Park the party? Princess Charlene of Monaco set to mark 46th birthday with low-key celebrations, after claims by former palace accountant that she hired 'illegal immigrants' on £90-a-day

Princess Charlene of Monaco will mark her 46th birthday today but, in light of recent revelations about the royal’s spending habits, celebrations are likely to be more muted than planned.

The former Olympic swimmer has been back on the royal front line in recent months, appearing to have put her health woes and rumours of marital strife behind her.

Indeed, in a recent magazine interview with Monaco Matin, the princess said she was feeling ‘serene and happy’.

However, claims this week by a former royal accountant to the Monegasque household about the South African-born royal’s spending habits are likely to have put any big party plans on hold.

Princess Charlene at the traditional Monaco picnic in Monaco in 2023

Princess Charlene with Prince Albert and their children

lbert II, Prince of Monaco and Charlene, Princess of Monaco applaud prior to the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between England and South Africa last year

South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock takes off in the Womens Senior 200m backstroke in 1999

South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock, French downhill gold medalist Antoine Deneriaz and Prince Albert II of Monaco at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. This is where Charlene and Albert made their debut as a couple

Claude Palmero, 67, was in charge of palace finances for more than two decades but stepped down in July after he was targeted by an anti-corruption website.

He claimed Princess Charlene hired illegal immigrants on less than £90-a-day while her personal spending allowance rocketed to more than £1million-a-year.

The claims are the latest blow for Prince Albert and his wife, who’ve faced a tumultuous few years.

In September, Charlene dismissed the talk of marriage troubles – which date back to before her 2011 wedding to Albert – as ‘exhausting’.

Before their marriage, French media dubbed her the ‘Runaway bride’ for reportedly trying to flee Monaco before the ceremony (which she later dismissed as ‘categorical lies’).

Perhaps it was the fact that they seemed like an unlikely pairing: the statuesque South African Olympian and the Mediterranean royal who, despite being the son of Grace Kelly, manages to look like a staid accountant.

Yet Zimbabwe-born Charlene Wittstock has said that the connection was instant when she met the scion of the Grimaldi family at a Monte Carlo swimming competition in 2000.

‘I was 22 and focused,’ Charlene, who competed in the Sydney Olympic games that same year, told Tatler magazine.

‘I wasn’t in the emotional place for a relationship. But the moment I met Albert, I felt a profound sense of destiny.

‘I have been quoted as saying I felt weak at the knees. That is a slightly trite way of phrasing it, but it is true – I knew he was the one.’

Six years later the pair made their debut as a couple at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics, and four years later they were engaged.

But what should have been a happy time was overshadowed by the prince’s complicated private life.

In May 2005, Air France air hostess Nicole Coste claimed that Albert was the father of her son Alexandre, who was born in 2003, three years after the prince met Charlene.

He acknowledged paternity after taking a DNA test.

In 2006 he then admitted he was the father of a daughter, Jazmin Grace, after DNA testing, thanks to a fling with her American mother.

Rumours of a third love child swirled in the run-up to the wedding amid reports that Charlene had tried to leave Monaco three times (she later dismissed the speculation as ‘categorical lies’).

However, any issues were seemingly overcome in time for their £53 million three-day nuptials which included a religious ceremony in the courtyard of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco and a concert by The Eagles.

Charlene wore a bespoke off-the-shoulder creation by Giorgio Armani Prive, embroidered with 40,000 Swarovski crystals, 20,000 pearl teardrops and 30,000 golden stones in a floral pattern which took three seamstresses 2,500 hours to create.

Photos showed the royal bride in tears, which Charlene later said was because the day had been ‘overwhelming’.

‘There were all the mixed emotions because of the rumours and obviously the tension built up and I burst into tears (immediately after the ceremony),’ she reflected.

‘And then I burst into tears some more because I was thinking, “Oh no, now the whole world has seen me cry”.’

But speculation about the marriage continued after it emerged that Charlene and Albert spent their first night of their honeymoon in South Africa in separate hotels, 10 miles away from each other.

The prince apparently had a conference to attend early the following morning and he didn’t want to sit in traffic.

Yet rumours that they were splitting reached a head in 2021, when complications following a sinus infection, requiring several surgeries, left Charlene stranded in South Africa for 10 months.

Princess Charlene of Monaco wipes away a tear as she and Prince Albert II of Monaco leave Sainte Devote church after their religious wedding ceremony at the Prince’s Palace of Monaco

Prince Albert of Monaco with the children born out of wedlock, Jazmin and Alexandre

Albert took to the media to correct the misunderstandings surrounding their separation.’

She didn’t leave Monaco in a huff,’ he told People magazine.

‘She didn’t leave because she was mad at me or at anybody else. She was going down to South Africa to reassess her Foundation’s work down there and to take a little time off with her brother and some friends.’

He added, ‘It was only supposed to be a week-long, ten-day maximum stay, and [she is still there now] because she had this infection all these medical complications arose.’

Charlene finally returned to Europe in November, 2021, but still ill, she had to have further treatment at an undisclosed facility outside Monaco, which fuelled further rumours about the couple living apart.

But by 2022 Charlene seemed to be on the road to recovery, even venturing out for public appearances and releasing an 11th marriage anniversary photo with Albert.

Prince Albert with Nicole Coste and his son Alexandre

By December 15, 2022, Charlene told the Monaco Matin newspaper that she felt ‘much better’ and had ‘much more energy’.

Prince Albert also praised his wife for ‘turning it around in an incredible way’ after her ‘very tough year’.

Now firmly back in the swing of Monaco’s high society, Charlene’s not taking anything for granted.

‘My family and those I love are my rock,’ she says. ‘I approach the future, step by step, one day at a time.’