Africa is her passion, Monaco her home: Princess Charlène is committed to animal welfare on Europe’s neighboring continent. But then her return from South Africa is delayed. What’s behind it?
Johannesburg – blonde bob hairstyle, khaki clothes, rhinos and occasionally Mieliepap: Princess Charlène of Monaco, who is stuck in South Africa after an ear, nose and throat infection, makes headlines not only on the Cape.
“This is my longest stay in South Africa since I moved to Monaco in 2007,” said the 43-year-old in one of her rare interviews with the South African magazine “You”. She sews blankets for a few hours a day for a day nursery in the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, where it is now noticeably colder in the southern winter. Instead of exquisite French cuisine, Mieliepap, a South African maize porridge specialty, is now on their menu.
Charlène, who is married to Prince Albert II (63), who is 20 years her senior, traveled to the country on the southern tip of Africa at the beginning of the year to support the fight against rhino poaching. As part of her trip, the princess had visited a nature reserve where rangers dehorn rhinos to protect them from poachers. Photos showed a relaxed-looking young woman kneeling next to a stunned, fat rhinoceros. It was an affair of the heart for her, said Charlène. She also caused a happy surprise in South Africa when she appeared as the only crowned head from Europe at the funeral service for the late Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini.
What initially looked like a home visit far from Monaco, turned out to be more and more a month-long permanent residence – and fueled speculation on social media about a possible separation of the couple and a possible return of the princess to her old home. The mother of the twins Gabriella and Jacques – the future Prince of Monaco -, on the other hand, repeatedly protested in interviews how much she missed her husband and, above all, the children with whom she spoke on video every day. She visited them in June when her niece Aiva celebrated her fifth birthday – as Charlène recorded for her Instagram page in the photo.
Now she reported to the South African radio station 702 that an oral surgery performed before her trip had delayed her return. The inflammation is likely to prolong her stay even further, as she cannot compensate for ear pressure when flying at high altitude. “I cannot predict how the healing process will go for me,” she emphasized and indicated the end of October as the return date. Pictures of the interview video published later showed the Monegasque country mother in a kind of savannah landscape in KwaZulu-Natal. “Africa will always be a part of me,” she said.
The South African ex-competitive swimmer, who was once born as Charlene Wittstock, even spent her 10th wedding anniversary at the Cape, where she says she has strong emotional ties. After the family moved from what is now Zimbabwe, she spent her youth in the Johannesburg suburb of Benoni, where Hollywood star Charlize Theron also grew up. Like Theron’s family, the princess also has German ancestors. Swimming has always been her passion – that’s why she moved to the coastal region of KwaZulu-Natal as a teenager.
Charlène did not comment on the wave of violence there, which was sparked by the imprisonment of ex-President Jacob Zuma and quickly became independent, but said: “South Africa means a lot to me.” Besides KwaZulu-Natal, the area around the was affected Cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg (Gauteng Province), where she once grew up with her parents and two younger brothers.
Charlène met Albert in a swimming competition in 2000 after she had previously competed for the South African national team at the 2000 Olympic Games. dpa
