Alain Ducasse is probably the world’s most famous chef. He has accumulated more Michelin stars, 14 in all, than anyone else. He is today at the head of a gastronomic empire that employs nearly 2,000 people, with restaurants around the globe. He is even developing meals for astronauts for the European Space Agency. Understandably, he is regarded asthe grand ambassador of modern French haute cuisine.

But Mr Ducasse, like so many of his rich countrymen, has decided to exile himself to escape France’s punitive wealth tax. He has just given up his French nationality and become a citizen of Monaco by sovereign order of Prince Albert II, ruler of the tiny Mediterranean tax haven.