Princess Charlene risks awkward run-in with Prince Albert’s ex-mistress Nicole Coste at Grand Prix after posting solo picture with Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella to mark Monaco Mother’s Day

Princess Charlene may be preparing for an awkward encounter with her husband’s former mistress during the Monaco Grand Prix today.

The royal, 46, cut a glamorous figure in a navy blue oversized blazer as she attended the annual event in Monte Carlo this afternoon with her husband Prince Albert, 66.

Earlier in the day, Nicole Coste – who secretly dated Albert for seven years and shares a son with the royal family – posted on Instagram about her participation in the event.

The fashion designer, who met the royal family while working as a flight attendant in 1997, shared a photo of herself wearing a white trench coat and enjoying the view from the venue.

Nicole joined the Ferrari team and said: ‘We are waiting for the victory of Charles Leclerc, the child of the country. I love this jacket!’

Albert and Nicole’s liaison became the best kept secret in Monaco society. Although they both attended red carpet events and mingled with socialites and celebrities, the majority of Albert’s subjects knew nothing of the relationship.

Prior to her marriage to Prince Albert in 2011, Charlene reportedly had a falling out with Nicole after she placed her stepson Alexandre in the palace’s staff wing.

Although she also previously had a frosty relationship with Albert – claiming he ‘doesn’t want to see his son’ – she recently showered the monarch with praise, sharing a photo with him on his birthday with the caption: ‘Happy birthday Albert The world will recognize you as the Loyal, the Worthy, the KING.

In November 2022, she shared another photo of Albert with Alexandre and Jazmin in New York, New York, with the cheeky caption: “Fatherly king.”

Earlier today, Princess Charlene shared a sweet photo with her twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella to mark Monaco’s Mother’s Day.

The royal, 46, opted for a double-breasted suit jacket and swept her hair back as she wrapped her arms around her two children.

“Happy Mother’s Day,” she wrote.

The mother-of-two opted for a natural look and looked the double of her daughter, who also wore a white jacket.

In keeping with the clever theme, Prince Jacques wore a navy blue suit and tie.

Charlene, meanwhile, went for a natural makeup look, with a soft eyeliner and a light layer of foundation as she posed in the Monaco sun.

Meanwhile, Charlene’s husband Prince Albert, 66, made a solo trip to the Monaco Grand Prix.

The monarch opted for cream-colored chinos and a navy blue checked jacket and baseball cap.

Charlene and Albert took their children to the opening of ‘Monaco World’ in Hamburg last month.

The family of four celebrated that Monaco was added to the list of countries that will appear in Miniature Wonderland, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Germany.

Charlene put her fashion best foot forward and donned a beautiful cream-colored coat that she paired with a black top.

The former Olympic swimmer wrapped herself warm in an onyx-colored scarf, as the temperature in the German city was around nine degrees.

Earlier this year, Albert was reportedly branded a “weak” leader who “uses money to buy peace in the family.”

After questions arose about the finances of the Monegasque royal family, journalists in the principality commented on the character of the 65-year-old prime minister.

A dossier uncovering the ‘secret notebooks’ of Claude Palmero, who was in charge of the palace’s finances for more than two decades and a confidante of Prince Albert until he was deposed last summer, revealed startling claims about the royal family’s finances – especially that of Princess Charlene, 45.

The submissions, which were shared with French newspaper Le Monde, detailed the excessive costs the princess had spent on items such as the baptisms of her twins Jacques and Gabriella, at around £600,000, and a general expenditure allowance of more than £1 million a year .

Speak with Tatlerone of the journalists who broke the story revealed that Charlene has a “crazy desire to spend money,” which is indulged by her husband to keep the peace.

They speculated that the prince’s character was due to experiencing “a lot” of confrontations when his late father, Prince Rainier III, was alive.

Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Davet reveals that the files he and fellow reporter Fabrice Lhomme discovered suggested that Princess Charlene and her sister-in-law, Princess Caroline, are ‘not friends’.

FEMAIL has contacted the Monegasque Palace for comment.

Among the explosive claims uncovered in the dossier were allegations that Princess Charlene had hired illegal immigrants for less than £90 a day to work for her, despite her personal expenses allowance skyrocketing to £1 million a year.

Mr Palmero’s records show that ‘illegal migrants’ made up a large part of Charlene’s full-time personal staff of eight – something the accountant raised concerns about.

“Her Serene Highness the Princess has people working for her who are not compliant,” Palmero warned Prince Albert, also referring to “a Filipino woman who moonlights and ties dogs in the shower.”

In a January 2017 letter, he said another worker from the Philippines had been “illegal” for five years, despite only having a one-month tourist visa.

‘He gets paid 100 euros a day [£85] That is excessive,” Mr. Palmero wrote.

In December 2014, Charlene gave birth to Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, and immediately placed them in the care of illegal immigrant nannies.

“Update on hiring nannies…We are completely illegal (even their tourist visa expired on January 7),” Mr Palmero wrote on January 15 of that year.

“Not only are they in an illegal situation, but someone has come in with a fake passport,” Mr Palmero added.

Despite this, Mr Palmero released almost £600,000 to celebrate the children’s birth and baptism.

On one day in April 2016 alone, Charlene asked for the equivalent of £66,000, which was “definitely too much”, Mr Palmero said, especially as she was also planning to rent a second villa in Corsica.

“Isn’t that a lot?” asked the accountant, who was concerned that the princess was taking money from funds that were “undeclared” for tax purposes.

“These practices are dangerous,” Palmero warned.

“Not only are they in an illegal situation, but someone has come in with a fake passport,” Mr Palmero added.

The former chief administrator of the Mediterranean tax haven claims he desperately tried to rein in Charlene’s “dangerous” spending, and at one point stopped the South African-born 45-year-old from hiring new staff.

The books also claim Albert spends millions every year from a secret French bank account to pay his former mistresses and beloved children – with Jazmin Grimaldi, 31, and Alexandre Coste-Grimaldi, 20, receiving a £344,000 allowance each year.

This was while Charlene spent £826,000 on redecorating her holiday villa in Calvi, on the island of Corsica, along with £860,000 on furnishing her office in Monte Carlo.

Charlene paid her personal chef the equivalent of £250 a day from pocket change, Palmero said, while her South African family also received hundreds of thousands of pounds.

In February 2017, the accountant also released the equivalent of over half a million pounds to pay off the Princess’s overdraft.

In December 2019, an alarmed Mr. Palmero noted that Charlene had “spent about 15 million euros” [£13m]’, more than eight years, despite the fact that her benefit amounts to ‘7.5 million euros’ [£6.4m]

This was while Charlene also put a combined sum of almost £2 million into the holiday villa in Calvi and the redecoration of her office.

“It’s crazy!” Mr. Palmero wrote. “I have no control over the princess’s expenses.”