illegitimate children in the centuries-old Grimaldi clan are nothing new.

Yet it was honest Albert, 47, who volunteered the information. In an interview on French television on the eve of his coronation last week he acknowledged that he was the father of a two-year-old boy with Nicole Coste, a Togolese former flight attendant, and suggested that this was not his only illegitimate child.

“I know that there are other people out there who are in more or less the same situation,” he said, adding: “We will give them an answer at the appropriate time.”

Like Coste, whose son Alexandre will never want for anything after being recognised by Albert, Tamara Rotolo, a Californian woman, claims that her affair with the prince resulted in the birth of Jazmin, a daughter born on March 4, 1992. Albert has thus far not commented on her case.

Yet talk of Albert’s children comes as a relief to some in Monaco who had despaired of him ever producing an heir. This is not the only change.

Since the death of Prince Rainier in April, speculation had been mounting about what course Albert would pursue. Last week Monaco found out.

He told a gathering of his subjects that money laundering would no longer be tolerated. Some of his guests almost choked on their champagne. “Money and virtue must be combined permanently,” said Albert, adding that he was considering abandoning the policy of banking secrecy. This was a novel approach in Monaco, whose prosperity is built on a reputation for discretion.

It was Albert’s father’s marriage to Grace Kelly, the American actress, that helped to put the principality on the map and an aura of glamour has clung to the place, even since Kelly’s death in 1982 in a car crash. Yet Albert has played no small role in ensuring that the Monaco soap opera endures.

In the past, the task of feeding the gossip columns was left to his sisters, Caroline and Stéphanie, whose colourful love lives are a legend in Europe. By contrast Albert had seemed awkward and shy. What is more his father never seemed to approve of any of his girlfriends — none could ever match up to Princess Grace, his mother, perhaps — and Coste was no exception. The relationship ended somewhat abruptly after she was introduced to Rainier at a dinner.

Albert has promised, however, to look after the boy, even though Alexandre can never inherit the throne: only the offspring of Catholic marriages are eligible.

Whether or not Albert now marries and produces a legitimate heir, there is likely to be no shortage of claimants to a slice of the enormous fortune he and his sisters inherited.

Meanwhile, speculation about a suitable bride — a Hollywood actress or a European princess — will continue to be the principality’s favourite pastime.

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