In late June, Princess Charlene made a statement (in English) that she would not be returning to Monaco for her tenth wedding anniversary. Her explanation for her absence was her “ongoing” medical issues, related somehow to the ENT infection she got in South Africa soon after she traveled to the country in early May. When she told the world she wouldn’t be with Albert on their July 1st anniversary, she said she “had no choice but to follow the medical team’s instructions” and had only recently undergone some new surgery. Last week, she issued yet another statement, in English (the language of Monaco is French) that “It’s been a trying time for me. I miss my husband and children dearly.”
I bring all of this up because the situation with Charlene just keeps getting weirder. You would think that if “medical drama” is Charlene’s cover story, she would keep up appearances and try to make it seem like she was in and out of the hospital and feeling ghastly. Instead, Charlene posted five photos on her Instagram where she appears to be… fine. Walking around, leaning over as she FaceTimes her kids, not really looking ill or recently hospitalized. She captioned the IG: “Spending time with Jacqui and Bella making blankets for the crèche next door. Wish me luck.” Who took the photos? Why does Charlene look okay enough to travel?
In People Mag’s coverage, they noted: “The palace previously confirmed to PEOPLE that there are plans for Prince Albert and the couple’s twins to travel to South Africa soon.” I’m starting to wonder if this was really an escape or whether it was an exile. Did Albert exile his wife? It starting to feel like it – that this was not actually Charlene’s choice, and that she wants to go back to Monaco but Albert is preventing it, and that’s why she keeps releasing these sugary statements. Hm.
God her hair is so bad. Was she exiled because Albert wants her to grow out her hair?!
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Photos courtesy of Charlene’s IG.
I just… can’t see past the haircut. Is it a covid accident? Is it rebellion? If she’s happy with it for whatever reason, that’s all that really matters. But I’m having some heavy flashbacks to the childhood haircuts my mom gave me.
No kidding. Another “cry for help“ haircut. Hopefully it’s just a midstep cut for growing out the previous monstrosity.
I can’t unsee Timothy Chalamet in “Henry V” whenever I see her
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-henry-v-englands-warrior-king-180973432/
To my eyes, she looks perfectly healthy, but then again, I had horrendous sinus issues when I started teaching (4 infections per year!) and I looked well enough to be at work (and had to go) while downing masses of antibiotics. I wouldn’t have flown at that point, thinking my sinuses would’ve exploded taking off the top of my head.
Then again, with that haircut, maybe not a bad idea? 😄 JOKING!
And I can’t unsee “Simple Jack” from Tropic Thunder!!! LMAO!
I originally went with Joan of Arc cosplay…
I’m wondering if the haircut is related to the surgeries. Maybe the way the procedures were done or to prevent infection.
i had this haircut when i was 13 and did it myself. it’s a rebel thing
mac, she got the haircut before she reported having need of medical procedures or even was in SA
I missed the second part of your comment somehow, agirlandherdog. I also had traumatizing haircuts à la mom. My bangs would start off ridiculously short over one eyebrow and get progressively shorter still by the time they reach the other eyebrow. I still have the school photos to remind me. 😂
If she does have serious ENT issues, it might be difficult to fly safely.
She’s been exiled so long she could have traveled by boat a few times over already. I believe the royal family owns a yacht building company?
Perhaps Albert could send his mega-yacht?
I just keep thinking Monaco = massive luxury yachts. Now, with ENT problem maybe the movement on the sea would also be an issue. I don’t know. Given their background it just seems dodgy.
Definitely not. I had friends who worked on the mega yachts and the coast of Africa is absolutely rife with pirates. If they had to take the yachts that way, they would remove all the female employees from the yacht and fly them, and use a skeleton crew who had all been trained on what to do if pirates attacked. There is no way a Royal would be put on a yacht to travel up that coast or anywhere near that coast. She would be a huge target to take hostage. Not a chance.
What do you do when pirates attack?
Pirate Pilates?
How is she making blankets if she’s so sick? Wouldn’t she prefer to keep her germs to herself? This story has been weird since the beginning and weirder every year. She always looks unhappy…
I don’t get it. I guess she can’t leave her husband because he has legal rights to the kids?
she’s said to have been undergoing ear surgeries. so germs are not an issue.
Ah. Thanks. I obviously didn’t bother to research.
I believe that Albert would have primary/physical custody if there was a divorce. The heir would not be allowed to be raised outside of Monaco. At least that’s what I read. And he *is* a dick, he’d never let her take the kids and go.
But won’t the children be spending
most of their adolescence in boarding schools (Switzerland?) anyway? If she’s allowed visitation rights what real difference does it make where she lives?
Exactly right! Albert stipulated that should she divorce him in the first. 10 years, he will gain legal and full custody of them, period. So the POS is going to punish her either way, keep her in Monaco as she is desperately unhappy or she leave at 10 years and hope to have some sense of a parental custody.
As for her hair, I know you guys don’t like it, but I think for her it’s possibly a tool to get under Alberts skin.
Her hair is awful. It’s giving me Joan of Arc whiplash. She’s such a beautiful woman though.
Yeah, it looks like it was cut by a 5 year old. Very uneven, even her undercut is patchy as hell. Short hair is super cute, but hers is very badly cut.
These pictures don’t add up with her statements. I don’t think she’s been exiled. I think she told Albert she wanted to leave and he allowed her to do so but she had to leave the children. And his comments on the BBC about the Oprah interview were a message to Charlene rather than a criticism of Harry and Meghan.
There are excellent doctors and hospitals just over the Monaco border in France.
If it’s exile, in her shoes I’d be in France kicking up dust about it in the European tabloids.
Charlene may have trust issues with the authorities in France. When she is “home” she actually lives outside Monaco on French soil.
I love the haircut. It’s very futuristic. She’s maintained it since before the turn of the year, so clearly it’s her purposeful choice and not a one time mistake.
I love short hair cuts, but hers is just badly cut. Uneven and patchy. I’d think any professional would be embarrassed by that work.
Okay…but why does she have the haircut of a 12th century altar boy?
I can’t stop laughing at that reference…12 century alter boy indeed
I think the haircut is a Man Repeller look and for that reason, I love it.
She looks thin here, her jaw is razor defined, but I don’t normally follow her and can’t tell if this is a change.
If something other than what she’s publicly stating going on, I think silence would be better? Walking back lies is never a good look. Unless she wants to enlist public regard in how much she misses her children.
I just know is that I wish her well. It’s clear that she was trapped into a ghastly marriage with a horrible person.
Yes, LillyfromLillooet! She is married to a monster that has all of the power. I feel bad for her as he has kept her emotionally prisoner all of these years.
She looks incredibly thin and frail to me. I dont remember her being that thin even a couple of years ago. Now whether thats to do with an infection or some other medical situation I couldnt guess. I do like her hair short, just wish she styled it a bit differently. I find a center part in short hair kinda harsh.
I cannot imagine being away from my small kids for months on end. If she really can’t travel (which I side eye, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt), why in the world can’t the kids be with her in South Africa? You can’t parent through Facetime for an extended period of time.
Albert gets custody in the event of a divorce according to their pre nup and since they are heirs to the throne they need to be raised in Monaco or something like that.
Oh I’m sure that’s true. But they should still be able to spend in person time with their mother.
I’m wondering if her tears at the wedding and attempts to flee were due to some pre-wedding legal paperwork she was being forced to sign? Something along the lines of “if you ever leave, you’ll never see our children again and if you ever speak out against me you’ll lose your right to speak with them”?
I don’t get why Albert wouldn’t allow her to escape prior to the wedding because she tried to flee and obviously didn’t want to go through with it but then 10 years later he exiles her to her homeland. Can’t he exile her to somewhere in the EU where it would be easier for her to see the kids? I’m sure he can make an agreement with some country to take her in.
So, you can’t fly with a ruptured ear drum, but you feel basically fine. So, it’s likely that is the problem. They usually only take a few weeks to heal, but it can take months in some cases. I think she could also be experiencing some mental health issues. She’s been horribly picked a part by the press on a near constant basis and they’ve been creating horrible conspiracy theories about her for years. I think she hit a breaking point and said screw it. It explains her “why so serious mask” in reference to the press constantly on her back about smiling and her haircut. Albert was clearly fine with the mask and probably fine with the haircut. Albert is not the biggest problem she has. They aren’t in love anymore, but they are friends. The fact that she felt the need to perform like this to prove she hasn’t abandoned her children & left Albert and so on is telling. She’s doing this to shut the press up. No conspiracies needed.
Good point, if that’s what happened, her doctors would not allow her to fly.
It’s odd to me that her husband and children didn’t join her once she realized she couldn’t fly back though.
But if this is the case, the eardrum, why not take a boat back? I mean it’s been months, could she not have even driven there by now? Google maps gives very detailed directions to go by road and ferry from Johannesburg to Monaco in 6 days and 21 hours.
Taking a boat ride while your ears are messed up is probably not a good idea either. I have no idea what the complications are in driving from Jo’burg to Monaco but over a week on the road just to get back to Monaco?? When her husband and kids could easily fly down there at any time if they wanted to? Why should the effort be put on her shoulders if she really is having these issues?
If she is doing this to say screw it to a vicious press campaign then her responses in English rather than French are a perfect “And screw you too!” rejoinder! You go girl!!
It depends on what stage the eardrum rupture is at. I did mine on the third day of a ten day holiday and could fly back fine since the eardrum hadn’t had chance to grow back at all so the air could just whistle in and out – no pressure issues. But if the eardrum is almost totally healed but still fragile then the pressure changes could blow it again.
If she has sinus blockage issue though taking off and, particularly, landing could be agonising. I flew with a friend once who had blocked sinuses and she was crying with the pain coming into land. She said it was like someone ramming white hot needles into her face.
I didn’t realize I was having sinus issues until I was already on a flight. Even as an adult the pain was so bad I was crying and wanted to scream. I’ve never side-eyed a baby crying on landing since.
Similarly, I learned I have bad equilibrium when I was on a cruise and stepped out of the elevator for the first time and just fell down. I didn’t trip or stumble, just tipped right over. I would not want to be on a week long boat trip with any sinus/ear issues either!
Ouch @TaraBest – yeah, having seen my friend, I swore to avoid flying with a blocked nose. (autocorrect just changed that to ‘dying with a blocked nose’ – lol)
Each story just leave me with more questions.
Truth!
Same. I hope all goes well for her.
I look at her hair and wonder if she has a repetitive body focused behavior like hair pulling that stems from high anxiety levels.
This just makes me sad. I don’t know what’s really going on , but it’s bad vibes all around. Another woman trying to escape the royal life, without a lot of success.
ENT issues can definitely make it dangerous to travel, so I buy it. These pictures are deeply bizarre though.
Re: the hair, maybe she had to shave it for surgery if it was ear-related?
I love that she’s doubling down on the haircut. She doesn’t want to be a decorative object on Albert’s arm. I’m guessing some combination of legitimate health issue and needing time to devise a strategy for a divorce without losing all access to her children.
True…but THAT short haircut?
She looks like Albert dragged her through all nine circles of Dante’s Hell and she re-surfaced in South Africa, her beloved home. Never leave it, Charlene.
I don’t get why her kids don’t just fly to her? Are there covid restrictions or something?
Everything about her marital situation is just so bizarre
Apparently SA is going through a covid wave and there’s some kind of lock down. But they are the spouse and children of a SA citizen so they should be granted access.
I understand that Albert is pretty much an absolute monarch in Monaco. I’m not sure if he can unilaterally execute or imprison someone but I have heard that he can kick someone out of the principality. Charlene probably has no rights to her kids and she has about zero support in Monaco.
I am wondering if the medical treatment part is real but, perhaps, treatment for another illness/disorder. It would be very difficult for Charlene to reveal that she was in rehab or treating an ED or that she needed some quality in patient therapy for depression or anxiety.
I wish her well.
Charlene does not look well — she appears frail and fragile. As for the hairstyle, it’s Joan of Arc as a Prisoner of War. She really could have ENT issues but it’s also becoming apparent there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. Whatever happens, I hope Albert won’t bar her from seeing the kids.
My gut tells me that in a couple of months Monaco will issue a statement saying, “It is with regret that we announce that Prince Albert and Princess Charlene have decided to separate. But they remain the best of friends and will continue to be loving co-parents to their two children. Charlene will remain in South Africa and visit the children in Monaco regularly….” Or something to that effect.
I love to see women with short hair, as long as their skin is clear with no sun damage and other damage left behind from acne or something and it suits their bone structure.
It’s a nice change from the mantra of ” women must have long hair in order to be considered sexy and attractive ” that is often pushed as narrative for women in many societies, but Charlene’s short hairstyles are just unattractive.
It’s almost like she does not like herself, so she is trying to not look good and chooses hair that is not looking good.
Too bad, because she seems like a lovely woman on the inside and she is a beauty on the outside.
What’s up with the Dumber and Dumber haircut.
I would say she has left him. He promised to bring the kids for holidays but has reneged. She’s horrified and publicizing she is in contact with her kids in case Fat AL tries to say she abandoned them. There are boats going to Europe every day of the week. She’s probably banned from returning in case she tries to leave with her kids. Something horrible is in play.
I’m still saying some form of in house therapy.
Poor women , what is she doing to her hair.
It looks horrific!