Earlier this week, there was some German and French tabloid reporting about a Grimaldi marriage. Prince Albert and Princess Charlene have been married for twelve chaotic years, none of which seemed particularly happy. The thing is, every time there was a report of Charlene’s escape attempts or her deep unhappiness in the marriage, the Prince’s Palace shut down those reports swiftly. This week, the European tabloids reported that Charlene is living in Switzerland, that she only returns to Monaco for ceremonial events, that she only sees her husband “by appointment,” and that Charlene and Albert share custody of their children. We have not heard one peep from The Prince’s Palace. No one has rushed out to debunk these rumors, Albert hasn’t given a huffy interview to People Mag, nothing. And now this: Charlene has deleted her Instagram account.
Princess Charlene of Monaco is logging offline. On Thursday, the princess’ personal Instagram account disappeared from the platform, apparently having been deactivated or deleted. Princess Charlene, 45, previously ran the handle @hshprincesscharlene, which Hello! reports had 462,000 followers. The royal posted a mix of personal and professional news on the page, from recaps of royal work to sweet updates about her 8-year-old twins Crown Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, whom she shares with husband Prince Albert.
While Charlene’s personal profile has gone dark, her Fondation Princesse Charlène de Monaco account is still accessible. Princess Charlene’s charity is dedicated to ending drowning by raising public awareness about the dangers of water, teaching children to swim and instilling the values of sport in the next generation. It’s a natural fit for the former Olympic swimmer, who competed for South Africa (where she grew up) at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games — the same year she met Prince Albert.
Though Princess Charlene used her handle less and less in recent months, the official Prince’s Palace of Monaco Instagram page has been increasingly active. Courtiers keep followers looped with the latest happenings from the Monegasque royal family, including the activities of Albert’s sisters Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie.
For those of us long-time Charlene followers, we know this is not the first time there’s been some bullsh-t around her Instagram. When she was in South Africa throughout much of 2021, recovering from her ENT infection, Charlene communicated through her IG, and it was clear that she had control over her personal account and she wasn’t running things through her husband’s office. That changed towards the end of her stay in South Africa – they must have changed her password or something, and by the time she went into a treatment facility in Switzerland in late 2021, it felt like Charlene had completely lost control of her account. I’m just saying, I wonder if this is less “Charlene deleted her account” and more “the palace deleted Charlene’s account to silence her about the separation.” I don’t know though, it’s just a theory.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
- NO TABLOID – Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene of Monaco attend Christmas gifts distribution at La Croix Rouge in Monte-Carlo on December 13, 2022 in Monaco, Monaco.,Image: 744354340, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
- Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco at the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, London.,Image: 774175673, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Matthews / Avalon
- NO TABLOID. 80th Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco National Anthem Ceremony. TT.SS.HH. Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco attend the 80th Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco National Anthem Ceremony with Andrea Casiraghi, King Abdullah Shah of Malaysia and all the drivers before the start of the race.,Image: 780012310, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: POOL / Avalon
- NO TABLOID. H.S.H. Princess Charlene of Monaco attends the 62nd Monte-Carlo TV Festival Golden Nymph Awards Ceremony.,Image: 784514268, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
- NO TABLOID. H.S.H. Princess Charlene of Monaco attends the 62nd Monte-Carlo TV Festival Golden Nymph Awards Ceremony.,Image: 784515159, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
- NO TABLOID. H.S.H. Princess Charlene of Monaco attends the 62nd Monte-Carlo TV Festival Golden Nymph Awards Ceremony.,Image: 784515260, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
- NO TABLOID. H.S.H. Princess Charlene of Monaco attends the 62nd Monte-Carlo TV Festival Golden Nymph Awards Ceremony.,Image: 784515273, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO TABLOID, Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
- Monaco, MONACO – Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene and their kids at the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Pictured: Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene BACKGRID USA 30 APRIL 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- Monaco, MONACO – Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene and their kids at the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Pictured: Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene BACKGRID USA 30 APRIL 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- Monaco, MONACO – HSH the Prince Albert II of Monaco, HSH the Princess Charlene of Monaco and their kids Gabriella and Jacques, with Louis Ducruet attend the awards ceremony of Monaco E-Prix. The podium is Stoffe Vandoorne (1st qualified for Mercedes team), Mitch Evans (2nd qualified for Jaguar team), Jean-Éric Vergne (3rd qualified DS Techeetah). Pictured: Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene of Monaco BACKGRID USA 30 APRIL 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
- Monaco, MONACO – Royal Monaco family on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo. Pictured: Princess Charlene de Monaco, Prince Albert de Monaco BACKGRID USA 29 MAY 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I suspect this was part of the new agreement. The Palace opened an instagram account last year. I think that was done in anticipation of her account being deleted at some point.
Albert had her abducted and forced her to marry him. If he were not a guy pretending to be a prince, he would be in prison. Instead it seems like she is most of the time. This is the saddest situation in European royalty–and that’s saying something.
Exactly!!!! France allowed his henchmen to kidnap her and return her to Monaco against her will. Albert will not release Charlene until he is ready which may never happen. Charlene has been kept against her will for more than 12 years and everyone turns a blind eye.
I hope that Albert one day suffers the same fate that he has forced upon Charlene all these years, in 10 fold as he deserves IT. Albert is an egotistical, narcissistic, cruel, vengeful and petty man whose sole purpose is for everyone to bend to his needs. Though he has been leveraging against Charlene with no options to be free from him.
She is a hostage. They use the children to keep her under control. I think when she went home to Africa she was escaping. She may have had surgery there but I believe she was trying to stay there but he used the children to get her back. This is all kinds of f cked up. I hope she is able when the children reach adulthood to finally be free.
I don’t get why Albert insists so much on a sham marriage, to the point where she is a shell of a human. Why not divorce and set her free? Unlike Peg of England, Albert does not have any kind of family man reputation. His whole family is scandal-prone and quite trashy.
Right? He got the “legitimate” heirs, there’s no reason that she has to remain married to him, other than his ego. This is clearly about control and whether she’s allowed to “embarrass” him by not wanting to be a princess. It’s abuse.
They all want the heir and ruler to have this perfect image of the good stable catholic family man. The Spares can be ‘tainted’ and get divorced and live in debauchery.
I actually think they used money to force this marriage. That’s how they control people. Similar to what was done to the Middletons, the Grimaldis must have paid off some huge loans or debts of Charlene’s family and threatened her when she attempted to flee. When that dowry is paid, there is no backing out. charlene of course was a silly rabbit and thought the funding was an amazing present, not knowing it ultimately was a trojan horse.
I have seen pictures of her, Albert and the children on vacation. It didn’t look like their “relationship” is going to change much as it already is.
My favorite royal. She is beautiful.
Completely unrelated: but I never realized how much she looks like Florence Pugh! If they ever do a biopic Pugh would be perfect casting.
I dunno, Florence Pugh is quite petite, and Charlene is very tall. I get totally different energies from each of them.