Princess Charlene and Prince Albert of Monaco were all over the place this past weekend. I’m including some photos from the events they did (together!) in Monaco, including a charity fashion show (Charlene wore orange-brown pleats), the Monaco Grand Prix (Charlene wore black and white stripes, with some great red lipstick) and the Formula One gala (Charlene wore a black evening gown). Oh, and they did a photo op for a charity for disabled people too – that’s the turquoise outfit. She and Albert did several other events too, but these are the ones I wanted to cover.
I’ve looked through all of our photos, and my general thought is that Charlene is still not pregnant. But! She has gained a little weight, which does give her a slightly knocked-up air. While I think Charlene and Albert negotiate these dual public appearances and make smiley faces for the cameras, I don’t think Charlene wants Albert to touch her at all in private, and God knows, maybe the feeling is mutual. From what the “sources” in Monaco say, poor Charlene is just a glorified broodmare and everyone in Monaco is SO disappointed in her. You would comfort-eat too. Meanwhile, remember how that French magazine reported (last year) that Charlene tried to escape Monaco three times only to have her passport confiscated? Albert said he was going to sue. And now he has:
Prince Albert of Monaco and his wife have launched a legal battle for libel damages over a front page story that appeared in The Sunday Times. The couple, who married last July, are demanding unlimited damages of more than £300,000 from publishers Times Newspapers over a story headlined “The Full Filthy Monte”, which was published the day after their wedding.
The story claimed that Prince Albert was guilty of being complicit in serious criminality and deliberately turning a blind eye to wide-scale financial corruption throughout Monaco, according to the couple.
The couple say the story meant he turned a blind eye to severe police brutality and abuse of power, and overlooked the criminal actions of money launderers and mobsters, despite his promise in 2005 that he would root out corruption and clean up the city state.
According to their High Court claim, the story said Prince Albert deliberately cultivated links with individuals involved in organised crime, allowing himself to be blackmailed into providing them with unlawful financial or other benefits, in return for their promise not to expose secrets about his private life.
Prince Albert, the story claimed, had bribed his bride Charlene Grimaldi into a sham marriage, forcibly preventing her from leaving the country shortly before their wedding by telling police at Nice airport to take her passport as she tried to flee, after discovering the truth about him fathering an illegitimate child during their relationship.
The court will hear how the paper claimed his wife had agreed to take part in a sham marriage, not because she loved him but because he paid her so much money to go through the pretence of an extravagant wedding that she agreed, despite the illegitimate child.
The prince and princess say the story, which continued on two inside pages, caused substantial damage to their reputations, as well as considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment.
They are also demanding aggravated damages, saying The Sunday Times failed to check the claims with them first.
The story – which carried the subhead “Behind a fairy tale wedding in Monaco lies rumours of murky money, abuse of power and a reluctant bride” – was published in the most sensational and inflammatory manner possible, and the allegations were then widely republished, they claim.
Now they are seeking damages, and an injunction banning the repetition of the allegations at the centre of their lawsuit.
[Via The UK Press Gazette]
From what I remember of Albert’s reaction to the story, he was seriously pissed off and Charlene just looked like a hostage agreeing with her captor. I have to think that while Albert wants The Sunday Times to admit a mistake and allow him to be publicly vindicated, when you introduce this kind of thing into the legal system, it’s going to end up a hot mess… for Albert and Charlene. If libel cases in France are anything like the libel cases in America, won’t The Sunday Times have to “prove” that they got part or all of their story right? Which means they’ll have to present evidence that Charlene did in fact try to pull a runner before the wedding. Which might be kind of easy to prove, you know?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
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