Here are some new photos of Prince Albert and poor Princess Charlene in Monaco on Tuesday. They were attending the ‘Femme de L’annee’ Awards 2013 at Sporting d’Hiver in Monte-Carlo. Charlene looks especially slender to me. Which is weird because I recently had a dream that she announced her pregnancy and everyone was freaking out about it. I wonder if that will happen if and when she does announce a pregnancy? I’m a little bit surprised it hasn’t already happened.
Charlene and Albert will celebrate their second wedding anniversary in a few weeks, which isn’t a big deal for a normal couple, but Charlene’s lack of pregnancies/babies is a big deal when it’s a royal woman, particularly a royal woman already in her 30s (Charlene is 35). Not helping matters is the fact that whenever Albert goes anywhere alone (like the coronation for the new king of the Netherlands), everyone freaks out and assumes that he and Charlene are over. Charlene didn’t go to the Netherlands because she had a charity event scheduled in South Africa, her home country. But Charlene did do some PR work on behalf of Grimaldi throne – she says that she’s finally ready to have babies!
MONACO’S Princess Charlene says she is looking forward to having children once her foundation is up and running. The former South African swimmer was in Durban this week on business for her Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, as well as to perform matron-of-honour duties at her best friend’s wedding yesterday.
The foundation is sponsoring an upgrade of the municipal Lahee Park swimming pool in Pinetown, her old training base and now home to Olympic champion Chad le Clos. In an interview, the princess said children had not been on the radar immediately after her marriage to Prince Albert in 2011.
“I think I needed a bit of time to settle in and adjust. I don’t put any pressure on myself. It’ll happen. If it happens, it happens,” she says.
But the 35-year-old princess stressed she was looking forward to becoming a mother.
“I wanted to get my foundation launched. I wanted to get the next couple of months sorted out and I can really take a rest. We had a big wedding. It was a big adjustment after that. Now I’m settled and I think kids will come.”
A large focus for her foundation is a “learn to swim” programme. “I started my foundation based on the fact that there are so many drownings and it’s really not spoken about,” the princess says. “It’s the number two killer in the world.”
The princess is adamant she does not want to make the aquatics complex too luxurious.
“It was kind of tough [when I trained here] because we didn’t have heaters and it was very cold. And sometimes the pumps were broken and the pool was green. It was pretty rough,” she says. “I don’t want to change very much. I like the roughness. It’s the place where all the hard work happens. We’re not trying to do a huge institute or anything over the top.”
As a swimmer she won Commonwealth Games and All-Africa Games medals, but the standout moment of her sporting career was the 2000 Sydney Games, the only Olympics where she competed.
“The highlight of my career was the Olympics . walking into that stadium and knowing I’d achieved a dream I’d had since I was eight years old,” she says. “I’ve still got my friends and we still keep in contact. That’s what sport gives you – lifetime friendships. That’s more valuable than anything else.”
The princes met her future husband, whom she calls the “love of my life”, at a gala in Monaco.
Is it just me or is Charlene hedging like a champ? “I don’t put any pressure on myself. It’ll happen. If it happens, it happens.” How quickly “It WILL happen” turns to “IF it happens.” The qualifiers are heavy with this one. “Now I’m settled and I think kids will come…” Ha, it just occurred to me – it’s like Charlene is the royal version of Jennifer Aniston. This is the same stuff Aniston is always saying about babies too!
Anyway, what is Charlene not telling us? What is she not comfortable saying about the “love of her life” (snort)? If Charlene was just being honest with us, maybe she would say, “The heir is going to be made in a laboratory and then when Albert transfers $100 million into my private account, I will allow the baster into my sanctuary.”
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Yeah, your last sentence seems closest to the truth…this is no love match.
At least she stopped running/swimming away.
Maybe she’s having fertility issues and doesn’t want to publicize that. A lot of what she’s saying is how I responded to kid questions when I was trying to get pregnant years ago.
If by fertility issues you mean lack of sex with her husband then yes I agree.
+1 wizz. And I don’t blame her.
XD +2
+1,000
Ive had an ectopic pregnacy, had to have a tube removed and it was heart breaking for my husband and I! Now im 34 & its prob not going to happen. Your comment is very ignorant. Grow up!
This was in reponse @Elceibeno08
I totally agree, completely stupid and insensitive thing to suggest. I said these sorts of things to people who were intensely (or rudely) interested in my uterus when we didn’t know if kids were going to be a possibility or not because it’s too painful to blurt out “I might actually be infertile”.
She looks like Brigitte Nielsen, no? She was in SA to get tweaked. She looks refreshed and slim.
What is taking so long? I thought when a man and a woman (of child-bearing age) have unprotected sex, they will make a baby. I don’t get it. Many women out there are aborting unwanted pregancies left and right and those two can’t make one single baby.
Stupid and ill informed!
+1
Your joking, right?
And this is why she’s probably offering excuses – pregnancy doesn’t just happen when you have sex for a lot of people. And people judge.
What a compassionate person you must be Elcei…………..no, not really.
elceibeno08 you may just be more ignorant than Charlene and more crass than Albert.
No not everyone that wants a child can just have a child.
I’m 48, never used birth control and I have no kids. I did need an emergency hysterectomy at 32. There are issues some women have that prohibit having children.
In this case, Charlene may have issues conceiving. If I were her I’d be playing “Never gonna get it, no you’re never gonna get it” continuously……
Elceibeno
Charlene is not in love with her husband. She tried to flee the country at least 2 times before the wedding and her passport was taken away. This is ofcourse, not fully backed up becausethe press are often bought, but she deffinetely tried to leave the country prewedding and has looked so sad and miserable ever since. It’s truly heartbreaking.
And i’m a newly turned 28 year old married woman and have been trying for 3 years to conceive. It is NOT that easy to get pregnant. Especially when Charlene’s husband has a wandering dong.
I dont get what age has to do with it. Crown Princess Mary was about 34 when she had her first and 40 when she had the twins. Besides, Andrea just had a baby so its not as if the line of succession isnt set for the next few generations as is.
I believe, that if Prince Albert does not have a legitimate heir, the principality of Monaco returns to France. Please someone with knowledge of this, please correct me if I’m wrong….
Absolutely wrong! Carolines’s son Andrea is next in line and then His child. No longer a. Issue now that andrea had a child
Not anymore, his sister is the current heir to the throne. The line of successions used to be just the children of the current ruler, but has been extended to include siblings as well.
They could just change the law and let his other kids born outside of marriage to ascend. Is Europe ready for a half black monarch? Its about time, global village y’all!
thanks for the insight…I remember reading about the Grimaldi line which required a legitimate male heir, however, just googled it, and they have changed their line of secession to include other family members…
That is wrong. If Albert dies without an heir then the throne goes to Caroline, and down through her heirs. Only descendants of the reigning monarch or the siblings of the reigning monarch are eligible. Once Albert took the throne His father’s sister and her heirs were removed from the line of succession.
Whats the logic behind locking out the kids born outside of marriage? It used to be an issue of paternity and the daft logic that a man could only be sure of the kids born through a wife. But DNA has changed that surely. If we can prove that the boy born to the African air steward is his, why shouldnt he be king.
I wish that kid and/or his mum would take it to the European Court of Human Rights.
prince Raineir’s last act as ruling prince was to re-negotiate and remove the original treaty about Monaco reverting back to France under the old or any other circumstances.
In the same re-negotiations, they finally allowed female heirs in the line of succession which makes Caroline the heir Apparent right now, followed by her son Andrea and her grandson.
If Albert Should have kids in legitimate marriage, male or female,they will push Caroline and her kids further down the line of succession.
With regards his illegitimate kids, he didn’t marry the mothers, so they aren’t in the line of succession. it’s a core tenet of royal succession laws. the illegitimate kids can inherit wealth, but they can never inherit titles or be considered royal unless the monarch/ruling Prince makes an exception. There is no doubt whatsoever that they are his kids because apart from DNA testing, they are the spitting image of him. Hard to deny 2 mini-me kids.
However, rumour has it that he has provided very well for both kids financially speaking, and may still be having relations with baby mama no 2, who is rumoured to have given him another kid which was the alleged principal cause of Charlene trying to run away prior to the wedding. Amongst all the other alleged reasons for her trying to run away.
Finally, Albert is present in all his kids’ lives including the first one who has been known to attend events in Monaco.
This reply is actually to Sophie –
I agree there’s no logic nowdays to prohibiting illegitimate kids from inheriting. However, if we’re talking about fundamental “fairness” then Albert’s kids would not be first in line to the throne anyway, because Albert wouldn’t be on the throne right now – it would be his older sister Caroline. Because there’s also no logical reason to by-pass females in favor of their younger brothers.
So yes, I do think Albert’s illegitimate kids should be in line — but I also think those kids, along with Albert himself, should be BEHIND Caroline and her kids. I mean, if we’re talking about “fairness.”
Age has a TON to do with fertility. Just because one woman got pregnant at 34 and kept getting pregnant doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy for a different 35 year old woman. On the whole, it’s much easier for a woman in her 20’s to get pregnant than a woman in her 30’s (or 40’s). And fertility in general takes a big hit at around 35. Of course you see women of 35 and up getting pregnant, but not with the regularity and ease of someone at, say, 25. If a woman is actively trying to get pregnant for a couple of years and is of child-bearing age and it’s NOT happening, you can bet she has seen the doctor for fertility issues.
You are abs. right and that’s what any gynecologist will tell you.
However people usually “know s.o., who knows s.o. who got pregnant at 45, no problem whatsoever” People, who believe these tales start trying too late and soon after it start spending their hard earned money for fertility treatments.
@Micki Totally! There are always going to be the stories of, “Oh, my grandma got pregnant at 49!” It’s sad that there are some women who believe that that’s the case for everyone, or, at least, that will be the case for them. It’s not. And women who do have successful pregnancies later in life are usually women who have had successful pregnancies earlier in life.
Thank you for pointing out the reasonable idea that it’s all a matter of statistical likelihoods — not individual cases. My sociology teacher in high school always called it the “my Aunt Emma syndrome” because somebody knew one exception — they thought it cancelled out the statistics. My sister had fertility issues trying to get pregnant at 27 — while our grandmother had our dad at 42 — long before any kind of fertility treatments. They were exceptions, but they still don’t disprove the statistical trends. While there are statistical trends, each women has her own unique fertility “history”.
I’m not sure about this, (can’t remember the source).
But, I read years ago that it is easier/more common for women to get pregnant older when it is not their first baby. First time pregnancy attempts in an older woman have much lower success rates than those of 1st time attempts in their twenties.
I always thought it’s a convenience marriage and they never planned to have a baby, they are successors so no reason to have a kid, but a marriage yes because it’s better for his image.
They’ll definitely be having at least one – he needs a legitimate heir.
I would have thought that they have some form of pre-nup/contract that states that they’ll have X number of children, she’ll receive X amount of money per child, penalties for him cheating etc etc.
She looks beautiful in that color. (Not sure that style of dress is the best for her with such broad shoulders).
I can’t help thinking their relationship is shady.
That last photo (of the painting) is the most I have ever seen princess charlene smile. And its not real! lol!
Hint: It’s not going to happen.
That’s the polite well bred way to say piss off…
I didn’t know that drowning is the killer number 2 in the world.
If Prince Albert had a legitimate heir that baby would be the next in line for the throne. You have to have sex to get pregnant and she really doesn’t seem to like him that much. LOL I think a petrie dish will be involved in this conception. We know he doesn’t fire blanks he has what 3 kids to different women. I think she will have one at least it would have been part of the deal. I think they will be divorced within 5 years but by then she will have an heir at least maybe a spare and her job will be done.
Yeah I think a petrie dish will be the preferred method for sure.
“Um, sure honey, as soon as you fund my foundation, I’ll house your sperm. Um, NO, I didn’t say how the conception would happen….”
She always looks joyless. Sad.
She does, doesn’t she? I always wonder why the hell she decided to marry him.
If Prince Albert drowns, we know who to point the finger at. This has the makings of a NCIS show plot. If she is going to leave him, she better do it soon, just leave it all behind. Who did she date previously? Does anyone know? Just who is her preferred type?
One hundred million seems awfully low. Just saying. Also, what about a surrogate? Do you think they could?
Royals can’t use surrogates. Not because it’s wrong, but because they have succession rules that insist the baby has to be ‘of the body’ in ‘legitimate marriage’. It’s to preserve their bloodlines and to prevent a changeling. In the old days, this was the reason the Queen/heir’s wife gave birth infront of the court [or specially chosen members of the inner court/ministers/privy council].
It wouldn’t surprise me to find that the the modern equivalent is the often seen insistence that an older Royal’s OB-GYN take over the pregnancy and help with the birth. Under the guise of being the preferred royal doctor by tradition.
Her problem is more likely egg quality, rather than a uterine problem that would prevent her from getting pregnant. They could use a donor egg. It would not matter. Charlene is not a blood royal anyway, so having some other woman donate an egg & using the Prince’s sperm would be just fine, actually.
I don’t understand this situation at all. So, you marry some creepy dude because he’s royalty (one assumes that’s why, I mean, maybe it’s a love match, but she looks miserable most of the time), but then you don’t want to fulfill your end of the bargain? (I’m not being anti-feminist and I believe all women have a choice to reproduce or not. HOWEVER, it is different for the royals. The whole job of the princess is to produce heirs and keep the line going. There’s no way he’s all “oh, my sister’s kid can step up, whew, I’m off the hook.”)
I can’t imagine he agreed to go into a marriage knowing she didn’t want to have kids, so the whole thing just seems odd.
If I had never heard of her and saw that first picture I would know instantly she was a swimmer–wonderful swimmer’s shoulders.
Anyway I hope she finds happiness in whatever her future beholds.
Waiting.. waiting for it to be safe to procreate with me..
“If I get roofied and impregnated against my will it happens, see section 30 of my contract”
“If it happens, it happens.”**
**Translation: If I miss some of my OCs because my depression has become catatonic, it could happen.”
Lol I was about to say Jennifer Aniston once made the exact same remark about “if it happens, it happens.” but I noticed Kaiser saw that already.
Is it bad that I only click on Princess Charlene articles for turkey baster jokes? That guy who saved the three kidnapped women needs to pay a visit to Monte Carlo
She is so pretty, but I don’t like the bits of filmy stuff stuck to that dress. They make her look boxy.
Rip that stuff off and that dress would make her look fantastic; it’s a great neckline and the colour looks good on her.
As someone who deals with fertility issues I think this article is a bit unfair. You fertile women have no idea what it’s like to have pressure from everyone to have a baby when you can’t.
A lot of fertile women also have no empathy for women who have stillborns or miscarriages. There is a woman at my church like that. She pops out a baby every year & laughs about someone else’s loss or a child, or inability to get pregnant.
So the churchie stuff doesn’t seem to be helping this woman to become more understanding, more charitable, more kind, more respectful, more supportive, more noble, then? Huh.
I just wish they had thought of a better excuse for her absence from Willem’s investiture. That “charity event” had such a strict schedule, and had been planned so far ahead, that it could not be rescheduled? Please. It’s not like they didn’t know they would have to be in Amsterdam on April 30th.
I know, charity is important. I get it.
But in this particular small world they inhabit so are diplomacy, pomp and ceremony. That’s their only raison d’etre, really – to be ceremonial figures, performing ceremonial duties.
What I am saying is, they knew about the coronation well ahead, and I am sure her charity event could have been rescheduled.
My deepest apologies if I am mistaken. And I mean it.
I think this is a great attitude for her to adopt. Also, I think it’s a bit silly for so much emphasis to be placed on whether she has children. Albert already has two children. They should be included in the line of succession. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Grimaldi family come in to the line of succession through an illegitimate ancestor?
It is not allowed for his other 2 kids to be in the line of succession. Silly rule, but that is the way it is.
No one forced her to go through with this ridiculous marriage. Passport or no passport. She had her own royal agenda.
Weeeellll, we don’t know for sure that she wasn’t forced, now do we? Regular rich folks tend to have a lot of connections so I can only imagine what kind of reach someone in a royal family could have. Certainly there was some kind of intimidation involved. That passport situation proved that, even though you want to dismiss it.
Besides, I would think that her best bet on escaping this marriage would be to NOT produce an heir. She’s already 35, so she doesn’t have a lot of reproductive years left. If she doesn’t produce, he may dump her and find another wife to give him a legitimate heir. Assuming Monegasque law is the same as when Prince Albert’s parents married, if Princess Charlene were to bear a child and then divorce Prince Albert, she would lose her child; legally the heir belongs the Monegasque government. The only thing under her control, it seems, is her own body so perhaps she is secretly trying to block a pregnancy. You never know.
is she looking a little wonk-eyed à la Paris Hilton to anyone else?