Monaco denies report of Albert’s ‘runaway bride’

Monaco’s royal palace has denied a report that the fiancee of ruler Prince Albert tried to leave town a week before their wedding.

Charlene Wittstock, who is to marry the tiny French Riviera principality’s head of state on Saturday, went to the airport in nearby Nice last week to board a one-way flight for South Africa, where she grew up, the French weekly newspaper L’Express reported on its website.

The 53-year-old former playboy has had children with two previous lovers – and rumours are rife in the French press that Wittstock only learnt a few hours earlier about one of the children.

The magazine alleged that it took “infinite persuasion” by the prince and members of his entourage to convince the 33-year-old former swimming champion to change her mind.

The 53-year-old head of the House of Grimaldi met Wittstock in 2000 while attending an international swimming event in which she was competing.

Rumours are rife in the French press that Prince Albert’s fiancee only learnt a few hours before leaving for the airport about one of his children.

The palace firmly denied the tale, and the royal couple made a sudden inspection visit to the wedding site to be photographed arm-in-arm. The family’s lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, also announced that he intended to sue the newspaper for defamation.

But Lacoste later dropped his threat of legal action, saying L’Express had agreed to withdraw the article. The story was nevertheless still available on its website, unchanged apart from a mention to acknowledge the palace’s denial.

Prince Albert has ruled the small city-state surrounded on three sides by France since the death of his father in 2005.

The Monaco royal family has an unlucky matrimonial history. Albert’s mother, US film star Grace Kelly, died in a car crash in 1982 and her daughter Caroline lost her second husband Stephano Casiraghi in a motorboat accident in 1990.

The wedding is due to begin with a civil ceremony on Friday, followed by a Catholic religious ceremony and grand ball on Saturday.

Royal wedding

• 
  

  The latest Royal wedding in a line of colourful nuptials

  16 November 2010