Royal Profile: 35 Facts of Princess Charlene of Monaco
- Charlene Lynette Wittstock was born on 25th January 1978 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Africa {Source}
- She is the eldest child and only daughter of Michael Kenneth & Lynette Wittstock {Source}
- She has two younger brothers, Gareth (1980) & Sean Wittstock (1983) {Source}
- She learned to swim by the time she was 3 years old, because a dog had pushed her into the pool accidentally.
- She began to swim competitively by the time she was 8 years old.
- When she was just six years old, she told her mother that she was going to one day win an Olympic Medal for swimming (She came close! See point #10!)
- In 1989, her family moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa {Source}
- She developed a passion for swimming at a very early age {Source}
- When she was 18 years old, she became South Africa's Swimming Champion {Source}
- She competed in the 2000 Sydney Olyfmpic Games, where South Africa came in 5th in her event.{Source}
- In 2000, she won the gold medal for the 200m backstroke event at the "Marenostrum" international swimming meeting in Monaco{Source}
- She won three gold medals at the swimming World Cup (50m and 100m crawl, 4x100m relay) {Source}
- During the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, she won the silver medal during the (4x100m medley relay) Source}
- She is of German, South African, English and Rhodesian descent{Source}.
- Her father is German-South African {Source}.
- Her mother is English-Rhodesian {Source}.
- She began dating Prince Albert in 2006 {Source}
- They were first spotted publicly at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy {Photos}
- They became engaged in 2010, and married in 2011{Source}
- Upon her marriage, she became Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco{Source}.
- Also upon her marriage, she became stepmother to Albert's two illegitimate children, his 20 year old daughter with American Tamra Rotolo, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi & his 9 year old son with French-Togolese Nicole Coste, Alexandre Eric Stephane Coste {Source}.
- While living in South Africa, she gave swimming lessons to underprivileged children {Source}.
- She holds honors from Poland {Source} and Monaco{Source}.
- Her Astrological sign is Aquarius {Source}
- She is said to be 5 Feet, 10 Inches Tall {Source}
- She holds many honorary presidencies and patronages, including:
- Ladies Lunch Monte-Carlo (since 2009, Honorary President){Source}
- The Nelson Mandela Foundation{Source}
- Born Free Foundation (since 2010, patron){Source}
- Special Olympics (Global Ambassador, 2011; Patroness Monaco & South Africa, 2010){Source}
- The Giving Organization Trust (Co-Patron, 2011){Source}
- AS Rugby Monaco (Patron, 2012){Source}
- MONA Association (Honorary President, 2012){Source}
- The Princess Charlene Foundation (President, 2012) {Source}
- In her free time, she likes to hike in the mountains, and go swimming {Source}
- She also read poetry & biographies by South African authors, and view contemporary art{Source}
- She speaks English and Afrikaans fluently, and can say a few things in French (Before you get critical on me about her saying only a few things in french, remember this: Learning a new language takes time. Grace wasn't fluent in French until her children could talk! And even then she had issues!){video source (at 1:08)}
- She is a recipient of the 2011 Golden Heart Award {Source}
- During a visit to Poland in October 2012, she was awarded the (1st class) Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland {Source}
- In November 2012, she was awarded the Grand Cross Order of St. Charles {Source}
- From 2007-2009 at least she had a dog that was reportedly a gift from Albert that she named Monac {Photo}. However, this dog has yet to be seen since 2009-I have an odd feeling that her mother inherited the dog....but that's another story. ;-)
- As of last St. Devote day celebrations of 2012, it was revealed that she had a new dog, named Mila {Photo of Mila with her parents on the balcony during the celebrations of St. Devote} However, Mila has less of a public life than Lupo Cambridge! We have yet to see Mila since her 2012 balcony appearance.
- She was a recipient of the 2012 YOU Spectacular Great South African of the Year Award, which was accepted on her behalf by her brother, Sean {Source}.
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