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Its history has taught us that the happy ending is not only hidden in castles that resemble those in fairy tales, nor that being a princess makes you immune to betrayal and from love sickness. Because she, the most restless, enterprising and rebellious, the same one who has never subjected herself to the rules of the court, of tragedies (the death of her mother Grace), scandals and broken hearts, she has experienced firsthand by inflaming them. But it was always she who taught us, in her own way, that the heart cannot be commanded, even running the risk of shattering it into a thousand pieces. This is the story of Stéphanie of Monaco and of the unforgettable scandal that shook the Monasque summer. It was 1996.
In the 1990s, his name leapt into the international tabloids and media. First for that imprudent and rebellious love, then for that red light scandal that involved her in a unexpected triangle. The life of the beautiful, indeed beautiful third child of Grace Kelly and Ranieri Grimaldi has always been like this, restless and tormented, but certainly full and intense.
It was she, the subversive, who broke the rules when few still had the courage to do so. Because if today princes and princesses can indulge in the luxury of marry ordinary people with the consent of the royal family, this was not so obvious in the 1990s.
But Stéphanie was, and still is, a rebellious princessproud to be until the end. She who has always felt close to those rigid royal labels and in that constant confrontation with her older sister Carolina. So no, she would not have given up on love with an ordinary person, and she would not be stopped by the scandals that would be generated by the choice to start a love story with an already committed man. Her heart took her to Daniel Ducruet and she would follow him at any cost.
Stéphanie of Monaco and Daniel Ducruet
Like in a movie: the princess and the bodyguard
It is certain that to tell it today, this story, after so many years, the same ones that perhaps have erased the pain and shame, really seems like a fairy tale, even if imperfect. Because in 1991, when Stéphanie and Daniel’s eyes meet, no one could have imagined that a love story would be born between the two, much less the Grimaldi family.
Instead, she falls in love with that man who already worked in the service of the family and then became her personal bodyguard. And she does not care that he is already engaged with Martine Malbouvier, his partner for three years, nor that the woman is about to give birth to their child.
It is thanks to music, the passion in which she has invested the best energy and which has allowed her to get away from the rigid rules of the building, that she can start a relationship with her bodyguard. away from prying eyes.
And so, in a short time, Stéphanie and Daniel become a couple, their story is in the public domain, not without criticism or judgment, of course. But she collects, after all she is “the other”. This does not prevent him, however, from fulfilling his dream of love and, in spite of evil tongues, the two bring to light Louis, the firstborn. In 1994, however, Pauline will be born.
Stéphanie of Monaco and Daniel Ducruet, the birth of their son Louis
A new royal family was formed and Stéphanie and Daniel, one year after the birth of their second child, decide to get married on 1 July. But it will not be a fairytale wedding, theirs, which they will get married in the wedding hall of the Munich town hall in front of only 50 selected guests and then continue the celebrations at home, with an intimate ceremony.
A rather low profile union, perhaps also to spare dad Ranieri aanother wave of criticism and gossip. But that will come, again, and it will be more overbearing than ever. Just a year after that July, in fact, Stéphanie will have to deal with a bitter truth: Daniel’s betrayal. Not a simple weakness confessed to repair the mistake, but an unequivocal paparazzi that will throw Monaco into scandal.
The betrayal
There are photos, there are kisses and caresses. There are the words of photographers who confess that they have not published everything for a matter of decorum. The frames bounced on the national media leave no room for doubt: Daniel engages with Fili Houteman, a Belgian stripper and from those shots it is clear that the relationship has been going on for a while.
He tries to justify himself for those photos, shouting a conspiracy, accusing the others of being framed. He cries and despairs claiming to be the victim of a well-designed deception. But Stéphanie, who previously had been “the other” has no doubts: she has been betrayed and forgiveness, in this case, is not contemplated.
The end of a fairy tale
Interrupted in the most brutal of ways, Stéphanie and Daniel’s fairy tale becomes alone in no time a faded memory in the pages of tabloid newspapers. A flash divorce between the princess and her ex bodyguard lasted only 18 days, just enough to erase the love, the passion and the courage to fight against everything and everyone to be together.
She lives of the two separate and Daniel is turned away from the palace without the possibility of reply thanks to that marriage under the separation of assets. However, the children will remain to unite them forever, in one way or another.
And while the press continues to talk about the Monegasque scandal that sets the summer on fire, accomplice Fili Houteman who allows himself to be interviewed to tell the days of passion with Daniel Ducruet, the news of the lightning divorce arrives forcefully to change the headlines of those newspapers.
Stéphanie the rebel remains among the rooms of his palace licking her wounds, her now ex-husband’s attempts to save her marriage do not scratch her. The story is over and there is no turning back.
The lives of the two are separated forever, they will remain in contact for the sake of the children. No petty revenge on the part of the rebellious princess, who certainly does not lack the means to do so, that feel the blow with royalty. However, the two will maintain a friendly relationship while Stéphanie falls in love again, first with another bodyguard with whom she will have another daughter, and then with an elephant tamer.
Daniel also gets married again but someone insinuates that he has never forgotten Stéphanie. The woman he gets married with in 2018, Kelly Marie Lancien, in fact, seems to look a lot like the princess when she was young.
Stéphanie of Monaco
