Prince Albert II of Monaco married Charlene Wittstock, a former South African Olympic swimmer in 2011.
Prince Albert II of Monaco married Charlene Wittstock, a former South African Olympic swimmer in 2011.
Chris Brunskill/Getty Images/file

Story highlights

Princess Gabriella is born at Princess Grace Hospital, 2 minutes before her brother

But Prince Jacques is next in line for the throne, under Monaco law

The twins are the first children born to Prince Albert II and his wife Charlene

CNN  — 

If you bet on the princess, you win.

Monaco’s Princess Gabriella Therese Marie was born at 5:04 p.m. (11:04 a.m. ET) Wednesday, beating her brother Jacques Honore Rainier into the waking world by two minutes, the royal family announced on Facebook.

The twins are the first children born to Charlene Wittstock, the former South African Olympic swimmer who married Prince Albert II in 2011. Their birth took place at the Princess Grace Hospital Monaco, named after Albert’s mother – and late legendary Hollywood actress – Grace Kelly.

The twins' father is the son of the late Prince Rainier III and the late Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.
The twins' father is the son of the late Prince Rainier III and the late Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.
Courtesy SS United States Conservancy

“The Princess and the children are doing well,” the royal family said.

Prince Albert hadn’t been married before, but he did have two children born out of wedlock in 1992 and 2003.

Yet it’s the twins born to Wittstock who will get first crack at the throne, because Monaco law dictates that “succession passes, upon death or abdication, to the direct legitimate (descendant) of the previous prince.”

And in this case, it would be Albert’s son Jacques, even though he arrived after his sister.

While Gabriella will be the “second child in the line of succession,” according to the royal family, Jacques “is the Crown Prince” and receives the title of Marquis of Baux (in Provence). Princess Gabriella is now known as the Countess of Carlades (in Auvergne).