I find it very interesting that there was a sudden shift in PR out of Monaco about one month ago. It all started when Princess Charlene had her lengthy surgery to deal with the long-term ENT infection. Suddenly, instead of Charlene running her own half-assed and confusing PR out of South Africa, The Prince’s Palace began updating the media on Charlene’s condition. Then Albert took the kids to South Africa and apparently spoke to Charlene’s doctors for what may have been the first time. After that, Albert has been speaking out about how his wife didn’t run away, nor is she in exile. The message is that Charlene and Albert are on the same page now, although I wonder why they weren’t doing this the whole time. Meanwhile, someone has really been trying to embiggen Charlene in People Magazine. This story came out late last week:
The tough cookie: Princess Charlene is the first to admit that her year has been especially “trying,” but a source tells PEOPLE that the Monaco royal is more than up to the challenge. “Just to be honest, Charlene, she’s an Olympian, and she’s a tough cookie,” a close friend of the couple says in this week’s issue.
The physical separation from Albert & the kids: The extended physical separation not only proved painful for Charlene, who relied on FaceTime to get quality with her family, it also sparked speculation about the state of the Monaco royals’ marriage. But the friend tells PEOPLE Charlene was simply following her passion, which has sometimes meant she doesn’t conform to others’ expectations of how a royal should act or look.
Charlene doesn’t want to be Keen: “She cares about saving the rhinoceroses and about teaching kids to swim. She doesn’t want to be Kate [Middleton], and she doesn’t want to be Grace Kelly,” they tell PEOPLE. “It was just Charlene being Charlene.” Adds the friend, “She’s a little bit of an iconoclast. She’s her own person, and she’s not a shrinking violet.”
Charlene misses her kids: “The kids are so overwhelmingly charming and loving,” the royals’ friend tells PEOPLE. And Albert, 63, is “such a good dad. He’s so good with them. And she’s such a good mom. I think that’s where the confluence is — that they’re wonderful parents.”
Charlene is an iconoclast and not a shrinking violet and she’s also not the Duchess of Cambridge or Grace Kelly because she cares about teaching kids to swim. Okay. For what it’s worth, I think Charlene is more like Kate than people are willing to admit. Charlene would prefer to just be left in peace with her kids and her army of staff and not have to do much of anything besides get plastic surgery. Same with Kate. Charlene just gets away with it more than Kate because Monaco is so small and because she’s never been billed as the savior of the principality. People notice when Kate disappears for months on end. Charlene has disappeared for months at a time for years and barely anyone cares. Anyway, curious PR is curious. I really don’t get why everything is so wacky in Monaco these days.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Charlene’s Instagram.
To be honest, I thought the comment about Kate was throwing shade at Kate. At least that ‘s how I read it. And I agree that the two are very much alike.
I read that as she doesn’t want to be royal or a princess, since Grace Kelly was included.
I don’t think she’s ever been happy being married to Albert. She looked like she was going to cry (out of sadness) at her wedding. The video shows a depressed looking bride.
Have no idea if she was forced into marriage with Albert, but I always wondered how she got roped into this marriage, because it doesn’t seem like she’s ever wanted the marriage or him. To be fair, I wouldn’t want marriage to Albert either. Not because he’s royal, but because he’s Albert.
She always looks like she’s going to cry. Or is horribly pained. I think that’s just how her face is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in a photo look truly happy, it always looks forced.
She was sobbing uncontrollably at her wedding, not just “looking” like she was going to cry. YouTube it, it’s painful to watch.
I think she was shading Kate too. She didn’t want to be the complacent wife tolerating an adulterer and not doing much of anything. Grace Kelly also tolerated cheating from Rainier and had a miserable marriage.
That’s also how I read it – that it was shade at Kate, especially in context of Charlene being in South Africa, away from her husband, etc. She’s not willing to be a doormat for the rest of her life for the sake of her title.
I read it as shade to Kate, and also in the vein of how Kate is like an emotionless doll and doesn’t seem to have a personality. Do we really know Kate? We don’t. We project, we suspect, but she appears to be a cypher that doesn’t seem to have much personality. Emotions seem contrived and even laughter seems fake. (I could argue that she didn’t seem quite so empty in the dating years, but that would be a thread jack)…..
Unfortunately, Grace Kelly was killed in a car accident: Nobody wants to be her.
Diana was killed in a car accident and all Kate wants to be is her
The cruelty of this statement made me gasp out loud.
Current Working Theory (please don’t jump on me about this, people):
I think she fled due to a combo of bad plastic surgery and having to let it die down/re-negotiating her contract with Prince Albert/had a slight breakdown. I think the negotiations have been done and now the palace is doing clean up to bring her back into the fold.
from the first time I read about this mess, don’t kow why but I thought she disapeared to give birth to another man’s child
Makes perfect sense. I have also suspected that she has been grappling with the idea that the only way she can truly get away from him/ Monaco is to give up primary custody of her children. I have seen a few situations in my life where the mother chooses herself over her children and leaves and hands over custody. I know it’s not a common refrain in society but not everyone adores being a parent. (Don’t come at me, I love my kids! I promise! LOL)
I also think it could be a drugs problem, and she has been in rehab for months.
Oof that Kate/Grace Kelly line was a low blow. I took that to mean Charlene didn’t want to just stand there looking pretty and be someone who lost her own personality for the sake of the Crown. She doesn’t want to accept the situation for what it is.
Agreed. Also maybe a hint that she’s tired of his philandering.
That’s how I took it as well. If people look beyond the PR of Kate the Saviour, she has nothing to be envious of and her life is actually pathetic if you ask me. Kate is doing work that she hates, with a man who doesn’t love her, hanging out in that snake pit with people who will throw her under the bus in the blink of an eye. And for what? A title and an increasingly irrelevant, shrinking monarchy.
It’s interesting though that she essentially says I don’t want to be a Kate. Whether she is or not, idk? But just the fact that she says that she’s not a Kate and assumes that everyone will know what she means, which is that she’s not a passive doormat, mannequin, stand by her man person. That is shade to Kate and pretty bad that just her name evokes those ideas now.
Also both Kate and Grace Kelly have tolerated cheating spouses in silence.
Oof, now that I think about it, what royal wives *didn’t* experience infidelity? Ugh. Hopefully Letizia is ok, love her. Miss seeing her on this site.
Her struggle bangs are always so off putting to me.
My guess is the PR started to change as her absence from Monaco became too long to swept under the rug. It was becoming glaring and needed to be addressed by the palace.
I hope she’s ok. As some have noted previously, she is looking different in her recent photos with Albert and while we all hate to speculate about health, at some point, we do have eyes. I hope she’s getting better.
For all the everything that is Monaco Royalty, I do feel like that family is cursed in some way. Grace, then Stephanie, and I have no idea what’s going on with Phillip. What’s really appalling is that I actually remember this stuff and feel bad for them as a family.
Interesting you say that, I read a book a few years back about the Kennedy curse, and the conclusion the author came up with (I’m paraphrasing terribly) is that they weren’t cursed per se, except with large egos and overestimation of their abilities, influence and what is the word I am looking for? Immortality? Like who else but a Kennedy would think they could leave the scene of a bloody car crash in water with a woman that was possibly drowning? And who else would think they can fly a plane with a broken leg in bad weather without a flight plan and minimal training? Please note, I am not blaming them, just saying, as the book does, confidence, wealth and connections often lead to unrealistic beliefs in oneself that will lead to poor decision making.
Well, she’s certainly leaning towards the Keen side instead of the Grace side. What an odd thing to mention (I detect a slight bit of shade there 🤧).
That photo of the two hugging looks so not intimate–more like a niece hugging an uncle. Her lower body is pulled away from him. Idk, that’s not how I hug my husband.
In all fairness, I think part of the A-frame hug may Charlene be trying to maneuver around Albert’s sizable beer gut. But, yeah, these two generate all of the warmth of a polar ice cap.
The photo of them hugging wins the award for Most Awkward Hug Ever.
I actually agree they have a lot in common. As the Cambridge’s marriage has become more visibly unhappy and Charlene has been revealed as petty and possibly racist, the similarities are more obvious. They both decided that being princess was worth putting up with all kinds of bullshit, they’d both rather hang out with their kids, and neither of them has much ambition for public life.
Iconoclast! Mmmhmm.
Did anyone outside of royal watchers really cared about Kate absence ? I’m not so sure. I agree Charlene is more like Kate, for me in the sense that they perfectly knew the sins of the man they were about to marry (cheating/children outside of marriage) and went on with it anyway.
Yeah, I kinda think it’s the opposite. Monaco is so small, Charlene’s absence or presence is going to be noticed; where as, though not large, England is a bit larger & the BRF has lots of properties where they can hide out, Kate’s absence or presence is noticed & people start to wonder, where is she?
She never even wanted to be Albert’s wife!
Not a fan of kicking someone when they’re down. I think there’s so much different about the why’s and how’s and what’s of these three married-in princesses it isn’t terribly smart and is just a cheap shot to compare them as above.
Well, she and Kate might have racist tendencies in common. That story about relegating Alexandre to the servants quarters doesn’t sit easy with me.
As if she could.
I think her absence is way more noticeable that Kate’s because Monaco is tiny and the Grimaldis are very involved in Monaco’s public life. I think they are closer to their people. At least, the other members of the family are. Charlene is not very popular in Monaco because she is very seldom seen in public and she’s been there 15 years but still cannot communicate with her people in French.
I think the situation is weird. I don’t understand what is going on. I don’t see why they would need to hide a divorce – the family has already had her fair share of scandal in the 1980’s and 1990’s, I just don’t think a divorce would shock anyone. I thought Charlene had some botched plastic surgery but even that doesn’t take 7 months to heal.