Charlene Wittstock, Future Princess of Monaco
by In June 2010, the Palace in Monaco announced the engagement of HSH Prince Albert with Charlene Wittstock. In her favour may be said that very little is known about her. This lack in news and scandal will stand her in good stead when taking on Princess Grace’s job as Princess Consort.
It will probably be one of the most thankless jobs in the world. Charlene Wittstock will face years of being compared to Princess Grace. Even worse, she will be compared to the Princess Grace people remember, and she has been almost sanctified meanwhile. Whoever wants to envy Charlene should think again.
Charlene was born in 1978 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Her mother Lynette was a competitive diver in her youth; her father Michael is a computer business operator. The family moved to Benoni near Johannesburg in South Africa in 1988. As a teenager, Charlene moved to Durban to take advantage of better training possibilities offered by the Seagulls team. She later changed to the Tuks Swimming Club at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria.
During her swimming career, she was several times a South African champion. She took part in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney where she came fifth with the 4 x 100 m medley team. A shoulder injury hindered her to take part in the 2008 Peking Olympic Games which should have been her career highlight.
The grandparents of Michael Wittstock, Gottlieb and Louise Wittstock had emigrated together with Gottlieb’s parents and eight of his siblings from Zerrenthin in Mecklenburg-Pomerania, Germany. In 1861, they had travelled to Hamburg to board the San Francisco for South Africa. The Wittstocks worked as handymen and hunted (unsuccessfully) for diamonds.
The Wittstocks are related to Germany’s best known pirate Klaus Störtebecker. As the Grimaldis ruling from the rock of Monaco were also known as pirates, the match seems to be made among equals. All the same, Charlene has entered ‘Princess School’. She already speaks French and according to local sources Monegasque and has converted to the Catholic Faith.
But her schedule also includes Palace Protocol, international court protocol, and diplomacy. She seems to have mastered the latter easily enough. In an interview with French journal Nice-Matin, she stated her preference to get involved in children and sports charities. This preference neatly keeps her out of the charity domains of her sisters-in-law. Already, she is involved in the Nelson Mandela Foundation which hopefully will profit from her increased international stature.
Though Prince Albert and Charlene announced their intention to have children, the issue isn’t of national importance anymore. The treaties between France and Monaco have been changed in 2002, guaranteeing the independence of Monaco even in the case where the princely line should fail. Currently, HRH Princess Caroline of Hannover is heir presumptive to Albert followed by her son Andrea Casiraghi.
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