Princess Charlene of Monaco may NOT move back to the palace

Princess Charlene of Monaco may not live ​in her husband Albert’s palace following her return home and does not plan to immediately resume public engagements, MailOnline has learned.

Chantell Wittstock, Charlene’s sister-in-law and PR for her charitable Foundation in South Africa, said not only that it is ‘unclear’ whether the princess will be living full-time in the Palace, but also that her return to formal duties is dependent on her recovery from a mystery illness. 

Before she left in January, Charlene had raised eyebrows in Monaco by living in a modest two-bedroom apartment above an old chocolate factory about 300m away, rather than in the 12th Century Palace itself. It is thought she could return to living at the property. 

Asked whether the Princess would now return to the arm’s-length arrangement the couple had before her departure, Ms Wittstock, married to Charlene’s brother Sean, who is on the board of her charitable foundation, said: ‘Oh, we don’t know yet. She’ll probably be commuting between the two, wherever she’s comfortable.

‘And none of that is clear yet where she’ll be settling or anything like that. I mean, she only just arrived back, so it’s everybody finding their feet. The Princess is very excited to see her kids and they’re very excited to see their mom again.

‘So we’ll see where she’ll be settling. But it will be with her husband and her children.

Ms Wittstock, asked about media stories focusing on the state of her sister-in-law’s marriage to Prince Albert, added: ‘It is absolutely not something I can comment on. But what I can say is the princess is back in Monaco with her husband and children that should say it all.’ 

The claims will inevitably cast a shadow of doubt over the staged photocall earlier this week when Charlene was reunited with Albert, 63, and their children after a 10-month absence from Monaco. 

Charlene spent months without her family in her native South Africa while she recovered from surgery following a sinus infection she contracted during a solo charity trip earlier this year.

The reunion, shared on Instagram, was eyed with scepticism by French commentators amid feverish speculation about the state of the Grimaldis’ marriage.

Charlene’s time away followed fresh allegations last December that Albert had fathered a love-child (which would be his third, if proven) with an unnamed Brazilian woman during the time when he and Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer for South Africa, were already in a relationship.

On the question of Charlene’s return to public engagements, she sounded equally equivocal, saying: ‘She absolutely will – if everything goes well, if she is definitely still healing and recovering.

‘That doesn’t just happen overnight. She’s definitely going to be taking it easy. And yeah, her main focus right now will be spending time with her children and her family.

‘All we can say right now is all of her procedures in South Africa were a success. So medically the doctors have cleared her to fly back. And that’s why she’s obviously back in Monaco with her kids.’ 

She said the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, which promotes water safety and wildlife conservation in Africa, would soon expand to cover the whole continent.

‘The main reason for coming to Africa in the first place was to launch more Foundation projects, which is when she fell ill and the Foundation team in South Africa absolutely carried on with all of those, making sure that everything happened exactly the way she wanted it.

‘Even during recovery, in between procedures, the princess still tried to be completely hands-on and on the ground and work with us. The foundation will also be expanding into the whole of Africa as of next year.

‘As far as Charlene goes. The outlook is is positive and you know she’s going to get back to full strength and be full steam ahead. It’s not going to happen overnight.’

The new development will certainly add fuel to the intense speculation over the future of the marriage of Charlene and Albert.

Monday’s photos were greeted with a hefty dose of scepticism by the French media.

Albert was waiting for her at the Monte Carlo helipad, along with their six-year-old twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques. The family were joined by a hand-picked photographer inside the Palace walls for the ‘reunion’ photos.

But there was already doubt cast over the couple’s living arrangements.

‘Reunion of Albert and Charlene of Monaco: but where exactly do they sleep?’ was the headline question in the respected French celebrity outlet Gala on Tuesday.

And Voici – another popular magazine read widely across Monaco and France – ran with: ‘Charlene of Monaco back: the Princess breaks the silence and forgets to mention her husband’.

This was a reference to Charlene using a social media video to thank everybody who had helped her through months of ill-health, without name-checking Albert at all.

In the streets in the shadow of the 12th century Prince’s Palace, people could not conceal their concern for Charlene this week, having seen the photos of her looking so obviously frail.

‘We are glad to have her back, but she doesn’t look well and it feels we don’t yet have the full picture,’ said one cafe owner on the Rock, in his 50s, who asked not to be named.

He admitted that in years past, he like many Monegasques, had expressed frustration at the way Charlene has been less visible than other royals.

‘There was a while when there was a sense that she was a reluctant princess,’ he said, ‘but this is different – there’s obviously something not quite right either with her or the marriage and for whatever reason we’re not being told what.’

There certainly appears to be a wall of silence around Charlene, especially since she retreated behind the ramparts of the Palace, at least for the time being.

Her Palace press officer said she could not return calls from MailOnline and did not reply to a list of questions we sent her.

Doubts about the central relationship of Monaco’s royal family are not new of course. Several residents living in the narrow medieval alleys of Monaco Ville confirmed to MailOnline that before she left for South Africa Charlene was spending most of her time outside the Palace at the Chocolate factory apartment.

‘We often saw her outside the Palace and she would usually be alone or with a bodyguard,’ said one source, ‘but she was never with Albert – it was obvious she chose to spend most of her time in the apartment rather than the palace.’

Another Monte Carlo source who knows the couple well told MailOnline: ‘The way to stop all the friction and put an end to the speculation about their marriage is for Charlene to proudly move back into the Palace and start living like a proper Princess.

‘That’s what the people of Monaco want, because they love their Royals, and don’t want them living separate lives.’

Charlene came in for criticism before she travelled to South Africa for dividing her time between several properties outside the Palais, the official residence of the Sovereign, Albert II.

Instead of enjoying palatial rooms overlooking the Mediterranean, and a domestic staff including butlers and cooks, Charlene chose the Chocolate Factory.

It only had two bedrooms, and had been used in the past by Albert’s sister, Princess Stéphanie.

Stéphanie, 56, led an extremely turbulent personal life herself that included two divorces and high-profile affairs with security guards and an elephant trainer.

Charlene also escaped Royal protocol by staying at Roc Agel, a mountain retreat on the outskirts of Monaco originally restored for Albert’s late mother, the Hollywood star Grace Kelly who became Princess Grace before her tragic death in a car crash on the treacherously steep road approaching Roc Agel.

Charlene was also a frequent visitor to a holiday home owned by friends on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Paris Match, the celeb bible, has always had particularly close ties with the Grimaldis – the ancient dynasty now headed by Albert and Charlene.

‘Charlene and Albert on the Verge of Breaking Up?’ was the lead headline in an edition of Match in August.

‘There will be no photo for their 10th anniversary wedding anniversary,’ it noted.

All the high-end French publications – the kind that Albert and Charlene would normally grant fawning interviews to – concurred.

The upmarket and very conservative Madame Figaro ran with the stark headline: ‘Are Charlene and Albert II of Monaco on the verge of divorce?’

Historian and author Philippe Delorme told the magazine: ‘Lots of people got the impression it was an arranged marriage, it’s true.

‘Albert chose a wife who resembled his mother and Charlene clearly felt very ill at ease in this Grace Kelly role they wanted her to play.

‘As Karl Marx put it: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.’

The 2011 wedding itself was an ostentatious three-day event featuring a concert by the Eagles. But onlookers were concerned by photos of the bride in tears with her husband appearing distant, but Charlene insisted later she was just emotional.

Charlene has been notable by her absence from every single flagship event in the tax haven principality this year.

They have included the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23, and the Fashion Awards hosted by the Princess’s own charitable foundation on May 18.

Charlene infamously shaved half her head in the style of a punk rocker last December.

This was seen as the first public sign of a worsening crisis that could end in a multi-million pound divorce.

Charlene’s exile in South Africa began a month after it emerged last December that Albert was facing yet another paternity suit.

A Brazilian woman who cannot be named for legal reasons said her 15-year-old daughter was the result of an affair with Albert in 2004.

Albert and Charlene were not yet engaged at this time, but they had known each over for four years after meeting at a swimming gala in Monaco in 2000.

Lawyers for the claimant were scheduled to demand a DNA test from Albert at a court in Milan earlier this year, while his own counsel branded the action ‘a hoax’.

Neither party is now commenting, suggesting some kind of generous settlement may have been reached, as happened with Albert’s earlier love children.

They are Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, who is now 29 and the result of Albert’s affair with an American estate agent, and Alexandre Coste, 17, whose mother is a former Togolese air hostess.

Both children were struck off Monaco’s line of succession in return for vast financial settlements.