Charlene Wittstock will be allowed to leave Prince Albert of Monaco, but only once she has provided him with a legitimate heir.
So says Paris-based news magazine VSD amid fervent speculation that the royal marriage is anything but a happy one.
According to VSD's source, “Once the succession of the dynasty is assured, each of them can be free again. Divorce is a tradition in the Grimaldi family.”
South African swimmer Wittstock is said to be desperately unhappy after reports emerged that Albert has a third love child. Royal officials rubbished reports that Wittstock tried to run away on a number of occasions before the wedding. But, according to the City Press, the royal couple slept in separate hotels during their visit to South Africa last week. The newspaper reported that while Wittstock had stayed in the R10 600-a-night Buthelezi suite at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, Prince Albert had spent the night at the Hilton in Durban.
The public relations manager for the Oyster Box Hotel, Joanne Hayes, denied knowing anything about the royal couple's sleeping arrangements.
“I simply said the princess had stayed at the Oyster Box and nothing about where the prince had stayed. She did have a suite, but for all I know she didn't even stay in that suite.” The spokesperson for the Durban Hilton was not available for comment.
Wittstock, however, has described rumours of her pact with Albert as “vicious gossip and empty rumours”.
“It's all lies,” she said in an interview with US Vogue.
Her father, Mike Wittstock, says the allegations couldn't be further from the truth. “I am so disappointed that people believe in this nonsense,” he said. - IOL