"I love children and have always wanted to have children of my own," she told BFM television, sitting next to Albert with a close-lipped, tense smile. "We'll see in the next couple of months or years."
Wittstock was born in Zimbabwe but moved to neighboring South Africa when she was 12, and under the tutelage of her mother, a swim coach, competed for that country at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Like his now wife, Albert is a former Olympic athlete. A member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985, he competed in five Winter Olympics as part of Monaco's bobsled team.
Albert met Wittstock during a 2000 swimming competition in Monaco. Wittstock then began appearing regularly at social events and moved to Monaco, known for its lax tax laws and high-stakes casinos, in 2006. Locals say she has since maintained a low profile and is rarely seen out and about the principality.
"She seems like a very calm, very clear-headed young woman, but honestly we don't know that much about her yet," said Abeda Testa, a 56-year-old housewife dressed in screaming pink for Friday's festivities. "Now is when we'll start to really get to know her."
After the ceremony, the couple joined their subjects on the palace square for a cocktail. Monaco's mayor presented the newlyweds with two gifts from the people of Monaco, a painting by Russia's Wassily Kandinsky and a bronze by French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. A concert by French composer Jean Michel Jarre and a laser light show were to cap the evening.
Perhaps in a bid to focus media attention on Saturday's religious ceremony and star-studded gala dinner and away from the lower-key civil proceedings, palace minders hemmed journalists into holding areas and kept from interacting with residents, who were sipping Champagne and snacking on trays piled with finger foods.
The guest list for Saturday's festivities reads like a who's who of Europe's rich and famous. Billionaire businessmen, assorted royalty including the kings of Spain, Sweden, Lesotho and Belgium, heads of state, celebrated opera singers, top models and race car divers will converge on the palace for Saturday's Catholic ceremony and the gala dinner to follow.
Household names on the guest list include Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and Giorgio Armani — the perma-tanned Italian designer behind Saturday's wedding gown — as well as supermodel Naomi Campbell, American soprano Renee Fleming, former James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore and gold medal winning Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci.
Alain Ducasse — the world famous French chef who like many in his tax bracket has taken Monegasque citizenship — is serving up a three-course gala dinner based on the tastes and smells of the Mediterranean. Besides the Champagne and South African wines, everything at the dinner will be sourced in a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius around the hive of high rises, Art Deco casinos and five-star hotels that is Monaco. The main course will be line fished out of the waters off Monaco the morning of, and the vegetables will be harvested hours before they hit the plate, Ducasse has said.
Ducasse is also helping prepare a Sunday brunch that will cap the wedding festivities before the newlyweds head off to South Africa for an IOC meeting. They'll take their honeymoon in August.
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