Private equity firms have hardly revelled in the media spotlight cast by their dealmaking prowess over the last few years. But they have had a better time than Prince Albert II of Monaco, who has just admitted to being the father of a second illegitimate child.

As well as having a two-year-old son born out of wedlock, Prince Albert's lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, recently said a Californian teenager was his daughter from a liaison with a former waitress. The prince had apparently planned to keep his relationship with Jazmin Grace Rotolo secret until she was an adult but "the situation had become untenable for her" in recent weeks amid increasing speculation about her father, said Lacoste.