Albert II, Prince of Monaco
As Monaco's head of state, Prince Albert II is depicted on coins, including collectors' coins, with very rare exceptions. One of the most recent examples is the €5 silver Prince Albert II commemorative coin, the first commemorative coin with his effigy on it, minted in 2008. On the obverse, the prince is depicted in profile with his name on the top of the coin. On the reverse, the Grimaldi coat of arms appears; around it, the words "Principauté de Monaco" (Principality of Monaco) also appear along with the nominal monetary value of the coin.As the prince, his official shortened title is "His Serene Highness Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco"; this does not include the many other styles claimed by the Grimaldi family.
Prince's Palace of Monaco
By the time of Charles III's death in 1889, Monaco and Monte Carlo were synonymous as one and the same place, and had acquired, through gambling, a reputation as a louche and decadent playground of the rich. It attracted everyone from Russian grand dukes and railway magnates, often with their mistresses, to adventurers, causing the small country to be derided by many including Queen Victoria. In fact so decadent was Monaco considered that from 1882, when she first began visiting the French Riviera, Queen Victoria refused to make a courtesy social call at the palace. The contemporary writer Sabine Baring-Gould described the habituées of Monaco as "the moral cesspool of Europe."