SO HAPPY TO BE BACK
Her Serene Highness Charlene spoke to YOU on her recent trip to South Africa
By MARISA FOCKEMA & SHANAAZ PRINCE TOP and ABOVE: Princess Charlene admires the children’s artworks during her recent visit to Gugulesizwe Primary School in Daveyton on Johannesburg’s East Rand. She spent five days in SA as part of a marketing campaign for her charity organisation.
IT’S the little things about home she misses most: biltong and breyani, oxtail stew and Ouma rusks, Springbok rugby and highveld skies. She may be Her Serene Highness these days but at heart she’s still a Benoni bokkie – and no matter how glamorous her life may seem, sometimes there’s just nowhere quite like home. And home is exactly where 39-year-old Princess Charlene of Monaco is now: at Gugulesizwe Primary School in Daveyton on Johannesburg’s East Rand to promote the South African arm of her charity, the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation.
She emerges from a black MercedesBenz, pencil-slim in a chic dress and long black suede boots. A gold cross glimmers at her neck and fine diamond studs sparkle in her ears.
Her Serene Highness – as we’re instructed to call her – makes her way elegantly through the crowd of excited children, manicured fingers outstretched as she shakes hands and kisses cheeks. The rest of her team, which includes her youngest brother, Sean Wittstock (33), follow behind her.
“I’m so happy to be here,” she says as she beams at the crowd. Yet despite her down-to-earth, easy-going manner there can be no doubt she’s a royal. When she removes the sunglasses from her head she has only to reach out her hand and in an instant a bodyguard wordlessly moves in to retrieve them.
And at a later meet-and-greet in Morningside, Joburg, onlookers were reminded exactly who she was married to.
“If you’ll excuse me, Albert’s phoning me right now. . . I have to speak to the prince,” she says.
Make no mistake, we’re in the presence of royalty.
THE school is fizzing with excitement and the drum team pound away while voices belt out, “We love you, Princess Charlene!” Schoolkids energetically wave South Africans flags as the princess takes a seat on a garden bench. “Hlala pantsi (sit down),” she says gently, calling a group of children to gather and smile for the camera.
Charlene started her foundation, which champions sports values and water safety, in 2012 and this trip is part of her efforts to raise awareness of its work. Her ambassadors include ex-Bok captain Francois Pienaar, Olympic swimmer Ryk Neethling, tennis star Novak Djokovic and motor racing’s Jenson Button.
“I’ve always loved the water but I’m