Monaco’s newly-wed Princess Charlene vowed to carry out her royal duties in her own style but admitted adapting to the role was taking time, in an interview published in Monday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The 33-year-old South African married Prince Albert II in July amid reports in British newspapers that she had tried to run away before the big day, and the former Olympic swimmer took a swipe at her “enemies” in the British press.
The couple married weeks after Britain’s Prince William and Catherine Middleton tied the knot, but Charlene brushed off any comparisons between the two princesses, promising to “do it my way.”
“I think for anyone living in a new country and adapting to a new lifestyle, it’s a different role,” she told the British broadsheet at last week’s Paris Fashion Week.
“I’m just learning,” she continued. “I was an Olympic swimmer, I lived in a swimsuit, I lived on tour.”
Step by step
Charlene expects that her royal duties will eventually become a full-time occupation, but that she was taking time out to adjust at the moment.
The South African admitted her French was not up to scratch, but was coming along “step by step”.
The princess questioned “why?” when informed of the Telegraph‘s request for an interview, and joked she was “talking to the enemy” in light of the stories printed about her before the wedding.
Prince Albert and the Monaco government previously lashed out at media spreading what they describe as false rumours.
Claims that Charlene tried to leave the principality in a huff just days before the royal wedding were rejected by the palace and by Albert himself.
The media had reported that Princess Charlene interrupted preparations for the lavish celebrations and prepared to take a flight for her home country after rumours surfaced of infidelities by the prince. — Sapa-AFP