Princess Caroline, daughter of the late Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, was born in 1957. Despite being the eldest of the royal couple's children, it was her younger brother Prince Albert who succeeded their father after his death because Monaco's succession law prioritizes male family members.
Prince Albert has described his older sister as "very bright" and "quite a remarkable woman." He told PEOPLE in 2017, "What’s she’s done over the years, helping Monaco in various ways, on the cultural and charitable sides — she’s always there. She’s often the first person on board.”
Albert also called Caroline, who has four kids, "a very good mother." He said, “She really raised her kids well. Without a father for many years, that’s important. I’m incredibly proud of her children and to have them turn out as they have — that’s a tribute to her.”
So, who is Princess Caroline? Continue reading to learn all about Prince Albert of Monaco's older sister:
1. She was born on January 23, 1957 in the Prince's Palace.
2. She is the eldest of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly's children.
3. She has two younger siblings: Prince Albert and Princess Stephanie.
4. She and her brother were close to their nanny, Maureen Wood. In the book Albert II of Monaco, The Man and The Prince, Caroline shared (via PEOPLE), “For my brother and I, Maureen was the key figure in our life,” adding, “When we were little, we were probably closer to our nanny than to our parents.”
5. After receiving her French Baccalaureat in 1974, she went on to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. There, she earned a degree in philosophy and minors in psychology and biology.
6. She is bilingual. According to the Prince's Palace of Monaco's website, Caroline speaks French, English, German, Spanish, and Italian.
7. She has been married three times. The Princess wed her first husband, Philippe Junot, in 1978, and her second husband, Stefano Casiraghi, in 1983. Stefano died in a boat racing accident in 1990. Years later, Caroline married her third husband, Prince Ernst August of Hannover, in 1999.
8. Caroline became a first-time mom in 1984 with the birth of her and Stefano's son Andrea Casiraghi. She had three kids with her late husband: Andrea, Charlotte Casiraghi and Pierre Casiraghi. Caroline also has one child, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, from her third marriage.
9. She is a grandmother. Caroline currently has seven grandchildren: Son Andrea's three kids (Sacha, India and Maximilian), daughter Charlotte's two sons (Raphaël Elmaleh and Balthazar Rassam) and son Pierre's boys (Francesco and Stefano Casiraghi).
10: She has two stylish daughters-in-law: Beatrice Borromeo, who is married to Pierre Casiraghi, and Tatiana Santo Domingo, who is married to Andrea Casiraghi.
11. In addition to her four kids, Caroline has two stepsons: Prince Christian of Hanover and Prince Ernst August of Hanover.
12. While her mother was an Oscar-winning actress, Caroline is not a big cinephile. Speaking to Madame Figaro in 2020, the Princess confessed (translated from French): “If there is something that I do not know well and with which I have the least affinities, it is the cinema. Maybe because it was there? I’m not a very cinephile and my film culture ends in the 1980s: I mostly know old films.” Caroline continued, “My taste for culture comes from elsewhere. Not from my parents, who were not great readers, unlike my grandparents. I also owe this taste to wonderful teachers I had as a child, then at university.”
13. According to Caroline, she does not look like her mom Grace "at all." In an interview with Madame Figaro, the Princess said, "Physically, I look like my paternal grandmother. She was a very free woman and incredibly original. She was a nurse during the war, then a prison visitor. Totally unclassifiable."
14. She is president of The Prince Pierre Foundation, which aims to promote contemporary art.