Three escapes from the royal family, how does Europe's "most rebellious princess" fight against herself?
Some time ago, the royal fashion agency UFO (Unidentified Fashion Object) announced the 2022 royal women's dress fee list. The data released by the list often affects the public's perception of royals, such as Meghan, who has caused dissatisfaction among the British public for spending too much.
So who was at the top of last year's list? Not Meghan, who "quit the group chat", nor Princess Kate, who is getting better and better, but Princess Charlene, who has rarely appeared in recent years.
She sat at the top of the list with a record of 739,500 euros (about 5.44 million yuan), a full three times that of Princess Kate, and according to the data, her installation fees last year showed a rapid upward trend.
Of course, this cost is nothing for the Monegasque royal family. Monaco is small in size (the second smallest in the world), but its per capita GDP ranks first in the world. Charlene married Prince Albert II, with a personal net worth of US$1 billion (about 6.8 billion yuan), richer than the late Queen of England.
And the Monaco royal family has a long tradition of fashion. The Prince's mother is the "most beautiful princess" Grace Kelly; My sister's daughter, Princess Charlotte, has a close relationship with Chanel, and the picture of the princess riding a horse for the end of the show on Chanel's spring/summer 2022 haute couture show, I believe many people still remember.
(left) Rainier III and Princess Grace Kelly
(Right) Princess Charlotte Casirage on the Chanel show
Now, the title of "The Most Beautiful Princess" falls to Princess Charlene.
With a height of nearly 180 cm, it is not inferior to the beauty of the model, and he has a cold and proud aura when he controls haute couture. Therefore, every time Charlene makes a public appearance, she will exclaim: This is also too beautiful!
But as soon as the ranking came out this time, a different voice appeared on the Internet.
Some people feel that this is Charlene's "revenge consumption", she "fled" her hometown of South Africa for nearly ten months because she couldn't bear the prince's repeated cheating and betrayal, and only returned to Monaco in November 2021; Some people also think that she is just "imprisoned" in the deep palace to play the elegant princess, using gorgeous clothes to paralyze herself.
Married to the royal family for twelve years and escaped many times, the story of Princess Charlene may not be so simple.
Charlene was born into an ordinary family in Zimbabwe to a sales manager father and a former competitive diver and swimming coach. Under the influence of her mother, Charlene became interested in swimming from an early age and showed an unusual talent.
At the age of 12, she moved with her family to South Africa to become a professional athlete. The 1999 All Africa Games in Johannesburg was Charlene's highlight as she won three golds and one silver.
In the summer of 2000, Charlene represented South Africa at the Sydney Olympics, and it was during this competition that she was noticed by Albert II in the audience.
At the International Swimming Congress in Monaco that same year, Albert II appeared as a member of the International Olympic Committee, which led to the acquaintance of the two. But at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the two made their relationship public for the first time.
In 2006, Prince Albert II and Charlene watched the Women's Aquacross Championship
After that, Charlene did not give up her status as an athlete because of her love affair with Albert II, and still planned to advance her competitive career: joining a new training team; In 2007, she regained the title of South African 50m women's backstroke champion; He also planned to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but unfortunately did not qualify.
It wasn't until 2010 that Charlene officially announced her engagement that Charlene gradually retired from swimming.
On July 1, 2011, Charlene and Prince Albert II celebrated their status as swimmers to Princess of Monaco.
The ivory white wedding dress she wore at her wedding was designed by Giorgio Armani. The silhouette is simple and elegant, but embellished with 40,000 Swarovski crystals, 20,000 mother-of-pearl teardrop-shaped decorations, and 30,000 gemstones in a floral pattern.
About this wedding, there is also a behind-the-scenes "episode": the amorous prince suddenly broke out his illegitimate child before marriage. This caused Charlene to be upset and tried to run away from the marriage.
Later, the photo of her suspected tears at the wedding was also considered to be a resistance to the marriage. Because the online discussion was too intense, Princess Charlene personally refuted the rumors afterwards.
In fact, at the wedding, there is no lack of touching and warm pictures: maybe at some moments, Charlene also reveries a better future, right?
After marriage, Charlene opened her "fashion copy" -
The plain white dress at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, the Versace couture dress at the Monte-Carlo dinner, the stylish printed dress worn at the presentation of the F1 winners...
No matter what style and style of dress, she can control it perfectly, and there are many styles in it, which can even be described as "stunning".
As a former athlete, Charlene has also appeared regularly in various competitive sporting events. The fashionable and bold outfit completely subverts everyone's imagination of the princess.
But Charlene doesn't just show good taste through dressing, she also wants to "speak" herself through fashion.
In December 2020, Princess Charlene distributed gifts to children at the Royal Palace of Monaco, which was supposed to be a very warm thing, but her style caused a lot of discussion: with an African print jacket and a golden mask, her hair was shaved off half, quite punk!
Many netizens were dissatisfied with this, believing that this kind of dress was "unseemly" and "very humiliating" for members of the royal family.
But others also pointed out that this was Charlene's own way to express her dissatisfaction with the prince and the Monegasque royal family. Because in that year, the prince was revealed to have a third illegitimate son.
Charlene shared a photo on her Instagram (@hshprincesscharlene): ultra-short haircuts, smoky makeup, wearing traditional African clothing, pinching her nose with one hand and pointing directly at the camera with the other. The caption is: Rhino Horn is Not Cool!
In this way, she wants to appeal to the world to protect wildlife.
As a royal woman under heavy "high pressure", she cannot freely express herself through various channels, at least she can show her attitude and fight through her outfit.
In fact, Charlene has been fighting in her own way.
On the eve of the wedding, she took the opportunity of trying on a wedding dress in Paris to seek asylum at the South African Embassy in Paris; After that, he fled to the airport to try to fly back to South Africa, but failed.
In 2020, Prince Albert's third illegitimate son came to the door.
Unable to bear it, Charlene first shaved her hair, changed her punk look, and openly refused to attend the official event. Later, he returned to his hometown of South Africa and appeared at the memorial ceremony of the late Zulu King of South Africa. But after a 10-day friendly visit, she stayed for a long time, citing illness.
During the period of "escape from the royal family", Charlene no longer wore fancy clothes and did not have many activities; Instead, she put on a camouflage suit and ran on the front lines of wildlife protection, but she looked happier.
During this time, the prince also took the dragon and phoenix fetus to South Africa to visit the princess and took many warm photos, but Charlene still did not return to Monaco with them, and even directly missed the tenth anniversary with the prince.
Charlene once said in an interview that Monaco is a place that makes her feel very lonely. But under the pressure of power, how easy is it to leave?
Even without royal pressure, during the time when she "fled" South Africa alone, many netizens accused her of being "too ruthless" not to return to Monaco to take care of her children, or left a fluttering sentence "This is the result of her greed for wealth." Now that she has returned to Monaco, some people feel that she is not brave enough and greedy for power and money.
It seems that everyone passing by can say something to her, but no one cares about her helplessness, courage, and love to turn fame and fortune into charity.
From the gold medal athlete to becoming a princess, and now to the escape and resistance, Charlene also tells everyone with actions that as any "role", she is also herself, and she also has the right to choose the life she wants, and she fights not to be bound by the inherent morality of the so-called social role, let alone be wrapped up in public opinion.
As a woman, sometimes you have to learn to be "selfish", no matter how high your status and identity you are framed, you should plan for your life. Even if you can't change the status quo in a short period of time, having firm conviction and being able to act hard to fight is a kind of courage in itself.
I hope every girl has the courage to be herself and also have the ability to embrace life!
(Some images from online Instagram)
Editor-in-charge: Hyunko
Written by: Yui
Assistance: Jingqiu