I never thought this dude would get married. I'm more surprised that he's not marrying a sista but I guess that wouldn't go over well with his subjects. Oh, well good luck to him.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/a...agement_17

PARIS – Prince Albert of Monaco is engaged to marry Charlene Wittstock, a former Olympic swimmer for South Africa, a union that will give this wealthy Mediterranean principality its first crown princess since American Grace Kelly died in 1982.

The palace announced the engagement of "His Serene Highness", 52, and Wittstock, 32, who also worked as a school teacher before moving to Monaco. The statement Wednesday did not indicate a planned wedding date but put to rest months of speculation that the two longtime companions would tie the knot.

Albert met the willowy blonde Wittstock in 2000 when she traveled to Monaco for a swimming competition, said Laetitia Pierrat, a palace spokeswoman. Wittstock swam for South Africa at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, though won no medals. In the All Africa Games the year before, she won gold in the 100-meter freestyle. Since 2006, Wittstock has lived in the principality, Pierrat said.

Albert took the throne in July 2005 after the death of his straight-laced father, who built the sleepy Mediterranean port into a tax haven for the rich and a glittering financial center.

That same year, Albert acknowledged that he had fathered a boy, Alexandre, out of wedlock by a former flight attendant. The following year, he acknowledged an American daughter, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, now a teenager, born to a California woman. Neither can assume the throne because they were born out of wedlock.

While his father's reign was defined by his marriage to Princess Grace, Albert was known for being a longtime bachelor — so much so that Parliament in 2002 changed the constitution to allow one of his sisters' sons to take the throne if he never produces a legitimate heir.

[Edited 6/23/10 10:55am]

Prince Albert

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