Melina, I would love to reply to your entire post, but just trying to make sense of it due to how you worded it made my head hurt. I can try to answer the one part I was kind of able to make sense of.
You asked me, I think, what did I expect from Charlene at The Olympic Games? Especially as she's not a Member of the IOC?
She is an Olympian!!! Out of all the Partners/Wives/Husbands/Consorts who went to those Games w/their significant others, she *should* get just how much it means for her Fellow Olympians from Monaco to have her there cheering them on. So she was there for the Opening Ceremonies and to meet the Members of the Monaco Olympic Team. How much time did that take? One day? Maybe two? Then she was gone and the next time we see her, she's acting like a stupid teenager who doesn't know any better and getting drunk on an outdoor patio during the day w/friends of hers somewhere warm. As an Olympian, the Wife of an Olympian and Member of the IOC, but most importantly the Princess of Monaco and First Lady of that Country, her place was in Sochi attending various events as long as Albert was there.
Look at Princess Anne and Admiral Tim Laurence for comparison. Tim isn't an Olympian, nor a Member of the IOC, but he was there w/Anne cheering on Team GB and looking like he was having a ball too. Even when it was an event Team GB would not have a chance to medal in, he was there!! Because he knows being the husband of HRH The Princess Royal means attending events w/his wife because of who and what she is. Many times that means attending events he would rather not and sometimes getting to attend events like The Winter Olympics, but by marrying Princess Anne, he knew that would be part of the package of marrying a Senior British Royal.
He is not in the same situation as Charlene rank and title wise, yet seems to have a far better grasp of the role a Royal Consort/mate plays than Charlene seems to.
It's past time for Charlene to get her act together. I actually thought that was finally happening and then those new pictures of her on that patio come out and...
You can only defend someone by saying "She's still adjusting to her new role." for so long and for this statement of " Prince Albert isn't expecting her to fulfill all the duties of the other Princesses in Europe..." to have been made in the first place!?! What the Hell was he or the PR Dept of the Palace thinking!?! It certainly doesn't help Charlene's image and it sure doesn't do much for Albert's either.
They had a perfect chance to show Charlene was growing even more comfortable in her role of Princess of Monaco at these Games. There were all sorts of casual meetings taking place at lunch or supper time during the Games. Charlene could have gotten together w/several Third World/African Olympic Organizations over a meal and come up w/a scheme or agreement between them and her Foundation. Isn't one of it's goals to help underprivileged children learn to swim? Something like that would have been such a huge win for her, her image and her Foundation all rolled into one.
Instead, she went off to Party and gave her reputation yet another dive into an area she can ill afford it going into.