Why this school year is different for Princess Charlene and Prince Albert’s twins

It’s back to school for  Prince Jacques  and  Princess Gabriella  of Monaco! On Monday, the Prince’s Palace of Monaco shared photos of  Prince Albert  and  Princess Charlene ’s eight-year-old twins from their first day of school.

Jacques and Gabriella were photographed wearing matching red polo tops and sporting their backpacks as they posed for a photo with their proud parents. The palace also shared an additional snapshot of Jacques and Gabriella together.

Princess Charlene revealed in a new interview with  Monaco-Matin  that her son and daughter “were both very excited to see their friends again after such a long vacation.”

This school year marks a first for Jacques and Gabriella. Charlene told Monaco-Matin that this is the first time that her children won’t be in the same class. “It’s a big step for them, and that seems good to me,” she said. “Then, as for any student on the first day of school, they had a lot of expectations: about the new classmates, about the teachers, about what they were going to wear for their first day.”

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Ahead of their return to school, Jacques and Gabriella attended the traditional Monaco picnic in Monaco with their mom and dad. The twins’ cousin Charlotte Casiraghi and her family—husband Dimitri Rassam and sons Balthazar Rassam and Raphaël Elmaleh—also stepped out for the picnic on Saturday.