For most people, a honeymoon is a magical time, a chance for newlyweds to spend every moment in each other’s company.
Not for Prince Albert of Monaco and his wife Princess Charlene, however, who chose to mark their 2011 nuptials by sleeping ten miles apart in separate hotels.
Flying into Durban, South Africa, the couple’s holiday opened auspiciously, meeting Jacob Zuma, president of the Republic.
While they arrived at the audience together, however, a local newspaper reported that they left the president ‘in two separate vehicles’.
The mystery deepened when it turned out that Prince Albert was staying at the Hilton hotel in Durban, yet Charlene was bedding down at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga – more than ten miles up the coast.
Prince Albert of Monaco and his Princess Charlene at their 2011 wedding. But they started their South African honeymoon by sleeping in separate hotels
Prince Albert stayed in the Hilton hotel in Durban, while Charlene spent the night at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, more than ten miles up the coast from her new husband
Pictured: Prince Albert gets emotional as Charlene delivers a speech celebrating his decade on the throne in 2015
The Prince already had two children before his marriage to Charlene – Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, 31, ( left) whose mother is American estate agent Tamara Rotolo, and his eldest son, Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, 19, born to former Air France hostess Nicole Coste (pictured right)
Despite the speculation, it was later claimed that the reason was simple enough: that the prince had remained in Durban because he had an early meeting the following morning and was worried about getting stuck in traffic had he travelled in from outside the city.
The father of the new princess, retired photocopier salesman Mike Wittstock, explained at the time: ‘This is because Albert attended the conference for the International Olympic Committee at the Hilton.
‘The conference started at 7am and Albert did not want to get up unnecessarily early and to sit in traffic.’
A Monaco Palace source later confirmed that ‘for practical reasons, it was better’ for the prince to stay in the Hilton.
However, neither the source nor Mr Wittstock explained why Charlene did not simply stay at the Hilton with him.
This was not, in fact their first attempt at a honeymoon made by the prince and princess.
Their first try, a few weeks after their July wedding was cut short after Prince Albert was caught up in a scandal over whether he had fathered another child outside of marriage.
On that occasion, he flew back from South Africa in order to take a paternity test to push aside the claims.
The Prince already had two children before his marriage to Charlene.
His eldest daughter Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, 31, conceived with American estate agent Tamara Rotolo, and eldest son, Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, 19, whose mother was former Air France air hostess Nicole Coste.
This complicated background can hardly have helped the relationship between Albert and Charlene, which appeared to have been troubled even before the wedding.
There were reports that Charlene had already tried to escape Monaco on no fewer than three separate occasions, one being just two days before their marriage.
It is said that Zimbabwe-born Charlene had tried to leave for South Africa, where she had been living before the engagement, after hearing that Prince Albert had a third love child.
Monaco officials were said to have coaxed her back to the country by brokering a deal between the Prince and his reluctant finance.
The supposed ‘pact’ said that she would be free to leave of her own will once she had provided him with a legitimate heir.
Neither of his children from before the marriage could be heir to the throne because they had been born out of wedlock.
Two years later, the Princess broke her silence on the rumours, denying that she had wished to leave and branding the speculation ‘categorical lies’.
Charlene and Albert had twins in 2014: Princess Gabriella and Jacques, the Hereditary Prince of Monaco, seen here on the palace balcony in 2023. They are now eight-years-old
Princess Charlene wipes away the tears after exchanging vows with Prince Albert in 2011
The Prince and Princess have defied speculation and celebrated their 12-year anniversary in July. Here, Albert kisses his Charlene after meeting South African President Jacob Zuma at the start of their 2011 honeymoon. They then spent the night at separate hotels ten miles apart
Photos from their wedding day showed Charlene in tears, leading to rumours once again it was to do with Albert’s infidelity, however, years later she said it was because the day had been ‘overwhelming’.
She told The Times in an interview: ‘There were all the mixed emotions because of the rumours and obviously the tension built up and I burst into tears (immediately after the ceremony).
‘And then I burst into tears some more because I was thinking “Oh no, now the whole world has seen me cry”.’
Despite the rocky start, however, the Prince and Princess stayed together and celebrated their 12th anniversary last July.
They gave birth to twins, Princess Gabriella, and Jacques, the Hereditary Prince of Monaco, who are now eight years old.
Yet the rumours persisted and in 2020, the Prince was hit with yet another paternity lawsuit.
Albert had been due to fight the court case in Milan, Italy in February 2021, after a Brazilian woman said she had a daughter as a result of a relationship with Albert in 2005.
But the Prince ‘applied for sovereign immunity’ leading for the case to be delayed, with his lawyers dismissing the claim as nothing more than a ‘hoax’.
Shortly afterwards, in May 2021, the Princess returned to South Africa, where she remained for most of the year, citing ill-health.
The 65-year-old Prince told People magazine that: ‘She didn’t leave Monaco in a huff! She didn’t leave because she was mad at me or at anybody else… She didn’t go into exile.
‘It was absolutely just a medical problem which had to be treated.’
He added that her illness had ‘affected them both and it had not been addressed earlier because he was ‘concentrating on taking care of the kids’.
The princess had contracted an infection following a sinus lift (an operation that often precedes a dental implant) and bone graft procedure she had undergone.
When asked about the continuing speculation by Monaco Matin magazine the Princess said: ‘You want to talk about divorce rumours or my new home in Switzerland… I still find it regrettable that certain media peddle such rumours about my life, my relationship.
The Monaco royal family poses for a photograph at a public event in Monte Carlo in 2022. The Prince had faced yet another paternity claim the previous year. Charlene then left the principality for South Africa – and remained there for months.
‘Like everyone else, we are human beings and like all human beings we have emotions, weaknesses, only our family is exposed to the media and the slightest weakness is relayed.’
She added that the couple had discussed these ‘malicious articles’.
Reflecting on their first meeting, Charlene – a former Olympic swimmer – told Tatler earlier this year: ‘I was in Monte Carlo for a swimming competition when I first met the prince,
‘I was 22 and focused. I wasn’t in the emotional place for a relationship.
‘But the moment I met Albert, I felt a profound sense of destiny. I have been quoted as saying I felt weak at the knees. That is a slightly trite way of phrasing it, but it is true – I knew he was the one.’
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