PERSONAL PROFILE

PRINCE ALBERT OF MONACO, 40 THIS WEEK, LEADS A CHARMED LIFE AS THIS WORLD’S NO. 1 PLAYBOY. NOW A SENSATIONAL NEW BOOK HAS REVEALED HIS ASTONISHING APPETITE FOR SEX WITH A STRING OF SECRET LOVERS…. AND ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TELL THE STORY OF HER THREE YEAR PASSION WITH THE PRINCE

MY SECRET
NIGHTS OF
LOVE WITH THE

LOVER MAN A signed photograph showing Prince Albert’s with his secret girlfriend Stevie Parker and blonde pal is her treasured souvenir of their wild nights at a love nest in Texas

Now Stephanie has revealed the full details of her affair with the heir to Monaco’s 700-year old Grimaldi dynasty – and how she was happy to be at the prince’s beck and call for three years after that chance meeting in Jimmy’z nightclub.

The playboy royal, who is 40 on Saturday, was powerfully attracted to brunette Stephanie. Within a week of their meeting they were making passionate love in his hotel suite. The affair is revealed in a new book by John Glatt ("THE ROYAL HOUSE OF MONACO" by St. Martin's Press) about Monaco’s troubled royal family. Stephanie describes how Albert first saw her when she was in Monaco during a stopover on her way to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

"I remember him leaving his date with Claudia Schiffer, bounding up and climbing over people and chairs at Jimmy’z to say hello," she says. "I was wearing a white suit and he commented on how nice I looked. When he asked my name I said it was Stephanie, but I told him he could call me ‘Stevie’ as he already had a Stephanie in his life (his sister, the Princess.) He thought that was very funny and the name stuck."

A week later they met again in Barcelona. Stevie and her niece Nicole had just got off an overnight train and were invited to Albert’s hotel for breakfast. "Then out of nowhere, he looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I’d love to be your alarm clock." I was so surprised that I didn’t respond.

I thought it was rather sweet and he was so very flirtatious about it that I didn’t turn him down."

They managed to meet up again in a disco at midnight. "We had a great time dancing together," says Stevie. "Then at the end of the evening the prince asked Nicole and I if we wanted to go back to his room. So we did."

Back at his hotel suite, the prince opened a bottle of champagne. They talked about Texas and he told them how much he loved America. Before long Nicole had fallen asleep on the sofa and Albert suggested that Stevie joined him in the bedroom. He was passionate but gentle with her, and after their first bout of lovemaking they fell asleep in each other’s arms. "Albert was one the nicest, most considerate men I’ve ever met," she said.

… and a playful snapshot with secret
lover Stevie shortly after they had first
made love at the Barcelona Olympics

After only a couple of hours’ sleep they had just resumed making love when the phone rang. Without missing a beat, Albert picked up the receiver and began discussing affairs of state, first in one phone call, and then during several more.

"We’d already started making love so we continued while he was on the phone," says Stevie. "He was speaking in Spanish and conducting his business while we carried on making love. I thought it was very funny, as the calls were coming in one after another."

The affair continued throughout the Olympics. Stevie sneaked up to Albert’s suite late every night. Although Claudia Schiffer had flown in specially to be his date at an official dinner, it was always Stevie he returned to at night.

During the next few months they exchanged love letters which they signed with their pet names: Al Bob and Stevie. Prince Albert, who carried a badge in his pocket proclaiming that "Being A Bachelor Is Fun" takes full advantage of the position as one of the worlds most wealthy and eligible single men. He laughs at suggestions that he has had 150 lovers – he says that’s just "a conservative estimate."

So he was in the mood for more adventures that November when he arrived in New York with his father and Princess Caroline for an official visit. He was staying in room 2121 of the Regency Hotel on Manhattan’s East Side – not far from Stevie’s home at the time – and they lost no time in resuming their affair.

"I sent red roses up to his room and had them placed on his pillow." she says. "It became a custom and I did it every time he came to New York during the years we were together." During nights alone in his Regency suite they would drink champagne, talk and make love. When Albert left early for his morning appointments Stevie had the run of his suite.

Once he flew her to Texas for a long weekend at a ranch near San Antonio, where he indulged his passion for all things Western. He had fallen in love with the Wild West when he saw his mother Grace Kelly’s film High Noon as a young boy. Mike Powers, who became a close friend of the prince, reveals: ‘"We made it a tradition to visit Texas once a year and go to a friends ranch. We liked to work cattle, ride horses and generally act like a bunch of drugstore cowboys. We meet friends and have a great time."

For propriety’s sake, Stevie had her own room while Albert stayed in the guest house, but they were soon spending their nights together again. "I slept out by the pool one night on the chaise lounge, right outside the Prince’s door." She recalls. "The next morning I knew he was up, so I went into his bedroom and spent some time with him. It was like we had never been apart."

Virtually everything was allowed at the ranch – except cameras, which were strictly off-limits. "Everybody takes off their clothes and goes skinny-dipping in the pool," says Stevie. "One someone had a disposable camera and tried to take a picture of Albert while he was undresses. Mike Powers just grabbed it away."

During this trip, Stevie really began to fall in love with her prince. But she had to face facts – they could not have a future together. "We were deeply attracted to each other," she says. "But I’ve always presumed that there were very strict standards about who he could marry. On the other hand, he didn’t seem bothered. I always felt like it was a regular guy I was with."

But the affair was beginning to wane. On a second trip to Texas, she re-introduced Albert to Nicole, he 24-year-old blonde niece. Although he was still sleeping with Stevie, it was Nicole, who seemed to be turning his head.

"At one point we were all swimming, recalls Stevie, "and Albert paddled over to Nicole and asked her if she wanted to go away on a trip with him. She just looked at him and said "No." The next time Albert came to New York, he had a new girlfriend called Camilla Olsson with him. He didn’t call Stevie, who had arranged to leave her usual red rose on his pillow. "I wish he had said something before," Stevie said. "The word was out that this girl was staying in the same hotel, so I didn’t contact him as I might have got in the way. "I just tried to be sensible about the whole thing.

Prince Albert of Monaco greets the radiant Stephanie "Stevie" Parker as he
is honored at the "ICCUSA Annual American Celtic Ball" in 1997 at the
elegant Waldorf-Astoria, NYC - Photo: www.artypomerantz.com©

That part of our relationship was over, but we were still friends. In fact, he calls me his "fax buddy." During her time with Albert, Stevie learned to be discreet, never asking any questions about his family or his other girlfriends. She was happy to see him just a couple of times a year and realized there were probably many other girls across the world who enjoyed relationships like hers.

"I think that was one of the things that kept me interesting to him," she says. " I didn’t demand a lot of answers. I was in love with him, but he never told me he loved me. I think he reserves that. He isn’t very free with that word. He tries to play it very safe and I don’t blame him at all."

Prince Albert is able to keep up his role as the worlds No. 1 playboy because his 75-year-old father, Prince Rainier, shows no sign of slackening his grip of the reins of power in Monaco. Those closest to him believe Rainier will never abdicate. "They are going to have to carry him out." One says candidly. Over the years, Rainier has given Albert virtual carte blanche to indulge himself. Though he wasn’t keen on some of the people he mixed with, he took a positive pride in his son’s amorous activities."

He is a very wonderful young man and super ambassador for the principality," he wrote to a friend. "He covers, may I say, all fields of activities, including the feminine one." In the light of Albert’s prolific love life, it seems strange that there were persistent suggestions that he was gay – and that the processions of beautiful women on his arm were just smokescreen. Albert was upset and annoyed by the rumours. I was hurt at first," he said. "It’s not pleasant for anyone to question you masculinity. But now I just laugh at it. The people who are important to me know that I have never even been close to that."

Then a couple of paternity suits didn’t entirely scotch the rumours. A one-night stand in Munich with a German topless model, Bea Fielder ("He tore my panties off with his teeth") resulted in one such claim. He told me I reminded him of his mother, Princess Grace," said Bea. Recalling their first meeting in Ibiza. "It was the ultimate compliment."

They arranged to meet again in a few weeks later in Munich’s exclusive T-One nightclub. Bea put on her sexiest dress and arrived early.

He came down from the VIP bar to meet me and I knew at that moment we would be lovers, she recalled. After an hour of dancing, they went back to her hotel room and the prince made his move. But as they were about to undress, Bea heard a noise at her door. When she went to investigate, she found two of Albert’s bodyguards listening at the keyhole. He looked really embarrassed, but the guards seemed to find the whole thing amusing," she said.

After the guards left, Bea let the prince lead her back to the bed. She wouldn’t say Albert was a memorable lover, but he certainly had stamina," was her verdict. Nine months later she gave birth to a son and named Albert as the father. The prince denied the allegation, but he was ordered by a German court to take a blood test.

Daniel has the same eyes, ears and colouring as Albert," said Bea. "He is the only one who could be the father." But the matter was resolved when a test proved he was not the father.

A second paternity suit was filed by Californian Tamara Rotolo, 31, who had gone to Monaco with a friend for a dream holiday.

Soon after her arrival, the attractive brunette caught Prince Albert’s eye at a tennis tournament. After dinner he invited her back to his yacht, and they embarked on a two-week love affair. They went sailing and were even photographed on the yacht.

"The day I was to leave he repeatedly asked me to stay behind," said Bea. A few weeks later she realized she was pregnant and broke the news to the prince when he phoned her from Canada. "He was scared," said Tamara. "He was worried that I would tell his father before he had a chance to."

Bea says Albert kept in contact during her pregnancy and even discussed possible names when doctors told Tamara she was carrying a baby girl. He told her he was delighted at the thought of having a daughter and calling her Grace in honor off his mother. But everything changed when Jazmin Grace Grimaldi was born. Prince Rainier was furious and ordered his soon to sever all ties with Tamara and deny any responsibility.

"The moment the child was born they just slammed the door and stopped returning her calls," said a friend of Tamara’s, U.S. columnist Bruce McCormack. "I think it was Rainier’s doing as Albert was constantly phoning before."

Finally, Tamara sued for child support and asked the prince to take a blood test. When an official arrived at the Regency Hotel in New York to serve a summons on him, the proceedings quickly degenerated into farce.

"Albert spent his whole time trying to avoid the summons server," said Stevie Parker, who was seeing him at the time. "Finally when the man tried to serve it in the lobby, Albert fell over and injured his right arm. It was in plaster for the rest of his trip."

The paternity suit sent shivers through the Grimaldis. If Jazmin Grace was confirmed as Albert’s daughter, she would take precedence over Princess Caroline’s children on the ladder of succession.

Albert breather a sigh of relief when a judge dismissed the case, ruling that a California court had no jurisdiction when the alleged affair had happened 7,000 miles away in Monaco. But Tamara wasn’t finished, and she decided on direct action.

The moment came when Albert, the insatiable Wild West fan, decided to go to Cody, Wyoming to attend a Buffalo Bill festival. He made a grand entrance in a stagecoach drawn by four horses. As the coach drew up outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum, there was a crowd of eager children and their parents to greet him.

The prince seemed delighted. Then, to his horror, Tamara lunged forward out of the crowd and thrust baby Jazmin Grace to within inches of the prince, declaring, "Albert, say hello to your daughter."

Said Bruce McCormack: "Albert’s jaw just dropped. He looked stricken." Tamara now lives as a single mother in California, struggling to bring up her child on a meager wage.

She says she doesn’t want a penny from the Grimaldis and only hopes that one day Prince Albert and his family will recognize Jazmin as one of their own. "She’s his own flesh and blood," says Tamara. "He’s the one who must wonder every day about her. How can he not?"

Now a very independent six-year-old, Jazmin Grace bears a striking resemblance to Grace Kelly, with the same fair hair and perfect features. Her mother prays that in time Albert will stand up to his father and get to know his daughter.

"Jazmin’s fully aware of who her father is," Tamara says, "and Albert himself has never privately or publicly denied. Every so often she sends him updated photographs of Jazmin. "What a loss for him," she says. "And a beautiful gain for me." •