Charlene - 2022 News & Events

[Future Crayon]

This thread is turning ugly Charlene obviously isn’t book-smart but she was a successful and skilled athlete which counts as being successful IMO Also we have no way of knowing how the Grimaldi’s and Caroline’s children would have turned out if they weren’t part of two rich families. Stephanie ran away to join a circus IIRC. She and Caroline are mostly known for their scandalous private lives. It’s great to see their children and private life work well but that certainly was not always the case.

Also I find it reflects extremely poorly on the board to write about a person with obvious serious mental and health issues that they’re “thinking crazy” I would think most here were beyond stigmatising people with mental issues like that. Take it elsewhere. We sure don’t want to host discussions like that.

Totally agreed. Also, this is Woman's Day - at best they are reporting pure speculation, dusted with some nasty palace leaks. Famously, they covered Mary and Fred's coronation...



and Kate's best friendship with Angelina Jolie...

[anneboleyn]

JMO the children and Monaco are (and have proved during her over a year absence) better off without her. 

This is such a sad thing to say. There is nothing about Charlene to indicate her children are better off without her. She seems like a very loving mother and the kids seem to adore her. None of us know the true story and speculating is harmful.

I knew a man who struggled with mental health and his ex wife told him the kids would be better off without him and he committed suicide.

Words are powerful and can do great damage.

[Paulina]

JMO the children and Monaco are (and have proved during her over a year absence) better off without her. 

This is such a sad thing to say. There is nothing about Charlene to indicate her children are better off without her. She seems like a very loving mother and the kids seem to adore her. None of us know the true story and speculating is harmful.

I knew a man who struggled with mental health and his ex wife told him the kids would be better off without him and he committed suicide.

Words are powerful and can do great damage.

This is very true. My best friend of 50+ years still struggles with her mother's suicide when we were ten. Among the folks saying my friend would be better off without her were her own parents and her ex husband. Two years later, said ex husband drank himself to death and friend found the body. She still deals with grief and some level of confusion to this day, even though she has a lovely teenager and has forgiven her parents for their choices.

A "good enough" parent is fine. Those kids need whatever Charlene is available to them. It's unfortunate Charlene did not connect with her husband's sisters. To be raised with influences of aunties and cousins and other relatives is a boon for kids. Caroline and Stephanie, whatever their messy personal lives, have consistently shown up in their duty to their country. Honestly, I think Stephanie is a solid person and of all the royals I'd like to hang out with, it's her. She seems to be a wonderful mother and close to her kids.

[perdie]

JMO the children and Monaco are (and have proved during her over a year absence) better off without her.  

This is such a sad thing to say. There is nothing about Charlene to indicate her children are better off without her. She seems like a very loving mother and the kids seem to adore her. None of us know the true story and speculating is harmful.

I knew a man who struggled with mental health and his ex wife told him the kids would be better off without him and he committed suicide.

Words are powerful and can do great damage.

Very true, especially the BIB.

I feel very sorry for Charlene.  If this report is true, it seems that she perhaps blames her current problems on her royal status and seeks to protect her children from that with its intense attention (with perhaps a side of guilt that others have been carrying out her role as mother).  That's very understandable, and in fact it's that inescapable attention on growing children and the lack of choice that is one of my main reasons for being against monarchy.  However, it's not her choice and if anything, the children will likely do better growing up knowing what is going to happen, which is what Caroline is trying to do.

Edit: It's also worth remembering that there's a fairly good chance that Jacques will move from heir to monarch when he's still young.  It's likely he won't have the time to slowly come to terms to his fate in his 30s like William in the UK did. 

[Countess of Cows]

Having watched our niece (who refuses to stay on meds) scar her children for life with her manic scenes, lies, manipulations, broken promises, sudden disappearances and chaotic returns I really believe when she lost custody, moved out of state and forgot they existed was the best thing for them.

  They now are thriving in a peaceful home with their father and step mother looking forward to college and a bright future.  No thanks to her since she stole their SS# and ruined their credit.  When she is in town they refuse to see her, they were small but they still remember her mental abuse. Everyone thought she was a good mother, only finding out later when she wasn't smothering them with overwelming attention she was neglecting to feed them.  In reality they were merely poker chips in her sick games. When she lost her control, she never gave them another thought, no birthday calls, no Xmas presents NADA, she can't use them, she walked away.  How are children to be expected to process these behaviors when even the adults are at a loss.  I just hope the twins are being protected and she stays on her meds.

[ralf103]

I imagine every royal parent has contemplated taking their kids as far a way as possible from the country they are from.  I don't see anything wrong with it or blame Charlene for suggesting it (if she did), let's also not forget that the Monaco RF out of all the others do spend a lot of time out of "their" country - the home in the mountains above Monaco, the French estate, Paris, never mind South Africa and as Monaco is so small it must be even more intense than being a royal in say the Netherlands, Denmark or the UK - there really is no where to hide.

What worries me a little is, Charlene has to accept that though she herself may be able to take as little part in royal life as possible, Jacques certainly can not and keeping him away from it all forever is not an option. It will do him more harm than good to be isolated from it, living in another country and having little to do with Monaco. Of course, there are plenty of royal children who attend schools outside their home country and this may be the best option for the twins IMO - maybe a boarding school in Switzerland which offered flexi-boarding so Charlene can spend some time in Switzerland and have them with her but they can board when she is away in SA or hopefully at least some of the time in Monaco or France with Albert.

I don't have anything bad to say about Charlene, no one can help having mental health issues. It isn't her fault, she hasn't done something wrong. But she and the whole family must also put the twins first, their long term future as well as the here and now and that may mean doing things that aren't exactly what Charlene wants or needs. She needs to accept that the rest of the family has to continue with the royal side of their life even if she doesn't want to herself, compromise is key. She seems a good mum who loves her kids to me, she will IMO give them a very good grounding and do wonderful down to earth things with them while Albert will have to take on much more preparing the chidlren, Jacques especially, for the royal side of life.

[anneboleyn]

Having watched our niece (who refuses to stay on meds) scar her children for life with her manic scenes, lies, manipulations, broken promises, sudden disappearances and chaotic returns I really believe when she lost custody, moved out of state and forgot they existed was the best thing for them.

  They now are thriving in a peaceful home with their father and step mother looking forward to college and a bright future.  No thanks to her since she stole their SS# and ruined their credit.  When she is in town they refuse to see her, they were small but they still remember her mental abuse. Everyone thought she was a good mother, only finding out later when she wasn't smothering them with overwelming attention she was neglecting to feed them.  In reality they were merely poker chips in her sick games. When she lost her control, she never gave them another thought, no birthday calls, no Xmas presents NADA, she can't use them, she walked away.  How are children to be expected to process these behaviors when even the adults are at a loss.  I just hope the twins are being protected and she stays on her meds.

That’s incredibly sad but you can’t compare that to this situation. We have zero idea what kind of mother Charlene is. All we have to go off of is what she shows and she seems to be a wonderful, loving mother.

Mental health does not change that.

[Future Crayon]

Charlene does appear to be a loving mother who is clearly struggling with serious health issues and deserving of every support.

I am suspicious of the article because 1, it's a trashy tabloid, and 2, it feeds into the none to subtle "Albert=superdad, Caroline=superaunt, Charlene=unstable, better off in SA" narrative which has been gently emitted by the court over the last several months.

[getafix]

I don’t pretend to know what’s going on with her mental state to judge this situation very well. But, from a cursory glance, there seems to be a simple answer to her fears.

Stay in Monaco with your children so that you and their father are the influence and not a pushy Aunt?

What a sad state of affairs.

congrants LW!! 

G

[Lady Willoughby]

I don’t pretend to know what’s going on with her mental state to judge this situation very well. But, from a cursory glance, there seems to be a simple answer to her fears.

Stay in Monaco with your children so that you and their father are the influence and not a pushy Aunt?

What a sad state of affairs.

congrants LW!! 

G

 

I don’t even have a speech prepared.

[Hester]

This thread is turning ugly Charlene obviously isn’t book-smart but she was a successful and skilled athlete which counts as being successful IMO Also we have no way of knowing how the Grimaldi’s and Caroline’s children would have turned out if they weren’t part of two rich families. Stephanie ran away to join a circus IIRC. She and Caroline are mostly known for their scandalous private lives. It’s great to see their children and private life work well but that certainly was not always the case.

Also I find it reflects extremely poorly on the board to write about a person with obvious serious mental and health issues that they’re “thinking crazy” I would think most here were beyond stigmatising people with mental issues like that. Take it elsewhere. We sure don’t want to host discussions like that.

Seconded in spades.

[Emac0914]

This thread is turning ugly Charlene obviously isn’t book-smart but she was a successful and skilled athlete which counts as being successful IMO Also we have no way of knowing how the Grimaldi’s and Caroline’s children would have turned out if they weren’t part of two rich families. Stephanie ran away to join a circus IIRC. She and Caroline are mostly known for their scandalous private lives. It’s great to see their children and private life work well but that certainly was not always the case.

Also I find it reflects extremely poorly on the board to write about a person with obvious serious mental and health issues that they’re “thinking crazy” I would think most here were beyond stigmatising people with mental issues like that. Take it elsewhere. We sure don’t want to host discussions like that.

Seconded in spades.

I’ll third that - mental health is no laughing matter.  So much of what’s reported in the “news” and the “rags” that are called publications are speculation to sell ads and make money.  There seems to be so little reliable sources for real news nowadays that how can anyone feed into what we don’t know is true or false.  I wish the Monaco royal household would publish something to put a stop to all this and let them be, especially for the sake of those children.

[getafix]

I don’t pretend to know what’s going on with her mental state to judge this situation very well. But, from a cursory glance, there seems to be a simple answer to her fears.

Stay in Monaco with your children so that you and their father are the influence and not a pushy Aunt?

What a sad state of affairs.

congrants LW!! 

G

 

I don’t even have a speech prepared.

I know someone who could write a word salad for ya

G

[onar]

Charlene seems to be a loving mother, close to her kids.
Take them away from Monaco, from the family they know so far and taking Jacq away from the country he will (possibly) rule one day is not reaistic, is not good for them and causes unecessary fuss. I hope the article is not true but it wouldn't surprise me Charlene thinking that way. She never cared for Monaco, she didn't seem to try and she seems so far away from the rest of her hubby's family. However, the kids seem to be comfortable with their aunts and cousins, they definitely love their daddy and I'm sure all have tried to creat a balanced environment for them so taking them away from what they know so far is not a wise choice.

[loveofenglishtradition]

There is much speculation going on how Charlene will take up her life again in Monaco after her return. "Vanity Fair" Italy and a paper called "Voici" wrote that she presently is living at the Roc Agel house where she always has liked to live. She doesn't want to return to live in the palace and has mentioned the word "divorce" for the first time. Albert allegedly does not want a divorce. But knowing that she would not get custody of the twins they have to agree to a compromise. No divorce but living separately, she at Roc Agel and seeing her children as often as possible. She probably will not take up her official duties again, part of that probably led to her illness IMO. That's a problem Albert will have to solve.

These articles don't mention anything negative about Caroline. I thought that quite nasty and cannot believe it being true. It was good and nice of Albert's sisters to take care of the twins while their mother was ill.

I hope that they find a compromise which is good for all of them, I just cannot imagine Charlene returning to the same life which was not a happy one and where she suffered a lot.