Dancing queen! Princess Charlene glitters at the Rose Ball in Monte ...

Princess Charlene of Monaco attends the Rose Ball 2024 To Benefit The Princess Grace Foundation on March 23, 2024 in Monaco

Disco Bal de la Rose Monaco – surely Saturday night’s glitziest and grandest occasion in Europe. The Christian Loboutin-hosted shindig took over Monte Carlo during the weekend and saw some of Europe’s finest grandes dames and beaux hommes rock up for a night of disco-grooves.

Among the partygoers on Saturday, Princess Charlene of Monaco flitted from one group to another. The forty-six-year-old Princess and former swimmer, famed for her striking style, arrived clutching a bouquet of red and pink flowers, decorated with miniature disco balls. Arm in arm with her husband, Prince Albert, the pair made the usual splash among the photographers.

Commentators noted Charlene’s arrival in particular because she was not present at last year’s ball, when Albert was joined by his sister, Princess Caroline of Hanover. Charlene was wearing a silver and rose pink jumpsuit, which glittered spectacularly. Its glittery-fabric was decorated with stripe motifs and complete with a plunging neckline and a fabric waist tie. Beneath the wide-leg trousers of the one-piece, Charlene’s open shoes were visible, with toe nails painted black. Her famous pixie-cut framed her face neatly, looking sharp but at the same time a little free and natural in an ultra-short bob. Her earrings, which hung in long straight lines completed the sharp look. Albert wore a very smart evening suit complete with a red bowtie.

Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene of Monaco at the Rose Ball 2024

This year it was not a case of one-or-the-other as Princess Caroline also graced the ball in a glittering black gown. The gown cinched in at the waist but had an elegant skirt which gathered perfectly around her feet. Caroline’s gown also had a plunging neckline and she arrived holding a bouquet of flowers similar to Charlene’s pink and red arrangement, topped with a peppering of disco balls!

The jolly appearance at the Disco Bal de la Rose Monaco came amid a very testing period for the Grimaldis. News and discussion has been rife concerning their spending habits, with jilted former courtiers coming out against Prince Albert, as the May issue of Tatler reports.

Hell hath no fury like an accountant scorned! Huge allegations have emerged concerning wild spendthriftness and corruption at the heart of the Monaco operation. The figure at the heart of the furore is Claude Palmero, a former asset manager of the Prince’s. The leak of his notebooks to Le Monde produced explosive allegations in January about the royal family’s finances. Among them were claims about Albert’s attempts to curb Charlene’s extreme spending, and secret payments to his new girlfriends and love children.

A close-up of Princess Charlene of Monaco at the Rose Ball 2024

Other allegations include the suggestion that Albert instructed accountants to deploy complex financial manoeuvres including attempts to register assets under the name of Palmero. Palmero has said that everything he did was done under the prince’s aegis and at his command. The Prince has countered the claims by saying that he was shocked to discover the state of the family finances when examining them. The Prince has added that any overspend of their budgets came from personal rather than public funds. Both parties have taken legal action against each other.

Tatler spoke to palace insiders in Monaco and heard suggestions that the Prince’s cull among advisors may have served to consolidate power for the property prince of the principality. Whatever you make of the scandal – it is more than enough to make you say: ‘Mon Dieu! Monaco is in Meltdown!’.

Here’s hoping the ball was a night to remember – and maybe one which helped revellers to forget their cares (for an hour or two, that is.)