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Prince Albert II of Monaco said he’s been told to be "available" to be kidnapped by his precocious 8-year-old twins for his 65th birthday celebration this week.
"It's going to be very subdued," the only son of late Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace told People magazine of the hoopla earlier this week. "We'll have a little family lunch on Tuesday. Afterward, when the children return from school, I'm going to be kidnapped. Really. I've been told to be available to be kidnapped at 5:30."
He added his youngest children Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella are keeping their plans a "secret." "The kids want to kidnap me. They want to take me to a play at a theater, but actually, I've only been warned I'm going to be kidnapped."
Albert shares the children with Princess Charlene, 45, whom he married in 2011.
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Prince Albert II turned 65 on Tuesday. The sovereign prince had reigned for 18 years. (CHarly Triballeau/AFP)
On Wednesday, the prince will attend a St. Patrick’s Day concert at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco before flying to Ireland to dedicate a new statue of his mother who was of Irish heritage.
An official Instagram post from the prince's account said the Orchestra of the Prince's Carabiniers wished him a happy birthday during the changing of the guard at the Place du Palais before he had lunch with his family and later the twins invited him to a performance of "'La sorcière du placard aux balais' created especially for the occasion."
He told People while he sees friends retiring at his age, "I can’t do that."
He proclaimed that "65 is the new 45!"
Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene share twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella. (Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis )
"I mean, 65 is important, but it isn't. I prefer decimals, so 60 was important, 70 will be important. And hopefully, I'll reach 80 and 90 and beyond. Sixty-five has some resonance, I suppose, but for me, it's just another birthday. It's not a milestone. I've said before that 60 was the new 40," he joked. "And so it continues incrementally — 65 is the new 45!"
The prince lovingly called "my wife and my children" his proudest achievement in his 18-year reign.
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Albert became sovereign prince in 2005 after the death of his father. He lost his mother – who was movie star Grace Kelly before she married his father — in 1982 to a car crash.
He also has two older children Alexandre, 19, and Jazmin, 31, from previous relationships.
Prince Albert with his mother Princess Grace in June 1982. She died later that year after a car crash. (Serge Assier/Gamma-Rapho)
The prince added that he doesn’t want "too many gifts" for his birthday.
"People think this palace is big, but our storage is full," he said. "I'm serious...I don't know where to put things anymore."
He added that his youngest daughter Gabriella seems to have a "mischievous twinkle in her eye."
"She has her own little personality and sometimes does things that are, you know — she'll try to use her brother and get him into trouble," he said, "but Jacques stands up to her now, and when he's had enough, says 'No!' So he's not squashed by her strong personality."
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Albert said he’s happy to see the twins participating in "normal school activities again, school sports," since the pandemic, adding that he's grateful they "aren't [stuck] in the little palace schoolroom."
The royal said, "Interacting with numbers of other kids has given them back a lot of confidence. Character develops in different situations, and different experiences bring out different qualities in them.
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