Mike and Lynette Wittstock, always close to Charlène
Will Charlène’s parents, Mike and Lynette Wittstock, soon be settling near Monaco in their La Turbie property to support their daughter Charlène? If the information was quickly denied, the fact remains that the parents of the princess, as well as her two brothers Gareth and Sean, are for her unwavering support and solid “rocks” in the storms of the existence.
Since her big return to the principality, Princess Charlene has remained discreet, the time to gently resume her official obligations. On December 13, 2022, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its foundation, however, it came out of its silence, giving an interview to the daily newspaper Nice morning. Referring to her family and loved ones, she said they were her “rocks”.
This is how the rumor spread: Charlène’s parents were leaving South Africa to settle permanently in their residence in La Turbie, the village overlooking Monaco, not far from the Grimaldi “ranch”. , at Roc Agel.
On January 12, 2023, the Daily Mail assures: “Princess Charlene’s father and mother have left their home in the suburbs of Johannesburg.” And the Spanish magazine Hey ! specifies that they “settle in Monaco to accompany their daughter in her recovery process”.
Mike and Lynette still live in Benoni
It will only take a few days for the information to be formally denied by Chantell Wittstock, the wife of Sean, younger brother of Charlene, spokesperson and director of her foundation in South Africa, on the site News24 : “These claims are totally false. Mike and Lynette are still at Benoni. They have not moved and they have no intention of moving to Monaco.”
It is indeed in Benoni, in Gauteng, an industrial city southeast of Johannesburg, that Charlène grew up, like the actress Charlize Theron. Coming from a modest background, her ancestors emigrated from Germany in the middle of the 19th century to try their luck in the Antipodes. His four-grandfather, Christian Friedrich Wittstock was a simple agricultural worker, originally from Zerrenthin, in the Uckermark, near the current Polish border. At the age of 54, in 1861, he sailed from Hamburg for the British colony of Cafrerie, aboard the liner San Francisco. All his family accompanied him: his wife Christine Blum, and nine other members of his family, including his son Gottlieb and his daughter-in-law Louise Schonkreehl, from whom the future princess descended.
Charlène was born in 1978, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, like her two brothers Gareth and Sean. Their father, Michael – alias Mike –, a former rugby player, worked there as a printer. He then returned to South Africa, where he set up an IT services company.
“Sport is a family heritage”
From the age of three, Charlène learned to swim. It is true that his mother, Lynette Humberstone, of English descent, had a career as an acrobatic diver before becoming a physical education teacher. Sport, among the Wittstocks, is a safe bet. “We are a very united family, will say Charlène. [Mes frères] Gareth, Sean and I were raised with the same values, those that sport gave us. It brought us a lot of balance. Sport is a family heritage. My uncle coached the Springbok team, and my mother was a top athlete. It was a simple, healthy family life, with strong bonds between us. Which is very structuring.”
This warm and reassuring cocoon, Charlène will find it throughout 2022, during her involuntary “exile”, an ordeal punctuated by several painful surgical interventions. Some time before, she had named to the weekly in Afrikaans Huisgenoot “I’m lucky to lead the life I lead, but I miss my family and friends who stayed in South Africa and I’m sad not to be around them more.”
Only Gareth Wittstock resides in Monaco
Mike and Lynette Wittstock have remained in the shadows since their daughter married Albert II in 2011. But if they did not think of settling in Europe, they nevertheless made frequent trips to Monaco where Mike, a great boxing fan, took part in the organization of “noble art” tournaments – such as the Monte-Carlo Boxing Bonanza –, with the support of the Société des Bains de Mer and its genre.
For his part, the eldest of the two brothers of the princess – and his “right arm” – Gareth Wittstock, has lived in the principality since 2011. This specialist in computer engineering married in 2015 Roisin Gavin, a former dancer of Irish origin, and the couple with two children, Kaia Rose and Bodie, who are very close to their cousins Jacques and Gabriella. On April 27, 2022, he even acquired Monegasque nationality.