Who's That Guy?

A mega-rich French tycoon has been putting a smile on the face of unlucky-in-love Princess Caroline of Monaco

- Kirstin Buick

BAREFOOT on the beach, clad in nothing but an uber-trendy ripped denim shirt and peak cap, with her dachshunds’ leashes draped around her neck – this is a version of one of the world’s most famous royals the public has rarely seen.

But it wasn’t her laissez-faire attire that had onlookers’ tongues wagging: it was the silver fox by Caroline’s side. Has the famously unlucky-in-love princess from Monaco’s Pink Palace found love at last?

Princess Caroline (60) hasn’t been seen with a man by her side in nearly a decade since splitting from her husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover (63), in 2009.

There was no mistaking the body language between her and her new friend as they soaked up the sun on a beach in Saint-Tropez in the south of France with friends and family. In one of the snaps, a beaming, sun-kissed Caroline appears to be playfully giving her friend a shove as he puts his hands in front of him in mock defence.

So who’s the lucky man who has the princess of the pinprick principality smiling once again?

German magazine Bunte reports he’s Vincent Bolloré, one of the richest and most powerful men in France – and he’s the perfect fit for “intellectual and cosmopolitan Caroline”.

If the French investor is courting Grace Kelly’s eldest, he’s certainly not after the Grimaldi fortune. The 65-year-old’s company, the Bolloré Group – of which he’s chairman and CEO – has made him a billionaire several times over.

Vincent, whom wealth-watching media house Forbes has dubbed “one of the titans of the French business world”, is worth a staggering $6,9 billion (R93,1 billion) – and he’s worked hard for his bucks.