The mysterious death of Prince Albert’s cousin, Antoine de Massy, in the heart of Monaco, has left the royal family in shock, fearing the 800-year-old Grimaldi curse is back to haunt them once more.
The 29-year-old tech company co-founder went missing from a family birthday lunch. He was tracked via his phone and found dead in a Monaco park after a 13-metre fall from a wall on October 25. A 42-year-old Ukrainian man, who was seen nearby, has been arrested. Antoine was last seen on cameras as he walked home inebriated from the birthday party at the nearby Sass Cafe in Monte Carlo.
Baron Christian de Massy, his father, said enigmatically, “His death is not a suicide and not an accident. I can’t say more for now. Antoine had just signed a new professional project with a friend.”
A white-faced Prince Albert immediately ordered increased security for his family members and they were ordered not to leave Monaco. “Albert was very close to his cousin, they played tennis together. His death is the latest event in a very black year for Albert,” a family friend reveals to Woman’s Day.
The Grimaldi curse returns
While it remains to be seen if Antoine’s death is more than a tragic accident, insiders say it has set the family members on edge, with fears the curse of the Grimaldi family may be back.
The famous curse is said to have originated in the 13th century when the then-prince Rainer was captivated by the beauty of a young Flemish girl, kidnapped her and took her back to Monaco. The girl cursed and defied him, condemning his family to never know happiness in their love or their life.
The curse resounded within the Grimaldi family, who went from disaster to disaster.
Throughout generations, spouses died, ran away – and worse. Though Albert has always tried to laugh off the idea of an ancient curse, his older sister Caroline firmly believes in it, just as their father Prince Rainier did, says the friend.
“Caroline has had her full blast of the curse. Her husband Stefano Casiraghi was killed in 1990 when his speedboat mysteriously exploded as he left the port of Monaco,” spills the source.
“His coffin was later removed from the family crypt near the palace and ditched in the street – the ultimate sign of disrespect for your family from the Italian mafia. Everything was hushed up as usual in Monaco and no one ever speaks of it.”
Death of Grace Kelly
The tragedy which crushed the entire family was the death of Princess Grace, Albert’s mother, in a strange car accident in 1982. Her car, with 16-year-old Princess Stephanie aboard, left the road on a hairpin bend as she drove down from their ranch, Roc Agel, a journey she took every day. The crashed car was immediately evacuated to Monaco and French police were not allowed to investigate the accident on their territory. Again it was rumoured that the mafia were involved, though the palace insisted the accident was due to Grace having a stroke while driving.
Stephanie is also convinced the curse has struck again. “Stephanie’s three children were very close to Antoine, they were at school with him. She is begging them to be extra cautious right now,” says a source.
Stephanie survived the car accident alongside her mother, but went on to have a tumultuous life. Her marriage to her bodyguard Daniel Ducruet exploded when he was photographed by paparazzi having sex with a Belgian model by a pool. She threw herself into the arms of another bodyguard, Jean Raymond Gottlieb, had his daughter but never married him. Her marriage to a circus acrobat, Adans Lopez Peres, only lasted one year.
Since then, Stephanie has lived a pretty reclusive life in Monaco, devoting herself to her children and grandchildren. “She is terrified something might happen to them,” the source says.
The biggest victim of the curse has been Albert’s own marriage to Charlene Wittstock. She has had a hard time settling in Monaco and was even rumoured to have fled the Principality on her wedding day.
She regularly disappears to South Africa, Switzerland, Corsica, for months at a time, leaving an embarrassed Albert to look after their 11-year-old twins and insist all is fine. Rumours of their marriage breakup surface every few months but Albert plods on.
His father Prince Rainier had an equally rocky marriage to Hollywood actress Grace Kelly. He banned her from acting then went on to have a series of affairs, leaving Grace lonely and homesick.
Thoughts of the curse have been ever present for Albert in what has been a “black year”. In February, his financial manager of 20 years, furious that he was being dismissed by the prince, released a bombshell book, Forbidden Monaco, detailing the shady dealings of the royals.
Then, in September, Albert’s closest childhood friend and lawyer Thierry Lacoste, the son of Princess Grace’s press secretary Nadia Lacoste, was arrested and charged with corruption, money laundering, selling influence and more. The charges relate to a dispute which cost Monaco’s government millions in damages. While Thierry denies the allegations, the reported betrayal of his closest friend has been a thunderbolt for Albert.
“Monaco’s reputation as a sunny place for shady people still stands true,” says the friend. “The Grimaldi curse may be a myth, but it’s a very tenacious one. No one in Monaco is joking about it right now. It’s a dark shadow hanging over the principality.”
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