Caroline's Intricate Connection With Charlene
Could there be royal beef over stealing the spotlight? A gala boycott in protest of music choice? When it comes to Princess Caroline and Princess Charlene, it's a little complicated.
Transcript
00:00 Could there be royal beef over stealing the spotlight? A gala boycott in protest of music
00:05 choice? When it comes to Princess Caroline and Princess Charlene, it's a little complicated.
00:11 One of the reasons why Princess Caroline and Princess Charlene may not get along could
00:15 actually be tied to wounds of the past, particularly the tragic passing of Caroline's mother, Princess
00:20 Grace Kelly, after a car accident.
00:23 "You may recall that Princess Grace and her youngest daughter Stephanie were driving on
00:26 a mountainous road in southern France when their car went out of control."
00:30 Grace died one day later, while Stephanie survived. According to the Express, Caroline
00:34 reacted to this heartbreaking accident by stepping up and taking over her mother's first
00:39 lady position.
00:40 Reflecting on this dynamic, Caroline's father, Prince Renier, reportedly commented,
00:45 "After Grace's death, a miracle happened. Princess Caroline stepped into her mother's
00:50 shoes. She has the same spirit as her mother. The way she is handling the jobs I have given
00:54 her is a source of great satisfaction to me."
00:57 When Renier died and Prince Albert II took the throne in 2005, Caroline remained in this
01:02 role. At the time, Albert was a bachelor, known by many as the "Playboy Prince." Because
01:07 of this, Caroline likely assumed she would always be Monaco's de facto first lady.
01:12 As royal expert Brittany Barger told the Express,
01:15 "Albert took quite a while to settle down, so maybe Caroline thought he never settled
01:20 down and she'd have that role forever."
01:22 Because of this, when Albert did eventually fall for Charlene, tensions supposedly ran
01:27 high. Barger continued,
01:28 "When Charlene came on the scene and married Albert, Caroline had to take a step back."
01:34 After this transition, Princess Caroline was likely caught off guard. Not only would Charlene
01:38 be taking over many of her royal duties, but the newly crowned royal would also be getting
01:43 most of the spotlight.
01:44 Speaking to the Express about this complicated dynamic, Barger explained,
01:48 "You have to remember that when Renier and Grace's children were young, they were all
01:52 popular with the media and closely followed."
01:55 As long as Caroline continued to be the most highly ranked woman in the royal family, she
01:59 would continue to receive all sorts of attention. Unfortunately, though, most of the public's
02:04 overall interest in Caroline slowed down once it became clear that there was a new princess
02:08 in town.
02:09 From the moment that Prince Albert announced his engagement, Charlene was hounded by the
02:13 European tabloid press. Articles about her diet, workout routines, and fashion choices
02:18 popped up left and right. Meanwhile, interest in Caroline just couldn't compare. The former
02:23 leading gal was getting lost among newer, fresher faces.
02:26 As Barger told the Express,
02:28 "Caroline was the first lady of sorts for many years until Albert married Charlene.
02:33 She was the one at his side, getting all the publicity."
02:35 Losing that sense of relevancy might have been complicated for Caroline. To make things
02:39 even more tense, rumors of jealousy abounded as the veteran princess made room for the
02:44 newcomer.
02:45 When Princess Charlene and Prince Albert were getting ready to walk down the aisle in 2011,
02:50 they were, unsurprisingly, dealing with a lot.
02:53 "It is a lot of work, and it has been a lot of work, and a lot of, sometimes, slightly
02:59 difficult moments."
03:00 Of course, rumblings about their romance ran rampant. Some claimed that Albert begged Charlene
03:05 to go through with the royal wedding so that she could eventually give him a legitimate
03:08 heir. Others yet whispered that the bride had tried to flee Monaco three times leading
03:13 up to her big day. And inevitably, there was gossip that Caroline did not support the wedding
03:18 because she was too jealous that Charlene would be taking over her first lady role.
03:22 At the time, the princess' palace of Monaco did everything in its power to combat these
03:27 narratives, even suing the French tabloid L'Express for perpetuating rumors of a runaway
03:32 bride.
03:33 As for the Caroline story, however, it seems that the palace tried to mitigate those whispers
03:37 in a more subtle way. Leading up to the wedding, Charlene told Vogue that in lieu of a tiara,
03:42 she would be wearing some beautiful diamond hair clips on loan from Caroline. And at least
03:47 one royal expert believes that the palace orchestrated the stunt to quell rumors of
03:51 a feud. Commenting on this dynamic with the Express, Brittani Barger hinted that the borrowed
03:56 hairpiece was supposed to show the world that Charlene and Caroline were fast friends. In
04:00 reality, though, it's hard to know what the former first lady meant when she lent Charlene
04:04 her diamonds.
04:06 If the prince's palace of Monaco really did try to stop chatter about Princess Charlene
04:11 and Princess Caroline's relationship before the wedding, its efforts failed miserably.
04:16 Diamond hair clips or not, there was no shortage of speculation about Charlene and Caroline's
04:20 so-called feud, and apparently, tensions between the women overflowed prior to the ceremony.
04:26 As chronicled in Arlene Pinslew's book, "Charlene in Search of a Princess," the trouble started
04:31 when South African photographer David Crichton claimed to have obtained footage of the two
04:35 women fighting. Speaking to "Rapport," Crichton alleged that Charlene and Caroline argued
04:40 over Princess Grace Kelly's engagement ring. Apparently, Charlene had wanted to wear it
04:44 at the wedding, only to find that Caroline disapproved. In the end, it is impossible
04:49 to verify whether or not this argument ever took place. Crichton never released his footage
04:54 to the press, claiming that the palace wanted to buy his silence. Either way, Caroline has
04:58 hinted at the discord that plagued the royal family leading up to the wedding. She once
05:03 told People,
05:04 "There were huge arguments, not between us, but with everybody. I think then there was
05:08 an epidemic among a lot of people that between ourselves we now call 'Monaco fever.'"
05:14 A pre-wedding argument was not the only thing that photographer David Crichton claimed to
05:18 uncover prior to the wedding. He also alleged that Princess Caroline had come up with a
05:22 mean nickname to describe her new rival. According to Arlene Pinslew's aforementioned biography,
05:28 Crichton claimed to the press that Caroline and her younger sister, Princess Stephanie,
05:32 would refer to Princess Charlene as "Princess Barbie," and it wasn't meant as a compliment.
05:36 "I think you have that the wrong way around."
05:38 Apparently, the Grimaldi girls' closest friends began using the nickname as well. Although
05:43 it is impossible to verify these claims, the reality is that Charlene did not have an easy
05:48 time adjusting to royal life. When she married Prince Albert and moved into the palace, the
05:52 blonde royal bride struggled to gain acceptance into Montagasque society. As one royal tipster
05:58 told the Daily Beast, people are embarrassed by her. There was a hope that she could introduce
06:03 some glamour, but now most people just feel she is tacky.
06:06 Interestingly, Charlene herself has admitted to having very few allies in her new royal
06:11 home. In an interview with Tatler, the princess confessed,
06:14 "Although I have met some wonderful people since I've been living in Monaco, I regard
06:18 them all as acquaintances. I only have two people I consider friends here."
06:22 And while one would think that these two friends would be her new sister's-in-law, Charlene
06:26 did not name Caroline or Stephanie as her confidants.
06:30 If things between Princess Caroline and her sister-in-law started out tense, the dynamic
06:34 presumably went through a shake-up when Princess Charlene and Prince Albert had twins. On December
06:39 10, 2014, the Zimbabwe-born royal welcomed Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella to the
06:45 world. While the twins' birth should have been purely a cause for celebration, their
06:49 existence proved more complicated for Caroline. After all, they indelibly changed the family's
06:54 line of succession. Caroline and her kids were bumped out.
06:57 Before the royal twins entered the picture, Caroline was first in line for the throne,
07:01 while her son, Andrea Casaraghi, was second. Of course, it is worth noting that Caroline
07:06 never seemed too keen to wear the crown herself. However, many people believed that she had
07:11 high hopes for Andrea to one day become the ruling prince of Monaco. Because of this,
07:16 Caroline may not have been particularly pleased to see Jacques and Gabriella come into the
07:20 world and dash her hopes of seeing Andrea on the throne.
07:23 As Brittany Barger divulged in her interview with The Express, this dynamic may have increased
07:28 tensions between Caroline and Charlene even more. Barger explained,
07:32 "You have to also remember that until Charlene, Caroline was first in line to the throne,
07:36 followed by her children. Until Albert married Charlene and they had their twins, Caroline
07:41 stood a real chance to be on the throne."
07:44 At the end of the day, though, Princess Caroline appears way less interested in actually ruling
07:48 Monaco than in shaping the country's next ruler. Since her own son no longer has very
07:52 good chances of sitting on the throne, Caroline has apparently grown increasingly involved
07:57 with the new heir, Prince Jacques, and his sister, Princess Gabriella. As one royal insider
08:02 told Woman's Day,
08:03 "She's determined to mold the twins, especially Jacques, the heir apparent, to her idea of
08:08 what a little prince should be."
08:09 In practice, this means that Caroline has possibly gotten involved with Gabriella and
08:13 Jacques' schooling, despite Princess Charlene's objections.
08:17 According to the same royal insider,
08:19 "Recently, Caroline took it upon herself to call the headmistress of their old school
08:23 to discuss their socialization. The twins are currently educated at home at Charlene's
08:27 request."
08:28 This attempt to override Charlene's parenting choices did not play too well with the twins'
08:32 protective mother. The insider claimed,
08:35 "Charlene is frantic to see that Caroline is taking over influence on her twins."
08:39 Interestingly, it has been suggested that the ruling princess does not want to let her
08:43 children grow up amid all the pressures of the palace. As the source told Woman's Day,
08:48 "She's realized not only is life in Monaco toxic for herself, but she worries about how
08:52 it might affect her seven-year-old twins, who are growing up with all kinds of pressures,
08:56 tugged in all directions, far from the real world."
09:00 Much of the rumored friction between Princess Charlene and Princess Caroline is said to
09:04 pertain to big-picture issues, like who gets to perform certain royal duties or educate
09:09 the next heir. Even so, there seems to be quite a bit of pettiness between the two women.
09:14 At one point, it was even reported that Caroline supposedly boycotted a gala because she didn't
09:19 like Charlene's taste in music, something that music nerds everywhere can probably appreciate.
09:24 "Guys, it's not."
09:25 "No, we're not."
09:26 As reported by Page Six in 2014, the trouble started when Charlene was planning Monaco's
09:32 annual Red Cross Ball. The event, which has been an integral part of the Monagasque social
09:36 scene since 1948, tends to be a major fundraiser, and Charlene wanted to book a musical guest
09:42 that the crowds would never forget. Because of this, she thought of inviting the jazz
09:46 pianist and singer Diana Kral to perform at the event. In the end, though, this choice
09:50 backfired. No thanks to Caroline. Apparently, the older princess was so opposed to the idea
09:55 of letting Kral perform at the Red Cross Ball that she decided to scratch the gala from
10:00 her calendar altogether. As soon as Caroline announced that she would be skipping the ball,
10:04 a flood of other socialites RSVP'd no. Princess Stephanie, Charlotte Kazaragi, Lynn Wyatt,
10:11 and Karl Lagerfeld all followed suit.
10:14 Based on that account of the Red Cross Ball incident, it sounds like Princess Caroline
10:18 does not always feel the need to attend events organized by Princess Charlene. And interestingly,
10:23 she does not seem particularly keen on including Charlene in her own events, either. As reported
10:28 by the German outlet Bild, Charlene did not attend the 2023 Rose Ball, which is considered
10:33 one of Monaco's biggest society events. Although it's hard to say exactly why the princess
10:38 missed this major gala, the outlet hinted that the royal family considers the event
10:42 Caroline's territory, meaning that Charlene was expected to make herself scarce.
10:46 Fascinatingly, the Princess Palace of Monaco was quick to explain away Charlene's absence.
10:51 As reported by News24, the palace released an official statement clarifying that the
10:56 princess was away on a work trip during the festivities. Charlene was in Dubai, where
11:00 she's currently in the process of setting up her foundation. She's hands-on with it,
11:04 and it's not the first time she's missed the Rose Ball for work. She has the full support
11:08 of Albert.
11:09 That being said, one does have to wonder if Charlene's trip to Dubai wasn't scheduled
11:13 in such a way that she would conveniently miss her rival's gala. This isn't the first
11:18 time that she had missed the event, and most likely won't be her last, either.
11:22 Although Princess Caroline and Princess Charlene seem to be far from being best buds, the two
11:26 have tried to improve their public relationship. As reported by the German publication Bunte,
11:32 2023 has seen the pair making more of an effort to stand together at royal events. In fact,
11:37 on May 31st of that year, Caroline and Charlene were spotted standing side-by-side at a memorial
11:42 for the late Prince Renier. Per Bunte, this was one of the first times that the duo was
11:47 seen together in public since 2020, although it is worth noting that Charlene withdrew
11:52 from the public eye shortly after that after suffering health issues.
11:56 While this event marks one of the few recent instances where Caroline and Charlene had
12:00 been photographed together, it also stands as a reminder that the two women are both
12:04 Grimaldis, and as far as they are concerned, the crown must come before any sort of private
12:09 problems, including their alleged feud.
12:12 [music]