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Princess Charlene has been staying in South Africa for most of this year, while things have been a little up in the air back home in Monaco.

She left Monaco back in March, coming to SA on a conservation trip, and had chosen to stay here since.

But a mother does not simply leave her two six-year-old twins so that she can fight against rhino poaching for almost half a year.

Sure, there were reports of a serious ear, nose, and throat infection that inhibited her from travel as per her doctor’s advice, but there is also something in the fact that she left amidst rumours of Prince Albert’s possible third love child.

He already supports two illegitimate children and was expected to take a paternity test for the third child, which may or may not be his, born in the early years of his relationship with Charlene.

Charlene’s most recent Instagram posts paint a picture of a happily reunited family:

 

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A post shared by HSH Princess Charlene (@hshprincesscharlene)

 

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A post shared by HSH Princess Charlene (@hshprincesscharlene)

Charlene also managed to stay away from Monaco for her and Prince Albert’s 10th wedding anniversary in July, hoping to make it up with some “highly-produced” romantic videos posted to the Palace of Monaco’s official social media accounts.

Regardless of anything the couple do to squash the rumours about their impending split, they continue to spread far and wide.

Now, Prince Albert is being pressured to divulge the truth of their marriage.

Per The Telegraph, a respected women’s weekly magazine called Madame Figaro is one of the loudest voices asking for the growing “malaise” over Charlene’s absence to be cleared up:

[The magazine] said their “strained embrace”, in which Princess Charlene looks drawn, “failed to convince the Monegasques” amid reports she is looking for a house in Johannesburg.

“How long can she remain away from her children, her duties?,” asked the magazine.

“How long will the fight against rhinoceros poaching remain the Princess of Monaco’s top priority? How long will Albert II of Monaco go on bearing this affront, which is becoming ridiculous?”

Another magazine, Voici, reported a “well-placed source” saying that “everyone has started thinking she won’t come back” as far back as June.

Likewise, headlines like “Albert and Charlene on the verge of splitting up?” have also been adding to the concern.

Princess Charlene has been reported looking miserable for years and has even run away a couple of times, including one attempt during their wedding in 2011.

Philippe Delorme, historian and author of The Finest Hours of the Grimaldis and Monaco, said that many people seemed to think that the marriage was an arranged one:

“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,” Mr Delorme told Madame Figaro.

“As Karl Marx put it: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce,” he said.

[source:telegraph]