Former South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, set to become the next Princess of Monaco when she marries the late Princess Grace’s son Prince Albert, has spoken out about her loneliness and the envy she has encountered in glittering Monaco.
“The people I mixed with in Monaco didn’t relate to my South African mentality or humour,” the Olympic backstroke swimmer who was born in the then Rhodesia, tells England’s Tatler magazine in its December cover story.
She originally lived in Benoni but trained extensively in Durban and Richards Bay before moving to Monaco about four years ago.
“Of course I’ve been subject to jealousy, but that comes with the territory. Although I have met some wonderful people since I’ve been living in Monaco, I regard them all as acquaintances. I only have two people I consider friends here.”
The jealousy is bound to get worse when royal watchers get a peek at her Tatlerdebut: Wittstock was photographed dripping in diamonds and looking completely regal in a white gown and tight bun on the mag’s cover, set to hit newsstands this week.
Among the trials and tribulations Wittstock, 32, has encountered in the last decade while knowing, dating and then being engaged to the 52-year-old son of Prince Rainer and former screen queen Grace Kelly, was the fashion mistake she made at the August 2006 Red Cross Ball – when she arrived in a green, sequined halter-top gown.
The press dubbed her “Albert’s Mermaid”. Wittstock said: “I was used to living in a swimsuit and totally clueless about fashion.
“I borrowed a green dress from a friend, fixed my hair myself and painted my nails red. I looked like a Christmas tree.”
Wittstock said that she and the prince were “sports fanatics, especially (about) rugby”. She added: “I’ve introduced Albert to cricket and he loves it.”
Wittstock also spoke of an encounter with Prince Harry. She said: “I met Harry at a polo match in July. What an incredible young man. I’m really hoping I get to know him better.”
Set to marry in July, Wittstock expresses a hope she can use her influence to help modernise the 900-year-old principality, and would like to see Monaco finally have a Manolo Blahnik boutique and a Starbucks.
Comparisons between Princess Grace and Wittstock have been widespread, with many Monégasques hoping that the next Princess of Monaco will inject some vitality and glamour which has been lacking since Princess Grace’s heyday.
Since Grace’s death in a car crash in 1982, the Grimaldi family have been embroiled in controversies surrounding the failed marriages of Prince Albert’s sisters, Princess Caroline and Princess Stephanie, and the recent admission by Prince Albert that he fathered an illegitimate son with a Togolese flight attendant, prior to his relationship with Wittstock.