CROWN JEWELS


Gorgeous, down-to-earth and growing up fast, the next generation of Grimaldis do grandmother Princess Grace proud Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi; Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi

Attention, Hollywood! The royal grandkids of a certain '50s film legend are growing up--and boy, have they got Grandma's glorious genes. Any of Princess Caroline's three oldest--Andrea Albert Pierre, 16, Charlotte Marie Pomeline, 14, and Pierre Rainier Stefano, 13--would illuminate the silver screen. (Because dad Stefano Casiraghi was a commoner, they don't have titles.) Not that they have expressed a desire to follow in grandmother Grace Kelly's footsteps. (She died in 1982, two years before Andrea was born.) For now, there are too many other things to keep them busy: soccer, horseback riding, listening to pop music and hitting the books.

The three attend school near their new manor house outside Paris, a 90-minute plane trip from Monaco, the principality ruled by "Papy," Prince Rainier, 77. For breaks, they go home to a house in Saint-Remy, France, their primary residence until last June; to the Austrian estate of stepdad Prince Ernst August, 46; or to their Monaco villa near Rainier's palace and the homes of uncle Albert, 42, aunt Stephanie, 35, and cousins Louis, 7, Pauline, 6, and Camille, 2. It's a privileged life, but the teens are by all accounts charmingly unspoiled. "They don't act like royalty," says one pal. "They're just ordinary."

Credit goes to Caroline, 43, who shielded her brood from the limelight by settling in Saint-Remy after Casiraghi's 1990 death in a speedboat accident. Since January 1999 she has given the children a stepfather who may be volatile but with whom they get on well, plus a half sister, 16-month-old Alexandra. Oh yeah--Mom can also throw a mean party. Last June Caroline invited her kids' friends to a school's-out bash at an abandoned factory in Provence. Afterward Andrea, Charlotte and Pierre spent the night sleeping on the floor with 50 guests. Slumming? Not quite. They'd covered the broken windows with curtains and sparkling lights," says a guest. "It looked like a castle."

PIERRE He "likes to joke around," says one of his friends, "to make others laugh." That includes granddad Prince Rainier, who was photographed playfully cuffing his grandson after the boy pretended to smoke a cigarette at a Monte Carlo tennis match last May. But Caroline's sporty younger boy takes soccer seriously--so seriously, says a friend, that when he invited pals over for a game two years ago "he'd gotten ahold of Monaco [soccer] team gear for all of us to wear while we played. [Then] we all spent the night. It was pretty cool."

CHARLOTTE Not so long ago she was a lively toddler known for wreaking havoc in Monaco's ultrachic boutiques. Now Princess Caroline's lookalike daughter likes shopping in them--although for special occasions, family pal Karl Lagerfeld might whip up a dress. "A kind girl" who's "very open to other kids," says one of her former teachers, Charlotte also enjoys playing the piano and hanging out with baby half sister Alexandra, whom she is said to adore. Horseback riding is another passion. Since starting riding lessons five years ago, Charlotte has progressed enough to enter jump competitions in Saint-Remy and Monaco. "She knows how to hold herself, how to sit properly," says a friend. "She has class--like her grandmother."

ANDREA He made his first official public appearance at age 3, clad in a royal guard's uniform and waving his white-gloved hand from the balcony of Monaco's pink palace. Nowadays Princess Caroline's firstborn favors skateboarder duds and puka beads, but he's no tough teen. "He's gentle and sweet," says a friend. "A lovely guy." And a guy who likes pool, African drum music--and, one hopes, ruling small countries. As long as his uncle Prince Albert has no children, Andrea follows his mom as third in line of succession. 

Source: People, 11/13/2000, Vol. 54 Issue 20, p244, 3p, 6c, 1bw

ANDREA CASIRAGHI


ROYAL There's no question he's a thoroughbred: The lineage of Monaco's Andrea Casiraghi, who turns 15 next month, is peerless. His grandmother was Princess Grace, his mother is Princess Caroline, and his father was the dashing and athletic Stefano Casiraghi, who died tragically in a speedboat accident. "The Grimaldis are a really good-looking family," says British royal watcher Judy Wade. "Fine features and lovely complexions. And Andrea's got the fair looks of Grace." A family friend who knows the 5'7" young man well observes, "He is a beautiful-looking boy. He's definitely going to be a heartbreaker."

But the grandson of Prince Rainier has seen a darker side of life. Family friends say Andrea, who was 6 when his father died, was greatly affected by the loss. Still, with his mother recently remarried to Prince Ernst August of Hanover, the sensitive Andrea (he has no royal title) seems more settled and focused on the future. Currently at a private school outside Paris (siblings Charlotte, 12, and Pierre, 11, go to school in St.-Remy-de-Provence, France), he is an accomplished skier and soccer player; as a hobby he collects Swatch watches. His first love, though, is long-distance running. Which may soon come in handy as he tries to outrun admirers. And for that he may want to seek advice from a royal across the English Channel. Britain's Prince William, after all, has plenty of experience in dealing with what the British tabloids call "the screamagers"--screaming teenagers. 

Source: People, 05/10/99, Vol. 51 Issue 17, p184

Her royal shyness
Sunday Times; London (UK); Apr 28, 2002; Sue Reid; 

For years, she was kept under wraps by her protective mother, but now teen aristocrat Charlotte of Monaco is heading for the limelight. SUE REID reports

Charlotte Casiraghi is not a name that evokes instant recognition. Her face, though, is a different matter. The 15-year- old daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco has her mother's famed beauty and the additional bloom of youth.

No great surprise, then, that the blue-blooded teenager is fast becoming a favourite with photo-magazines and has a website devoted to her charms. Indeed, she has recently been named as the world's 10th most eligible young woman. The latest Young, Rich and Single list compiled by the American glossy FHM has picked Charlotte as one of the 50 hottest dates around - just below the actress Drew Barrymore. And the rumour is that Hollywood is hoping to sign her up. "Charlotte has the looks and poise to become a major young star," claimed one studio insider. Suddenly the hitherto unknown Miss Casiraghi has become hot news. And her mother will not be pleased.

Princess Caroline has shielded her daughter from the public eye with determination. When she was born, no royal titles were bestowed on her, in the hope that she would be able to lead a normal life. Aides at the palace in the tiny Riviera principality of Monaco pass on all inquiries about her to her mother, who immediately gives instructions that no information can be handed out. Two years ago, she specifically warned Europe's press to stay away from her daughter.

"Princess Caroline wants Charlotte to live as a normal teenager," says an insider. "The princess likes her by her side for the time being and not partying at the Stars'n'Bars on Monaco's waterfront. Although Princess Caroline had a few wild times at the same age, she's insisting that Charlotte studies for her baccalaureat exams and is wary of her having a proper boyfriend."

It is hardly surprising if Princess Caroline is a little overprotective. The Grimaldi family has a history of bizarre tragedy that is rivalled only by that of the Kennedys. Most famously, of course, there was the car crash that killed Caroline's mother, Princess Grace, in 1982. Then Stefano Casiraghi, Caroline's husband and Charlotte's father, was killed in a powerboat racing accident when Charlotte was still a toddler.

In response to that death, Princess Caroline moved her young family - Charlotte and her brothers Andrea, now 17, and Pierre, 14 - away from bustling Monaco to the isolated town of Saint-Remy- de- Provence, where they were raised in almost total privacy. Meanwhile, Princess Stephanie, Charlotte's aunt, continued to provide an object lesson in the dangers of public overexposure by having three children out of wedlock, being publicly cheated on by her bodyguard husband and finally running off with a married circus ringmaster - all of which was gleefully reported in the world's press.

Princess Caroline's remarriage in 1999 to Prince Ernst of Hanover meant the self-imposed exile has had to be relaxed. The family has relocated to Paris so Prince Ernst can be nearer his two sons, who live in London with their mother, Chantal.

Nevertheless, Charlotte's upbringing continues to resemble that of the von Trapp family. "She and her brothers often holiday with the teenage sons of Ernst at his Austrian home. They have a magical time with a gaggle of tutors who teach them to ride, or fence, or their Latin," says Nicky Haslam, the society interior decorator, who is a friend of Prince Ernst. "Charlotte is ravishing," he adds. "She looks just like the young Princess Caroline. There is a burgeoning lushness about her, with her dark eyes and beautiful skin."

Unsurprisingly, Charlotte has not been able to hide her light under a bushel in the French capital. She has been spotted and transformed into a fashion icon for young French girls. Last year, she was glimpsed wearing a cheap black necklace tight around her throat when she turned up at a teen party. Instantly, every hip chick on the Paris boulevards was wearing the same. Meanwhile, the website regales Charlotte-watchers with trivia, the truth of which remains unknown: it claims she has just had her navel pierced; she loves Gucci and Prada; she's having a secret romance with the son of one of Prince Ernst's friends and, of course, she'd love to meet Prince William. The appetite for information about the girl they are calling Monaco's newest princess is limitless.

"She is copied because she is viewed as a princess and because she's also cool," said Nathalie Dupuys, a celebrity writer at the French fashion bible Elle. "Charlotte never lapses into vulgarity. She just wouldn't wear jeans and trainers with a crop top showing off her belly button."

Which may be some consolation to Princess Caroline, now that her ambitious plan to keep her daughter out of the limelight is apparently hitting the buffers.

Note:  All of these articles were obtained by doing a search on ProQuest.