When the playboy prince and the Olympian said 'oui': How Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco had TWO wedding ceremonies 13 years ago - but their uneasy kiss and her tears hinted at trouble By Ed Holt and Harry Howard Published: 12:09 BST, 1 July 2024 | Updated: 12:17 BST, 1 July 2024 e-mail 2 View comments He was the playboy prince and she was the Olympic swimmer-turned-princess. Thirteen years ago, across two wedding ceremonies that cost a combined £53million with accompanying celebrations, Prince Albert of Monaco tied the knot with the then Charlene Wittstock. With a glittering 850-strong guest list that included Sir Roger Moore and Prince Edward , the religious ceremony on July 2 followed the civil nuptials a day earlier.
At the latter, Charlene stunned in an off-the-shoulder Armani dress boasting a six-metre train and studded with 40,000 Swarovski crystals and 20,000 mother of pearl tear drops. But the couple's uneasy kiss - and the fact that at one moment Charlene was in tears - perhaps betrayed the trouble that had already taken place and the further angst that was to come. Days before the big day, rumours began to circulate that Charlene had tried to flee the country on three occasions with a one-way ticket to Johannesburg.
And they spent the first night of their honeymoon in South Africa - the nation that Zimbabwe-born Charlene represented during her swimming career - in separate hotels. It was the celebrity event of the summer in 2011 when Albert II of Mon.
