Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco recently opened up to Paris Match about the early days of knowing one another — and how it wasn’t exactly love at first sight for the couple.
The two, married since 2011, first met 11 years prior in 2000 at the Mare Nostrum International Swimming Meet in Monaco, but didn’t begin a relationship until 2005. “I don’t know if we fell in love back then,” Albert, 66, said of initially meeting Charlene, 46. “You know, after that, I didn’t see Charlene again for several years.”
“I thought that she was an excellent swimmer and that she was friendly, cheerful, and approachable,” Albert said of his first impression of Charlene, a former Olympian who represented South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. “We had a great time.”
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The two eventually went public with their relationship in 2006 and have been plagued by split rumors since, even after marrying 13 years ago. “There’s nothing wrong with our marriage, and I find the rumors to be draining and exhausting,” Charlene previously said, per OK. “I simply cannot understand where they come from.” She added “It feels to me like certain media or people want to see us split.”
Last year, after a French magazine claimed the royal couple was in the process of separation, a spokesperson denied the “malicious rumors” and called the article “totally unfounded.” Speaking to PEOPLE at the time, palace sources categorically denied the rumors, with one saying that the article “is made up of old stories which weren’t true to begin with.”
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In their rare joint interview for Paris Match recently, Albert recalled their early days of knowing one another, telling the outlet “I don’t know if I should say this, but that night I got her into a bit of trouble because I didn’t get her ‘home’ in time,” he said, to which Charlene responded “Yes, I did get into a bit of trouble that night, but we won’t go into that,” she said.
In addition to Charlene being a former Olympian, Albert represented Monaco in bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympics. It was at the Winter Olympics in Turin in 2006 that Albert and Charlene appeared hand-in-hand for the first time, according to the Monaco Tribune, and the couple were spotted at this year’s Paris Olympics, PEOPLE reported.
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“When you’re right in the heart of it for 16 days, you feel like you’re part of a family,” Albert said of his experience as an Olympian. “Obviously, there’s the competition — you’re there to do better than your rivals, the other teams. But you also share this unique experience with them.”
Of her Olympic experience, Charlene remembered “the feeling I had when I entered the Sydney stadium for the opening ceremony in 2000. At that point, I felt like I had reached a goal. I was filled with pride and emotion. It was almost overwhelming. I’d been dreaming of that moment since I was eight.”
The two are parents to nine-year-old twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, and Albert said that, when it comes to raising their twins to love sport, they “swim and do gymnastics. They also tried out fencing, tennis, and volleyball. Jacques does taekwondo. Sporting values are fundamental, for sure.”
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In a previous conversation with PEOPLE, Albert said of Jacques and Gabriella that “Between them now, Jacques talks more, engages more, in public,” he said last year, adding that Gabriella is spirited behind the scenes and “has that little mischievous twinkle in her eye. She has her own little personality.”
