The Last Onassis and the Half-Blood Princess

As far back as 1992, they were classed together in the media. People magazine (US version) put the two girls, along with the Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, on its cover to illustrate a feature entitled "Silver Spoons." The Grimaldi expert Michelle Green told readers about the "moppets" who are "richer than Midas," yet still had to mind their P's and Q's, "say please and finish their peas." Other Silver Spoon kids discussed in Green's feature were Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis and his sisters, Elisabeth and Maria Theresia; Prince al-Muhtadee Billah of Brunei; Prince William and Prince Harry of Wales; and the children of King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. Ever since then, the celebrity-royal-watching media has highlighted every occasional encounter between Athina and Charlotte. The two equestriannes have been generally portrayed as the ideal pair of Amazonas (a Spanish term basically meaning a young, beautiful ingenue). As friends, they would be a Dream Team. As nemeses, they would pave the way for all kinds of comparisons to their respective grandfathers, Prince Rainier and Aristotle Onassis, whose feud in the 1950s resulted in the latter gentleman's banishment from Monaco forever.

Alas... are they enemies? No. Are they friends? Maybe. Probably. Are the best friends? No, not quite. "Friendly acquaintances" probably states the case more accurately. They like each other. They amuse each other on those random occasions when they happen to cross paths in the equestrian community.

The so-called "Grimaldi expert" Zara Rivera once reported that Charlotte gave Athina the "evil eye." The occasion, said Rivera, was the 7th International Jumping de Monte Carlo in April 2001. I find this report hard to swallow. It reeks of tabloid distortion for profitable drama. By that time, the tabloid media already liked to seize every opportunity to link the "last Onassis" and the half-blood Grimaldi "princess." Also in April 2001, an Italian magazine called them the two most envied and photographed adolescents. Reporting on the Monaco jumping event, the magazine declared that they both met with great humiliations at the event. Athina's horse, Lara, refused to jump and Athina ended up soaring over a fence and landing on her backside. Charlotte rode her grey-white gelding, Tempête du Midi, onto the arena and successfully overtook the same fence, but immediately upon landing, she lost her balance and slipped from the saddle. The implication was that the amazonas were as much paired in glory as in fallacy. Drama, drama, drama!

The real result of Athina's being projected over the fence was that she tied with another rider for the 43rd, and last place, in the Eric Wauters Cup, which was a competition of 1m30 jumps. Charlotte's accident cost her a bit less, but her level was a bit lower than Athina's. While the fence might well have been the same fence in both cases, for Charlotte the fence was only 1m10 and she ended up tying with two other riders at 7th place in the Prix de la Chocolaterie de Monaco.

Athina and family, the Roussels, had VIP seats to watch the competitions. Thierry and Gaby Roussel, and their three children besides Athina sat in the table immediately above and behind the Grimaldis' row. At one point, Athina sat between Julien Vincent Brunie (director of the house of luxury Boucheron) and her French trainer Gaetan Colantuono. Nearby was the (female) head of the Clubs Habits Rouges, in which both Athina and Charlotte were members.

Athina didn't return to Monaco's equestrian event until after its relocation (from the espace Fontvieille to Port Hercule) and resurrection in June 2006. She was seven months into her marriage. But that wasn't the first merging with Charlotte since April 2001. The girls had crossed paths, chatted and smiled with each other at the Jump Bost in Fontainebleau in the first week of May 2003. One might imagine what they said to each other....

Charlotte: Salut, Athina!

Athina: Salut! Ça-va?

C: Je suis bien, et tu?

A: Comme ci, comme ça

C: Quel fait-tu?

A: Uh... you know... practice, competition...

C: (smirking knowingly) That's all?

A: (with a blush) Well...

C: It's true then! About... what is his name? Doda?

A: Yes, it's true, and he's fantastic.

C: I'm so happy for you.

A: And you? Have you met someone?

C: No, not really, haha. No one wants to date me. I come with too much baggage!

A: I doubt that. Well, I think I must be going. My trainer is waiting for me. We still have to walk the course together.

C: Oh yeah, me too. Let's keep in touch, OK.

A: D'accord. Au Revoir.

Exactly four years later, Charlotte sat at a tent-covered, front-row table overlooking Monaco's sandy new five-star jumping course. Between her and her boyfriend, Alex Dellal, sat her best friend since childhood, Juliette Maillot. Suddenly, Athina came walking up behind them, looking and smiling at Charlotte. Athina and Charlotte seemed very happy to see each other again and exchanged polite French greetings - cheek kisses. Alex and Juliette seemed to look with surprise and interest upon the exchange. Alex probably never before met the "Last Onassis," but Juliette would have likely encountered Athina at the old Fontvieille event in 2001. Juliette was a jumping rider up through about 2001, but even after that year, her brother, Augustin, competed in jumping.

It was the Global Champions Tour that reconnected the two heiresses. Before the event in the Spanish city of Valencia, they seemed to be barely acquaintances. After their successive encounters in Cannes, Monte Carlo, Estoril, Valkenswaard, Rio, Marseilles, and Villepinte, they gradually gave the world the impression that they were becoming friends -- or at least the kind of friends who keep each other on phone and E-mail contact. In Estoril, Portugal, they merged into the same social group in the VIP spectator tent. They laughed together at Doda's darling daughter, Viviane.