Did Charlene and Albert spend honeymoon in different hotels?

It was the biggest event to hit Monaco since Princess Grace wed Prince Rainier III, but Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco's 2 July marriage is already being turned into fodder for the rumour mill - and the latest reports suggest the new bride spent her honeymoon in a hotel 10 miles away from her husband's.

It follows news that Albert, 53, and Charlene, 33, returned home early from their South African holiday so he could undertake DNA tests in part of a possible multi-million pound paternity claim.

Reports of the tests sparked stories online that Charlene attempted to 'escape' the Mediterranean three times before their glittering wedding.

Now, according to the Daily Mail, the third biggest selling newspaper in South Africa, City Press, has 'stirred up the scandal' by providing revelations about their first trip as man and wife.

The paper says that journalist Gavin Prins wrote: 'It was supposed to be their fairytale honeymoon in Africa, but Princess Charlene slept alone in a bedroom 16km from her prince.'

The couple were expected to be staying in a £4,000-a-night suite at the luxurious Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks, near Durban.

Billionaire Albert was said to have booked the President's Suite, set on two floors with an ornate-leafed bed, its own swimming pool and a free-standing marble bath overlooking the Indian Ocean.

But Mr Prins reported that Charlene in fact stayed all alone in a cheaper suite, while Albert went off to sleep 10 miles away.

He wrote: 'It has been confirmed by hotel spokesperson Joanne Hayes that Princess Charlene stayed in the Buthelezi suite... Prince Albert stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Durban.'

The report even suggested that when the couple 'met President Jacob Zuma they arrived in the same car but left in two separate vehicles'.

Despite confirmation that the DNA tests will take place, and that they had a pre-wedding crisis, Charlene told the latest edition of American Vogue magazine: 'It is a shame that those rumours came at such a bad time, but I think they were timed to sabotage such a happy occasion.

'They are categorical lies. I won't dignify them with any response other than to say that the photographs of me and Albert in love and getting married will speak louder than any vicious gossip and empty rumours.'

Albert already has a six-year-old son named Alexandre with Togolese former air hostess Nicole Coste, and a 19-year-old daughter, Jazmin, with Tamara Rotolo, an American estate agent.

Related articles

Royal Monaco wedding rocked by claims wife-to-be tried to flee