Princess Caroline of Monaco
Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite of Monaco (born 23 January 1957) is Princess of Hanover by marriage to Prince Ernst August. As the eldest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and Grace Kelly, she is the elder sister of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Princess Stéphanie.
"Caroline of Hanover" redirects here. For other uses, see Caroline of Hanover (disambiguation).Caroline of Monaco
23 January 1957
Prince's Palace, Monaco
She was Hereditary Princess of Monaco and heir presumptive to the Monegasque throne from her birth in 1957 until her brother Albert was born the following year, and again from Albert's accession in 2005 until the birth of his twins, her niece Gabriella and nephew Jacques, in 2014.
Family and early life[edit]
Caroline was born on 23 January 1957 in the Prince's Palace, Monaco. She is the eldest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and his wife, former American actress Grace Kelly. Christened Caroline Louise Marguerite, she belongs to the House of Grimaldi. She was the heiress presumptive from her birth to 14 March 1958, when her brother Prince Albert was born. On 1 February 1965, her younger sister Princess Stéphanie was born. Caroline is a legitimate patrilineal descendant of the Dukes of Polignac, and as such belongs to the historical French nobility. Through her mother, she is of Irish and German descent.[4][5]
In an interview for People in April 1982, shortly before her death, Grace described Caroline and Stéphanie as "warm, bright, amusing, intelligent and capable girls. They're very much in tune with their era. Besides being good students, they are good athletes – excellent skiers and swimmers. Both can cook and sew and play the piano and ride a horse. But, above all, my children are good sports, conscious of their position and considerate of others. They are sympathetic to the problems and concerns in the world today."[6]
As a child, Caroline spent time at the home of her maternal grandparents, John B. Kelly, Sr. and Margaret Kelly (née, Majer), in Philadelphia. In addition to visiting her mother's family in the United States, she spent the summer of 1971 at Camp Oneka in the Poconos at the age of 14. While there, unbeknownst to her parents, Caroline was protected by the United States Secret Service.[7]
Princess Grace died on 14 September 1982, the day after suffering a stroke while driving herself and Princess Stéphanie home to Monaco from a visit to France, resulting in an accident in which both were injured.
Education[edit]
The princess received her French baccalauréat in 1974 with honours. She was also educated at St Mary's School Ascot. After a semester at Sciences Po, Caroline continued her studies at the Sorbonne University, where she received a diploma in philosophy and minors in psychology and biology.[8][9] She is fluent in French, English, Spanish, German and Italian.[8]
Succession issues[edit]
Princess Caroline was heiress presumptive to the crown of Monaco until the birth of her brother's legitimate children.
There is precedent for a Monégasque prince to adopt his own illegitimate child and thereby place that child at the head of the line of succession to the Monegasque throne, as was done for Caroline's grandmother, Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois.[50] However, because of changes to the constitution of Monaco in 2002, this was no longer an option.[51]
Albert's lack of legitimate children until the 2010s prompted Prince Rainier III to change the constitution so as to ensure there would be a successor to the throne, which strengthened the places of Caroline and her descendants in the line of succession.[52] On 2 April 2002, Monaco passed Princely Law 1.249, which provides that if the Sovereign Prince assumes the throne and then dies without a legitimate direct heir, the throne will pass to his dynastic siblings and their descendants according to the rule of male-preference cognatic primogeniture. The law was then ratified by France, as required by a 1918 Franco-Monégasque Treaty, on 4 October 2005.[51] Before this change, the crown of Monaco could pass only to a descendant of the last reigning prince, excluding such collateral relations as siblings, nephews, and nieces.