Prince Albert breaks his silence on split rumours from Princess Charlene

Prince Albert of Monaco has revealed Princess Charlene is ‘excited and happy’ about the royal project to restore the palace amid rumours their marriage is on the rocks.

The Monagasque royal, 65, claimed his wife, 45, ‘shares the joy’ of the eight-year-long project in which Italian renaissance frescoes within the palace were brought back to life after other royals had covered them over with paint.

The prince was speaking for the first time since the palace was forced to issue a statement denying rumours the couple were in the process of a divorce.

After French publication ROYAUTÉ announced their 12-year marriage was coming to an end, a spokesman said the couple ‘formally deny the malicious rumours peddled by the magazine’.

In recent weeks the couple have put on a united front at events around the principality, including a memorial mass service for Prince Albert’s late father, Prince Rainier, last week.

Prince Albert has revealed his wife Princess Charlene is ‘excited and happy’ about a project to restore frescoes in the Monagasque Palace which took eight years to complete, following rumours their marriage was on the rocks (pictured last month at the Woman of the Year awards)

Speaking to Hello! magazine from the palace as the restored works were unveiled, Prince Albert, who shares eight-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella with Charlene, suggested his wife was enthusiastic about the project.

When asked about his South African-born wife, he said: ‘Princess Charlene was excited and happy that we were able to carry out this work. Last year, she was showing some of her guests the state apartments and really enjoyed showing them the frescoes.

‘It shows how much she cares about the project and her desire to share the family’s joy regarding these beautiful works.’

When split rumours first emerged last month, royal fans also noticed former Olympic swimmer Charlene had stepped out during a solo trip to Milan without her wedding ring. 

However, later that day, the couple made a joint appearance at the Monte Carlo Woman of the Year awards, where Charlene appeared to be wearing her wedding ring – pouring cold water on the split rumours. 

The royal couple share eight-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella (pictured in September 2022) 

The plot seemed to thicken at Prince Albert’s next royal engagement, when he attended the Rose Ball in Monaco without his wife present.

Elsewhere in his interview, Prince Albert referred to his late mother, Hollywood star Grace Kelly, who first began to decorate the palace when she moved to Monaco following her marriage to Prince Rainier.

Describing his mother as a woman with ‘assured taste’, he said he believed his parents were watching over him and his family and that they would ‘encourage us to continue on this path’.

The pair’s relationship timeline has hardly been smooth sailing; rumours about the state of their marriage began to swirl after Charlene was absent from Monaco for most of 2021 while having medical treatment in her native South Africa.

The mother-of-two was admitted to a Swiss clinic to be treated for exhaustion on her return – but is now back in full swing with royal duties and public appearances.

Charlene and Albert – who share eight-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella – married in July 2011 after the prince proposed with a handcrafted pear-cut diamond flanked by smaller diamonds designed by Paris-based Italian jeweller Repossi.

Later, during the wedding service, the couple exchanged 18-carat white gold platinum rings by Cartier, with Charlene laughing as she placed the ring on her husband’s finger.

At the time of the wedding, Charlene was dubbed the ‘Runaway Bride’ by the French media after allegedly trying to flee before the ceremony, but the reports were always denied. 

A Parisian news magazine reported that Charlene had been stopped at Nice airport after allegedly learning a ‘distressing’ revelation about her future husband’s private life.

A senior Monaco detective claimed at the time: ‘Charlene had her passport confiscated so that the Prince’s entourage could persuade her to stay’.

The rumour mill in France went into overdrive. Charlene had, it was suggested, heard talk of another illegitimate child, conceived when she was dating Prince Albert in 2005, and who would bring his tally of children born out of wedlock to three.

But the Princess would go on to dismiss the ‘hilarious’ rumours. She said: ‘Why would he go through all this effort to have our dearest friends come join us, for us to be reluctant?’