Charlene Lynette Wittstock, a former South African Olympic swimmer who, after marrying Prince Albert II of Monaco, became Princess of Monaco, celebrated her birthday on January 25.
She was born in 1978 in Bulowayo, Zimbabwe to her parents Michael and Lynette Wittstock and located with her family to South Africa, in 1989.
She represented South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, with her team finishing fifth in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay and retired from competitive swimming in 2007.
It was swimming that brought her and Prince Albert together in 2000, when she traveled to Monaco for a swimming competition.
Charlene and Prince Albert’s relationship became public when they were together at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
They announced their engagement in June 2010, and were married on July 1, 2011.
The couple’s twins were born on December 10, 2014.
Princess Gabriella Therese Marie was born first, at 5:04pm and Monaco’s hereditary prince Jacques two minutes later.
