#moment #joy #Albert #Charlene #Monaco #celebrate #ninth #birthday #twins #today
- Charlene gave birth to twins, Jacques and Gabriella, on December 10, 2014
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These have not been easy times for Monegasque royals.
But today is a happier occasion for Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco, who celebrating the ninth birthday of their twins.
Princess Gabriella Thérèse Marie and Prince Jacques Honoré Rainier were born on December 10, 2014, by caesarean section at the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco.
Expressing her joy at the time, Charlene declared herself to be ‘crazy in love’ with the ‘magical’ twins .
‘What I can tell you is that they are both very active and very expressive,’ she told a magazine. ‘They are beautiful, adorable.’
Twins, Princess Gabriella Thérèse Marie and Prince Jacques Honoré Rainier, were born on December 10, 2014
Prince Albert and his wife Charlene posing with their twin babies Jacques and Gabriella at the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco on December 22, 2014
The ‘bans des jumeaux’, the official announcement of the birth of baby twins to Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco
She also told of the moment the children arrived and admitted to some nerves over the health of the babies who, she explained, had arrived two weeks early.
‘At first, I was happy to hear their first cries,’ she said. ‘I was obviously a bit overwhelmed with emotion.
‘Every second with them is magical. I look forward to spending more time in their presence.’
Gabriella was born first at 5.04pm, with her twin brother following two minutes later, a statement from the palace confirmed at the time.
However, while Jacques is a few minutes younger than his twin sister, Monaco is still governed by male-preference primogeniture meaning that eldest son inherits the throne over any older sisters.
It is only if a female heir has no eligible brothers or brothers with surviving male descendants that she will take the throne.
Their births were celebrated with 21 cannon shots each, 15 minutes of church bells and boat horns.
Princess Charlene of Monaco (pictured) has returned home after a visit to her native country, South Africa. The royal attended a dance evening with the Monegasque Seniors’ Association
She is one of the most photographed women in the world, but there were no pictures of Charlene in Monaco between January 2021 March 2022. She said that a sinus issue had prevented her from flying
The twins were formally presented to the public on January 7, 2015 and the date has since become recognised as a public holiday in Monaco.
But while Charlene and Prince Albert may have been in a heartwarming baby bubble this time all those years ago, in recent years, rumours have swirled that the royal couple could be on the rocks.
The Monegasque royal recently returned to Monaco after a solo trip to her native South Africa where she was visiting family.
The trip marked her first visit to the country since 2021 when she suffered a horror illness which kept her away from her husband and eight-year-old twins for several months because she was unable to fly.
During her most recent visit, she revealed in an interview that she is tired of hearing rumours of trouble in her marriage to 65-year-old Albert, and admitted she has no idea where they come from.
The comments come after she told a publication in Monaco that she is ‘serene and happy’ in her marriage – denying rumours that surfaced in German and French media that she was now ‘living in Switzerland’ and that her marriage was ‘ceremonial’.
Speculation about the couple’s marriage was further fuelled this summer when Charlene deleted her Instagram account.
However, the mother-of-two shut down speculation around her decision, claiming it was purely to protect the privacy of her children.
She revealed she wants to keep the twins away from the ‘pressure’ of life in the public eye for as long as possible – although she admits they are already picking things up.
Speaking about the close-knit siblings, she said she is ‘grateful’ to know they will always be there for one another.
Reports that Prince Albert and Princess Charlene’s relationship was on shaky ground date back to their wedding day in 2011 when she was dubbed the ‘Runaway Bride’ by French media for reportedly trying to flee before the ceremony.
In 2021, Princess Charlene’s extended visit to South Africa once again fired up the rumour mill, as she was not seen in Monaco for ten months.
Upon her return to the principality, Albert claimed she was ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘unwell’, telling People magazine that it became ‘pretty evident’ a few hours after Charlene’s return that she was ‘unwell’, before going to Switzerland for further treatment.
Reports that Prince Albert and Princess Charlene’s relationship was on shaky ground date back to their wedding day in 2011 when she was dubbed the ‘Runaway Bride’
Charlene has described rumours about trouble in her marriage to Prince Albert as ‘exhausting’
The mother-of-two said she deleted her Instagram account to protect her family’s privacy
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.’
The prince said the final decision-making process about treatment involved an intervention-style meeting with family members, explaining: ‘I sat her down with her brothers and a sister-in-law. She had already made her decision, and we only wanted her to confirm it in front of us. She wanted this.
‘She already knew the best thing to do was to go and have a rest and have a real medically framed treatment. And not in Monaco. For privacy reasons, it would have to be someplace outside of Monaco.’
Meanwhile, he revealed Gabriella and Jacques would ‘visit’ Charlene once they had the ‘medical go-ahead’, saying the twins ‘knew she was tired’ and ‘not quite herself’.