A 'Princess Diaries' Moment for Albert's Daughter

French media reports said the never-married 48-year-old prince had a fling with the girl's mother in 1991 when she vacationed on the Cote d'Azur in the south of France. The girl's March 4, 1992, Riverside County birth certificate identified the father as Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi of Monaco.

The French media reported that Tamara Rotolo is a former waitress. But she apparently now works in real estate. State records show that a Tamara Jean Rotolo is a salesperson at a realty office in Palm Desert.

Court records show Rotolo was married in 1987 to a man named David Shumaker and they separated two years later. A divorce was finalized in 1992.

Tidbits about Jazmin's life had already made the local paper five times in the years before she became a celebrity. The Desert Sun of Palm Springs reported she was a soloist in the school choir that performed with Barry Manilow. She was also an honor student, science fair winner and student of the month.

Patricia Rotolo, who identified herself as Tamara Rotolo's cousin, talked to the Desert Sun on Tuesday. "All's been handled really well for [the child's] sake," she said.

The prince, who is the son of Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly and has a personal fortune estimated at $1 billion, made the public acknowledgment of the girl through his lawyer, Thierry Lacoste. Albert "officially recognizes a paternity that was legally established a few weeks ago," Lacoste said in an interview published Thursday in France's Le Figaro.

Albert initially planned to keep his parentage of Jazmin secret until she reached adulthood, but "the situation had become untenable for her" in recent weeks amid increasing speculation about her father, Lacoste said.

Lacoste said Jazmin was welcome in Monaco but cannot take the throne, and the royal family does not recognize her use of the Grimaldi name.

Albert's other child, 3-year-old Alexandre, is not in line for the throne either.

Monaco's royal palace refused to comment on the "private affairs of the prince."

According to court records, Rotolo filed a paternity suit seeking child support from Albert in Riverside County, Calif., in 1991. A decade later she sued her own lawyers, claiming they failed to tell her the suit had to have been filed in Monaco before 1994 to preserve her rights.

In the San Francisco suburb of Fremont, Rotolo's father, Sam Rotolo, 75, said the family has known since Jazmin was born that she was the prince's child. He said that Albert has provided financial support.

The retired autoworker said his daughter, Tamara, was raised in his middle-class home. Her mother died in 2002, he said.

"She's a wonderful young woman," Sam Rotolo said.