Albert II of Monaco acknowledged two children born outside marriage, and Monaco's constitution keeps both off the throne

Article 10 of Monaco's constitution gives the throne only to the prince's "direct and legitimate" descendants. Before a 2 April 2002 amendment, a prince without legitimate heirs would have left Monaco to become a French protectorate under a 1918 treaty. Albert became Sovereign Prince on 6 April 2005 and was enthroned on 12 July. In May 2005 Paris Match published a ten-page interview with Nicole Coste, a former Air France flight attendant from Togo. She said her son, born Éric Alexandre Stéphane Tossoukpé in Paris on 24 August 2003, was Albert's. On 6 July 2005, six days before the enthronement, Albert's lawyer Thierry Lacoste confirmed it. Earlier, Tamara Rotolo, a waitress, had named Albert as father of her daughter Jazmin Grace, born in Palm Springs on 4 March 1992. A 1993 California case was dismissed because the judge found too little connection between Albert and the state. On 31 May 2006, after a DNA test, Albert admitted he was her father. Monegasque law legitimates a child born outside marriage if the parents later marry, so Alexandre would have become heir if Albert had married Coste. Albert said in 2005 he would not. He married Charlene Wittstock on 1 and 2 July 2011, and twins Jacques and Gabriella were born on 10 December 2014. In 2006 Albert said the two older children would be provided for^†. In 2026 Jacques is heir, and Alexandre and Jazmin have no place in the succession.