Princess Charlene looked ‘isolated’ during first official engagement with Albert since November

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Princess Charlene of Monaco appeared ’emotionally isolated from an animated Prince Albert’ despite trying to ’emphasise her role as a loving wife’ during the couple’s first public appearance since November, a body language expert has claimed.

Former Olympic swimmer Charlene, 44, joined her husband Prince Albert, 64 and their twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, seven, at Monaco’s E-prix’s yesterday. 

They have rarely been seen together since Zimbabwean-born Charlene spent some 10 months in South Africa last year, after contracting a serious sinus infection during a solo charity trip. The illness left her hospitalised and delayed her return to Monaco. 

After returning to the principality last November, the mother-of-two almost immediately left and went to Switzerland to receive treatment for ‘exhaustion’.

Looking at the couple’s body language, expert Judi James told FEMAIL that Albert and Charlene were keeping their distance from one another, and that Charlene’s ‘pensive’ expression made her look ‘isolated’ from the rest of her upbeat family.

‘Charlene’s lack of mirroring makes her look emotionally isolated here, with her very sad-looking eye expression and her reflective or pensive gaze,’ Judi said. 

She added her expression made the royal ‘look distanced from her more animated family, despite the fact that she is standing with them and even cuddling her small daughter.’

In pictures taken from the event, Charlene could be seen standing behind Gabriella, with her hand – featuring her wedding and engagement ring – on her daughter’s chest. 

Judi added that keeping her hands across her daughter’s chest suggested that Charlene wanted to keep Gabriella ‘safe and loved, while also creating an emphatic focus on her wedding and engagement rings to emphasis her role as a loving wife.’ 

The body language expert also suggested that there was very little interaction between Albert and his wife, who have been plagued with rumours of marital discord since their wedding over 10 years ago.

The Monaco palace has consistently denied media reports of a rift between Charlene and Albert. 

Commenting on Charlene’s interactions yesterday, Judi said: ‘Her only verbal and non-verbal communication in these poses appear to be with her daughter and there are no signs of her using any eye-engage techniques with either her husband or the public.’

The expert also noted the Monaco princess’s smile was anything but joyful. 

‘If this can be called a smile it does not reach her eyes, whereas an authentic smile will tend to start in the eye expression,’ she said. 

‘Her mouth expression is asymmetric, pulled up very slightly at the right corner but in some shots the left corner is curled down. 

‘There is some puckering of the sides of the mouth in one pose but the incongruence of the mouth movement suggests she is conflicted here, perhaps trying to smile or thinking that she should, but failing,’ the expert added. 

However, Charlene’s pensive look differed greatly from her husband’s demeanour.  

‘Albert seems to try to look upbeat, waving to the crown palm-out and performing a social smile but neither the wave nor the smile is mimicked by Charlene,’ Judi said, adding that there was a lot of space between Albert and Charlene. 

Judi also noted how Charlene’s choice of outfit showed her attempt to look strong and confident.

‘Charlene’s choice of a tailored charcoal pants suit with padded shoulders suggests that, as a pre-planned intentional gesture, she was keen to project a sense of strength and confidence,’ she said. 

The expert noted it was a departure from the ethereal dress Charlene wore in the picture the Monaco royal family released for Easter. 

‘This is a stylish, more business-like outfit but she adopts a part-protective, part-self-hiding or shielded pose, standing behind her daughter with her hands folded across her chest,’ Judi said.

Yesterday’s event marked the first time the Monaco royals have been seen in public together as a family since Charlene returned to the principality following her treatment.

Charlene was pictured wearing an all-grey ensemble, pairing her trouser suit with a matching top. 

Her blonde crop was neatly coiffed, and she wore elegant make-up, including liquid eye liner and natural glossy lips.

She has faced a variety of health problems, including what the palace has previously referred to as a ‘state of profound general fatigue’ over the last year, which have kept her largely out of the public eye.

The Monaco palace has consistently denied media reports of a rift between Charlene and the principality’s ruler Prince Albert, who were wed in 2011.

Rumours the pair were incompatible were sparked from the outset, with Charlene attracting a barrage of attention over an apparent bad dose of pre-wedding jitters which, reportedly, saw her seeking refuge in her country’s embassy and gaining the moniker ‘the Runaway Bride’.

Charlene first had a 10-month absence in her native South Africa last year, where she contracted and was hospitalised for a serious sinus infection that delayed her return to Monaco.

She underwent surgery in October for an ear, nose and throat infection after checking in under a pseudonym in a Durban hospital, a palace source said at the time.

After her return to the principality in November, Charlene left almost immediately to receive treatment for ‘exhaustion’ at a Swiss clinic.

Friends previously told Page Six that the mother-of-two ‘almost died’ while she was in her home country, while her husband spoke out to say she is suffering from ‘exhaustion, both emotional and physical’.

‘She was clearly exhausted, physically and emotionally. She was overwhelmed and couldn’t face official duties, life in general or even family life,’ Albert told People magazine in November.

A palace statement released on December 23 revealed Albert and the couple’s children were planning to visit Charlene during the Christmas holidays, as well as asking for the family’s privacy to be respected.

It added that the princess ‘is recuperating in a satisfactory and reassuring manner, although it may take a few more months before her health has reached a full recovery.’

But distinguished royal journalist Stephane Bern has long speculated that Charlene’s litany of supposed health problems could simply be a cover-up to excuse her from participating in royal activities alongside her husband.

Bern said in January of last year, Charlene was expected to make a trip to visit French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, but suddenly came down with an illness.

‘The princess had contracted a sudden gastroenteritis,’ he said.

‘The Palace has had to invoke a suffering princess so often that the Monegasques today find it hard to believe. By crying wolf, the mother of Jacques and Gabriella has discredited and isolated herself.’

The couple released an official family portrait earlier this month to mark Easter. Judi note at the time that Albert looked ‘tense’ in the image, while highlighting the close bond shared by Charlene and her children.

Charlene and Albert’s marriage has made numerous headlines over the years, with a third paternity suit emerging in December 2020. 

Soon afterwards Charlene famously shaved half her head in the style of a punk rocker. Months later she left for South Africa.

The allegations in December 2020 claimed 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 were already in a relationship.

The woman said she met the prince in a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro in 2004 — when Charlene and Albert were supposedly dating. 

Her daughter, a 15-year-old Brazilian schoolgirl, sent a handwritten note in Portuguese to Prince Albert at the Royal Palace last September.

Albert’s legal team call the allegations ‘a hoax’ and the legal team of the woman concerned declined to comment. 

It was due to come to court in Milan in February but never commenced. Some believe the matter has been settled.

But the Prince has also fathered two other children outside of wedlock. Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, who is now 29 and the result of Albert’s affair with an American estate agent, and Alexandre Coste, 18, whose mother is a former Togolese air hostess.

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

Charlene has directly attempted to address the talk about a third possible love child.

She told Point de Vue magazine last January: ‘When my husband has problems, he tells me about it. I often tell him, ‘No matter what, I’m a thousand percent behind you. I’ll stand by you whatever you do, in good times or in bad.’