Prince Albert put on a brave face for his glitterati guests but deep inside the monarch was hurting.
What should have been the highlight of Albert’s year, the Monaco Grand Prix, has now gone down in the royal calendar as an ignominious date. Just a few hours after motor racing’s celebrity festival had been put to bed, Albert was at the Louis II Stadium to watch his beloved AS Monaco relegated to the French second division. A 2-0 defeat to Lyon on the last day of the campaign condemned Monaco – seven-times champions – to the drop for the first time in 35 years. The true scale of their descent is underlined by the fact that, as recently as 2004, Monaco reached the Champions League final, where a team that included Dado Prso lost to FC Porto.
