Princess Charlene (Monaco)

[royalwave]

The Grimaldis are an odd lot. Isn't Caroline still officially married to Ernst-August too? And yet they've been separated since 2009 so clearly that relationship is done.

The latest photos of Charlene and Albert are awkward at best. And all of this has of course coincided with the latest paternity lawsuit Albert is facing.

Also interesting...the mother of one of Albert's older children was invited to attend the Rose Ball this year in Charlene's absence. Apparently she has also been invited in the past, but never attended. Anyway, it's very "Modern Family." And in a new interview with Paris Match, she has hinted that Charlene was unwelcoming to her son in the early days of their relationship. "Given our respective ties to the prince, we should have made sure to support each other cordially. In our situation, diplomacy had to prevail. But during the engagement period, I experienced things that alerted and shocked me. For example, she changed my son's room, taking advantage of his father's absence to move him to the employee wing. As a mother, I cannot find words to describe these actions."

Yikes. Did Albert sanction this interview? The whole situation is just bizarre. Meanwhile, rumor has it Charlene is house hunting in Johannesburg.

[luckylexie]

Albert says she’s ready to return to Monaco. Charlene promptly collapses and requires hospitalization. Doesn’t sound sketchy dodgy at all.

Just divorce already.

ETA: Sketchy wasn't the right word. I don't want it to sound like I think Charlene's actions/illness aren't serious. If she did collapse in order to avoid going back to Monaco, I'm even more concerned for her. What sort of hold does Albert have over her, and is he threatening that she can't see the twins if she leaves him?

[celerydunk]

At this point, I wonder if her "illness" is mental health related. From her wedding day on she seemed miserable. She may have reached her breaking point and for whatever reason does not think divorce is an option.

[peace47]

Sept 5, 2021 20:14:13 GMT -4 celerydunk said:

At this point, I wonder if her "illness" is mental health related. From her wedding day on she seemed miserable. She may have reached her breaking point and for whatever reason does not think divorce is an option.

If those stories are true back from the time of their wedding (regarding how she had tried to leave Monaco but was hauled back against her will on multiple occasions), I would agree that it could have broken her mentally, not entirely dissimilar to Empress Masako in Japan (although I know Masako’s external circumstances were worse). Like, all that pressure of feeling trapped (despite the ostensible other options she might have had, like calling a reporter, physically refusing to walk down the aisle, etc.) has built and built over the years and come crashing in on her on a milestone anniversary (her 10-year wedding anniversary this year). Stresses like that can build over time until someone just can’t take it anymore, even if they “maintained” for years prior, especially at the “mid-life crisis” age that she is at (43).

She wasn’t raised Catholic but converted for the marriage. I looked that up because I initially thought that maybe she was raised in a deeply Catholic tradition that would have perhaps psychologically taken divorce off the table for her. But maybe even if she wasn’t raised in it, she did take her conversion to that religion completely to heart and doesn’t view it as an option.

Even though it is so bad for her that she seems okay with not seeing her kids for months at a time now, maybe she thinks that if she files for divorce, she’ll literally never see them again. I’m sure the palace has plenty of dirt on her mental stability that could be used against her if she did file. The fact that she had to be hospitalized after Albert indicated to the press that she could come home soon says everything, though, about this being a mental issue. Not saying that she doesn’t have an ENT issue, but I would bet a million dollars that her continued presence in South Africa is tied to her mental, not physical, health.

[MrsOldManBalls]

Why did she agree to marry a man she clearly has zero affection towards?

[Beyle]

Sept 9, 2021 7:04:07 GMT -4 MrsOldManBalls said:

Why did she agree to marry a man she clearly has zero affection towards?

This is what confuses me. Was she forced at gunpoint?

No amount of money, status, and power would push me toward marrying a toxic piece of shit guy.

[royalwave]

Would it really be the end of the world if these two got divorced? I don't understand what the point is in trying to force someone to stay in a situation where she appears to be so miserable for the rest of her days. This isn't the 1950s.

Albert admits now that he hasn't handled any of this well from a PR perspective but had been hoping the rumors would just go away. Right. There have been rumors since the wedding day that have never gone away, but he suddenly thinks they'll magically disappear after his wife has been out of the country for months? Not the sharpest tool in the shed, is he?

I wonder what Albert's sisters think of all of this, Caroline in particular. I always thought she would have made a better heir to the throne than her brother because, although her relationships have also been messy, she has always managed to carry herself with dignity and seems like she doesn't take crap from anyone. She has a much more regal bearing, though probably wouldn't ever want Albert's job because I think she is also a very private person.

[Ladybug]

I think for Albert 'saving face' is a big deal and he doesn't want to be seen as a guy who's wife left him. He's the monarch of the country, and even with all the messiness of the Grimaldi children's love lives, he is invested in having a marriage that appears to be happy like his parents' marriage. But like Charlene, Grace was miserable most of the time. She eventually found princess work that was satisfying to her and was a pretty involved mother. She also traveled a lot and spent extended periods in Paris and the US. There were extended periods where she was extremely depressed and felt trapped. Divorce was not an option for her. (Look up her brother John Kelly sometime. He had a VERY interesting personal life)

It would not surprise me if Albert is holding access to the kids over her head. They are heirs to the Monegasque throne, so this would not be just two rich people splitting up custody. He may have more claim to sole custody because of the line of succession and obviously the courts of Monaco would favor the monarch.

[scarlet]

So new article in People about how Charlene was just "following her passion for the rhinos" as to why she fled traveled to SA in the first place. Conveniently, there's zero mention of her being rushed to the hospital last week and now she's "ready to return home."

link

[Lwaxana]

Their whole story is so weird and I feel bad for saying this, but those twins are creepy.