Here are some new photos of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene at the 50th anniversary of the Stade Nautique Rainier. It was a more low-key, casual event, thus Charlene is basically just wearing flats and a fancy summer dress in what I think is silk jersey. I can’t find the designer ID, but I’m going to guess…? I have no idea. Whoever did it, I like it very much. Usually I don’t care for too much beading and buttons and too much “extra” but this is just the right amount. I love that this dress looks very easy and effortless – we might have gotten ourselves a princess with some style! At this point, if Charlene simply went out without excessive buttons glued to every article of clothing, that would be an improvement over Duchess Kate.
As for the state of Charlene and Albert’s marriage and what we can assume from these photos… they look closer than they have in months. Maybe it was because the photo-op was so low-key, maybe it’s because Albert and Charlene have reached some kind of understanding (an heir for a divorce?), or maybe they’re working on their issues and things are going well. All I know is that Charlene doesn’t look so disgusted and drugged out in these photos. She seems sober-ish and lovely and almost like she’s shooting little love-glances at Albert. Maybe she’s a really good actress. I’m hoping against hope that they’ve worked something out and Charlene doesn’t look like she wants to eat red hot death.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Does she ever smile? I mean a real smile. Not that constipated grin she always has.
I really like that dress. From the earrings to the flats, she looks just wonderful.
Love the swimsuit courtesy to the princess. Where did that little girl come from?
Maybe I missed them, but I would like to see some two year old photos of Charlene to see if she had that “forlorned” soul look to her back then.
She looks GORGEOUS, in my opinion. SAD, but GORGEOUS!
…..and I want that dress!
She is stylish and beautiful. He is a disgusting little toad. Grace would be horrified by him and his gross behavior.
she always looks like she’s on the verge of barfing … ugh, he is so repulsive; and gets moreso with each photo.
Grace would not be horrified with Albert’s behaviour; she engaged in similiar before she left Hollywood, and she lived with similiar during her marriage.
And swimmers should never emphasize their shoulders.
She’s beautiful and the dress is very lovely, but someone get this woman some face powder. She’s always so shiny!
i have a similar more casual version of this dress, and I love it. She looks a bit waxy here, but otherwise pretty good. And maybe she has worked out something with him….good for them.
@SD_R_SR…ITA…”dewy” is one thing but her make-up is sliding off her face!
The dress is gorgeous.
Rita, I hope this works, I found a pic with Charlene really smiling.
http://www.life.com/gallery/62241/charlene-wittstock-monaco-princess#index/4
I like the dress, it looks nice and comfortable.
However, every time I see Charlene, I just can’t help but think that the plastic surgery is getting to be too much. The photos of her from her swimmer days are so startling. Was it her idea to start the journey to looking like Grace, or was it Albert and his people who thought it’d be nice to have a blonde, blue-eyed woman turn into his mother?
I wonder if Charlene’s constipated expression is not only because she’s sad about the situation she’s in, but also because she’s had so much damn botox and other surgeries on her face that her facial muscles can’t move to make her smile widely.
Her face looks okay if she doesn’t smile. It’s only when she tries to smile that her face looks like it’s about to splinter from being too tight and being injected with chemicals.
@MitchBuchananRocks
Thanks for the link. Really appreciate it. It seems Charlene’s smile has always been very subdued and her eyes a bit of the “raccoon”. She’s such a pretty gal but no radiance. Hope her demeanor is not a true reflection of what’s behind the fascade.
I don’t know who Mitch Buchanan is, but I know @MitchBuchananRocks, rocks. Thanks again.
Think the dress is lovely and she looks lovely in it.
OMG @Mitch buchanan rocks…..i had a look at the link you provided and i declare myself shocked. I had never seen pictures of the Prisoner bride before the engagement, and whilst i thought she looked unhappy at wedding etc i thought perhaps it was us [media, public etc] who were putting a huge spin on her situation. It is impossible to miss the huge difference in body language with the earlier pictures posted vs her body language now. Also, what has she done to her face???!!! it is so plastc, immobile. I assumed there was some botox but seriously, it”s like someone took a plastic mold of her original face and lips and put them on her. She has no spark, i think she is genuinely trying to smile, but her face is so frozen/plastic it is impossible, and of course her eyes are so incredibly sad. It is all very well to say that she made a pact, but it is not pleasant to watch nor would i wish her life on anyone. I feel immense pity, not that she would care for my sentiments, but there it is.
Charlene is lovely. The dress is probably much prettier in person than in these photographs, where the fabric looks like cheap polyester, the kind I can buy in bolts of 10 yards for only $25 at the downtown Los Angeles fabric mart.
The dress is great. The bald accessory is tacky though.
Great dress and she looks terrific. Kind of sad, but terrific.
Badrockandroll: you are exactly right about Grace Kelly before she left Hollywood. She had the habit of having an affair with her leading men; whether they were married or not. William Holden comes to mind.
@mitchbuchanan: Thanks for posting that link. My, she *has* changed!
It looks nice from a distance, but upon closer view, I think the bead work is too heavy.
I think also this is the wrong type of neckline for her… she looks like she was a ferocious swimmer… gal’s got some massive lats & delts (as from swimming the butterfly stroke- my kids swim this), & this halter emphasizes it. JMO.
I do agree that she looks more relaxed & comfortable. She is lovely.
Dress is a bit fussy on top but lovely fit.
Maybe they updated her chip;)
She is beautiful. Sad, but beautiful. What I can’t believe is that she’s a few years older than Kate! She looks so much younger.
Gorgeous gown as is she.
Why is she called “Princess Charlene” rather than “the Princess Albert” or “the Princess Grimaldi?” I thought in order to be a princess (or prince) you had to be born one? And that marriage didn’t make you one? Diana wasn’t a princess after her marriage to Charles.
Diana was Princess of Wales
http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/DianaPrincessofWales/Background.aspx
@McCormick:
The wife of Monaco’s reigning Prince (as in Ranier) is a Princess (Grace), so now it’s Albert & Charlene. Different set-up than England.
@Fue McCormick: Grace Kelly was Princess Grace after she married Albert’s father.
I like the dress. It looks comfortable and effortless.
I think the dress if fug. Something my 66 year old aunt would wear.
Dress looks fine – don’t even mind the beading/jewels. But when did Prince Albert start looking so old…..? This is the guy with the rep of a playboy heartbreaker. Now he just looks like a middle-aged, double chinned accountant from Boise Idaho.
Thanks Rita, Lak and Bluhare, the commenters on this site are the best 🙂
I love that she embraced the high fashion, dressing up part of being a princess even before she married Albert
she always looks like she saying to herself: “F*&k my life.”
the botox coma face makes everything meh.
@Fue McCormick
If you marry a prince, you are a princess. Just in Britain, they have this whole system of created titles which supplant the married title. Kate married Prince William of Wales, she is Princess William of Wales, so referring to her as a princess isn’t wrong. She is one. But they were created the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, so that’s the title they’re known by. As Camilla married the Prince of Wales, she is the Princess of Wales, but everyone hates her and would have revolted if she tried to use that title, so they created her the Duchess of Cornwall and that’s what everyone calls her.
“Married” vs. “born” princesses got out of hand (in the UK) when Prince Charles remarried. Princesses Anne and Alexandra, born princesses, refused to curtsey to Camilla. So they played the “born” card and got the precedence changed so that excepting major state functions, a born princess always outranks a married one. This way, they don’t have to curtsey to Camilla unless they all show up at the opening of Parliament. It will be interesting to see if Kate, when she becomes Princess of Wales, takes the traditional place of the PofW in the precedence, which would put her above everyone but Camilla, whether they’re married or not.
The key here is that though they tell us everything is fine with Camilla, the Windsors messed up their centuries-old precedence in order to not have to acknowledge her. I don’t think everything is fine.
That dress looks fit for a Grecian goddess! Divine colour, very flattering neckline, very tasteful beadword and I’d simply love to know who designed and made it, and what the fabric is. If there’s one dress Princess Charlene has worn that I’d like, this is it! I would have chosen different earrings though…pearl drop or gold tear drop.
I’m just zooming in on Charlene’s face. Dare I say she’s on that black eyeliner bandwagon? Not as extreme as the other princess in England, but still there?
The dress would have been lovely if it wasn’t for all that weird beading around the neck.
She also needs to stop looking so constipated. Then again look at who her role models were–the uber-constipated Caroline and Stephanie. 😛
Gorgeous dress, and I love the fact that she’s wearing flat sandals, or even flip flops! Hard to tell.