'She Didn’t Leave in Huff': Prince of Monaco Addresses Reports of Rift With Wife, Princess Charlene

14:57 GMT, 9 September 2021
© AFP 2023 / POOL / ERIC GAILLARD
Max Gorbachev
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Reports that the spouses are bound to split started back when the two tied the knot on 1 July 2011. Back then, media wrote that Princess Charlene attempted to flee Monaco after reportedly learning that Prince Albert, who already had two illegitimate children, had fathered a third while Charlene and he were dating.
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Prince Albert II of Monaco has addressed reports of a rift with his wife, Princess Charlene. Speaking to People magazine, the royal categorically dismissed reports that Charlene has been living in South Africa for a long time because relations between the two are strained.

"She didn't leave Monaco in a huff! She didn't leave because she was mad at me or at anybody else. She was going down to South Africa to reassess her Foundation's work down there and to take a little time off with her brother and some friends", he said.

The royal stressed that his spouse had suffered medical complications that arose after she contracted an unspecified infection earlier this year that affected her ears, nose, and throat in South Africa. The health problems extended her stay in South Africa.

"She didn't go into exile. It was absolutely just a medical problem which had to be treated", said Prince Albert II.

Rumours about a rift between the royals started earlier this year, after Princess Charlene departed for South Africa alone and intensified after she missed the couple's 10th wedding anniversary. Prince Albert II acknowledged that the media speculation had taken a toll on the two.

"Of course it affects her, Of course it affects me. Misreading events is always detrimental. ... We're an easy target, easily hit, because we're in the public eye a lot", said the royal.

Last week it was reported that Princess Charlene had been hospitalised after suddenly collapsing. “Doctors are still establishing exactly what happened”, said Chantell Wittstock, director of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation. Reports say the princess won’t return to Monaco until October.
Princess Charlene, née Charlene Lynette Wittstock, was born on 25 January in 1978 in what is now Zimbabwe. Both her parents are of German origin. In 1989, they moved to South Africa, where Charlene began her swimming career. She represented the country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. That same year she met Prince Albert II, who is 20 years older than her. The pair made their relationship public in 2006 and five years later they got married.

Reports that the two are bound to split appear in the media from time to time. They started right before the couple tied the knot and following the lavish three-day wedding. Media wrote that Princess Charlene allegedly attempted to flee Monaco three times before the nuptials, but was intercepted and stripped of her passport. For this reported incident the media dubbed her the Prisoner Princess.

At the wedding, Charlene was seen crying, which added fuel to the fire.

"[Charlene] emerged from the royal chapel where she laid her bouquet with top lip wobbling and a tear rolling down her cheek. While she dabbed the tears with a hankie, Prince Albert begged in a whisper, 'Don’t cry, don’t cry'", The Guardian wrote in a story about the royal wedding.

Reports suggested that the spouses spent their honeymoon not only in separate beds, but at separate hotels.
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