Prince Albert And Charlene Wittstock Honeymoon In South Africa

Prince Albert II, 52, and new wife Charlene Wittstock, 33, made it down the aisle after all, despite last week's reports that the Monaco royal's bride-to-be was getting cold feet and heading for the nearest airport.

Despite a close call, the elaborate ceremony was held on July 2, followed by two days of celebration and festivities for the royal couple and their fabulous guests, which included supermodel Naomi Campbell, actor Roger Moore and designer Giorgio Armani. The Roman-Catholic wedding that was held at the palace courtyard, however, came one day after the two had exchanged private vows in a civil ceremony. For their honeymoon, the royal couple arrived Tuesday in Wittstock's home country of South Africa. They will reportedly be staying in the lavish President's Suite of the five-star Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, according to UK's Daily Mail.

The couple chose the location so they could both attend the annual session of the International Olympic Committee, which will hold a banquet for the couple on Thursday night. Both Albert and Wittstock are former Olympic competitors — she was a backstroke swimmer for South Africa, and he competed in the bobsled races for the principality of Monaco in the 1980s. In fact, it was the Olympics that brought the two together, as they met at an Olympic Committee meeting in 2000, though they didn't begin openly dating until eight years later.

Though Wittstock and the palace have both officially denied claims that she was almost a "runaway bride," she reportedly purchased a one-way ticket home just days before the wedding, and had to be persuaded to stay by Albert and his advisors, according to French magazine L'Express. This has led to speculation that Albert, who has already admitted to fathering two illegitimate children in the past, may have some more skeletons in his closet.