23 June 2010

Monaco: Prince Albert II and Charlène Wittstock engaged

The Princely Court of Monaco announced today the engagement between Prince Albert II and his long-time girl-friend Charléne Lynette Wittstock. The wedding date has not yet been set.

Prince Albert, b. Monaco 14 March 1958, is the only son of Prince Rainier III (1923-2005) and Grace Kelly (1929-1982). Charlène Lynette Wittstock, who has competed for South Africa as a swimmer and is a former youth worker, was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) on 25 January 1978. She moved with her family (parents are Lynette and Mike Wittstock) to South Africa when she was 11 years old. I am sure that more details of the ancestry of Ms. Wittstock will be available before the wedding takes place.

The Sovereign Prince of Monaco has two children from earlier relationships - Alexandre Coste (b. 24 August 2003) and Jazmin Grimaldi (b. 4 March 1992).

Prince Albert brought Charlene Wittstock along for the royal wedding in Stockholm last weekend, something many interpreted as a sign that a formalization of their relationship was imminent.

Sources and references
  • Press release from the Princely Court of Monaco 23 June 2010
  • YourMonaco.com (date unknown; the subpage which partly gave information for the blog article has expired, hence the link has been made unactive)
  • New York Times 5 May 2005
  • A 'Princess Diaries' Moment for Prince Albert's daughter (The Washington Post 5 June 2006)
  • Bye to bachelorhood, Monaco's Prince Albert says (Associated Press 23 June 2010)
Corrected on Friday 25 June 2010 at 11.30 (Ms. Wittstock was originally presented as a former teacher, while according to the Court "youth worker" would be a more correct translation.). Last time updated on Monday 16 May 2011 (birth dates corrected, cf. the comments section below); Friday 23 May 2014 at 08.00 (link made unactive).

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2 comments:

  1. MarciaMonday, 16 May 2011 at 09:31:00 CEST

    check the math...Charlene was 11 when the Wittstocks moved from Zimbabwe to SA...1989.
    Here's more details on Mike's ancestry...
    http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/wittstock-4.pdf

    Another Mistake: Jazmin Grace's birthdate is March 4, 1992; not the 23rd.

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  2. Dag T. HoelsethMonday, 16 May 2011 at 11:28:00 CEST

    Thanks for your comments and for your corrections (although I am sure there could be nicer ways of making them).

    Not sure where I got the 23 March 1992 date from - it must have come from somewhere! But as one of the listed sources, The Washington Post, mentions 4 March 1992, and so do other sources I have checked today, it seems more likely to be correct. I know I have a copy of the birth certificate of Jazmin (Rotolo) Grimaldi somewhere as well, just can't find it right now.

    The ancestry table you linked to was of course not available when I wrote the blog article, but thanks a lot for providing it!

    DTH

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