What on earth is going on with Princess Charlene of Monaco?

[clartymare]

The latest update doesn't seem to make a huge amount of sense - a sinus infection has kept her away from Monaco since January? I understand that would mean you couldn't fly, but surely someone with her status would be offered another mode of transport to return to her children?
She doesn't look well in the video, I hope it's just poorly shot and that she's not seriously poorly.

Monaco seems like a dreadful place, though It does doesn't it. Nice boats though

They're even better in Antibes If you're there, go through the vehicle access at the back of the harbour - it looks as if you can't enter but you can - and there's nothing there under 200ft

You can get right up to them too, though tragically not on

Poor woman. I wonder if she is being prevented from returning. And how awful for these children.

Sadly for Charlene, it certainly seems like there's a lot more to this than we are being told. I agree the whole marriage has seemed odd from the outset.

I think pp makes a good point that the change to accept a female heir is probably to avoid reverting to France rather than wanting a female leader.

I saw the most recent episode of the TV programme. I found it fascinating, but I also don't think I could love there. I know someone who did - she married into a billionaire family who lived there but after a few years insisted they move back to the UK despite the tax repercussions because she just wasn't happy brining her children up there.

I hadn't realised that Monegasque citizens are themselves banned from gambling!

Anyway, on the subject of the thread - I hope it isn't a serious medical issue. It's desperately sad she's barely see her children.

[quote JaniieJones]@PicsInRed how odd to quote an alleged random person's opinion at an alleged street party , what a convenient made up tale, recollections really do vary. Ime there was widespread support for the pair of them.

'Monaco seems like a dreadful place, though.'

It does doesn't it. Nice boats though but the people all seem so very grasping and desperate to be important don't they.[/quote]
It wasn't "alleged random alleged street party" 😂 it was a main channel news broadcast about street parties held on the wedding day.

Ime there was widespread support for the pair of them.

That was the literally point of what I said, that fulsome and cheery "support" only went as far as a light fingernail scratch of the surface. One simple question from a reporter with whom they felt comfortable and those deeper held opinions came right on out.

My understanding is that the Monaco reign continuance is subject to a male heir (note Grace and Raiñier having 3 children, the youngest being male and inheriting.)

Stephanie is the youngest child of Rainer and Grace, Albert was the second. Poor Stephanie was only 16 when her mother died and has led a pretty chequered life including living in a circus

@PearlFriday

Nicole Coste is her name. She met Albert in 1997 and Alexandre was born 2003, so the relationship lasted at least 6 years. Probably longer as in 2005 he was attempting to get the story shut down but he failed and was published first by a german magazine. There are a lot of pictures of him with Nicole and a lot of pictures of him with Alexandre so he wasnt trying to stay under the radar. Apart from getting his lawyers to try.

This is interesting because I remember at the time, the affair was being dismissed and reported as a one night stand / inflight thing (think she was a flight attendant). I just saw the pictures, and there are so many of him and her and with his son too.

What I recall was that she was papped in Monaco during the wedding weekend, and the reporter was a bit like, what is she doing there.

Later it emerged that her son was either bestowed or would inherit a massive estate, despite being illegitimate. Back then it was reported that she would not be a suitable bride as she had 2 other DC from a previous marriage. Not sure how far true it all is.

But, yes his marriage is strange af.

Can someone post a link to this video you are all talking about?

@GlencoraP

My understanding is that the Monaco reign continuance is subject to a male heir (note Grace and Raiñier having 3 children, the youngest being male and inheriting.)

Stephanie is the youngest child of Rainer and Grace, Albert was the second. Poor Stephanie was only 16 when her mother died and has led a pretty chequered life including living in a circus

And she was in the car with her mum at the time of the accident which killed her mum. Which must have been horrific enough, but subsequent rumours (which she's denied) alleged she may in fact have been the one driving.

@GlencoraP

My understanding is that the Monaco reign continuance is subject to a male heir (note Grace and Raiñier having 3 children, the youngest being male and inheriting.)

Stephanie is the youngest child of Rainer and Grace, Albert was the second. Poor Stephanie was only 16 when her mother died and has led a pretty chequered life including living in a circus

Oops, I got that wrong didn't I! That's it, Caroline was the eldest, then Albert, then Stephanie

@ShallWeStartTheMeeting

Can someone post a link to this video you are all talking about?

It is embedded in this Daily Fail article

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9860067/Is-Princess-Charlene-finally-getting-herself.html

I thought Grace had a stroke while she was at the wheel, which caused the car to crash down a mountainside.

@Puzzledandpissedoff God I bloody love a super/mega yacht. Must add Antibes to my list.

I was musing yesterday that I wonder if she fled to sort out the divorce from there? Like if she isn't in Monaco he can't stop her from leaving/making certain demands?

Very odd at pictures of him looking all chummy recently with her brother though. (17th July, red Cross summer concert in monte carlo). Would love to know what that's about.

It must be absolutely dire for Charlene, having to choose between freedom and her children. I hope she can strike a deal -- for example, she can live with them in Britain while they learn fluent English, as I doubt the kids would be allowed to live with her in South Africa. But she does look much happier. I don't know which hand the Monegasques wear their wedding rings on, but I notice in the pics that she is not wearing any on her left hand.

Has anyone read AA Gill's account of what it's like to be in Monaco during the Grand Prix? It made me sick -- that is, I was nauseous and wanted to vom after reading it. I can't find an online link, but it is in his book AA Gill Is Away. It's worth reading.

I've been to Monaco for the grand Prix a few times and even watched it from one of the yachts!my rubber shoes melted and I left little rubber black marks all over the deck 😱

Anyhoo, what is sickening about it? The money involved or something else?

@Puzzledandpissedoff those in Antibes are likely there because the Monaco moorings are full of too expensive and they are too tight to pay haha.
Although Antibes has a better beach. Old town antibes is beautiful.

Monaco also has a second pier after going through a tunnel and there's a fantastic restaurant which serves a bloody good moelleux au chocolat recette!

Someone read killer queens and if it says anything about pretend uk royals…! I’m so intrigued! That’s crazy that alberts real DP just allows all these reports of oh she was a one night stand etc, I remember the papers saying that. I wonder if Charlene like Diana was told the truth just before the wedding. Poor woman :(

(Ships) in Antibes are likely there because the Monaco moorings are full of too expensive and they are too tight to pay

Love it!!

Moonflower if you've not yet been, include the Pantiero in Cannes on your ship-watching list; it's next to the Palais des Festivals (with a convenient car park underneath) and there are dozens of the things

A few years ago, I came across an interesting story about Grace Kelly that presented a very different side to the story.

Apparently, she thought she knew what she was getting into, and it was more a business proposition than a love match. Rainier needed to reinvent Monaco to attract foreign currency, and a Hollywood actress was the glamour he needed. Grace agreed.

But in reality once she married him, it was like living in a cage. She was on her own almost all the time, the locals were awful to her, Rainier just wasn't interested, the staff were obnoxious, and she was bitterly miserable. She'd gone from being an independent American woman earning her own money to being almost an imprisoned medieval wife of a royal Bluebeard.

Now I obviously don't know how much truth there is to this, but it's interesting in light of the rumours around Charlene. It's possibly that Albert is simply doing what his father did.

Has anyone read AA Gill's account of what it's like to be in Monaco during the Grand Prix? It made me sick that is, I was nauseous and wanted to vom after reading it. I can't find an online link, but it is in his book AA Gill Is Away. It's worth reading.

I have, though I wouldn't have mixed in the same circles as AA.

We watched from up by the palace. Even from there the noise was deafening.
We enjoyed walking through the pits after the race - they were giving away tyres and other things.
This was about 25 years ago - that may not be allowed now.

To clarify, I haven't read the book, but I have been in Monte Carlo during a Grand Prix.

I just caught the end of that BBC2 doc on Monaco, and there was a shot of Charlene and Albert dancing together... happily! It's the first time I thought she wasn't sleeved out by him, since her marriage.

Also just a few minutes of that programme put paid to the theory that she was hiding after bad plastic surgery. Monaco would absolutely be the perfect place to blend in with a botched face.

She has released a press release today to advise that she’s undergoing a 4 hour surgical procedure today to hopefully resolve the numerous medical issues she has been experiencing lately. Whatever they are, I hope it works.

From the press release, they are joining her ‘soon’?
Whatever it is, hopefully she’ll recover soon.

See, I don't believe the sinus story at all.
I think they'll announce a separation soonish.

She has posted some photos of them all together in South Africa on her instagram today. Will be interesting to see what happens next.

(The photos made me laugh - her daughter is sporting a rather Star Trek Vulcan style haircut, and she said in her caption that she’d given herself a haircut, and thy’d done the best they could to tidy it up. My youngest son also took the scissors to his own fringe a few time - with similar terrible results!)