A missed family lunch in Monaco set off a police search that ended in a garden behind the principality’s national museum.
Antoine de Massy, a member of Monaco’s princely family and the first cousin once removed of Prince Albert II, was found dead early on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in a public square below Boulevard du Larvotto, near the seafront. He was 29. Monaco’s prosecutor general, Stéphane Thibault, said the body was discovered after officers began searching in response to an alert from his family.
The Prince’s Palace announced the death Monday, Oct. 26. Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène learned of it with sadness, the communiqué said, describing de Massy as the grandson of Princess Antoinette, the elder sister of Prince Rainier III. “A keen tennis player, he was part of a family history closely linked to the sport in the Principality,” the palace said, extending the couple’s condolences to his family and loved ones.
The Lunch He Never Reached
The alarm was raised over a meal. De Massy did not appear at a family lunch at midday Sunday, and a worried relative contacted Monaco’s Public Security Department. His body was found a few hours later in the green space behind Villa Sauber, the Belle Époque landmark along Boulevard du Larvotto that houses the national museum.
He had reportedly been seen staggering out of a nightclub in the principality during the night of Saturday, Oct. 24, into Sunday.
The Man Caught on Camera
Investigators reviewing surveillance footage saw a man approach de Massy while he was still on the boulevard. The inquiry, opened to establish the causes of death, was then widened so police could identify the man and question him in custody.
The man, a Monaco resident of Ukrainian nationality, was arrested Monday morning. In a statement issued at 7 p.m. that evening, Thibault said his custody had been extended by 24 hours while interviews and technical examinations continued.
At first, Thibault described him only as a suspect or witness in events whose legal characterization had yet to be determined, and the prosecutor’s office said investigators had not ruled out an accident.
Charged After 48 Hours
On Wednesday, Oct. 28, after 48 hours in custody, the 42-year-old was charged with involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger and was placed in pretrial detention. He disputes the allegations and is presumed innocent. An investigating judge will now try to establish exactly how de Massy came to fall, Thibault said in a statement.
According to the autopsy, the probable cause of death was a fall from a height of 13 meters, about 43 feet, from Boulevard du Larvotto onto an embankment behind a building, the prosecutor said.
A Racket at Age Three
De Massy was the son of Baron Christian de Massy, Prince Albert II’s first cousin, and Cécile Gelabale. His grandmother, Princess Antoinette, died in 2011 at 90. His grandfather, Alexandre-Athenase Noghès, was a Monegasque tennis player who married her.
The sport runs through the family. His aunt, Elizabeth-Ann de Massy, led both the Monte-Carlo Country Club and the Monegasque Tennis Federation until her death in 2020. Her daughter, de Massy’s cousin Mélanie-Antoinette de Massy, now heads both institutions and the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
His father put a racket in his hands when he was three. He later left Monaco for Florida, training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy alongside his schooling, and he once dreamed of representing the principality at the Olympic Games. He turned afterward to business, co-founding the technology firm Instant Tech, a platform that connects local businesses and merchants with customers for instant reservations and payments.
In a 2012 interview, he said his dream was “to become number one in the world.”