Royal Profile: Jazmin Grimaldi

Jazmin Grace Grimaldi was born 4 March 1992 in Palm Desert, California, the daughter of Prince Albert and Tamara Rotolo{Source}. She has two paternal half brothers and a paternal half sister:

  • Alexandre Eric Stephane Coste Grimaldi (2003)
  • Princess Gabriella of Monaco, The Countess of Carladès (2014)
  • Prince Jacques of Monaco, The Hereditary Prince (2014)

Prince Albert and Rotolo had a brief summer love affair in 1991, while Tamara was vacationing in the Cote d'Azur area with girlfriends after a recent divorce. After Tamara's summer rendezvous with Prince Albert of Monaco (then heir apparent to the throne), she returned to California, only to discover she was pregnant by Prince Albert of Monaco (she believed at the time and in 2006 it was proven her claims as true after a DNA test was performed). Due to the inferiority of Prince Rainier of Monaco of the situation that his son had placed him and the principality in, Prince Rainier prohibited his son from having any contact with Tamara or their daughter and to deny any wrong doing. Unknown to his father, Prince Albert allegedly kept in contact with Tamara throughout the pregnancy-and even suggested calling her Grace in honor of his late mother. On March 4, 1992, approximately six weeks early in a Palm Desert area hospital, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi was born to Tamara J. Rotolo and Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi. Prince Albert, unsure how to address the issue spoke with Tamara after realizing that the situation was not at all this new baby girl's fault and that it was up to him to fix it. In the book, The Royal House of Monaco: Dynasty of Glamour, Tragedy and Scandal by John Glatt, Glatt claims that Tamara once said:


Albert said that he would not allow her to grow up as his grandmother had. He promised he would sort things out before she was old enough to understand. At Jazmin's birth, Prince Albert had been away from Monaco on business, and upon his return to Monaco, he sheepishly told his father of the news of his latest grandchild. Well, apparently, it did not go over so well with Grand-pere Rainier. Prince Rainier was furious with his son, ordering him to deny all responsibility and sever ties with the American tourist from the summer before. In fear of what his father could or would do, Prince Albert did as ordered-he stopped returning Rotolo's phone calls, and letters.

After failing to get any acknowledgement of the birth from Monaco, Tamara obtained a lawyer in California to attempt to get Prince Albert in Monaco to submit to a DNA test. Prince Albert's lawyers agreed to the request-and Tamara provided a sample, and provided a sample from Jazmin. When it came to Albert's turn, he backed out. This paternity suit was a big thing for the Grimaldi family lawyers-after all, if this were to be Prince Albert's child, she would automatically become second in line after her father and take presence over her aunts and cousins (at the time, it was just the Casiraghis. Louis Ducruet would come later on in 1992). After a six month court battle to get Prince Albert to submit to a DNA test (this would be around late 1992, early 1993), he still never submitted. In 1994, Tamara learned that Albert would be visiting Wyoming, and decided to take their daughter there to meet her father for the first time. She spent $50 in order to join the society that Prince Albert was set to visit. The day of the visit, reportedly, Tamara approached Albert with Jazmin, telling him straight out that the child she was holding was his daughter. Tamara later attended reception, where the Prince ignored her. However, she did manage to make a friend that evening- with newspaper publisher Bruce McCormack. Bruce, having seen the fiasco from earlier in the day, prevented Tamara from making another scene at the reception, keeping her in the background. Later, McCarmack would two-time Rotolo and publish a story of her afternoon outburst in his paper the next day. When Tamara called his office to complain, he agreed to listen to her side of the story. She told him:

This is not about the money. This is not about the publicity. This is about the acknowledgement of a child. I want Jazmin to see her father. My whole goal coming to Cody was for him to see this beautiful child. I want him to think about this when he closes his eyes at night.

McCarmack was convinced, even without a DNA test that Jazmin was Albert's daughter (Ed. Note: Given some of the pics from her childhood, and how much she and Alexandre looked like Albert as babies and how much the twins look like them...I don't see how Albert EVER had any doubt!). He kept in contact with Tamara, and each year, Tamara sent him a photograph of Jazmin dressed as a princess. Tamara would also send these photos to Albert. In 1998, Jazmin was a fiercely independent 6-year old, who looked very much like her Kelly Genes. She would proclaim that Prince Albert was "Albert, my biological father and lives far away." Then of course, in 2002, Prince Rainier changed the laws so Albert's non-legitimate (nor anyone else)'s child could not inherit the throne. HOWEVER, IF in some alternative universe Albert and Charlene divorce and Albert and Tamara decide to marry, Jazmin will automatically be placed in line for the throne between the twins or IF for some reason the succession laws change....a scenario I don't see happening.

In 2010, Jazmin graduated with honors from JSerra Catholic High School where she also received the Faculty, Musical Excellence and Fine Arts awards. During her time at JSerra, she started her own foundation, The Jazmin Fund in 2006 after an inspiring trip to Fiji. After her acknowledgement from her father in 2006, he has claimed that she is welcome to study and live in Monaco, however to this day, it is not known that she has ever taken her dad up on his offer. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar in July 2015 when asked about visiting her family in Monaco, she stated that, "We like to share family meals, have barbecues, go to the beach, everything a normal family does. Except with heavy scheduling." {Source} She graduated from Fordham University in 2014 and spent time working for the UN World Food Programme as a Liaison Assistant. She is currently studying acting and musical theatre at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

In October 2016, rumors started that she was dating Ian Mellancamp, as they were frequently seen with each other at events {Photos} {Ed note: Ian Mellancamp is a nephew of musician John Mellencamp}. According to her social media, they have been dating for several years now.

Now a legal adult, she makes very brief, low-key public appearances on occasion, many of which have been at movie and television premieres. In September 2012, she attended the premiere party of HBO's Homeland {Source}. In October 2012, she attended The Princess Grace Awards in New York with her father and stepmother, arriving low-key with her father's cousin, Christopher LeVine and his family {Photo}{Photo}. In October 2013, she made it back in the spotlight with a public appearance at the Nespresso Pop-Up Boutique in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal {Photos}. On her paternal grandmother's would-be 84th birthday, she attended a premiere of Oscar-nominated Philophmena {Photos}. In January 2016, she attended The Cinema Society & Tod's premiere of the films Arcade & Cinedigm's Song One {Photos}. In February 2016, she attended the NYFW J. Mendel fashion show {Photos}. In March 2016, she attended the Cinema Society With Hestia & St-Germain screening of Sony Pictures Classics' I Saw The Light {Photos}. In April 2016, she attended the screening of Open Road Films' Mother's Dayhosted by The Cinema Society with Lands' End at Metrograph, The Weinstein Company's screening of Sing Street, and Disney with The Cinema Society & Samsung a screening of The Jungle Book{Photos}. In May 2016, she attended the ACM Dinner Gala as Part of the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco {Photos}. In June 2016, she was back in NYC for the 7th Annual amfAR Inspiration Gala New York {Photos}. In July 2016, she took part in NYFW's Men's Spring/Summer 2017 - Wilhelmina And The WolfPack In Association with NY Cult Close Out New York Men's Fashion Week Spring 2017 {Photos}. In September, she attended Cirque du Soleil: Kurios - Cabinet Of Curiosities {Photos}. In October 2016, she was back in the screening room, seeing American Pastoral and attended the Lily Awards Broadway Cabaret{Photos}. In November 2016, she attended Artsy and SoundCloud Present Collective Reality and the 2016 Angel Ball and the HillYeah! 2016 US Presidential Debate Party {Source}{Photos}. In December 2016, she attended the 75th Anniversary USO Armed Forces Gala and the 50 Parties Book Launch {Source} In 2017, she attended The Cinema Society Hosts the After Party for HBO's The Young & the Pope {Photos}. In 2018, she was  joined by her paternal cousin, Pauline Ducruet for the 2018 Rallye Aicha des Gazelles du Maroc in March 2018 {Photos}. In April 2018, she, along side her boyfriend and father, attended the Monaco Masters {Photos}. In May, she attended several movie screenings, both with and without her boyfriend {Photos}. In June, she was spotted at several events in California {Photos}. In November, she performed at the  Wells Of Life Charity Benefits At The 8th Annual Better World Awards {Photos}. In December, she attended more movie premieres {Photos}

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