From passionate swimmer to Princess of Monaco. All the facts about Charlène Wittstock, the Princess of Monaco, at a glance.
Monaco – ambition and determination shape their lives. Even as a child, Charlène Wittstock knew exactly what she wanted to achieve. She even dropped out of school to pursue her dream of becoming a professional swimmer. At the age of 18 she won several gold medals. “She was the top athlete in South Africa. Everyone knew she was going to win anyway. She was a star, ”said her former trainer Graham Hill.
However, her plan changed somewhat – after injuries, she ended her swimming career and married Prince Albert II of Monaco. All facts about the Princess of Monaco at a glance.
- Name: Charlene Lynette Wittstock
- Born: January 25th, 1978 in Bulawayo / Zimbabwe
- Parents: Michael Kenneth Wittstock and Lynette Humberstone
- Spouse: Prince Albert (married)
- Children: Hereditary Prince Jacques (2014), Princess Gabriella (2014)
- former South African swimmer (three gold medals and two silver medals in total)
Princess of Monaco: who is Charlène Wittstock?
Charlène Wittstock, also known as the Princess of Monaco, was born on January 25, 1978 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Before she married Prince Albert II on July 1, 2011 and became Princess of Monaco, she was a professional swimmer. As a South African swimmer, Charlène Wittstock won several gold and silver medals.
In 2014 she gave birth to twins Jacques and Gabriella. The Princess of Monaco has always been committed to helping children in need. She also supports her husband, Prince Albert II, at all kinds of charity events.
Princess Charlène of Monaco: origin and childhood
Charlène von Monaco grew up with her father, Michael Kenneth Wittstock, her mother, Lynette Humberstone, and her two younger brothers. She spent most of her childhood in Benoni, a town east of Johannesburg in South Africa. As a young girl, swimming played an important role for the princess. As a teenager, Charlène even moved to Durban for this. One might think that Charlène von Monaco was born with an affinity for swimming: her mother worked as a swimming instructor, while her father ran a business on his own.
It was a long way to South Africa – the story of the princess’s origin is correspondingly exciting. Charlène’s great-grandparents, Martin Gottlieb and Louise Wittstock, emigrated from Germany to South Africa in 1861. With the aim of finding diamonds, they lived there as day laborers. However, the search for these remained unsuccessful.
Princess of Monaco: Charlène Wittstock’s successful swimming career
In her childhood and youth, Charlène Wittstock simply pursued one goal: swimming. Her big dream has always been to become a professional swimmer. To get closer to her goal, she was ready to do anything. Accordingly, she trained steadily after her homework for her big dream. “We have to train eight hours a day. It’s very exhausting, but nothing comes from anything, ”she said at the time.
In 1996, Charlene won the South African Swimming Championships for the first time. Only three years later she was able to surpass that again: at the All Africa Games in Johannesburg she took home three gold medals. In 2000 she decided to leave the club in Durban and joined the Tuks Swimming Club at the University of Pretoria. Without studying there, she celebrated several successes right from the start. Among other things, she took part in the Summer Olympics in Sydney. In Monaco that same year she won a gold medal in the Mare Nostrum swimming competition. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, UK, the future Princess of Monaco won a silver medal. At the short course world championships in 2002, she swam over 200 meters chest in sixth place.
Since Wittstock suffered from shoulder problems for a long time, she could not take part in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as planned. So she ended her swimming career in 2007.
Royals: Charlène Wittstock marries the Prince of Monaco
A famous love that initially led to much speculation. In 2000, Charlène Wittstock met the then Monegasque Hereditary Prince Albert in Monaco. The two really went public at the opening of the Winter Olympics in 2006 – from then on the public began to speculate about the possibility that Charlène could become the new Princess of Monaco. After she was seen more and more often with Prince Albert II, the rumors spread. In May 2007, Charlène finally moved to Monaco.
On June 23, 2010 the rumors were confirmed: The house of the Royals announced that Charlène Wittstock had become engaged to Prince Albert. Less than a year later, Wittstock converted from the Protestant to the Catholic faith. Then the wedding bells rang: On July 1, 2011 Charlène married Prince Albert II in a civil ceremony. The church wedding followed one day later. For the wedding, the Monaco palace had a special 2 euro coin made with the couple, which is recognized as an official means of payment.
A few years after the princely wedding, the next step followed: On May 30, 2014, the Monegasque palace announced that Charlène von Monaco was pregnant and the couple was expecting their first child together at the end of 2014. This ultimately became two: On December 10, 2014, Charlène von Monaco gave birth to her twins Gabriella Thérèse Marie, Comtesse von Carladès and the heir to the throne, Jacques Honoré Rainier, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, Marquis of Baux. (Yasemin Kamisli)
