As she gradually returns to royal duties, Princess Charlene joined her husband Prince Albert as the pair attended the opening of a new shelter for the Society for the Protection of Animals in Monaco on September 16.
While petting the cats and the dogs, the princess was the picture of elegance in a rich mahogany knitted ribbed co-ord set while her hair was swept up in a chignon.
The appearance, coming after a turbulent few years of health issues and rumours of marital problems, offered new insight into the current state of the relationship between Charlene and Albert.
Her neatly pinned updo would have been impossible at the end of 2020, which coincided with the start of her problems.
On December 16 of that year, the princess showed off a dramatic new do while attending a Christmas gift distribution in Monte Carlo.
“When a royal changes their appearance as dramatically as Princess Charlene of Monaco did, it is a very conscious decision and a sign that they want to tell the world something has changed dramatically in their life,” royal expert Nigel Crawthorne said at the time.
Indeed, just days after the first appearance of the not-very-royal-looking haircut, it was revealed that Albert was slapped with legal papers by a Brazilian woman, who claims she fell pregnant to him in 2005.
While the birth occurred before the royal and the former Olympic swimmer made it down the aisle on July 1, 2011, the pair were already involved in a serious relationship after meeting in 2000.
As Charlene now grows out her locks, it could be a sign that all is well between her and Albert today.
In another telling clue, Charlene was sporting her rarely seen Repossi engagement ring.
The three-carat pear-cut diamond, with smaller pavé diamonds on either side, is reported to have cost Albert almost $100, 000.
Charlene usually keeps it just for very formal events, so wearing it to the shelter appears to show her current affection for her husband.
Was it love at first sight for Charlene and Albert?
When it comes to the marriage between Prince Albert and Princess Charlene, life hasn’t always been a fairytale. However, it still came as a surprise when Monaco’s reigning royal admitted it wasn’t exactly love at first sight, either.
The couple met at a swimming meet in 2000, just months before Charlene, now 46, represented South Africa in the sport at the Sydney Olympics.
“I don’t know if we fell in love back then,” Albert, 66, told Paris Match. “You know, after that, I didn’t see Charlene again for several years. I thought that she was an excellent swimmer and that she was friendly, cheerful and approachable.” However, it turns out they did get up to a bit of mischief that didn’t go down too well with Charlene’s coach.
“We had a great time,” Albert shared. “I don’t know if I should say this, but… I got her into a bit of trouble because I didn’t get her ‘home’ in time.”
Albert went on to welcome illegitimate son Alexandre with flight attendant Nicole Coste in August 2003, before making his public debut with Charlene in 2006.
The couple tied the knot in 2011 during a lavish star-studded two- day wedding reception that was reported to have cost $100 million. They welcomed their twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, on December 10, 2014, with the younger boy becoming his father’s much longed-for heir.
But thanks to a mysterious illness that kept her out of Monaco for almost a year and a string of paternity suits against her husband, Charlene has been mired in scandal. Here, WHO looks back on the life of the woman known as “the sad princess”.
Did Princess Charlene cry during her wedding?
Renowned as a playboy prince – Albert had dated celebrities including Brooke Shields and Claudia Schiffer – few thought he’d ever settle down. This appeared to change when he laid eyes on the athletic blonde, whose good looks earned her the nickname of “The Benoni bombshell” at a swim meet in Monaco.
While it’s not uncommon for a bride to shed a few tears on her wedding day, Charlene Wittstock appeared to sob as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue while walking down the aisle on July 1, 2011, as the prince begged of her, “Don’t cry.”
The dramatic scenes followed days of reports that Charlene had tried to flee the principality three times in the weeks leading up to the big day after Albert was hit with a paternity suit alleging he’d fathered a child during their relationship.
French L’Express magazine reported that after hearing of Albert’s love child, Charlene “sought refuge in the South African embassy,” while dress shopping in Paris before having her passport confiscated while on the way to the airport just two days before the wedding.
Further reports surfaced that Charlene only went through with the ceremony after brokering a deal with palace officials that she would be free to leave, with a healthy financial settlement, after providing Albert with a legitimate heir.
“Several sources have confirmed that an arrangement was reached between the future bride and groom,” reported French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
There were clear signs all was still not well during their early days of marriage. While on honeymoon in Durban, South Africa, Albert and Charlene chose to stay in separate hotels 16km apart. The palace confirmed the sleeping arrangement, but said it was for “practical reasons”.
Are Charlene and Albert separated?
In 2021, the couple spent most of the year apart after a mysterious health condition left Charlene grounded in her native South Africa. The princess was left unable to due to a “severe sinus infection” she contracted at the start of the year.
The unfortunate timing coincided with Albert being hit with another paternity suit in an Italian court in December 2020 alleging he fathered her 16-year-old daughter with a Brazilian woman. The prince has denied the suit as “a hoax”.
During her months overseas, Charlene looked increasingly frail and emaciated in the social media updates she regularly shared. Just days after she finally returned to Monaco on November 8, it was revealed she had left again to undergo further medical treatment.
“[Charlene] was overwhelmed and couldn’t face official duties, life in general or even family life,’’ Albert People magazine on November 19. “She hadn’t slept well in a number of days and she wasn’t eating at all well,’’ he added.
The palace helped to intensify gossip about the state of the royal marriage after the twins were spotted holding heartbreaking signs with a message for their mum while appearing on the balcony during Monaco’s National Day celebrations on November 19.
“We miss you Mummy,” read Gabriella’s sign along with several red hearts. “We love you Mummy,” Jacques added on his placard.
Charlene returned to Monaco in 2022 where she has stayed since and they have called speculation into the state of their marriage “malicious rumours”.
Are Charlene and Albert cursed?
Following their difficult year in 2021, people began to speculate if the marriage of Charlene and Albert was doomed from the start thanks to his family curse. Legend has it that the House of Grimaldi has been plagued with bad luck for its 700-year reign after Albert’s ancestor, Prince Rainer I, kidnapped and raped a Flemish maiden.
“Never will a Grimaldi find true happiness in marriage,” she decreed, putting a hex on his descendents.
Examples of the curse striking date back to the 1600’s when Prince Louis I’s wife, Catherine, left him humiliated when she ran away to become the mistress of French King Louis XIV.
Albert’s sisters have also been unlucky in love.
Princess Caroline has headed down the aisle three times. Her first marriage to Parisian banker Phillippe Junot lasted just two years.
Caroline was left widowed when her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi, died at just 30 while defending his World Speedboat Championship in 1990.
Today, she is married on paper only to Prince Ernst August after they separated in 2009.
Albert’s younger sister, Princess Stepanie, hasn’t fared any better.
Two years after finally being able to wed bodyguard Daniel Ducruet, who she had two children with, her husband was caught by paparazzi having a poolside tryst with a topless model.
Running away to join the circus didn’t work either, with romances with an acrobat, followed by an elephant trainer, failing to go past the two year mark.
“I may be a princess, but above all, I am a human being,” Stephanie has said.
The most famous example of the curse is said to have befallen Albert’s mother. Screen queen Grace Kelly gave up Hollywood to head to the riviera and wed Prince Rainer III in 1956.
But the marriage was cut short when Grace was killed in a car accident at 52 after driving off a cliff.
How many children does Prince Albert have?
Albert and Charlene appear to be devoted parents to their twins, Jacques and Gabriella.
“[Albert’s] a remarkable, wonderful, fun father; a dad who listens and encourages his children,” she revealed in an interview with French magazine Point de Vue. “He spends a lot of time with Jacques and Gabriella and takes care of them as often as he can.”
But they aren’t his only children.
Before his wedding to Charlene, Albert had fathered two children, daughter Jazmin, 32, and a 20-year-old son Alexandre.
As both were born out of wedlock, neither was able to inherit their father’s throne under Monaco’s succession laws.
While Albert continues to see his older children, they aren’t one big blended happy family.
Alexandre’s mother, Nicole Costi, has publicly criticised Charlene. “I don’t care what’s going on with her,” Nicole told the Daily Mail when Charlene was recovering from her illness. “The people in Monaco love me more than they do Charlene. They really love and respect me.”
