The Royal Standard of House Grimaldi
"Deo Juvante" / "With God's Help"
— Motto
Undoubtedly the world's second best-known monarchy, after their (very) distant cousins the Windsors note , the House of Grimaldi has ruled the tiny principality of Monaco on the Mediterranean coast for over 700 years. In fact, they are the oldest ruling dynasty in Europe and the second oldest in the world note , ruling Monaco in one way or another since 1297. As a reference, when Rainier I took over Monaco, England was ruled by Edward Longshanks of The House of Plantagenet.
Important point — Monaco's monarch is the sovereign prince note as the nation is a principality, like Liechtenstein (with its own sovereign prince) and Andorra (which has two co-princes), and is not a kingdom, as per Belgium, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, etc.
The first Lord of Monaco, a merchant-turned-pirate called Francesco Grimaldi, was Italian by birth and a member of the Genoan Guelphic family who invaded the area in 1297, following an economic dispute with rival clan, the Ghibellines. Grimaldi (il Malizia, "the malicious one") disguised himself as a monk, and with a group of men similarly disguised, was welcomed into the local fortress (still standing — now the royal palace) as a guest. Grimaldi and his "monks" instead seized the fortress.
When Grimaldi died in 1309, he was succeeded by his first cousin, Rainier I, from whom all subsequent Monégasque monarchs are descended. Rainier was also a seafaring man, but unlike those of his predecessor, the new leader's trading activities were legitimate, and eventually earned him the respect of the French monarch who appointed him Grand Admiral of France in 1304.
Monaco became a principality when the then ruler Honoré II assumed the title of prince in 1612. At that point the territory was still under the protection of Spain, with whom it had been linked since 1524, but the Treaty of Peronne in 1641 allied it instead with France. Subsequent Monégasque sovereigns upped their title count by marrying a string of French heiresses, which explains why, in addition to the title of Sovereign Prince of Monaco, the head of the Principality can lay claim to 19 other titles.
Although the Grimaldi family was exiled from Monaco in 1793 following the French revolution — during which time the Principality reverted to its ancient name of Fort d'Hercule — its members returned in 1815, following the Treaty of Paris, and have been its monarchs ever since. It was with their influence that Monaco began to be more than just a tiny part of the French Riviera and the Grimaldis have become central to the country's history and purpose. In fact, Article 1 of Monaco law requires the reigning prince or princess to have the surname Grimaldi. In addition, a treaty existed between Monaco and France stating that if there were no offspring from a reigning prince of Monaco, then the Grimaldi realm sovereignty would be returned to France — something that always hung over the fiercely independent native population, and the more recently arrived millionaires/billionaires who enjoy its tax-haven status. That was until 2002, when a third Franco-Monégasque Treaty secured the nation's independence for good note
The Princely House of Monaco is not closely related to other royal houses. The family was related to Napoleon III at a time (1869–1871) when the King of Italy also owed his crown to that monarch's help. That connection is via Napoleon III's grandmother Josephine’s first husband, since Napoleon III was the second cousin of Princess Marie of Baden, Duchess of Hamilton. Her daughter Lady Mary Hamilton married Prince Albert I of Monaco in 1869.
The Family is not descended from any major sovereign, such as Queen Victoria, Christian IX of Denmark, Nicholas II of Russia, Louis-Philippe I of the French, or Kaiser Wilhelm I. That meant a lot in 19th and 20th century royal circles, when nearly all the crowned heads were closely related and married into Royal houses. Monaco didn't. On top of that, the Monaco Princely Family traces its succession through the legitimated daughter (Princess Charlotte) of Louis II of Monaco, son of Albert I. That reduced its status vis-a-vis other houses. Indeed, it was said that when the infamously priggish Queen Victoria went by train along the coast of southern France, she used to have the curtains of her carriage pulled closed when she went through Monaco because she didn’t want to look at such a decadent place that relied so heavily on gambling.
In the 1950s, when monarchs and their heirs were still marrying other royals (1947 — the future Elizabeth II and Philip of Greece and Denmark, 1953 — Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium and Jean I of Luxembourg etc), the reigning Prince of Monaco married an American actress. Not a single crowned head attended that marriage. Ironically, it was the former Grace Kelly's glamour and hard work that made Monaco an attractive destination and increased the wealth and status of the Princely House immeasurably — all crowned heads of Europe attended or sent representatives to her son Albert II‘s wedding to former Olympian swimmer Charlene Wittstock in 2011. Indeed, Monaco has had the last laugh, as Kelly’s marriage to Prince Rainier III sealed the Royal Family of Monaco's reputation as one of the most glittering and glamorous in Europe with media (and tabloid) fame only rivaled by The British Royal Family, and undoubtedly one of the richest.
However there has also been tragedy and drama (they're a royal family after all). The House of Grimaldi has experienced its fair share of turmoil — scandal, divorce and rumours of infidelity have dogged them for decades, with the result that they have been dubbed 'Europe's most dysfunctional family'. According to popular lore, the dynasty is afflicted by a curse which dates from the 13th Century, when Prince Rainier I kidnapped and defiled a young woman, who took revenge by pronouncing that "never will a Grimaldi find true happiness in marriage". She may well have been right...
Only persons descended from a reigning monarch and the reigning monarch's siblings and their descendants, whose parents have been married at some point with the monarch's approval, and who are Monégasque citizens are eligible for the line of succession to the throne. Children born as a result of adultery are permanently excluded. The current membership of the House of Grimaldi is therefore generally considered to refer to the monarch, Prince Albert, and his close family, who are listed below in order of succession. Prominent, historic family members are also listed below:
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Prince Albert, his consort and children
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Born: 14 March 1958
Reigned: Since 6 April 2005
Full Name: Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre
Parents: Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly
Consort: Charlene, Princess of Monaco (née Wittstock) (2011—present)
Title: His Serene Highness Prince Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco
Nickname: The Plugged-in Prince note
Head of the family and Princess Grace’s only son, Prince Albert ascended to the throne after the death of his father, Prince Rainier III, on 6th April 2005 — he is the nation's 32nd hereditary ruler.
- Unusually for a contemporary European monarchy, Prince Albert still has veto power, preventing Monaco from being considered a full democracy. The Prince holds a large political role, despite the fact that Monaco has an elected legislature. He gets to appoint the minister of state, for instance, but only from a list of three preselected candidates. This however does nothing to stem his popularity amongst the native Monégasque, who are actually a minority in their own country, numbering only around 8,000 or so. These "subjects of the Prince" are the shop-workers, administrators, teachers and health-care workers of the nation, and are thusly protected by Prince Albert and are allocated, should they need it, with rent-controlled accommodation and employment in a country that most ordinary working people could only dream of living in — hence his beloved status. A portrait of the prince will often be displayed prominently and reverently in the homes and businesses of the nation’s citizens.
- In terms of character, Prince Albert is known as an avuncular, softly-spoken man. His manner is informal, speaking in a straight-ahead American accent.
- In his youth, he was known for being something of a playboy, fathering two children out of wedlock, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi and Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste. He was also, for a time, suspected of being gay. In 2011 however, he seemingly put his wilder days behind him when he married former Olympic swimmer, Charlene Wittstock. Their $55 million wedding was beautiful, though absolutely not short of scandal — see Princess Charlene's entry below for the murky details. The couple share a twin boy and girl, Princess Gabriella and Crown Prince Jacques, the heir to the throne.
- Despite reigning over the most densely urbanised country in the world (or perhaps because of it?) he is interested in environmental issues, alternative energy and hybrid vehicles. He's been called “the plugged-in prince" for his championing of electric cars and in fact, he's been known to slip out of the palace in an electrically-powered Toyota Prius — which causes mayhem for his security detail.
- Like his fellow European royals Princess Anne of the United Kingdom and her daughter Zara, he is an ex-Olympian and has competed in five Winter Olympics (1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002) in the sport of bobsledding but has not won any medals. He has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985.
- He was the first global sovereign and Head of State to confirm that he had contracted COVID-19 during the 2020 pandemic.
- All of the European monarchs are related in some way, though Prince Albert is the most distantly related to the others. He is a fifth cousin of both King Philippe of Belgium and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, a fifth cousin once removed of both King Charles III of the United Kingdom and Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, a half-fifth cousin twice removed of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, a sixth cousin of King Felipe VI of Spain, a sixth cousin once removed of King Frederik X of Denmark, and a seventh cousin of both King Harald V of Norway and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
Charlene, Princess of Monaco
Born: 25 January 1978
Full Name: Charlene Lynette (née Wittstock)
Parents: Michael and Lynette (née Humberstone) Wittstock
Spouse: Albert II, Prince of Monaco (2011—present)
Title: Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco.
Charlene, Princess of Monaco is a Zimbabwean-South African former Olympic swimmer and joined the House of Grimaldi in 2011 when she wed Prince Albert II at the Prince’s Palace after five years of dating.
- A Statuesque Stunner with a Heroic Build, Charlene represented South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, with her team finishing fifth in the 4 × 100 metre medley relay. She met Prince Albert at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in 2000 and their engagement was announced some years later in 2010.
- Charlene is of English and German heritage (Wittstock is a German surname) and her great-great grandparents originally emigrated to South Africa to prospect for diamonds.
- In English, her name is pronounced "Shar-leen", but in Monaco and France an accent grave is added to the first "e" of her name — Charlène — and her name is therefore pronounced more like "Shar-lehn".
- Although it all appears to have settled down somewhat, the run-up to her wedding to Albert was nothing short of scandalous. Days before the wedding, the Riviera was alive with chatter that the future bride had attempted to flee Monaco after discovering that Albert, already the father of two illegitimate children, had fathered a third love-child during their five-year courtship. Wittstock is said to have not just made one attempt at escaping the principality, but three note and though she went through with the $55 million, three-day royal wedding, the bride’s wedding-day sadness was clear; Charlene was in tears throughout the wedding ceremony — and not Tears of Joy typical to a blushing bride, but wracked with Broken Tears. She was even nicknamed the “Prisoner Bride”. The Palace of course has long denied the rumours, claiming they were purely created out of jealousy. Albert, for his part, directly denied the rumours and threatened legal action.
- On a happier note, the couple appear to have settled into their marriage since then, with Charlene producing two beautiful heirs, twins Gabriella and Jacques, and throwing herself into charity work and ambassadorial duties as any other good consort usually does.
- A trained life-saver due to her professional swimming background, she launched The Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, a charity whose main concern is putting an end to drowning. Its missions are to raise public awareness about the dangers of water, teach children preventive measures, and teach them to swim.
- Since becoming a member of the elegant European set, she’s grown close with other royal ladies, especially those (like her) who grew up outside royal circles — Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom’s Countess of Wessex are amongst those she counts as close friends and they are often spotted catching up at royal events. She’s also expressed huge admiration for the Duchess of Cambridge — one of the few women under more press scrutiny than she is.
"I can understand it must be difficult for everyone being in this situation when you’re not born into it.”
Hereditary Prince Jacques
Born: 10 December 2014
Full Name: Jacques Honoré Rainier
Parents: Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock
Title: His Serene Highness Hereditary Prince Jacques of Monaco, Marquis of Baux
Cherubic young Prince Jacques is the spitting image of his mother, Princess Charlene, and is the heir apparent to the Monégasque throne. He is the (younger) twin brother of Princess Gabriella.
- He was born two minutes after his twin sister Princess Gabriella, but because the succession to the throne is male-preference cognatic primogeniture, Jacques is ahead of his sister Gabriella in the line of succession even though she was born first.
- Named Jacques in honour of Prince Jacques I of Monaco and due to the fact it is a common name in Princess Charlene’s homeland Zimbabwe. Named Honoré for five preceding Sovereign Princes of Monaco and Rainier in honour of his paternal grandfather, Prince Rainier III of Monaco (see him below).
Princess Gabriella
Born: 10 December 2014
Full Name: Gabriella Thérèse Marie
Parents: Prince Albert II and Charlene Wittstock
Title: Her Serene Highness Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès
Sporting adorable curls, Princess Gabriella is Monaco's Spare to the Throne, sitting second in the line of succession behind her twin brother, Hereditary Prince Jacques.
- She was born two minutes before her twin brother Princes Jacques, but because the succession to the throne is male-preference cognatic primogeniture, Jacques is ahead of her in the line of succession even though she was born first.
- Named Gabriella in honor of Gabrielle, Duchess of Polignac, a friend and confidant of Queen Marie Antoinette of France and an ancestor of Prince Rainier III‘s father Count Pierre de Polignac. Named Thérèse in honor of Thérèse de Polignac (1916-2014), a cousin of Prince Rainier III who died shortly before Gabriella’s birth.
- Her godmother is Nerine Pienaar, the wife of retired South African rugby great Francois Pienaar*, a longtime friend of Princess Charlene's.
Princess Caroline and her children
Caroline, Princess of Hanover
Born: 23 January 1957
Full Name: Caroline Louise Marguerite
Parents: Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly
Spouses: (1) Philippe Junot (1978—1980); (2) Stefano Casiraghi (1983—died 1990); (3) Ernst August, Prince of Hanover (1999—present)
Title: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Hanover, Princess Caroline of Monaco
The eldest of the three Grimaldi siblings and Prince Albert's big sister. For years, due to her brother Albert's seeming unwillingness to settle down, she was the Hereditary Princess of Monaco and first in line to the throne. Following Albert's marriage and fatherhood, she's been bumped down to third in line to the throne.
- Princess Caroline took after her mother, Princess Grace, and is elegant, sensible and a model princess. Her wild little sister Stephanie (more on her later) is in many ways her complete opposite.
- A striking beauty, Caroline was an absolute Dude Magnet in her youth, and was romantically linked to several famous and eligible men in the late 1970s, including Mark Shand, the younger brother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas; Sebastian Taylor, who had previously dated Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia; Jonathan Guinness, the son of Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne; Henri Giscard d’Estaing, the son of former President of France Valéry Giscard d’Estaing; and French singer Philippe Lavil.
- In term of married life, she's somewhat of a Fatal Attractor and has been married three times. Her first wedding to French industrialist Philippe Junot was a lavish public event and took place in 1978, when she was just 20 and lasted just two years. A few years later she had remarried to the Italian entrepreneur Stefano Casiraghi. This chance at a happy union was dashed when he was killed while powerboat racing off the coast of Monaco near Cap Ferrat. A few years later, she began seeing fellow royal the Prince of Hanover (who was married at the time). He divorced his wife and he and Caroline were married on her 42nd birthday though her third marriage has not been smooth sailing; reputed to be a fiery character, in 2004 Prince Ernst-August faced charges of assault after an altercation in a nightclub. Despite reports that the pair were living separately and were heading for divorce, they remain officially married though are regularly referred to as "estranged" in the press.
- Whilst we're still on Ernst August, as he's a legitimate male-line descendant of King George III of Great Britain, he was subject to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 and thus had to request permission from then Queen Elizabeth II in order to marry the Catholic Princess Caroline. Without the Queen’s Royal Assent, the marriage would have been void in Britain, where Prince Ernst August’s family own substantial property and where he holds dual citizenship.*
- Nowadays, Caroline is a tireless supporter of the arts in the Principality, with a particular fondness for the Les Ballet de Monte Carlo (of which she is Patroness) and is a frequent guest at opening nights. She and her youngest child, Princess Alexandra live just around the corner from the royal palace at the Villa Clos St Pierre in Monaco-ville, which is one of the smallest royal residences in the world, but given the size of the Principality itself, it's huge by Monégasque standards.
- Caroline has four children in total: Andrea, Charlotte, Pierre and Alexandra. Only the youngest has a title via her father. She is Princess Alexandra of Hanover. Speaking of them....
Andrea Casiraghi
Born: 8 June 1984
Full Name: Andrea Albert Pierre
Parents: Princess Caroline of Monaco and Stefano Casiraghi
Spouse: Tatiana Santo Domingo (2003—present)
Title: Monsieur Andrea Casiraghi
Princess Caroline’s eldest son and fourth in line to the throne.
- Despite being the son of a princess and the nephew of the sovereign, Andrea has no official title, as he is the son of a "commoner" — Stefano Casiraghi — and titles in Monaco come from the father. Prince Albert could have granted him a courtesy title, but his mother preferred him to grow up with less of the pressure and responsibility a royal title demands. He's one of the highest-ranking royals in the world with no HRH/HSH status, alongside Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, whose situation is similar.
- In October 1990, when Andrea was just six, his father was killed in a tragic speedboat accident close to Monaco. After this, his mother and siblings moved to Paris to avoid the intense media attention.
- He's an absolute Hunk, with at-times flowing long blond hair and a handsome, chiseled face. He's often been compared to a real-life Disney prince and regularly tops "hottest royals" lists around the world; in People magazine's 'Most Beautiful People' list in 1999, he was named 'second most beautiful male royal', after Sweden's Prince Carl Philip.
- He and his wife, Tatiana Santo Domingo, have three children, all of whom are in the line of succession to the throne: Alexandre Casiraghi (5th), Maximilian Casiraghi (6th) and India Casiraghi (7th).
Pierre Casiraghi
Born: 5 September 1987
Full Name: Pierre Rainier Stefano
Parents: Princess Caroline of Monaco and Stefano Casiraghi
Spouse: Beatrice Borromeo (2015—present)
Title: Monsieur Pierre Casiraghi
Princess Caroline’s younger son and 8th in line to the throne.
- Like his brother and sister Charlotte, he has no official royal title despite being 8th in line to the throne, due to the fact that his father was a "commoner" and his mother refused courtesy titles in order that he could enjoy a relatively normal upbringing.
- His passion is the sport of inshore racing, which differs from offshore racing in that it is done along the coastline. In January 2014, he was part of the Maserati team in the Cape-2-Rio competition. His team completed the journey from Cape Town to Rio in record time.
- Casiraghi founded Team Malizia, a professional sailing team. "Malizia" symbolises the Grimaldi family’s deep attachment to the sea and is also a tribute to Francesco Grimaldi, the Genovese who arrived by sea in 1297 and founded the Grimaldi family dynasty.
- A passionate environmentalist, in late summer 2019 he skippered the racing sailboat Malizia II across the Atlantic from Plymouth to New York which carried climate-change activist Greta Thunberg to the United Nations Climate Action Summit.
- He's married to Italian journalist Beatrice dei Principi Borromeo Arese Taverna, a member of the ancient aristocratic House of Borromeo. The couple have two children who are in the line of succession to the throne: Stefano Casiraghi (9th) and Francesco Casiraghi (10th).
Charlotte Casiraghi
Born: 3 August 1986
Full Name: Charlotte Marie Pomeline
Parents: Princess Caroline of Monaco and Stefano Casiraghi
Spouse: Dimitri Rassam (2019—present)
Title: Madame Charlotte Casiraghi
Princess Caroline’s eldest daughter and 11th in line to the throne.
- Bearing a striking resemblance to her beautiful mother Caroline, Charlotte frequently tops lists of "most beautiful" and "most stylish" royals.
- As per her older brothers, Charlotte does not have a royal title as Monaco's titles come as favours from the Prince, and her mother refused titles for her children at their births, so as to offer them a more normal upbringing.
- She's something of a Renaissance Man, with talents in competitive horse riding, modelling, magazine editing and a degree in philosophy all under her belt.
- She's an Upper-Class Equestrian and owns Troy, a chestnut stallion, and a grey gelding named Tintero. She competed on both of them in the Global Champions Tour 2010.
- Before her marriage to Dimitri Rassam in 2019, she had a son, Raphaël, with her comedian boyfriend at the time, Gad Elmaleh. As they were not married, Raphaël is not included in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne. Her (legitimate) son with her husband Dimitri Rassam, Balthazar, sits at 12th in line to the throne.
Princess Alexandra of Hanover
Born: 20 July 1999
Full Name: Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Maryam Virginia
Parents: Princess Caroline of Monaco and Prince Ernst August of Hanover
Title: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Hanover
Princess Caroline’s younger daughter from her third marriage and 13th in line to the throne.
- Alexandra is the only one of Princess Caroline’s four children who bear any royal style or title due to the fact that her father, Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, is head of the royal House of Hanover, which held the thrones of the United Kingdom until 1901 and the former Kingdom of Hanover until 1866.
- In terms of Royal Blood, Alexandra’s ancestry is amongst the most august of any young royal in the world, and is unusual nowadays in that both her parents are high-ranking royals of princely status, whereas almost all other modern young royals have one “commoner” parent. Through her mother, Alexandra is in line to the throne of Monaco; via her father she sits in succession to both the throne of the historic Kingdom of Hanover and also the far more prestigious throne of the United Kingdom, being a direct descendant of Queen Victoria. note
- She is known as “The Ice Princess”. She began skating when she was ten years old after receiving ice skates as a Christmas present and has represented Monaco in several ice skating tournaments.
Princess Stéphanie and her children
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
Born: 1 February 1965
Full Name: Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth
Parents: Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly
Spouses: (1) Daniel Ducruet (1995—1996); (2) Adans Lopez Peres (2003—2004)
Title: Her Serene Highness Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
The youngest of Grimaldi siblings, but as of 2020 down to 14th in the line of succession, due to being displaced by Caroline's children and grandchildren.
- Like her British counterpart, Princess Margaret, she is almost the exact opposite of her sensible big sister and a true Rebellious Princess. Evidently, when she was just three years old, she told a reporter - "my parents call me a rebel". It stuck. Grace also fondly called Stéphanie her “enfant terrible” (wild child).
- In the autumn of 1982, whilst driving back to the palace from their house in nearby Rocagel, Stéphanie and her mother, Princess Grace were in a serious car accident, which claimed the life of Grace the following day and almost the life of Stéphanie. The official story was that Princess Grace had suffered a stroke behind the wheel of the car, forcing the vehicle off the mountainous road and down a steep incline. However, rumours continue to dog Princess Stéphanie to this day, claiming that it was she who was driving at the time of the accident, a rumour the Princess denied in a rare interview on the accident in 1989.
- Her love life has been pretty nuts. Leading up to her first marriage, Stéphanie dated several high-profile men, including racing driver Paul Belmondo, nightclub owner Mario Jutard and actors Rob Lowe and Anthony Delon. Then came the "bodyguard" phase, which horrified her parents but produced three children, Louis, Pauline and Camille, followed by the “circus performer" phase, including an elephant trainer note and then an acrobat note who worked alongside each other at the same circus. At one point Stéphanie actually moved into her elephant-trainer lover's caravan in Zurich, along with her three children, aged nine, six and three at the time. Later on, after she married her acrobat lover Adans Peres, it's believed her father Prince Rainier cut her off from his estimated $2 billion fortune, as well as removing her children from the line of succession. Eventually all was forgiven when she divorced him.
- Following her pattern of following "un-princessly pursuits", Stéphanie tried her hand at pop music. She became a highly acclaimed pop star when her 1986 single "Ouragan" became a huge hit throughout Europe, selling more than two million copies — she even duetted with Michael Jackson on ‘In the Closet’. The English version of "Irresistible" was also a huge hit, although her career didn't quite take off outside of Europe.
- These days, the former "wild child" of Monaco has settled down, preferring to surround herself with family.
- She has a second daughter, Camille Gottlieb, a little-known Grimaldi family member. She is the progeny of a romance between Stéphanie and Jean Raymond Gottlieb, who was (another) royal bodyguard and whose fatherhood was kept secret for several years. Because her parents were never married, Camille is not in the line of succession to her country’s throne.
- Stéphanie was named for her great-great-great-great grandmother, Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, a first cousin once removed by marriage to Napoléon Bonaparte.
Louis Ducruet
Born: 26 November 1992
Full Name: Louis Robert Paul
Parents: Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and Daniel Ducruet
Spouse: Maria Hoa Chevallier (2019—present)
Title: Monsieur Louis Ducruet
Princess Stephanie’s son and 15th in line to the throne.
- He was born the illegitimate child of Princess Stéphanie and her bodyguard Daniel Ducruet. Born prior to his parents' marriage, he spent his childhood away from the paparazzi and public attention.
- Louis works as a scout for the local football team, AS Monaco FC, which currently plays in France's top level, Ligue 1. So passionate is he about football that Prince Albert joked that they may have to change the name of the Monégasque stadium to Stade Louis III from Stade Louis II, in his honour.
- His only child, Victoire Ducruet, was born in 2023 and is 16th in line to the throne.
Pauline Ducruet
Born: 4 May 1994
Full Name: Pauline Grace Maguy
Parents: Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and Daniel Ducruet
Title: Mademoiselle Pauline Ducruet
Princess Stephanie’s daughter and 17th in line to the throne.
- From a very young age, Pauline inherited her mother’s passion for the circus. She used to participate in the training of elephants in the circus of Franko Knie, her mother's some-time lover. She was also involved in gymnastics. Nowadays she actively assists her mother Princess Stephanie during the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo.
- Pauline studied fashion at Instituto Marangoni in Paris and also in New York at Parsons The New School of Design, doing internships at Vogue and Louis Vuitton. She has her own fashion line, Altered Designs.
- A thoroughly modern girl, with perhaps a hint of her mother's rebellious streak, she caused a stir when posting topless pictures (albeit from the back) on Instagram — a pretty big deal if you're a member of the Princely Family.
Other Princely Family members
The following individuals are less well-known, but are nonetheless members of what constitutes the Grimaldi Princely Family in their capacity as Prince Albert’s first cousins, although they are no longer in the current line of succession. They are usually seen at big events like Monaco's National Day and the Grand Prix.
Baron Christian de Massy
Born: 17 January 1949
Full Name: Christian Louis
Parents: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and Alexandre-Athenase Noghès
Spouses: (1) María Marta Quintana y del Carril (1951—1978); (2) Anne Michelle Lütken (1982—1987); (3) Julia Lakschin (1992—1995); (4) Cécile Irène Gelabale (1997—)
Title: Baron Christian de Massy
Prince Albert's first cousin Christian Louis is the son of Princess Antoinette (Baroness de Massy), and her husband, international tennis champion Alexandre-Athenase Noghès. He has a sister, detailed below.
- His last name comes from his mother's title. He is officially 'Baron de Massy'.
- During his childhood, his mother petitioned a change to the constitution to place him on the throne (with her acting as regent). This meddling caused a rift between her and Rainer for many years. See Princess Antoinette’s entry below for full detail.
- Born out of wedlock, he was later legitimized by the Catholic Church in 1951 when his parents married, which put him in the line of succession to the throne. However when Albert ascended on the death of Rainier III in 2005, his mother Antoinette was no longer the sibling of the sovereign, so she and her children lost their places note . Him and his descendants however do remain eligible for selection by the Crown Council to accede if the current line fails.
- He infamously wrote a tell-all book about his family, Palace, which was not looked on kindly by Rainier III who banned it and banished Christian himself from Monaco in 1986, viewing it as an effort to "cash-in" on his family connections.
- He has three children; Laetizia de Massy, Brice Gelabale-de Massy and Antoine de Massy.
- The third de Massy sibling, his younger sister Christine Alix, died of leukaemia in 1989 aged just 37.
Baroness Elisabeth-Anne de Massy
Lived: 13 January 1947 — 11 June 2020
Full Name: Elisabeth-Anne
Parents: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and Alexandre-Athenase Noghès
Spouses: (1) Baron Bernard Alexandre Taubert-Natta (1974—1983); (2) Nicolai Vladimir Costello de Lusignan (1984—2020)
Title: Baroness Elisabeth-Anne de Massy
Daughter of Princess Antoinette, sister of Christian Louis and Prince Albert's first cousin.
- Her last name came from her mother's title. She was officially 'Baroness de Massy'.
- Despite the family problems between her uncle Rainier and her mother, detailed above, things had warmed up enough by 1965 that she was chosen to stand as godmother for Princess Stéphanie. She remained a close family member, and was far more regularly seen at family functions than her brother.
- Like her brother, she lost her place in the line of succession to the throne upon the death of Rainier III, but until her death in 2020, remained a member of the Princely Family's "pool" of familial collaterals eligible to be selected for the Crown in the event of the extinction of the descendants of Prince Rainier.
- Elisabeth-Anne was quite popular in the Principality because of her extensive charity work. She served as the President of the Monégasque Tennis Federation and of the Monte Carlo Country Club.
- She had two children; Jean-Léonard Taubert-Natta de Massy and Mélanie-Antoinette Costello de Massy.
Historic members of the Grimaldi Family
Grace, Princess of Monaco
Lived: 12 November 1929 — 14 September 1982
Full Name: Grace Patricia
Parents: John B. and Margaret (née Majer) Kelly
Spouse: Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (1956—1982)
Title: Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco
In 1955, Hollywood royalty met actual royalty when the legendary beauty met Prince Rainier of Monaco while filming To Catch a Thief on the Riviera. The two married in 1956, and Grace became Princess of Monaco.
- Before she met Rainier, her film career, although brief, was stellar. In the years 1954 and 1955 she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and three New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Alfred Hitchcock cast her in three films, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and To Catch a Thief, and her roles in his films are considered the archetype of the "Hitchcock blonde" that would be the leading lady of his films for several years afterwards.
- In 1955 her life changed dramatically. While attending the Cannes Film Festival, she was invited to join Prince Rainier III at the Prince’s Palace. Less than a year later, on 18 April, they were married in a televised service watched by an estimated 30 million viewers worldwide, dubbed ‘The Wedding of the Century’. Although she was offered more screen roles, Grace never acted again, choosing instead to serve the Principality and its people.
- Grace was very much the benevolent High Queen, and despite her (upper) middle-class, Irish-American upbringing, she always had the bearing of royalty before she was even royal.
- Her beloved status is thoroughly cemented amongst the people of Monaco, and she is often credited with 'saving' the tiny principality from ruin. It's not an exaggeration:
- The principality's minimal corporate levies, nonexistent income tax and the Monte Carlo casino had previously attracted visitors but nothing could come close to the impact of what was then dubbed as "The Wedding of the Century" (long before Diana Spencer and the Prince of Wales held the title). Hotel bookings and tourist revenues increased spectacularly — even months after the wedding. The attraction was no longer Monte Carlo or the Oceanographic Museum but the export Princess of Monaco that was Grace Kelly, the American actress. By 1961, 5 years after the wedding of the century, Monaco's business turnover had reached $128 million — a 400% increase in ten years.
- Charles de Gaulle, the former president of France, had long expressed the desire to annex the principality but decided not to push through with it in 1962 — sparing the details as to why — but certainly partly because of Grace. The congenitally anti-American de Gaulle was enchanted by her insistence on speaking to him only in French, and found her lapses of grammar and pronunciation "charming". It worked, and the Principality maintained its beloved independence.
- She started an annual ballet festival, and was deeply committed to retaining the Principality’s last examples of Belle époque architecture, thwarting an attempt to demolish the beautiful Hermitage Hotel.
- In 1963 she founded AMADE — Association Mondiale des Amis de l’Enfance. Now with Princess Caroline as its president, the association helps over 40,000 of the world’s most vulnerable children with a series of programmes covering education, health, emergency relief and child protection.
- Tragically, the Princess died following a car accident in 1982. So enduring is her popularity that many establishments in the Principality, including a hospital, theatre, a cinema and a rose garden, have been named in her memory. More recently, in December 2017, Prince Albert and Princess Stéphanie inaugurated a spectacular suite named after their late mother at the iconic Hotel de Paris. As the late Prince Rainier III himself once observed, ‘The best ambassador I have is Grace.’
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco
Lived: 31 May 1923 — 6 April 2005
Reigned: 9 May 1949 — 6 April 2005
Full Name: Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand
Parents: Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Count Pierre de Polignac
Consort: Grace, Princess of Monaco (née Kelly) (1956 — died 1982)
Title: His Serene Highness Prince Rainier III, Sovereign Prince of Monaco
Nickname: The Builder Prince
Albert II’s father and the previous ruler of Monaco.
- He was the younger child and only son of Hereditary Princess Charlotte and Pierre de Polignac. The Prince was the first native-born Hereditary Prince of Monaco since Honore IV in the mid-1700s.
- Prince Rainier’s mother, born illegitimate, was the only child of Prince Louis II of Monaco and Marie Juliette Louvet; Charlotte would be legitimised by way of adoption in 1919. Later, she was named heir presumptive to the throne of Monaco by her grandfather.
- As Rainier aged, he began to gain a reputation as a spoiled, playboy prince. Like many royal men before him, he was fond of fast cars and beautiful women. However, Rainier proved his detractors wrong when he set off to modernise the country, deciding that the best way to bring the nation back to glory was to promote Monaco as a tax haven and an international tourist attraction. He was even able to revive the Grand Prix de Monaco, which was one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world. By 1964, Rainier had regained control of the Principality’s business dealings and had revived its commercial and real estate markets, transforming a sleepy resort into a centre of finance with a seat at the United Nations. Not for nothing is Rainier feted as the "Builder Prince”.
- His greatest legacy however is undoubtedly the woman he married; as explained in her entry above, Grace Kelly became utterly intrinsic to the success and even survival of Monaco itself.
- Rainier was a heavy smoker who smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day; in the final years of his life, his health began to significantly decline and he died at the age of 81 in 2005, with the throne passing to his son, the current ruler Albert II.
Princess Antoinette of Monaco
Lived: 28 December 1920 — 18 March 2011
Full Name: Antoinette Louise Alberte Suzanne
Parents: Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Count Pierre de Polignac
Spouses: (1) Alexandre-Athenase Noghès (1951–1954); (2) Dr Jean-Charles Rey (1961–1974); (3) John Gilpin (1983– died 1983)
Title: Her Serene Highness Princess Antoinette of Monaco, Baroness of Massy
The elder sister of Prince Rainier III, Princess Antoinette was a devoted aunt to Albert, Caroline and Stéphanie, but before they came along she had been a meddlesome presence in the Palace, while her private life set tongues wagging.
- In 1943, after the Nazis replaced Mussolini's fascists as the occupying force of the Principality, somewhat incredibly, she took up with a German officer and intended marrying him until her grandfather Louis II intervened.
- There followed a long-term liaison with Alexandre-Athenase Noghès, a Monegasque-born attorney and the couple had three children born out-of-wedlock (shocking for the time) who were legitimated by their parents' eventual marriage and included in the line of succession to the Monegasque Throne; Elisabeth-Anne, Christian and Christine de Massy.
- In 1949, when her brother Rainier ascended to the throne following the death of Louis II, she turned traitor and began plotting a possible alternative to the succession. She and her lover Jean-Charles Rey hatched a plan to depose the heirless Rainier and declare herself regent on the basis of having a son (Christian) who would one day inherit the throne. They spread malicious rumours that Rainier’s at-the-time fiancée, actress Gisèle Pascal, was unable to have children, which wrecked that relationship. Ultimately, Rainier's marriage to Grace Kelly in 1956 and the arrival of his heirs effectively scuttled Antoinette's plans, which made her persona non grata in the principality. She moved to neighbouring Èze, where she lived the rest of her life in a villa overlooking the Mediterranean called Le Bout Du Monde surrounded by an army of cats and dogs.
- In her dotage, she was known to be somewhat eccentric and was described as "completely mad" by her servants. Having been ostracised from Monaco in the late 1950s, she was gradually pulled back into the family fold, and even if she still occasionally rowed with Rainier (she had quite the temper), he seemed to have forgiven her scheming. She got on well with her sister-in-law Princess Grace and grew closer still to her brother and nieces and nephew after the Princess’ tragic death in 1982.
Princess Charlotte of Monaco
Lived: 30 September 1898 – 16 November 1977
Full Name: Charlotte Louise Juliette
Parents: Louis II, Prince of Monaco and Marie Juliette Louvet
Spouse: Count Pierre de Polignac (1920 — divorced 1933)
Title: Her Serene Highness Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess of Valentinois
Mother to Prince Rainier and Princess Antoinette, above, her story is a rather tragic one, as she's notable here not only for being the first Grimaldi born in the modern era, but also for the fact that the circumstances surrounding her birth nearly brought the dynasty to its knees and their reputation amongst other crowned heads of Europe into disrepute.
- Charlotte was born in Constantine, Algeria. She began life as Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet, the illegitimate daughter of the future Prince Louis II of Monaco and Marie Juliette Louvet. Her parents had met the previous year in Paris, where Marie was working as a hostess in a nightclub.
- Because her father Louis was unmarried and without an heir, the Monégasque throne was likely to pass to a distant cousin, the German Duke of Urach (unthinkable, considering the time period). In order to avoid this Succession Crisis, Louis’ father, Prince Albert I, had a law passed recognizing Charlotte as Louis’ heir and part of the sovereign family. However, this law was later ruled invalid under earlier statutes. So, in October 1918, another law was passed allowing for the adoption of an heir with succession rights. In May 1919, Louis legally adopted his own biological daughter, giving Charlotte the Grimaldi surname. Her grandfather created her HSH Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Duchess of Valentinois. Upon Louis’ accession in 1922, Charlotte became Hereditary Princess of Monaco.
- Charlotte married Count Pierre de Polignac, who also took on the name Grimaldi and became Prince Pierre of Monaco. It had been an arranged marriage with neither of the couple particularly interested in the other (Pierre was rumoured to have been homosexual, while Charlotte had numerous affairs). By 1925, they were living separate lives and they formally divorced in 1933.
- Having been born illegitimate, and now divorced, Charlotte knew that she would never be fully accepted by the very Catholic Monaco. She renounced her rights to the Monégasque throne in May 1944 in favor of her son Rainier. Five years later, her father died, and Rainier became Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Charlotte left Monaco and moved to the Château de Marchais, the Grimaldi family’s sprawling estate outside of Paris. Her final public appearance was at the wedding of her son to Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.
Francesco Grimaldi
Reigned: 1297 — 1309
Parents: Guglielmo Grimaldi and Giacobina of Genoa
Spouse: Aurelia del Carretto
Title: Signore di Monaco
Nickname: Il Malizia note
The founder of the Dynasty. In 1297, disguised as a monk (by coincidence, 'Monaco' means monk in Italian), the Genoese leader Francesco Grimaldi, nicknamed Il Malizia (the “cunning” or “malicious one”), took control of the rock and founded the Grimaldi dynasty.
- Dressed as a Franciscan friar, Francesco was greeted at the gates of Monaco's castle, only then to seize the castle with his cousin Rainier I, Lord of Cagnes, and a group of men behind him. The event is commemorated on the Monegasque coat of arms, on which the supporters are two friars armed with swords. He held the citadel of Monaco for four years before being chased out by the Genoese. The battle over "the rock" was taken over by his kinsmen. Francesco thus failed to establish Grimaldi's rule over Monaco, but was the first to attempt to do so.
- He was married to Aurelia del Carretto but the marriage was childless, so the modern Grimaldis are therefore not descendants of Francesco. After his death, in 1309, he was succeeded by his cousin (and stepson), Rainier I, Lord of Cagnes. His cousin's descendants, the Grimaldi family, still rule today.
- Over one hundred years after the coup, the Grimaldis purchased Monaco from the crown of Aragon in 1419, and became the official and undisputed rulers of "the Rock of Monaco"
Depictions in fiction
Film
- Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman as the titular Grace. The film depicts Grace's crisis of marriage and identity, during a dispute between Prince Rainier (Tim Roth) and France's Charles de Gaulle in 1962, as well as her considering a return to Hollywood to film Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie.
- The Princess Diaries novels recount the journal entries of teenager Mia Thermopolis during her high school years after she discovers that she’s actually Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, the heir to the small European country of Genovia — a thinly-veiled analogue of both Monaco and Andorra — with Mia herself being an Expy of Jazmin Grimaldi, Prince Albert's (real-life) illegitimate daughter. The Visit Genovia!
website, used to promote the books, even features a leading image of Monaco's Oceanographic Museum! - The novel Meet Me in Monaco is set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Grace Kelly's whirlwind romance and wedding to Prince Rainier. During the glamorous Cannes film festival, Grace, the biggest star there, wants only to escape the flashbulbs and befriends struggling perfumer Sophie Duval, who shelters Miss Kelly in her boutique to fend off a persistent British press photographer. A thirty-year long bond is forged between the two women.
- Over the course of seasons 4 and 5 of Gossip Girl, a number of members of the show’s Fictional Counterpart Royal Family of Monaco were introduced. There’s Prince Louis, for one, but also his royal mother and his scheming brat of a sister, Beatrice. Seeing as Monaco is an actual place — with an actual royal family — it stands to reason that the royals might take a bit of issue with the way their fictional counterparts are being (unflatteringly) portrayed. When New York Magazine spoke with Princess Charlene at the Princess Grace Awards Gala in NYC, the magazine asked the princess that exact question. Princess Charlene’s official royal answer:
"What's Gossip Girl?"
WesternAnimation- A very young Prince Pierre of Monaco (Princess Charlotte's husband, mentioned above) appears in an episode of Madeline entitled 'The Lost Crown'. Pierre doesn't enjoy his royal life that much, especially his heavy crown as it gets in the way of playing football. Seeing Pierre is upset, the girls take the crown and re-engineer it to be less intrusive. They give it to Pierre, who can now play football much more easily and in gratitude, he invites the girls to join the royal parade held that day in Paris.
