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Prince Albert is not even royal — he’s the Serene Highness — nor is he thought of as a world leader. His fiefdom, the filthy-rich principality of Monaco, is about the size of Central Park. But the late Princess Grace’s only son does qualify as the first head of state to test positive for coronavirus. He submitted to a test last week shortly after his 62nd birthday.

“Number One was the last person we ever thought would get the virus,” a longtime American resident of Monaco said Thursday. “We’re watching all these horrible stories out of Italy, but we never thought it would happen here, especially to him.”

“Number One” and “Number Two” are what Monaco residents call Albert and his South African wife, Princess Charlene, the mother of his young twins.

Prince Albert’s photograph hangs in almost every store and government facility. He grew up the coddled son of Prince Rainier and former Hollywood star Grace Kelly in a luxurious pink palace across the harbor from Monte Carlo. “My symptoms are flu-like, but it feels like a pretty mild case. I’ve a slight fever, not really that bad. A little bit of a cough. I’d a runny nose the first few days, that was the first sign,” he told People magazine.

“I could’ve caught it talking to someone from less than three or even four feet away.” - Prince Albert

“I could’ve caught it talking to someone from less than three or even four feet away. And it could have happened at any point in the last 10 days or so. You never know.”

He told the local Monaco-Matin he’s fine other than a “little coughing.”

Monegasques remain cynical. “This place is run on PR,” sniffed one local. “He could be fine, he could be on death’s door.”