On September 5th (2007), Robert Eringer went to see U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss at his office in the Russell Senate Building.

"How are things?" Senator Chambliss asked.

"Not so well, Senator," replied Eringer. "Prince Albert is not honoring his commitments. Prosecutors in Monaco, supported by the Prince, want to imprison a Monegasque because he created a website critical of Monaco's leadership. Aside from everything else, I don't think I can work for someone who does not believe in freedom of speech--it's not what I signed on for. So I'm planning to dissolve our intelligence service."

(Eringer's reference was to Marc Giacone, the Cathedral organist, who had been imprisoned, interrogated, and fired from his job for the "crime" of labeling the Prince, on his website, "Seducer clown-in-chief.")

"Can't you leave it in the hands of someone else?" asked Senator Chambliss.

"I tried, Senator. The bad guys do not want the Prince to have an intelligence service, for obvious reasons." Eringer pointed out that neither CIA nor the FBI had been of much help as liaison partners.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Senator, I haven't come here to ask you to do anything. I'm here as a courtesy to update you on the situation, because you were kind enough to support us. Do whatever you want."

Said Chambliss: "Maybe CIA has information that#"

"There isn't a missing piece to this puzzle," Eringer interjected. "Everyone wants to believe CIA knows something that would explain everything. Truth is, they don't even know what they don't know."

Eringer planned an October sweep through Paris, Monaco, and Luxembourg, for a Columbus Group meeting, where he wanted to meet with the micro-Europe liaison partners and gently close the doors they so kindly had opened.

However, his colleagues in Luxembourg became nervous and cancelled Columbus after President Nicolas Sarkozy's new DST chief, Bernard Squarcini, spread the word that Eringer was "CIA station chief in Monaco."

This was how the French finally chose to discredit Eringer. Not very original, but calculated to ensure the liaison partners would become wary. Tragic it should have this effect on so fabulous a creation as Columbus-but perhaps that is what the French strived to achieve.

So Eringer took pause, gave Europe a miss, and instead conducted a comprehensive review of all that had transpired since the first day he began his mission in service to the Prince, while trying hard to keep the doors open with other intelligence services, as instructed by the Prince.

Eringer was left with this conclusion: The Prince had squandered a great resource, his intelligence service, and with it, access to twenty other intelligence services. He had squandered the opportunity to rule his principality with a strong chef de cabinet. And he was squandering the opportunity to make his mark as a Sovereign ruler.

Moreover, the Prince did not appreciate what had been accomplished for him. Instead, Albert lied to Eringer and abused their relationship to the point of desertion.

Despite all this, Eringer did not regret the opportunity to have created an intelligence service from scratch on a shoestring. It was, for him, an excellent life experience during which he made many wonderful friends and acquired a great many insights.

Most important, he remained true to his ideals; he was not corrupted by his proximity to the Prince, with perks and favors that others so greedily indulged.

Eringer earned little money in service to the Prince-a fraction of what an executive would earn in the corporate world for similar employment. He had invested most of his budget into building a quite stellar service, to provide the Prince with the intelligence needed for introducing a new ethic to his principality.

Eringer had actually believed the Prince meant what he said about putting "morality, honesty and ethics at the forefront of my government and cabinet."

Sadly, it was a sham.

The Prince let Eringer down, he let the liaison partners down, he let his subjects down, and he let himself down.

Monaco's flag fluttering above an oft-empty palace has today become symbolic of this deception-a prince who is physically and psychologically absent from his principality, and from his subjects.

The Prince was very well informed about the shady characters whose presence he continues to tolerate, even while announcing to the world he is sorry Somerset Maugham ever penned his haunting words about Monaco being "a sunny place for shady people."

The bad guys won.

And the Prince became a bad guy himself by proxy.

He is just winging it, and not very well, supported by people who exploit his weaknesses to their own advantage. Some who know Albert well have come to the realization that he is, quite literally, out of his mind. And, sadly, these same people continue to exploit his unbalanced mental state for their financial gain and/or to remain in his presence to elevate their own social status.

There comes a time when one not only must face the truth, but say it out loud, no matter how difficult.

The sad truth is that Prince Albert should not hold any position of responsibility, let alone the responsibility as absolute ruler of a sovereign state.

Thinking that he should no longer operate in the Prince's service on the basis that Albert was mentally unfit to task him, or to benefit from good intelligence, Eringer carved plans to dissolve the Monaco Intelligence Service.

Knowing that Albert was unlikely to honor those individuals who had worked so hard in his intelligence service, and instead continue to award members of the crooked clan with the Order of the Crown and the Order of Grimaldi, Eringer created an order of his own-the Order of the Monk. (Albert's famed ancestor, Francois "Malizia" Grimaldi, had donned a monk's habit to gain entry, by deception, to a fortified village, roust its occupants, expel its ruler, and keep it in the family for more than seven centuries.) Eringer commissioned a master engraver to reproduce a likeness of Malizia on silver--and struck seven medals in 14-karat gold, which he awarded to seven worthy individuals in honor of exemplary service to Monaco Intelligence.

To MIS liaison partners, Eringer wrote:

Dear Friends,

I apologize for my lack of contact in recent days, but the future is now clear:

Prince Albert of Monaco does not wish to continue with the clean-up program that I initiated on his behalf. He has not honored his commitments to me nor to the crackdown on money laundering we envisioned nor to the liaison relationships we forged with foreign intelligence services.

Under the circumstances, I cannot continue to serve the Prince, nor maintain, as his representative, a relationship with you despite the support and assistance your service so kindly offered.

I had hoped I could leave the door open so that liaison would continue without me, but this, too, was thwarted, hence I cannot refer you to anyone in Monaco with whom to work.

I want you to know that the best part of my job was meeting representatives from other services and making wonderful new friends in the process. I am proud of what we achieved during our existence, if sad it should end like this. I hope we will remain in contact in other endeavors.

With great respect and warm wishes,

(Signed.)

Kept in limbo for many months, and awaiting payment for an unpaid final invoice, Eringer retained Winston & Strawn, a global law firm with offices in Washington, D.C.

It was not Eringer's intention to sue the Prince in a court of law, but to place Albert on notice that he expected accounts to be brought current. Eringer needed resolution to close doors with liaison partners and move on with his life.

For more than five years, Eringer's lawyer wrote the Prince on April 18th, 2008, Mr. Eringer worked on projects at your direction, often under trying circumstances and with no small personal risk given some of the characters involved. Mr. Eringer handled his tasks adroitly and with the greatest discretion. Although he never signed a confidentiality agreement, Mr. Eringer has consistently maintained the privacy of the information he possesses. He understandably is distressed that his loyalty has not been reciprocated.

The most glaring example of the lack of reciprocity is the manner in which you chose to discontinue communications with Mr. Eringer. Despite his frequent efforts to update you, he did not receive the courtesy of any response, much less an explanation as to his status.

The Prince ignored the lawyer's letter.

Eringer had hoped one day to write the story of how H.S.H. Prince Albert II crusaded to rid his principality of its shady image-and triumphed.

Instead, this true story is a modern version of The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen.

When the Emperor parades in his new clothes, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all."