Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, the daughter of Prince Albert II of Monaco, is working on her debut album — and she wants the world to know it on her own terms.
In a social media video posted last week to mark her 34th birthday, Jazmin talks about her story in detail, introducing it as the “real life Princess Diaries” — referring to the popular 2001 film in which a teenage girl discovers she is heir to the throne of a fictional European principality.
She speaks at length about her identity, her art, and her decision to stop letting others write her narrative. “People have tried to define me for years,” she says. “Whether labeled as princess, or love child, or the horrible word of ‘illegitimate,’ I learned that my worth is not up for negotiation.”
Jazmin has been a public figure since 2006, when her father Prince Albert II acknowledged her at the age of 14. Born and raised by her American mother Tamara Rotolo in Palm Springs, California, she then became publicly known as Jazmin Grimaldi and has since built a career as a singer and actress. She holds no title and no claim to the Monégasque throne.
Royalty, she is keen to point out, is only part of who she is. “My father is Prince Albert of Monaco, my grandmother is Grace Kelly. Royalty is part of my story, but it’s not everything in my story.”
It is music, she says, that will tell the rest of it. “Who I am, my own voice, what I want to say, and how I want to say it — I think through my art is the best way to encapsulate that.”
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Her half-brother Alexandre Grimaldi has spoken warmly of her ambitions, drawing a line from Jazmin’s career to that of their grandmother. “She’s sort of following in our grandmother’s footsteps in Hollywood,” he said. “We always talk about that and about how she wants to continue her legacy.”
For Jazmin, the album represents something beyond music. “I’m deciding that I am stepping into my power,” she said. “I’m not hiding or feeling ashamed or less than anymore.”
The album is due for release later this year.
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