The first couple of the principality of Monaco are fighting against vicious rumours in the French based press that they are suffering personal problems early into their marriage after an alleged third love child of Prince Albert was discovered just before the royal wedding on 1st July 2011. The royal couple have already filed legal papers against the French magazine “l’Express” denying the story. Let’s have a look at the astrology of the Monégasque couple.
Prince Albert was born in Monaco on 14th March 1958 at 10.47hrs & Charlene Wittstock was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on 25th January 1978 (no birth time).
Prince Albert to me has a very troubling chart, certainly relationship wise. We see a Pisces Sun combined with a Capricorn Moon and a Gemini ascendant. I read once somewhere that Pisces people tend to fall into two distinct categories, big fish with sharp teeth who cruise the oceans in fear of no-one, and little fish who are weak so they follow other little fish in great big shoals hoping not to be gobbled up by the big fish. Prince Albert is a big fish. The Sun sits regally in the 10th house of work and reputation and the Capricorn Moon shows the need to administrate and run everything. In Monaco, Prince Albert has supreme power. Gemini ascendants question everything and the Prince will have his eye on the ball about all aspects of things going on in the Principality. In a partnership or marriage, they will be warm and bubbly, but the need for independence, friendship and interest in other men and women remains strong. Geminis cannot understand jealousy or possessiveness, in their eyes it is a natural thing to be interested in others. How far that interest goes is down to the other aspects in the chart. Mercury sits in the 11th house of friends and associations in Aries widely conjunct to the Sun. Albert will be forthright in speaking his mind, and will have a keen interest of politics and of joining associations and teams (see my comments on Jupiter below). With a trine to Uranus in the 3rd house, Albert will have a sharp and free thinking mind and an interest in technology of any kind. With the Moon and Mars in Capricorn in the 8th, Albert will be a hard worker, be interested in big finance and big business and will have a rather sombre demeanour, just as if he carries the world on his shoulders. In Monaco, he does.
Saturn sits in the the 7th house of relationships opposite to the ascendant and square the Sun. This square adds to Albert’s authority to rule but also reduces his self belief and makes him fearful of marriage and official partnerships. Saturn also trines to Pluto in the 4th house. The Sun Saturn square and the Pluto trine shows a difficult relationship with his father, Prince Ranier III. Pluto in the 4th shows a trapped childhood, one where the young Albert suffered a sense of shame and despair. It seems to me that as much as he had a unloved relationship with his father, there was a deep bond between himself and his mother, Grace Kelly shown by the tight conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune in the 5th house surrounding the North Node or parental axis. She would have been mystical in his eyes, generous and a real inspiration. With Mars conjunct to the Moon in the 8th house, she would have had a nasty temper with it and probably told the young Albert off in no uncertain terms if he did wrong. That temper would have carried through to Albert and he will react sharply if wronged in any way. Back to the fifth and Neptune and Jupiter square Mars. Jupiter here gives Albert a love of sports games and competition (he appeared in the Winter Olympics in bobsled in 5 consecutive games) and Albert is part of the International Olympic Committee. It also contributes a very risky attitude to love affairs. Neptune here means that he will have a dreamy, idealistic view to love – no girl will ever stack up as his “dream girl”, there will always be a better one around the corner. Hmm… The square to Mars in the 8th house from the Jupiter Neptune shows another reason for his roving eyes, sex. Mars in the 8th house does show an extremely powerful sex drive, even a compulsive obsession for it. He will try his upmost to keep these liaisons secret. We do know that Albert has already fathered 2 children out of wedlock, albeit we only know as the press found it out. The Jupiter/Neptune square to Mars combined with the Gemini ascendant sort of gives confirmation of the fact that fidelity with him could possibly be a problem in the future. The last major aspect on the chart I have yet to look at is a Venus Uranus opposition from Uranus in Leo in the 3rd house to Venus in Aquarius in the 9th. This makes a t-square with Neptune at the point. Relationships for the Prince, if you pardon the pun, will start and end with a bang! There will be almighty excitement and electricity in the initial meeting, but the novelty will soon wear off. Albert will be attracted to unusual and especially foreign women. With her Sun also in Aquarius linking the two ends of this opposition (Uranus rules Aquarius), Charlene Wittstock, would have fit the bill nicely as pressure mounted for the 53 year old Prince to have a legitimate heir.
Charlene as I said has an Aquarian Sun, cool but friendly in close conjunction to her Venus and opposite Mars in Leo. This is a very, kind hearted girl who desperately needs to be in a relationship. She needs her Prince to be alongside herself. Mars in Leo wants a deep passionate, loving relationships; love and romance are endlessly fascinating for her. This is one competitive lady, wanting to win and be first at all costs. Mars in Leo wants to be the best, expects the best and will be hugely disappointed if she doesn’t get it. Venus in Aquarius is magnetically attractive (especially in women) and will need some space and independence within any union, friendships will be considered equally important as permanent relationships. The Moon also sits in regal Leo, she will love living and being in the spotlight and all the trappings that come with this type of life. The Moon makes a square to Uranus, so anything unusual or different will attract her attention. She will love and appreciate the excitement of spontaneous actions and deeds.
Mars makes a quindecile to Mercury in Capricorn. Here is a straight talking straight thinking position. Good at organisation, planning, strategy and with a quick mind and temper. Mercury makes a sextile to Uranus and a square to Pluto. Like the Prince, Charlene will have an interest in technology and will be free thinking. She also will have an interest of getting to the bottom of any problem, looking below the surface to uncover the truth. Charlene has a mini grand trine formation from the Moon in Leo trine to Neptune and with Pluto at the point. Neptune Moon shows a gentle side to Charlene, she will hate conflict and will look for the easy way out to keep everyone around her happy. Pluto at the point shows a dream for control and for power alongside being in the limelight.
The Moon could possibly be in conjunction with Saturn (if she was born at or after midday). This would indicate a difficult relationship with her mother, a swimming and diving coach, who no doubt would have been strict with her and would have pushed her hard. What we do know with Saturn retrograde, is that she never felt the love of her father for some reason. He was a sales manager, so maybe he was often away on business trips so she rarely saw him. Saturn makes a stabilizing sextile with Jupiter in Gemini. This steadies the outlook, makes the mind work overtime and gives her a broad international outlook, insatiable curiosity, good common sense and a realization that success comes through hard work and graft rather than through luck alone. Saying that, Charlene in marrying her Prince became one of the luckiest women on the planet as she married one of the world’s most eligible bachelors.
Now what of their synastry and combined charts. The synastry chart sees Charlene’s Sun/Venus conjunction connecting nicely with Albert’s Venus and Mars (they are just in wide conjunction) which is loving, kind and shows that the two are good friends. One worry is that this conjunction is opposite his Uranus – will (as I mentioned earlier) his excitement for this relationship fizzle out or will the sparks continue to fly? There certainly is an electric attraction from him to her. The Venus/Mars/Sun connections come in Albert’s international 9th house, very apt as their relationship allegedly began abroad at an Olympic games in Torino, Italy. Mars opposes Mars which is hugely competitive, they will compete for top dog status, and fight like cat and dog if they disagree. Charlene’s Mars squares Albert’s Jupiter, so she will push him to broaden his horizons. There seems to be good communication between them both with Albert’s Mercury sextile Charlene’s Sun and a conjunction between his Mercury and her Moon. A couple of other things to think about. His Jupiter/Neptune conjunction squares her Sun/Venus. This is on the face of it a positive combination of planets, dreamy, expansive, imaginative. I only hope that the Prince’s Neptune which is very strong as it is personalized (as he is a Sun Pisces), doesn’t try to deceive her into thinking that all is ok while he is playing behind her back. Her Saturn sits on his Pluto which can be depressing and frustrating between the two, a sort of battle for control. Her Jupiter sits opposite his Saturn, so her optimism will complement his serious outlook position.
Ok now to the long term composite chart. This looks a bit more stressful. We have A Sun Mercury conjunction (good for communication) opposite Jupiter giving an optimistic outlook. However this opposition is square to Neptune. Here is a definite problem as Neptune square Sun and Neptune square Mercury can bring deceit, deception and confusion. Their can be lying and dreams can be shattered.
There is also a trine from Sun Mercury to a Mars/Saturn/ Moon conjunction. This is quite difficult in all respects. Saturn Moon stops the flow of emotion, Mars Saturn can put up an emotional barrier between the two. Hopefully the good communication of the Sun Mercury can alleviate this. Mars/Moon can be excitable and emotional, good while the relationship is going well but sheer hell if things go wrong, you can imagine the emotional battles. The sextiles from this combination to Jupiter are optimistic, sensible, and generally good fun. The initial attraction between the two is highlighted in the Venus/Moon square, here is a strong and lasting attraction between the two.
Ok what do we think. In truth I think the charts show very much a mixed bag of aspects, some god, some workable and some troubling. There is an attraction between the two, and Princess Charlene will thrive on in being in the spotlight, she will love it. If anyone is a problem, then it will be the Prince. He has a tendency to get bored with long term relationships as the charts show, and as we know he has a history of being a bit secretive in his relationships. If they can keep their feet on the ground and realise that they both have to work at it and compromise I believe there is enough here to make a workable marriage, but it isn’t going to be easy. There is not the stunning synastry between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and so not the same affection and magnetic ties. Nethertheless, it is not as bad as many make it out to be. I think the first test acid of this marriage will come at the end of 2012 as transiting Saturn conjuncts their composite Moon. Only then will we know if their relationship is strong enough to last the test of time.
