Catch up TV

Series 1: Episode 3

This episode discovers just how expensive it is to live in Monaco. Average property prices are around twice as much as in London’s most exclusive district, Mayfair. One of the main reasons for this is that to qualify for official residency in Monaco (and the financial benefits this brings), you have to own or lease a residence, so demand outstrips supply.\n \nThe episode takes a tour of an extraordinary new home – Villa Troglodyte, which has come onto the market. Built as if carved out of the rock, the price is only £23 million because it doesn’t have a sea view. \n \nThe pressure to build more houses in a small country that is so short on space has left Prince Albert with a challenge. He attends meetings about a huge, new, two-billion-euro land extension project he has initiated. Extending into the sea is a complex operation but once complete, the largest villas there are estimated to sell for around 100 million euros.\n\nIn contrast, David Alexanders shows his tiny studio with a total area of 24 square metres. He can only just stand up in it, but it affords him the coveted Monegasque address.\n \nWith property prices out of their reach in Monaco, Brazilian brothers George and Alexis, dancers with the Ballets de Monte Carlo, travel across the border from France to perform and meet their patron, Princess Caroline. \n\nAnd the cameras get an exclusive invite to the famous Red Cross Ball and go behind the scenes as chefs rustle up 850 desserts, each with the correct amount of edible gold and intricately sculpted chocolate embellishments. Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene arrive to dance the night away and raise money with other celebrities for this annual charity event.

Source: BBC 2