Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco have formally denied “the malicious rumours” that they are separating after almost 12 years of marriage.
“I would like to formally deny the malicious rumors peddled by the French magazine Royauté. Please disregard this article which is totally unfounded,” a spokesperson for the Palace shared.
Princess Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer, met Prince Albert of Monaco at a swimming event in 2007. The couple announced their engagement in 2010, with Albert proposing to Charlene with a three-carat, pear-cut diamond ring.
The happy couple’s fabulous wedding in July 2011 was a highlight of the royal calendar, and royals from monarchies around the world were among the guests, including the then-Earl and Countess of Wessex.
Other high-profile celebrity guests included Naomi Campbell, Karl Lagerfeld and Dame Shirley Bassey.
They welcomed their children on 10 December 2014 when Princess Charlene gave birth to twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques at The Princess Grace Hospital Centre in Monaco.
Despite being younger than his twin sister, Prince Jacques is the heir apparent to the Monegasque throne as the crown passes according to male-preference cognatic primogeniture.
The twins also have two half-siblings; Albert fathered Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, born in 1992, with real estate agent Tamara Rotolo. She was confirmed as Prince Albert’s daughter in 2006 when she was almost 16 years old. He had previously said he wanted to protect her identity until she was an adult.
In May 2005 Albert also confirmed he was the biological father of Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, born in 2003, whose mother is Nicole Coste, a former Air France flight attendant from Togo. Neither Jazmin nor Alexandre are in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne as their parents never married.
