Just before Christmas, Monaco’s Princess Charlene debuted a half-shaved hairstyle which many assumed was some kind of visual cry for help. We didn’t have to wait long to find out what was wrong in Charlene’s life: her husband, Prince Albert, has to take another paternity test to discover if he fathered yet another child by another woman. The kicker this time is that his former lover had to sue him to take the paternity test, and this woman was his lover for a while after Charlene had already moved to Monaco to be with him. There will be a meeting in court in Milan in February, and Charlene is already feeling quite pained by all of this drama:
Albert is due in court in February: In a few weeks’ time, a sensational court case will reveal precisely what Charlene, 42, is rebelling about right now and why, according to sources in Monaco, she is in ‘utter agony’ and facing the ‘greatest crisis’ of her life.
Is this why Charlene shaved off her hair? Some believe that the court action is causing her intense stress. One source said: ‘Charlene doesn’t want to believe the claims are true, but dealing with them is a nightmare — this is her worst crisis since she married Albert.’ They first met at the Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) swimming competition in Monte Carlo in 2000.
They weren’t together from 2000 to 2005? In an interview in 2013, she said they spent their whole first date ‘talking and laughing’, bonded over a mutual love of sport, and that she found his pursuit ‘incredibly flattering’. Five years passed before there was a second date. They began a long distance relationship and eventually Charlene moved from South Africa to a small apartment in Monaco. She couldn’t speak French, and often felt lonely.
Her princess life: She complains of homesickness. ‘My mum is my best friend. I miss her all the time,’ she said. In an interview with the South African magazine Huisgenoot a year ago, she said: ‘I have the chance to lead the life I lead, but I miss my family and my friends back in South Africa.’ She also says looking after her six-year-old twins Jacques and Gabriella is tiring.
Charlene & Albert spend a lot of time apart: They were separated when the Prince tested positive for Covid and recuperated at the Palace. Charlene went to Roc Agel, their mountaintop retreat, with the twins. There are no courtiers inside, just guards at the gates. By contrast the atmosphere at the pink Prince’s Palace of Monaco is said to be ‘stifling’. There are courtiers and servants everywhere and, despite the luxury, it can be very snobbish, restrictive place.
But will Charlene ever leave Albert? Veteran Monaco royal watcher Richard Fitzwilliams says that he expects Charlene will, despite rumours to the contrary, stay in Monaco. ‘A powerful royal couple is essential to the image of Monaco, especially given the dysfunctional behaviour of individual family members. That’s why the marriage of the Prince and Princess is a source of constant fascination. Given all the rumours that accompanied the marriage, she has managed rather well.’
I tend to believe Charlene and Albert currently have something of an old-fashioned royal marriage. She’s provided the heir and spare, and she seemingly dotes on Jacques and Gabriella, so Albert gives Charlene the freedom she wants. She basically spends much of her time with the kids at Roc Agel, without the palace sycophants and snobs. The problem is that I do think Charlene married for love and she’s been devastated to see her Monaco fairytale blow up in her face. Albert has never fulfilled his end of the “separate lives” bargain, foremost of which is discretion. Dude hates condoms and loves messy entanglements. So here we are. So was the haircut a cry for help? Probably. Or maybe it was Charlene’s IDGAF Anymore move.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I’m highjacking this thread.the AP isis about to announce we won the senate! 💙💙💙💙
That’s worth a hijack!! Hallejujah! This national nightmare is almost over. <3
Weren’t there rumors/stories that she tried to flee Monaco prior to the wedding several times and Albert had people apprehend her at the airport? And they removed her passport?
I never thought she was happy (even if those stories aren’t true!).
Yep. I still think this site had some of the best coverage on that whole shabang, including coverage of her repeated attempts to flee and seeming detainment. Just search Princess Charlene’s name. There might even still be video of her absolutely *sobbing* during the wedding ceremony.
I know she’s wealthy and lives in palaces and all, but I actually truly feel sorry for this woman. She seems like she has such little control over her own life. I hope that’s not the case, and just a misperception on my part, but I don’t think this is the life she envisioned for herself or agreed to when she decided to marry Albert.
Charlene is the cautionary tale to never marry an lying, manipulative narcissistic man like Albert. Sadly the jewels and money are too much of a temptation for some.
She looks completely soulless and hollowed out.
I think there’s genuine love but she had her doubts from the very start and hence the running away and her doubts are being proven true. Hard enough as it is but they’ve got young kids thrown into the mix.
If you feel out if control in most part of you life you can at least control what you eat or your appearance like your hair. That’s presumably why Britney shaved her hair, and also eating disorders.
I mean if they forcibly detained her from leaving it doesn’t seem like jewels and money were the reason she stayed.
The IG photo of him in all red for Christmas is really…um…something. Keep her lifted yall!
haha! With crocs!
That pic of Albert with the twins looks like he’s saying, “Here are the two children I acknowledge!” It only makes me wonder how many children he has out there that he doesn’t bother with.
Oh, Charlene, Charlene. Every time I see her formerly beautiful face in a full-on smile, I feel so badly for her. She was an accomplished woman. This married life drove her to all that cosmetic work, none of which was an improvement. As for Albert, ugh. But my goodness, that crew from Monaco provide endless gossip, of the scandal variety!
Charlene’s mental health aside (and I do feel for her)., what is going on in that red outfit photo?! Lol, so much crazy fashion and crocs!
The new haircut makes me miss her baby bangs….
What is with straight guys who don’t want more kids but won’t do anything to prevent pregnancies? Is it some weird macho thing?
Agreed! Easy enough to avoid surely!!!
Ok, but wasn’t this child fathered at the beginning of their relationship? He already had a reputation when Charlene got involved with him. I am surprised she would be shocked and blindsided by this after knowing him all these years.
And what’s this about raising two kids being “tiring”? That’s pretty normal and so I don’t get why that’s being thrown out into the gossip about her mental state.
I do feel for her if she was somehow forced into this marriage, which it appears was the case at the time. I mean the poor woman fled and had her passport taken and was apparently apprehended and forced back. She cried not very happy looking tears through her entire wedding. It was horrible. By then any illusions about Albert had to already have been shattered after that happened to her.
So how is finding out Albert sired yet another child out of wedlock this massive shock to her system? I understand she would be upset but it’s not like this happened last Thursday. He’s been discreet since their wedding. For all I know he may even have been faithful since the wedding.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying she has no call to be acting out or upset. I’m just saying given everything thing else she’s already had to face down and accept, I can’t understand how this news is riling her up for the reasons given out to the press. I feel there’s more and it’s never coming out anytime soon.
Also, what’s up with missing her mother? I’ve heard this said about her before. Isn’t she allowed to visit her parents or invite them over to Monaco, as well as call and do video chats as well? Or is this referring specifically to not being able to see them during the pandemic, as is the case for most of us. I miss my parents, too. I’m just trying to figure out if she’s being kept away from her parents all the time and not allowed to even communicate with them. What the hell is going on over there? The royal family of Monaco sounds like the freaking Scientologists.
Bc her mental state was already unstable and when someone constantly lies and gas-lights you even if you know that they are fundamentally trash, it’s very damaging for your mental health.
Add the fact that Charlene is possibly now reliant on psychoactive pharmaceuticals to function, it then becomes very easy to control her. If you look at her photos since 2011 at times she often looks completely spaced out.
There is a video at one of the Christenings of the Danish Royal Family and she looks completely out of it.
@Mignionette Yes, she was apparently also noticeably out of it at the 2018 Princess Grace Awards. I think she’s desperately unhappy & her emotional stability is largely regulated by various medications. Not an enviable life, for all its privilege.
I tend to think that part of the problem is that maybe they feel like they have to live up to the standard set by Albert’s parents? I mean, all the stories I’ve read suggest that Grace and Rainier were really in love and actually enjoyed being married to each other – but their kids have been a bit messier (I mean, Caroline seems to be basically stable, she had one quickie marriage, then got widowed and then she and her current husband seem fine). But the kids have largely been unable to replicate that fairy tale story the parents seemed to have, and I wonder if that weighs on them – especially Albert. I understand he was a playboy, but the dude couldn’t even use condoms?
Rainier constantly cheated on Grace and there were rumours she wanted out for quite a while. She even entertained doing one more film (I think that was her way out), but the Monégasque did not like the idea so she canned it.
There are also a lot of conspiracies swirling around about her death. One of them being that Stephanie was trying to escape.
I’ve heard that Caroline’s husband Ernst of Hanover is quite boorish and they basically live separate lives now. He didn’t even attend his older son’s wedding because of some family property dispute and he broadcast why he wasn’t attending to the news media. Messy.
Ernst is an alcoholic, and they have, as you said, lived seperately for years. No happy marriage there
Rainier was a total philanderer and it started literally a few months after their marriage. He was a control freak, wouldn’t let her get involved in local theatre and she was, like Charlene, reduced to living in a gilded cage.
Rainier loved another woman and lived with her for something like six years, but she wasn’t suitable to marry (not a virgin, possibly fertility issues) so he married Grace instead (who pretended to be a virgin). Definitely not a love story, but they both probably got what they wanted out of the marriage.
I second this. Is she a prisoner, strictly segregated and controlled? What’s the real story?
Is it finally time for Charlexit?? 👀👀
She won’t leave until her children are of age.
Edit: Is she even monagesque? Would she be able to legally reside in Monaco, and the EU, legally? I’m sure concessions would be made for her, if the Head of State felt generous enough (ie: Albert)
Monaco is not part of the EU, but I suspect they would have something similar to Art 8 (family life) so she would not be unfairly prejudiced from seeing her children.
They’re a mess. The whole family is messy. She always looks so utterly miserable and disappointed with life. A real gilded cage. At least in the 80s people talked about Monaco and it was more in the news. They can’t even use this for more publicity for the principality, because it’s not about Stephanie and Caroline, and their love lives. Instead it’s a middle aged prince who is a bit too generous with his spreading the love and dna, and a bunch of outside children. It’s tawdry, and they usually blame the wife for failing to reign in her husband. Charlene needs to surround herself more with people who support her and travel more when Covid lifts. She seems like a hostage.
I don’t think Albert and Charlene were seriously together much before 2006ish. They were first seen openly in public when she accompanied him to the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics and from then on she was considered his official girlfriend. I can’t imagine Charlene would have stuck around if they had been dating from 2000 to 2005 because 2003 is when Alexandre Coste, one of the two out of wedlock kids Albert has publicly acknowledged, was born. Albert publicly acknowledged Alexandre’s existence in 2005 after Alexandre’s mother went public with her story. So while Charlene and he may have been dating around the time of the revelation (2005), she probably chose to let that go because Alexandre had been born two years earlier and supposedly Albert was no longer involved with Alexandre’s mother.
Then of course, Jazmin, Albert’s first out of wedlock kid born in 1992, was publicly acknowledged in 2006. Again, Charlene probably was not thrilled with the announcement I imagine but it was pretty clear Jazmin was the product of a weekend summer fling with an American woman in the early 90s. She really didn’t have any need to feel threatened I guess and this all happened years before she met Albert. And then of course there were all these rumors of her running away before the wedding because she supposedly found out about ANOTHER out of wedlock kid. Maybe Albert assured her it wasn’t true or that he would never cheat on her again, who knows.
But I’m wondering if this is the same story rearing its ugly head and this time, the woman is taking Albert to court to prove his paternity. And now, Charlene will have to truly face the fact Albert was most likely stepping out on her when she first moved to Monaco, depending on the timing of events. Albert always had a playboy reputation, long before she was in the picture though so I dunno really what she was expecting when she chose to stay with him. And also with the announcement of TWO out of wedlock kids right around the time they starting getting serious (regardless of it happening before they got together), I’m surprised she didn’t run for the hills.
Also I thought her family had moved from South Africa to Monaco?? I didn’t realize her parents were still there. On a random note, despite Albert being probably a terrible husband, I love the Christmas pictures of the family pictures and him wearing red Crocs in the what I am assuming is Monaco palace.
@Amelie – I think her brother is in Monaco. He’s the head of some charity there, I think.
Poor Charlene. It must be humiliating to be known publicly as the wrong wife. Bad enough to bear the pain in private.
I think the melt-down is happening now bc Albert is on oow baby No 4 and not 3.
There was a third baby around the time of the wedding in Marseille. That story was hilarious bc the Algerian family that child was born into has a restaurant in Marseille and they named a new dish ‘Couscous Albert’ on the menu to mock him. A few deals were made and that kid was never heard of again.
There are also rumours of Albert’s S&M predelictions, so it could be that Charlene now sees how messed up Albert is and how she is not actually his type.
I would think the red crocs alone are grounds for divorce.
Dump him, Charlotte!
I was thinking the same thing, also is that him on the far right? Time has not been kind… Plus red crocs… I mean he’s richer than god, and I know they are comfy, I have some house crocs myself… but… ummm… I’m sure he can afford better red comfy shoes.
He may be having foot problems after having Covid, hence the Crocs.
After seeing the family Xmas photo, I’m seriously thinking the shaved hairdo is a fashion statement. I mean look at the footwear especially on Albert. Tho Albert didn’t break out the lumberjack shirt this year. I really miss that look.
It’s a fashion Euro mix or fusion trend of biker-quasi Amish chick, skaterboi and the retro (croc) mixed with comfy separates. Easy care, easy wear.
I might be going against the grain here, but I really do think that Charlene and Albert had a real spark. It seems crazy maybe, but he seems like a charming, affable sort of man, and I think she genuinely did like him a lot, probably in a very naive kind of way. And I think he really did like her back too. But he had some significant flaws in his character that he didn’t really bother to work on, and I think that’s disillusioned Charlene a lot.
I feel bad for her. I will say, I do think that her being honest about how much she misses her family and friends in South Africa was honestly refreshing. I do feel for her. She could easily use some of that obsequious Monaco money to spend months and months in South Africa, far away from her problems. Nobody would blame her. I wonder why she stays in Monaco, or if she even does tbh.
Maybe there was a spark for Charlene but not for Albert. Apparently Albert has a predilection for women with inbuilt sun tans…
Prince Albert reminds me of Prince Andrew. They both have that sweaty look, although Andrew apparently doesn’t sweat.
Whatever the truth is, I sincerely hope she is well, and that she has those around her who bring her peace and joy.
I don’t get it. She married into a twisted inbred line and somehow she made a decent marriage out of it. Yes they probably targeted her, but she was a match. The poise, the discipline, the mind for it. And she seemed in love, she got to be a princess, have children and afford anything. Idolized like a goddess, on top of everything. Does she believe there is no check for it,that she gets to have everything? A faithful husband, out of a known playboy? Most women don’t have it and they married men with good reputations. Freedom? Don’t make me laugh. Most of us struggle and we are far from being free. I believe she is conceited and suffers from “Diana syndrome”, probably overestimating the happiness of her free life in South Africa. Where, had she fled the wedding, she would be sad and in a crisis that she did not chose to be a princess. I just can’t relate, in a world so full of misery, with this subject.
She can pull off any hairstyle she likes. Now if she could adopt a punk look to match her hairstyle… That would be so much fun.