Grace Kelly’s 3 Children: All About Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and Princess Stéphanie

Oscar-winning actress-turned-monk queen Grace Kelly has died at the age of 52, but her legacy lives on through her three children.

After marrying the monk Prince Rainier III in 1956, Kelly left Hollywood and became Princess Grace, transitioning into royal life and welcoming three children: Princess Caroline in 1957, Prince Albert in 1958, and Princess Stéphanie in 1965. In 1982, Kelly killed in a car accident while returning to Monaco from the family home in the countryside. 17-year-old Stéphanie was also in the car and suffered serious injuries, but eventually recovered.

In a 2014 interview with PEOPLE, Kelly’s son Albert said that despite the family’s glamorous life in Monaco, Kelly was a “hands-on” mom. “Our parents made sure we felt like we were in a normal home. Not like a palace,” he recalled.

This commitment to normalcy went so far that Kelly insisted that the whole family celebrate Thanksgiving, even in Monaco. “Turkey was not common on European tables … It was practically unknown in France and very scarce,” Albert told PEOPLE in November 2019. “But Mom insisted that if we didn’t have a turkey at the palace for Thanksgiving, we’d have it at Christmas time.”

Princess Caroline, Prince Albert II and Princess Stéphanie.

In 2017, the royal siblings were photographed together for the first time in years, the day before their mother’s 88th birthday. Caroline, Albert and Stéphanie posed for a photo outside the Princess Grace Theater as the Princess Grace Foundation-USA celebrated its 35th anniversary.

In September 2022, Albert, who has children of his own, spoke to PEOPLE about how much he misses his mom. “If I could talk to her, I’d say I wish she was here to see her grandchildren and see how great they are,” he said royally.

The Royal Family of Monaco: Meet the Modern Descendants of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly

Here’s everything you need to know about Grace Kelly’s three children, Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and Princess Stéphanie.

Princess Caroline, 66

Princess Caroline attends the Rose Ball 2022 on July 8, 2022 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. David Niviere/SC Pool – Corbis/Getty

Princess Caroline was born in Monaco on January 23, 1957. According to the official website of the Princely Palace of Monaco, she received her French baccalaureate (high school equivalent) degree in 1974 with honors and then attended the Sorbonne in Paris, where she studied philosophy, psychology and biology. During her childhood, she also attended ballet, piano and flute lessons.

Caroline was thrust into the responsibilities of royal life at a young age: following the tragic death of her mother in 1982, Caroline became the surrogate First Lady of Monaco at the age of 25. This work included diplomacy and philanthropy.

At her 60th birthday celebration in 2017, Caroline’s brother Albert told PEOPLE that she was “quite a remarkable woman,” noting her intelligence and good judgment. “What she has done over the years, helping Monaco in various ways, on the cultural and charitable side – she is always there,” he continued. – She is often the first person on board.

In 1978, Caroline married Parisian banker Philippe Junot, but they divorced two years later and the Catholic Church eventually annulled the relationship. In 1983, she married Stefano Casiraghi and the couple had three children: a son, Andre Alberto Pierre Casiraghi, in 1984, a daughter, Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi, in 1986, and a son, Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi, in 1987.

Three years after Pierre’s birth, Stefano died in a boating accident. Caroline raised their three children as a single mother until 1999, when she married Prince Ernst August of Hanover, with whom she had her fourth child, Princess Alexandra of Hanover. Caroline is also a grandmother.

“She’s a very good mother, and now probably an even better grandmother if that’s possible,” Albert told PEOPLE in 2017. “She raised her children really well. Without a father for many years, that’s important. I’m incredibly proud of her children and for them to turn out the way they are — that’s her recognition.”

Prince Albert II, 65

Prince Albert II of Monaco attends the 73rd Monaco Red Cross Gala on July 18, 2022 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis

Prince Albert II was born in Monaco on March 14, 1958. He graduated “with distinction” from the Lycée Albert Premier before studying political science at Amherst College in Massachusetts, at the prince’s palace in Monaco. He also represented Monaco at five Olympic Games as a bobsled athlete between 1988 and 2002.

After his father’s death in 2005, Albert became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. He is a famous royal environmentalist and in 2006 he founded the Prince Albert of Monaco Foundation to support environmental conservation, research into renewable energy sources, ocean conservation and climate change prevention.

Albert often talks about his mother and remembers her fondly. “Many times during the day, week, not only do I find myself thinking about her, but many people still remember her. They remember her and it’s a great tribute to her and who she was – what an exceptional person she was.” , Albert told PEOPLE in September 2022.

In July 2011, Albert married South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock. The four-day nuptials marked Monaco’s first royal wedding in 55 years, the last being his parents’ wedding in 1956. Charlene and Albert have two children: twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, born in 2014.

Albert also acknowledged the two other children he had before marrying Princess Charlene. His daughter Jazmin Grace Grimaldi was born in 1992 to American real estate broker Tamara Rotolo, while his son Alexandre Grimaldi was born in 2003 to former Air France flight attendant Nicole Costa.

In December 2021, all four of Albert’s children appeared for the first time in a photo shared by Jazmin on Instagram.

Princess Stephanie, 58

Princess Stephanie of Monaco attends the Fight Aids Gala at Sporting Monte-Carlo on July 24, 2021 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Arnold Jerocki/Getty

Princess Stéphanie was born in Monaco on February 1, 1965. She attended Dames de Saint-Maur in Monaco and Dupanloup in Paris, receiving her French baccalaureate degree in 1982, according to the Prince’s Palace in Monaco. During her education, she studied classical dance, piano and gymnastics.

In 1982, when she was 17, Stéphanie was involved in a tragic car accident that killed her mother. The couple were driving back to Monaco (with Kelly at the wheel) from their country house in France when their car plunged off a roadside cliff. Kelly died a few hours after the accident, and Stéphanie suffered serious injuries, including a concussion and a fractured cervical vertebra. It took her nearly a year to recover physically, and she said it took her even longer to process the emotional trauma of the event.

“It’s only in the last few years that I’ve come to grips with it,” she told author Jeffrey Robinson for his biography Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait in 1989. “I still can’t take that road, even if someone else is driving. I always ask them to take another road.”

Stéphanie told France’s in 2015 Point de Vue that she finally came to terms with her guilt for the accident. “After I got over my anger, got over the feeling of injustice that was inside me, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I said ‘Wait! Logically, you should have died too.’ If I stayed alive, it was for a reason. You have a place in this world. You have to find it.”

After the accident, Stéphanie worked as a model and pursued a music career. She appeared in Vogue and vanity fair in the mid-’80s and released her first single, “Ouragan” — “Irresistible” in English — in 1986. She continued with two albums until 1991.

In 1995, Stéphanie married Daniel Ducruet, her former bodyguard, with whom she already had two children – Louis, born in 1992, and Pauline, born in 1994 – although they divorced a year later. Stéphanie gave birth to her third child, a daughter named Camille Gottlieb with Jean-Raymond Gottlieb, two years after the divorce.

Stéphanie also enjoyed a brief romance with Franco Knie, an elephant trainer she met at the annual Monte Carlo Circus Festival, an event founded by her father. She and her three children began traveling with Knie and the circus, where she met her second husband, Portuguese acrobat Adanso Lopez Peres. Stéphanie and Adans married in 2003, although they divorced after 10 months of marriage.

Since then, Stéphanie’s passion for the circus – especially animals – has remained strong. “Circus is what real life should be,” Stephanie told PEOPLE during the 40th anniversary of the 2016 Circus Festival. gave a smile. It’s a world where people help each other.”

In 2013, the princess even adopted two retired circus elephants, Baby and Nepal, who were slated for euthanasia. Then she gave them a place to live in the yard of her brother Albert’s house in France, Roc Agel.

In 2017, Albert told PEOPLE that the elephants were a great source of comfort to his sister. “It gave Stéphanie a different understanding of wildlife,” he said. “She was always interested in animals, she always had a lot of dogs. She still has them. Big dogs. But I think she needed a project like this. I think it happened at a moment in her life, after she needed something to occupy her energy her kids started moving out. It’s the empty nest syndrome.” Per Life in Monacoboth elephants have since died — Nepal in 2018 and the baby in 2023.

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Source: HIS Education