FRIDAY, JULY 27
Prince Albert of Monaco and his South African bride, Princess Charlene, have been beset by scandalous rumours since they married a year ago.
Charlene, 20 years the Prince's junior, was even accused of trying to flee Monaco on the eve of the wedding.
And ever since, she's had to run the gauntlet of the scathing French media casting aspersions on her character, motives, dress sense, and even her ability to speak French.
oday, I sat down with them in London for a rare joint interview, which was full of surprises. First, they're the only royal couple to have competed in the Olympics – Albert as a part of Monaco's bobsleigh team (at five consecutive Games, no less), Charlene swimming for South Africa.
Second, Charlene's fantastically entertaining.
She spoke to me in French (better than mine), joked about the benefits of being a Princess ('I get to wear a tiara!'), mocked the 'fleeing' report ('I was shopping with my mother!') and later texted me a very funny joke John Cleese had sent her about Olympic countries as seen through their stereotypes.
Third, Albert, too, is a dark horse.
He has a rather dull image, which I fear rather comes with the job, but any man who can hurtle headfirst (he was the bobsleigh pilot, so the guy at the front) down an ice tunnel at 100mph, and woo a feisty, funny, very glamorous lady like Charlene, is not a boring man.
And something about the rumours/innuendos/trouble that the media created right before the wedding, something about Princess Charlene supposedly having left/jilted Prince Albert the day before, when in fact Princess Charlene said she had taken her mother shopping in Paris for new clothes, etc. Also, I recall Prince Albert speaking about the Princess Grace Foundation and all that it does, the millions they give away, the money they raise for the foundation, etc. And that was it. 
