It looked like a fairytale on the outside. Princess Grace’s only son, Prince Albert II of Monaco, married former South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock on July 1, 2011, just a couple of months after they attended the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in late April. The then-royal fiancée of the Prince of Monaco was wearing an outfit eerily similar to what Meghan Markle would wear to the church service during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. However, behind closed doors, the marriage of the Prince of Monaco and the South African beauty was anything but happy.
According to a 2018 Vanity Fair article published in the lead-up to Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding, the now-Princess of Monaco tried to escape marriage three times. The reason? News had reached Charlene that Albert allegedly fathered a third love child. His two eldest children were born in 1992 and 2003, respectively.
Charlene’s alleged attempts to escape occurred shortly before the July wedding. The first attempt happened when she was in France for a wedding dress fitting in May. She allegedly tried to hide out in the South African Embassy.
The second attempt allegedly occurred the same month during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Charlene’s alleged final attempt to escape occurred a few days before the wedding. She got as far as an airport in Nice, France, but was intercepted, and her passport was taken from her to prevent her from making another run for it. Some of Albert’s people had to talk her out of leaving.
The Distraught Princess
During the wedding, Charlene cried, and she visibly recoiled when Albert went to kiss her. The story claims that she demanded that a paternity be conducted to determine whether the alleged child was Albert’s.
Many people would question why Charlene couldn’t leave and get a divorce. The marriage was done in the Catholic church, and doing so would prove difficult. Furthermore, the palace denied for years that Albert had sired another illegitimate child, and the Prince himself has done the same. He has even threatened to sue over the rumours.
Finally, Albert has said that while he and Charlene were on their Honeymoon, they stayed at different hotels. The pair are still married and have twins, Princess Gabriella and Heredity Prince Jacques.
