After years of looking as though she’d married into a hostage situation, Princess Charlene is playing the devoted wife. For Monaco’s scandal-battered palace, the timing couldn’t be better

By Melissa Twigg

For most royal wives, gliding in and out of a series of high-profile engagements dressed in an equally glamorous suit or gown might seem unremarkable. For Princess Charlene of Monaco, though, a recent string of appearances has demonstrated an extraordinary transformation. In recent years she had shocked the conservative Monégasques with unflattering hairstyles (including shaving half her head) and edgy outfits, all of which was taken as a sign of the 48-year-old former Olympic swimmer’s discomfort with royal life.

Yet, last month, order appeared to have been restored when the Princess met the Pope dressed in a sleek ivory-colored READ ON