The Birth of the Ocean Heir

Winter on the Côte d'Azur was mild, but on the night of the winter solstice, a rare Arctic cold front swept down from the maritime Alps, bringing with it a whisper of silent, magical snowfall. Flakes of white drifted through the twilight, dusting the terracotta tiles and dark cypress trees of the Sterling estate in Cap d'Ail, just across the border from Monaco. Below the cliffside gardens, the Mediterranean lay…