At last, a royal wedding to get excited about, as rumours of a runaway bride swirl persistently round Prince Albert of Monaco's scheduled marriage yesterday to former swimmer Charlene Wittstock.
As you know, there are only four occupations in Monaco: royal family member, royal commentator, tax exile and servant. And so it is that a representative of the second of these castes has given an insight into the first, as Stephane Bern – a royal commentator and friend of Prince Albert – explains why the prince hasn't issued a statement confirming everything's fine. According to Stephane: "A sovereign ruler is not going to lower himself."
Lower himself? Albert has been forced to acknowledge two illegitimate children – one with an American estate agent and another with a Togolese air hostess – while Stephane goes on to imply that there isn't time before the wedding to DNA test a woman now claiming to be pregnant with his latest one. In such rarefied circumstances, then, a brief statement of Albert's happy expectations for the big day would obviously be déclassé. Interested parties are commanded to stop being so common at once.
