Monaco’s Princess Charlène traveled to South Africa for animal welfare. Her stay there became longer and longer – and fueled speculation of all kinds. Now she is about to return to Europe.
Johannesburg – she sewed blankets for poor children, showed herself in khaki clothes with animal rights activists in the African bush, received her family – and did not let her confidence be stolen.
Princess Charlène of Monaco unintentionally made headlines for weeks and months because of an illness that kept her in South Africa and the exact cause of which was officially little known. The guesswork should soon come to an end.
“She is doing well, she is recovering, she is in a good mood and in good health – she is very strong,” said Chantell Wittstock, the spokeswoman for her foundation, the German Press Agency in Johannesburg. Her recovery is making very good progress, so that the return flight to Monaco will be due within the next two weeks.
But what was it really that kept you in South Africa for almost half a year? An oral surgery performed before her trip delayed her return, was the statement made by the princess herself in a radio interview. When flying at high altitude, she could not compensate for the ear pressure, she said without further explanation about the procedure. “We cannot confirm any medical details,” stressed Chantell Wittstock. Only after the princess returned there would be an explanation in Monaco, she announced and said at the same time: “She will still have some follow-up examinations, but nothing major.”
Since there was little information, it was mainly pictures of the princess that fueled speculation on social media about a failed cosmetic operation and an impending family separation. She shook her head in her South African family. “When she arrived in South Africa, it was found that she was not doing well and then discovered that there was an infection,” confirmed spokeswoman Wittstock with a view to the princess’s health problems.
The mother of the twins Gabriella and Jacques – the future Prince of Monaco – was stuck in the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, where the Princess, who was born as Charlene Wittstock, once trained for her career as a competitive swimmer. She even spent her 10th wedding anniversary in the Cape, where she says she still has strong emotional ties.
At the beginning of the year she traveled to the country on the southern tip of Africa to support the fight against rhino poaching. She had visited a nature reserve where rangers dehorn rhinos to protect them from poachers. It was an affair of the heart for her, protested the princess.
Charlène met Prince Albert II (63) Albert, who was 20 years her senior, in a swimming competition in 2000, after having previously played for South Africa’s national team at the 2000 Olympic Games. The next step is to return to the family circle. She missed her husband and the children very much during the grueling time, she said in an interview. dpa
