Princess Charlene of Monaco has given plenty of peeks into her family life with Prince Albert of Monaco II and their two children.
The couple share twins Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, nine, and have spoken in rare interviews about their roles as “mum and dad.”
From their 2011 wedding, to welcoming the twins in 2014 and introducing them to royal life, Charlene and Albert have juggled their royal roles and parenthood seamlessly.
Albert has gushed about his wife’s incredible transition into motherhood when Gabriella and Jacques were born in 2014, calling her a very “eager” mum.
Meanwhile, Charlene shares regular updates on their little family to her Instagram account, where she posts surprisingly normal family snaps.
And the couple have even found a way to navigate their relationships with Albert’s two older children, who were born before he and Charlene wed.
Keep reading as we take a look inside Albert and Charlene’s best family moments…
South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock became Princess Charlene of Monaco on July 1, 2011, when she married Prince Albert II of Monaco. The former Olympian said “I do” to her prince in the Throne Room of the Prince’s Palace and started her royal life that day.
Just a few years later in March 2014 the royal couple announced they were expecting. They released a short statement at the time, detailing their “immense joy” knowing they would soon welcome a child. Then, just a few months later, there was more exciting news: Albert and Charlene were expecting twins!
Prince Albert and Princess Charlene welcomed their twins, Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès, and Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, on December 10, 2014.
Jaques became his father’s heir apparent the moment he was born, and the twins were Charlene’s first children. Albert had already fathered two older children before he and Charlene wed.
The royal children were presented to the Monegasque people for the first time on January 7, 2015, much to the delight of the public. They were later baptised at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco on May 10, 2015 and their parents couldn’t have looked prouder.
Charlene immediately took to motherhood, according to her husband Albert. “She’s very eager to be with her children at all times. She’s up with the kids at six and takes them through the morning. Every day,” he told People in 2015.
Albert went on to say: “I don’t think they would be as smiling and happy as they are if she weren’t as good a mother as she is.”
The 63-year-old talked about his children again in 2017, telling People about his then-two-year-olds’ boundless energy.
He said: “They’re jumping around. Talking more every day. They’re singing a lot. Lots of nursery rhymes. English and French. They’re currently doing ‘Daddy Fingers.’ We get that a lot. They watch a lot of videos. And Hickory, Dickory, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes is still popular.”
“Like all children they sometimes can be a little abrupt, a little hard even in their exchanges, but they support each other unconditionally,” Charlene said of her twins in a 2019 interview with French magazine Point de Vue. “When all is well, then nothing and no one can stop them.”
In that same 2019 interview, the South African-born beauty shared a very relatable parenting confession: “When I’m alone with them, the kids fight over who will sleep with Mum. They love to climb into our bed, suddenly we find ourselves a little cramped. And all this without counting our two dogs, Poppy and Harley!”
The royal family celebrated the twins’ sixth birthday together in December 2020, while Monaco was still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. They marked the occasion with a surprisingly normal-looking party, complete with two cakes and a plate of cupcakes – lucky Gabriella and Jacques!
Once little Jacques and Gabriella turned seven in 2021, they made regular appearances on their mother’s Instagram account. Cute snaps like these dot her profile, showing the close bond between the twins. Charlene shared this image with a single heart emoji as the caption.
The children have also started accompanying their parents to royal engagements more regularly as they get older.
In this snap, shared to Charlene’s Instagram, the twins wore masks as they attended the christening of the Monaco maritime police boat named Princess Gabriella. Named in honour of the young princess, Charlene captioned the photo: “Congratulations my baby girl.”
The royals also spend time with their wider families. In June 2021, Charlene and Albert took their children to South Africa to visit Charlene’s brother, Sean Wittstock, and his family for his daughter Aiva-Grace’s birthday, who was turning five.
Prince Albert also has two older children, both born out of wedlock before he and Charlene married. His eldest child is Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, who was born in 1992 after her mother, Tamara Rotolo, had a three-week fling with the Monegasque prince the year prior.
Jazmin didn’t meet her father until she was 11, when she travelled to Monaco from her home in the US with her mother. Albert later acknowledged her as his daughter publicly in 2014, and she now shares a close bond with him. She works as a singer and actress in the US, but shares updates on their relationship on social media from time to time.
Jazmin, 29, spoke about her relationship with her father in 2015, telling Harper’s Bazaar: “I was 14, getting ready to go to high school, when it hit the media that my father had a daughter, and it was me. It’s a difficult time for any young adult, and it was an adjustment to have that attention. But I knew it was going to come someday.”
“I wanted that moment to connect with my father, to get to know him, and to have him get to know me. Not having had that figure around, I missed that. It’s wonderful that it happened when it did, and we’ve been enjoying a great relationship ever since.”
Prince Albert’s other child is Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, who was born in 2003 after his mother, Nicole Coste, met Albert on a plane. She was a flight attendant in 1997 when she met the royal on a plane and they exchanged numbers, then began a secret relationship.
The pair continued their affair for six years, until Albert’s father Prince Rainier III allegedly ordered him to put it to an end. Initially, Albert refused to acknowledge Alexandre until a DNA test proved the boy was his son. Even after a DNA test, Albert resisted before eventually acknowledging the paternity test and his son after a legal battle.
In 2017, Albert’s two older children shared their first photo together in honour of Alexandre’s 14th birthday. Jazmin posted the selfie on Instagram with a French caption, which translated to: “Happy birthday my brother!! fourteen years old!!!”
As for Charlene, she is said to have accepted Albert’s two elder children and has embraced them as part of the family.
Charlene was sadly separated from her children for much of 2021, as she battled a lengthy illness in South Africa and was unable to return home to Monaco to visit them. Fortunately, Albert brought Gabriella and Jacques to Charlene’s home country to visit while she recovered, resulting in this sweet family portrait.
The princess finally returned home in November 2021 and was reunited with her family, captioning this joyful photo: “Happy day today. Thank you all for keeping me strong !! ❤”
When Charlene had to step back from public duties to continue her recovery, Gabriella and Jacques made sure to support their mum with these sweet home-made signs they held aloft at a national holiday event in 2021.
The twins celebrated their 7th birthday on December 10, 2021 marking the occasion with balloons and cake at one of Monaco’s royal residences. Princess Charlene captioned this touching photo of her children: “Happy birthday my babies. Thank you God for blessing me with such wonderful children. I’m truly blessed. Love mom❤️”
Another photo showed the children surrounded by party decorations and grinning as they prepared to blow out the candles on their cake.
Charlene returned to public life in April 2022, posing with her family for a sunny Easter portrait while she sported a new cropped hairstyle.
Gabriella was all smiles as she cuddled up to her mum at the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in April 2022, but little Jacques didn’t look too impressed.
The princess was spotted out and about with her family again in May 2022, planting a sweet kiss on son Jacques’ cheek as she cuddled up to her twins.
Charlene tied her twins’ outfits in with her blue jumpsuit for another appearance during the 2022 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco.
The doting mum also shared this touching behind-the-scenes photos of her and Prince Albert’s children.
School uniforms October 2022
The twins were “growing so fast ♥️♥️” as they donned their school uniforms in October 2022.
National Day of Monaco
Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella delighted fans with their corresponding outfits to mark National Day of Monaco in 2022. The former donned a red coat with black detailing and cute hat, while the latter adorned a black military jacket with red cuffs.
The royal family looked happier than ever when they took part in a celebration held on May 31, 2023 to mark the birth of the late Prince Rainer III.
In December 2023, the family were spotted in a rare photograph together during Monaco’s National Day.
Every year the Monaco royal family releases an official holiday greeting card, and their 2024 photo is much less formal than in previous years.
