Monaco Charges Man in Death of Prince Albert II's Cousin
Monaco has charged a 42-year-old man with involuntary manslaughter and failure to help a person in danger in the death of Antoine de Massy, a cousin of Prince Albert II. Town & Country reported the charges. Involuntary manslaughter is a charge for causing a death without intending to kill.
De Massy, 29, was found dead in a public garden in Monaco on Sunday, October 25. His body was found on Sunday evening near Boulevard du Larvotto, a seafront road in the principality. Nice-Matin reported that police identified a person through security camera footage. People reported that a 42-year-old man was arrested in connection with the death.
Monaco is a small country on the French Riviera, on the Mediterranean coast. It is ruled by the Grimaldi family, and Prince Albert II is its head of state. De Massy was the grandson of Princess Antoinette, the older sister of the late Prince Rainier III, which makes him a member of the wider princely family.
According to Monaco's prosecutor general, Stéphane Thibault, the suspect is a Ukrainian national who has lived in Monaco for three decades. Thibault said the man denied the allegations when police questioned him. The suspect was brought before a judge, declined to answer questions, and was held in custody while the case continues.
In a statement to Monaco Matin, a local newspaper, Thibault said De Massy died from a fall of 13 meters, about 43 feet, from a square in the city. Prosecutors have opened an investigation to establish the sequence of events that led to the fall. The charges are allegations, and the investigation is still at an early stage.
Little has been said publicly about the two men's relationship. For readers outside Europe, the main thing to know is how the process works. Monaco's prosecutors bring the charges, a judge decides whether the suspect stays in custody, and the investigation determines what happened before any trial begins.
For the family, the death is a private loss that has become a public legal case. Princely families in Europe live much of their lives in public view, and that visibility now reaches the courtroom. The next steps will come from Monaco's prosecutors and courts, not from the palace.
