Princess Charlene of Monaco has shared a sketched Christmas portrait of her family and ‘wished everyone a beautiful and safe festive season’ as she remains in a treatment facility.
Today, the 43-year-old former Olympian took to Instagram to send her holiday greetings to her fans. She posted a colorful piece of art depicting her in a gold gown while standing beside Prince Albert.
Her husband appears equally charming in the drawing, sporting a navy suit with a light blue tie, while seven-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella don all their finery for the image.
With the family posing next to an elaborately-decorated Christmas tree in the artwork, Charlene captioned the design: ‘Wishing everyone a beautiful and safe festive season, all my love.’
Prince Albert revealed last month his wife had been admitted to a European treatment facility within days of her return to Monaco following a 10-month absence in her native South Africa.
He said she is suffering from ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’, while friends recently told Page Six that the mother-of-two ‘almost died’ while she was in her home country.
Princess Charlene of Monaco has shared a sketched Christmas portrait (pictured) of her family and ‘wished everyone a beautiful and safe festive season’ as she remains in a treatment facility
With the family posing next to an elaborately-decorated Christmas tree in the artwork, Charlene captioned the design (pictured): ‘Wishing everyone a beautiful and safe festive season, all my love.’
Prince Albert revealed last month his wife (pictured with her family upon her return to Monaco) had been admitted to a European treatment facility within days of her return to Monaco following a 10-month absence in her native South Africa .
In the drawing, Charlene rests her hand on Albert’s shoulder, while her other holds on to her daughter, who is dressed in a light pink frock.
She teams her elegant dress with golden shoes, matching her mother’s gem-encrusted, floor-length gown.
Meanwhile, her brother appears dashing in a blue blazer, navy trousers and a white shirt while standing next to the tree, which is covered in red and gold decorations.
Three colourful presents surround the family in the drawing. It’s currently unclear who created the portrait.
Announcing his wife had been admitted to a European treatment facility, Albert said she is suffering from ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’, while friends recently told Page Six that the mother-of-two ‘almost died’ while she was in South Africa.
The royal missed the seventh birthday of her twins Gabriella and Jacques but shared photos of the celebration on Instagram, writing: ‘Happy birthday my babies. Thank you God for blessing me with such wonderful children. I’m truly blessed. Love mom.’
Earlier this month, Princess Charlene of Monaco ‘s seven-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella attended a traditional Christmas event without their mother (pictured)
Also today, the Belgium royals posed for their yearly family photo before a Christmas tree, taken at the occasion of the Christmas concert, in the Throne Room at the Royal Palace in Brussels
Speaking to Page Six, a source described as the royal’s friend said: ‘It is unfair that she is being portrayed as having some kind of mental or emotional issue.
‘We don’t know why the palace is downplaying that she almost died in South Africa.’
The source explained the royal had a severe ear, nose and throat infection, which resulted in ‘severe sinus and swallowing issues stemming from an earlier surgery’.
The friend added: ‘She has not been able to eat solid food in over six months because of all the surgeries she has since gone through. She has only been able to take in liquids through a straw, so she lost nearly half her body weight.’
Elsewhere friends of Princess Charlene gave Tatler a rare insight into what the royal is really like, insisting that the former swimmer is a force to be reckoned with.
The royal (pictured upon her return to Monaco) missed the seventh birthday of her twins Gabriella and Jacques
One source rubbished any public perception that Charlene is ‘naive’ and trapped in an unhappy marriage with Albert, saying: ‘I don’t for one second think she did not know what she was doing when she married him.’
But one warned the mother of Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, seven, is not the type to be blindly controlled by the Monaco royal household.
‘Charlene is no Princess Di.’ one said. ‘She may come across as being extremely naïve, but nothing could be further from the truth. She is very good at keeping her smarts under wraps.’
Meanwhile Prince Albert has continued to make public appearances with their twins, Jacques and Gabriella. The trio attended a tree planting event in Monaco and the Monaco National Day celebrations, where the children held up heartrending signs saying, ‘Miss you Mommy’ and ‘Love you Mommy’.
Missing their mother: Meanwhile Prince Albert has continued to make public appearances with their twins, Jacques and Gabriella, who held up these signs to Charlene during the Monaco National Day celebrations on November 19
In interviews, Albert explained he had stepped up to play a bigger role in his children’s lives as the family copes with Charlene’s ongoing health issues.
Jacques and Gabriella are homeschooled at the palace after being taken out of the classroom due to Covid.
‘For me, it’s pretty simple – my priority is my family,’ he said in an interview this month. ‘Of course, without neglecting state affairs… I hope everyone understands that. When I can be with my kids, I do it without hesitation.
‘This is an extremely important time in their life – the way they grow up helps them see the world.
‘And if one of the parents is away for medical reasons, the other parent has to be there. I have heard too many friends and acquaintances telling me that they wish they had been there for their children, at a certain age, taken up by their work or their professional life. I don’t want to have these regrets.’
Charlene returned to her husband and twins Jacques and Gabriella in Monaco earlier this month following a 10-month absence, while she recovered from surgery following a sinus infection she contracted during a solo charity trip to her native South Africa earlier this year.
In the days after her arrival, Charlene’s sister-in-law Chantell Wittstock, told MailOnline the princess may not be returning to the palace and did not plan to immediately return to public engagements, although she later retracted the remark.
Charlene’s time away followed fresh allegations last December that Albert had fathered a love-child (which would be his third, if proven) with an unnamed Brazilian woman during the time when he and Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer for South Africa, were already in a relationship.
Photographs of their reunion earlier this month were greeted with a hefty dose of scepticism by the French media.
Albert was waiting for her at the Monte Carlo helipad, along with their twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques. The family were joined by a hand-picked photographer inside the Palace walls for the ‘reunion’ photos.
Albert said the family reunion in Monaco last week after she spent six months in her native South Africa initially went ‘pretty well’ in the first few hours, but it then became ‘pretty evident’ that Charlene was ‘unwell.’
He said the former Olympian ‘realised she needed help’, adding: ‘She was overwhelmed and couldn’t face official duties, life in general or even family life.’
Albert explained: ‘I’m probably going to say this several times, but this has nothing to do with our relationship. I want to make that very clear. These are not problems within our relationship; not with the relationship between a husband and wife. It’s of a different nature.’
He went on to tell the magazine her current state was a result of ‘several factors which are private’.
Albert continued: ‘She hadn’t slept well in a number of days and she wasn’t eating at all well. She has lost a lot of weight, which made her vulnerable to other potential ailments. A cold or the flu or God help us, COVID.’
He said it is ‘not cancer-related or personal relationship issue.’
He later confirmed Charlene has been admitted to a treatment facility for undisclosed medical issues, as she works through a period of ill health. The location of the facility was not confirmed, though several sources claim it is in Switzerland.
The prince also said rumours around the state of his marriage ‘don’t bother him too much’.
Doubts about the central relationship of Monaco’s royal family are not new.
Several residents living in the narrow medieval alleys of Monaco Ville confirmed to MailOnline that before she left for South Africa Charlene was spending most of her time outside the Palace, living in a modest two-bedroom apartment above an old chocolate factory about 300m away, rather than in the 12th Century Palace itself.
‘We often saw her outside the Palace and she would usually be alone or with a bodyguard,’ said one source, ‘but she was never with Albert – it was obvious she chose to spend most of her time in the apartment rather than the palace.’
Princess Charlene met Prince Albert in 2000 during a swimming competition in Monaco and the pair married in 2011, before welcoming twins Gabriella and Jacques in 2014.
Born in Rhodesia- a previously unrecongised state in Southern Africa colonised by the British, she relocated to South Africa aged 11.
She had a successful swimming career and went on to win three gold medals and a silver medal at the 1999 All Africa Games in Johannesburg, as well as representing South Africa at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games and winning a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay in the latter competition.
However the pair’s marriage has made numerous headlines over the years, with a third paternity suit emerging last year.
Soon afterwards Charlene infamously shaved half her head in the style of a punk rocker last December.
This was seen as the first public sign of a worsening crisis that could end in a multi-million pound divorce.
Charlene’s exile in South Africa began a month after it emerged last December that Albert was facing yet another paternity suit.
Prince Albert disclosed last month that his spouse had been admitted into a European rehabilitation facility in Monaco within days of her return after a 10-month absence from her home country, South Africa. In this October Instagram picture, the royal appears frail. It was taken in South Africa.
According to a Brazilian woman, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, her 15-year old daughter is the product of an affair she had with Albert in 2004.
Although Albert and Charlene weren’t yet engaged, they were already friends for over four years. They met at a Monaco swimming gala in 2000.
The claimant’s lawyers were to request a DNA test at Milan’s court earlier in the year. His own counsel called the move a hoax.
Both parties are not commenting now, which suggests that a generous settlement might have been reached as was the case with Albert’s former love children.
Jazmin Grace Grildi (now 29) and Alexandre Coste (17), are the results of Albert’s affair with an American agent for estates. Alexandre Coste was 17 when Alexandre’s mother is a former Togolese airline hostess.
They were both removed from Monaco’s succession for huge financial settlements.