Charlene, Princess of Monaco

Early life and family history

Princess Charlene was born on 25 January 1978 in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980), the daughter of Michael Kenneth Wittstock (born 1946), a sales manager, and Lynette Wittstock (née Humberstone, born 1957), a former competitive diver and swimming coach. Two brothers were born over the next five years: Gareth (born 1980), a coffehouses businessman operating in Monaco, and Sean (born 1983), a promotions and events businessman operating in South Africa. The family relocated to South Africa in 1989, when Charlene was 11 years old. She attended Tom Newby Primary school in Benoni, near Johannesburg, from 1988 to 1991.

The Wittstock family is of German origin; Charlene's great-great-grandparents Martin Gottlieb Wittstock and Johanne Luise née Schönknecht emigrated to South Africa from the Pomeranian village of Zerrenthin in northern Germany in 1861 to escape hardship. In South Africa, the Wittstocks worked as handyworkers and unsuccessfully prospected for diamonds. Gottlieb's son, Heinrich Carl Wittstock would marry Olive Florence Caldwell, of English origin. Their son Dudley Kenneth Wittstock, Charlene's paternal grandfather, married Sylvia Fagan Nicolson, also of mostly English origin. Charlene was given a certificate in 2014 which verified her Irish ancestry.

Michael Wittstock announced in April 2011 that he was considering moving the family from Benoni to Monaco because of the increasing crime rate.

Swimming career

Charlene won three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg. She represented South Africa at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay in the latter competition. She also was a member of the South African women's 4×100 m medley team at the 2000 Summer Olympics, which finished fifth. Charlene finished sixth at the 2002 FINA Short Course World Championships for the 200 m breaststroke. She left her Durban-based team (the Seagulls) to join the Tuks Swimming Club at the High Performance Centre of the University of Pretoria. She never enrolled in classes. The Club sponsored her by providing her with free access to their pools, free coaching, accommodations, and gymnasium access.

She decided to leave Pretoria in January 2005, and returned to Durban; she then went to the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal, where she joined a former University of Pretoria swimming coach, Brannislav Ivkovic. On 13 April 2007, Charlene regained her title as South Africa’s 50 m women’s backstroke champion when she completed the 50 m backstroke final at the Telkom SA National Aquatic Championships in 30:16 seconds, to finish third behind Australia’s Sophie Edington and Brazil’s Fabíola Molina.

Over the years she has won several national titles. She planned to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, which she said would be her swansong, but she did not qualify. Previously she had been out of competitive swimming for 18 months with a shoulder injury. Charlene said she would be swimming in Europe in the near future, hoping to improve her times. "I have a year left of competitive swimming, and I just want to be the best I can be in that time. After that I want to get involved in charity work, and development work with athletes' commissions".

Special Olympics ambassador

On 27 May 2011, the Special Olympics announced that Charlene had become global ambassador for the movement, charged with promoting respect and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities to a worldwide audience. Charlene has said that the Special Olympics movement is close to her heart because, as a former athlete, she values its role in "using the power of sport to change lives".

Marriage

Charlene met Albert II, Prince of Monaco, in 2000 at the Mare Nostrum swimming meet in Monaco. They were first seen together in 2001. They went public at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Charlene moved in with Albert in 2006. She accompanied him to the weddings of the Crown Princess of Sweden in 2010 and of the Duke of Cambridge in 2011.

On 23 June 2010, the palace announced the engagement of Charlene and Albert. Charlene, who was raised a Protestant, converted to Roman Catholicism, even though this is not a requirement of the Constitution of Monaco. The future princess was also instructed in the French language and the Monégasque dialect, and became familiar with European court protocol. The Prince presented her with an engagement ring featuring a pear-shaped three-carat diamond at the center and round diamond brilliants surrounding it. This engagement ring was reported to be created by Parisian jeweler Repossi.

The wedding was originally scheduled for 8 and 9 July 2011, but was moved forward to prevent a conflict with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Durban on 5–9 July. The couple had invited members of the IOC, including president Jacques Rogge, to their wedding. The couple attended the IOC meeting; hence Charlene's first foreign visit as princess was to her childhood home, South Africa.

During the week before the wedding, the palace denied reports that Charlene had been getting cold feet. French weekly L'Express reported that Charlene tried to leave Monaco on Tuesday, 28 June, after rumors surfaced that Albert had fathered a third illegitimate child. The report claimed that Monaco Police intercepted her at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, confiscated her passport, and that it took "intense convincing" by Albert and palace officials for her to agree to stay. The palace called the stories "ugly rumors" born out of jealousy.

The couple were married in a civil ceremony on 1 July 2011 in the Throne Room of the Prince's Palace. The Nuptial Mass on 2 July was a lavish affair presided over by Archbishop Bernard Barsi. Only days after the beginning of the couple's honeymoon in South Africa, several newspapers from Spain, Britain, and elsewhere reported that Charlene and Albert were not staying at the same hotel, but were in fact booked in different hotels several miles apart. These reports fueled rumors about the couple's marital crisis that had sparked even before their wedding.

Pregnancy and motherhood

On 30 May 2014, it was announced that the Princess was pregnant. After much speculation it was confirmed on 9 October 2014 that the couple was expecting twins by the end of the year. On 10 December 2014, her twins were born at The Princess Grace Hospital Centre. Daughter Gabriella Thérèse Marie was born first, followed by her brother Jacques Honoré Rainier. Due to male-preference cognatic primogeniture, Jacques is first in line to the throne and has been styled His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Monaco as well as Marquis of Baux. Gabriella has been styled Her Serene Highness The Countess of Carladès.

Princess of Monaco

Princess Charlene is known for her elegant fashion style, patronising designers Akris and Armani. She wore an exclusive Giorgio Armani Privé wedding dress, and attended the Akris show at Paris Fashion Week in October 2011.

Charlene went to South Africa to attend the memorial service of Nelson Mandela on 12 December 2013.

Her advisor is Princess Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Titles and styles

Since her marriage, Charlene has been styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco. The previous holder was her mother-in-law, Grace Kelly, who died in 1982.

National Honours

Foreign honours