Prince Albert of Monaco appeared in good spirits as he attended a presentation in the principality for the 2022 Winter Olympics today.
The 63-year-old royal donned a dapper black suit with a silver and blue striped tie while attending the event at the Monaco Yacht Club, which brought together athletes, trainers and organisers preparing to leave for China within two weeks.
His appearance comes after the Palais Princier announced his wife Princess Charlene is still some ‘months away’ from a full recovery.
In November, Charlene was admitted to a treatment facility in an undisclosed location within days of her return to Monaco following a 10-month absence in her native South Africa.
Her husband spoke out to say she is suffering from ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’, while friends recently told Page Six that the mother-of-two ‘almost died’ while she was in her hometown.
Prince Albert of Monaco, 63, (pictured) attended a presentation in the principality for the 2022 Winter Olympics today
A palace statement revealed Albert and the couple’s children (pictured) had plans to visit the princess during Christmas
Attending today’s occasion, Albert revealed Monaco skier Arnaud Alessandria will be the flagbearer for the principality.
Wearing his glasses when presenting a speech, the royal then donned a white face covering during part of the event.
Meanwhile, a palace statement released on December 23 revealed Albert and the couple’s children were planning to visit Charlene during the Christmas holidays, as well as asking for the family’s privacy to be respected.
It added that the princess ‘is recuperating in a satisfactory and reassuring manner, although it may take a few more months before her health has reached a full recovery.’
Ahead of December 25th, the mother-of-two shared a sketched Christmas portrait of her family and ‘wished everyone a beautiful and safe festive season’.
Today, Prince Albert (pictured) looked polished in a black suit with a silver and blue striped tie while attending the event at the Monaco Yacht Club
The 63-year-old royal was joined by athletes, trainers and organisers preparing to leave for China within two weeks
Prince Albert (pictured left) appeared in good spirits during the presentation of the Monegasque delegation for the Winter Olympics at the Monaco yacht club
The former Olympian took to Instagram to share her festive greeting with her followers, posting a colourful piece of artwork depicting herself in a golden gown when standing next to Prince Albert.
Her husband appeared equally charming in the drawing, sporting a navy suit with a light blue tie, while seven-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella donned all their finery for the image.
With the family posing next to an elaborately-decorated Christmas tree in the artwork, Charlene captioned the design: ‘Wishing everyone a beautiful and safe festive season, all my love.’
The royal missed the seventh birthday of her twins Gabriella and Jacques last month, but shared photos of the celebration on Instagram, writing: ‘Happy birthday my babies.
Princess Charlene shared a sketched Christmas portrait (pictured) of her family and ‘wished everyone a beautiful and safe festive season’ as she remains in a treatment facility
‘Thank you God for blessing me with such wonderful children. I’m truly blessed. Love mom.’
Speaking to Page Six, a source described as the royal’s friend said: ‘It is unfair that she is being portrayed as having some kind of mental or emotional issue.
‘We don’t know why the palace is downplaying that she almost died in South Africa.’
The source explained the royal had a severe ear, nose and throat infection, which resulted in ‘severe sinus and swallowing issues stemming from an earlier surgery’.
The royal missed the seventh birthday of her twins Gabriella and Jacques last month, but shared photos of the celebration on Instagram, writing: ‘Happy birthday my babies’
The friend added: ‘She has not been able to eat solid food in over six months because of all the surgeries she has since gone through. She has only been able to take in liquids through a straw, so she lost nearly half her body weight.’
Elsewhere friends of Princess Charlene gave Tatler a rare insight into what the royal is really like, insisting that the former swimmer is a force to be reckoned with.
One source rubbished any public perception that Charlene is ‘naive’ and trapped in an unhappy marriage with Albert, saying: ‘I don’t for one second think she did not know what she was doing when she married him.’
But one warned the mother of Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, seven, is not the type to be blindly controlled by the Monaco royal household.
‘Charlene is no Princess Di.’ one said. ‘She may come across as being extremely naïve, but nothing could be further from the truth. She is very good at keeping her smarts under wraps.’
Meanwhile Prince Albert has continued to make public appearances with their twins, Jacques and Gabriella. The trio attended a tree planting event in Monaco and the Monaco National Day celebrations, where the children held up heartrending signs saying, ‘Miss you Mommy’ and ‘Love you Mommy’.
Missing their mother: Meanwhile Prince Albert has continued to make public appearances with their twins, Jacques and Gabriella, who held up these signs to Charlene during the Monaco National Day celebrations on November 19
In interviews, Albert explained he had stepped up to play a bigger role in his children’s lives as the family copes with Charlene’s ongoing health issues.
Jacques and Gabriella are homeschooled at the palace after being taken out of the classroom due to Covid.
‘For me, it’s pretty simple – my priority is my family,’ he said in a recent interview. ‘Of course, without neglecting state affairs… I hope everyone understands that. When I can be with my kids, I do it without hesitation.
‘This is an extremely important time in their life – the way they grow up helps them see the world.
‘And if one of the parents is away for medical reasons, the other parent has to be there. I have heard too many friends and acquaintances telling me that they wish they had been there for their children, at a certain age, taken up by their work or their professional life. I don’t want to have these regrets.’
Charlene returned to her husband and twins Jacques and Gabriella in Monaco in November following a 10-month absence, while she recovered from surgery following a sinus infection she contracted during a solo charity trip to her native South Africa earlier this year.
In the days after her arrival, Charlene’s sister-in-law Chantell Wittstock, told MailOnline the princess may not be returning to the palace and did not plan to immediately return to public engagements, although she later retracted the remark.
Charlene’s time away followed fresh allegations last December that Albert had fathered a love-child (which would be his third, if proven) with an unnamed Brazilian woman during the time when he and Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer for South Africa, were already in a relationship.
Photographs of their reunion were greeted with a hefty dose of scepticism by the French media.
Albert was waiting for her at the Monte Carlo helipad, along with their twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques. The family were joined by a hand-picked photographer inside the Palace walls for the ‘reunion’ photos.
Albert said the family reunion in Monaco after she spent six months in her native South Africa initially went ‘pretty well’ in the first few hours, but it then became ‘pretty evident’ that Charlene was ‘unwell.’
He said the former Olympian ‘realised she needed help’, adding: ‘She was overwhelmed and couldn’t face official duties, life in general or even family life.’
Albert explained: ‘I’m probably going to say this several times, but this has nothing to do with our relationship. I want to make that very clear. These are not problems within our relationship; not with the relationship between a husband and wife. It’s of a different nature.’
He went on to tell the magazine her current state was a result of ‘several factors which are private’.
Albert continued: ‘She hadn’t slept well in a number of days and she wasn’t eating at all well. She has lost a lot of weight, which made her vulnerable to other potential ailments. A cold or the flu or God help us, COVID.’
He said it is ‘not cancer-related or personal relationship issue.’
He later confirmed Charlene has been admitted to a treatment facility for undisclosed medical issues, as she works through a period of ill health. The location of the facility was not confirmed, though several sources claim it is in Switzerland.
The prince also said rumours around the state of his marriage ‘don’t bother him too much’.
Doubts about the central relationship of Monaco’s royal family are not new.
Several residents living in the narrow medieval alleys of Monaco Ville confirmed to MailOnline that before she left for South Africa Charlene was spending most of her time outside the Palace, living in a modest two-bedroom apartment above an old chocolate factory about 300m away, rather than in the 12th Century Palace itself.
‘We often saw her outside the Palace and she would usually be alone or with a bodyguard,’ said one source, ‘but she was never with Albert – it was obvious she chose to spend most of her time in the apartment rather than the palace.’
Princess Charlene met Prince Albert in 2000 during a swimming competition in Monaco and the pair married in 2011, before welcoming twins Gabriella and Jacques in 2014.
Born in Rhodesia- a previously unrecongised state in Southern Africa colonised by the British, she relocated to South Africa aged 11.
She had a successful swimming career and went on to win three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1999 All Africa Games in Johannesburg, as well as representing South Africa at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games and winning a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay in the latter competition.
However the pair’s marriage has made numerous headlines over the years, with a third paternity suit emerging last year.
Soon afterwards Charlene infamously shaved half her head in the style of a punk rocker last December.
This was seen as the first public sign of a worsening crisis that could end in a multi-million pound divorce.
Charlene’s exile in South Africa began a month after it emerged last December that Albert was facing yet another paternity suit.
Prince Albert revealed in November that his wife had been admitted to a European treatment facility within days of her return to Monaco following a 10-month absence in her native South Africa. The royal looked frail in this Instagram post shared from South Africa in October
A Brazilian woman who cannot be named for legal reasons said her 15-year-old daughter was the result of an affair with Albert in 2004.
Albert and Charlene were not yet engaged at this time, but they had known each over for four years after meeting at a swimming gala in Monaco in 2000.
Lawyers for the claimant were scheduled to demand a DNA test from Albert at a court in Milan earlier this year, while his own counsel branded the action ‘a hoax’.
Neither party is now commenting, suggesting some kind of generous settlement may have been reached, as happened with Albert’s earlier love children.
They are Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, who is now 29 and the result of Albert’s affair with an American estate agent, and Alexandre Coste, 17, whose mother is a former Togolese air hostess.
Both children were struck off Monaco’s line of succession in return for vast financial settlements.
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