Charitable and Official Roles in Monaco: A Family Affair!

As are many royal and noble families throughout the world, the Princely Family of Monaco--namely, the House of Grimaldi--is active in the charitable work and social affairs of their country. Their efforts include: peace through sports, sports for the disabled, abused children, the arts, incurable diseases (AIDS/HIV and Cerebral Palsy), The Red Cross, the Circus, and the response to climate change. The Grimaldis do it all. Here is a sample of the main organizations that they endorse.


Prince Albert II of Monaco

As sovereign prince holds countless official honorary and high patronages, in and outside of Monaco. An active sportsman, many of Prince Albert’s charitable activism revolve around sports. He is Honorary President of the International Union of Modern Pentathlon and the International Athletics Foundation.He is also a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.

Prince Albert is also an active environmentalist. He created the Prince Albert II Foundation in order to to act as an accelerator of projects and solutions for the environment. He also serves as president to Monaco’s Red Cross, and annually attends the gala in August. He is also active in his sister’s humanity efforts-he serves as honorary president to FIGHT AIDS Monaco.

Princess Charlene of Monaco


As Princess Consort, she is honorary President of the Ladies Lunch Monte Carlo. Ladies Lunch Monte Carlo was created to raise funds for Monegasque charity associations benefiting children and adolescents, by organizing two lunches per year, with the exclusive participation of women.

She is patroness of The Nelson Mandela Foundation, and The Born Free Foundation. The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity, devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare. The Nelson Mandela Foundation embodies the spirit of reconciliation, ubuntu, and social justice. The Foundation’s work is a celebration of Mr Mandela’s life. She is active with amFAR.

She is a Goodwill Ambassador for The Special Olympics, and serves as patroness to the branches of Special Olympics in both Monaco and South Africa. In July 2011, Princess Charlene has been appointed as a co-patron of the Giving Organisation Trust, a group of South African charities that deals with issues ranging from AIDS among underprivileged children to the protection of the environment. Recently, it has been revealed that her eponymous foundation has been created. The Princess Charlene Foundation is to be an umbrella of support for her favorite causes.

Princess Caroline of Hanover



As sister of the sovereign, she is involved in many charitable efforts. She is chairwoman of the Bal de la Rose, which is a fundraiser for The Princess Grace Foundation. She is the active President of AMADE--AKA l'AMADE Mondiale (Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance, which translates as Worldwide Association of Children's Friends.) Princess Grace created AMADE, which is a non-governmental organization of the United Nations, in 1963 to protect children from physical and psychological abuse. In recent years, her older children have gotten involved in AMADEs fundraising efforts as well, attending AMADE’s annual Gala in Paris, raising funds via their favorite sport, or assisting on the line by teaching children.

Princess Caroline is also President of the Board and President of the Literary Board of the Prince-Pierre Foundation. The Prince Pierre Foundation was established February 1966 by Princess Caroline’s father in homage to the memory of his father, Prince Pierre, who was a great patron of literature and the arts.

The main focus of the Foundation is to promote contemporary art. On December 2nd, 2003, UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura appointed Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in recognition of Her personal commitment to the protection of children and the family, and of her contribution to the promotion of UNESCO's programmes for the education of girls and women.

Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi 

He spent several months working with his mother’s organization, AMADE after graduating from The International School of Paris in November 2002. He also spent a few summers and vacations working for the organization. He went to the Philippines in August 2008 and to Dakar, Senegal in 2004 to teach children.

Casiraghi is a patron of La Fondation Motrice, an organization to fund cerebral palsy research, and founded by Andrea’s AUP classmate, Matthieu Chatelin, who is effected by the condition.

Casiraghi, along with his younger brother Pierre participated as a diver in Operation Poseidon, to recover the Monaco Grand Prix flag from the ocean as part of Monaco’s Peace & Sport organization’s activities in May 2011.

In March 2011, along side his younger siblings, he opened and gave a speech at Monaco's Bal de Rose explaining the family's absence due to the death of Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy. After opening the ball and giving the speech the trio promptly left the ball to (presumably) re-join the other members of the family.

Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi


Like his older siblings, is also involved with his mother’s favorite cause, AMADE. In 2007, he accoppanied his mother on a trip to Africa on AMADE’s behalf. He also participates annually in the Star Team For Children Soccer match against the F1 Drivers at Stadium Louis II in Monaco. He is an honorary member of Monaco’s Jeune Chambre Economique de Monaco (Junior Economic Chamber of Monaco). And is the majority shareholder in two of his father’s companies, ENGECO and Monacair.

In March 2011, along side his older siblings, he assisted with opening Monaco's Bal de Rose explaining the family's absence due to the death of Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy.

Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi

Like her brothers, is involved in AMADE. She has raised funds for an AMADE project for children in Nigeria through the 2010 Gucci Masters Pro-Am Cup and raised funds for autistic children as a joint ambassador with her mother of the International Jumping de Paris in December 2003.

In 2008, while residing in London, she assisted with the opening of the Monaco Embassy in London.

Miss Casiraghi has also been somewhat active in helping Le Nouveau Musée National de Monaco--NMNM. At the request of the director of the museum, Marie Claude Beaud, Charlotte is involved in collecting candidates for an artist residency program; she is encouraged to work with her friends, to find young, energetic artists who can enervate the Principality’s contemporary art scene.

Miss Casiraghi serves many official roles in Monaco. In April 1997, she was appointed patroness of Monaco’s Public Safety Division by her grandfather, Prince Rainier III. In 2009, her uncle, Prince Albert appointed her Honorary President of the International Show Jumping Competition (of which is part of the Global Champions Tour). In 2010, she created a Pro-Am Cup for the International Show Jumping Competition of Monaco.

She has attended Monaco's Bal de Rose annually since 2006, often with her two brothers. In 2011, alongside her brothers, she assisted with the opening of the ball in the absence of Monaco's senior royals (her mother, aunt and uncle) who were not in attendance out of respect to the de Massy family with the death of Princess Antoinette the day before.

Princess Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Maryam Virginia of Hanover


She has shown that she is interested in the progress of her school, FANB, in Monaco. L’Institut François d’Assise Nicholas Barré, or FANB, runs an progressive program to promote math and science. Alexandra and her second cousin Christine Knecht de Massy are among several students who have participated in publicizing the program in the French Riviera regional press.

Princess Stéphanie of Monaco 


She is a founder and president of FIGHT AIDS MONACO. FIGHT AIDS MONACO is an organization that is a non-profit NGO started by Princess Stephanie in 2004. The main goal of the organization is to assist those fighting the disease AIDS/HIV by providing them with support in any way humanly possible-physically, psychologically or emotionally.

In 2010, FIGHT AIDS MONACO and Princess Stephanie inaugurated La Mansion Vie-The House of Life, a for people living with HIV, made by them to adapt better to individual needs. It works like a real unity of life with people weakened by HIV. The House of Life is meant to warm and human aspirations and respecting individual differences.

Princess Stephanie is also active in Monaco’s International Circus Festival that happens every January. She is president of the jury of the festival. Also as of Februrary 2012, she serves as president of the «New Generation»  International Circus Festivial de Monte-Carlo 2012, a festival for circus artists under the age of 20, a festival in which her daughter Pauline served as president of the jury.

Princess Stephanie is president of The Princess Grace Theatre in Monaco. The Princess Grace Theatre recently celebrated its 30th anniversary opening performance, with Princess Stephanie and her older siblings in attendance.

Louis Robert Paul Ducruet 

He is the founding President of a club he organized through his school, SKEMA. It is called Suberman. He and some SKEMA classmates founded it in March 2011. Its mission, as stated on its Facebook page, is to enhance the pleasure and social life of SKEMA undergraduates. Suberman is host of parties at cool clubs in the region--the French Riviera--as well as chartered bus trips in the months of January and September .. Suberman members help each other out, with tips on surviving university life--finding bargains on textbooks, swapping books, and the like.

Pauline Grace Maguy Ducruet


Alongside her mother, is believed to be a patroness of Franco Kline’s circus. She has been seen at numerous circus events that were run by Franco Kline and his wife. Most recently, in September 2011, she accompanied her mother to the 10th International Youth Festival-Contest of the Circus Arts in Moscow, Russia. In April 2011, it was announced that Pauline would be President of the Jury (like her mother) of the «New Generation» 1ère Compétition de Cirque pour de Jeunes Artistes, a competition similar to the International Circus Festival, only for young artists. The first event will take place from 3 to 5 February 2012 in the Chapiteau de Fontvieille in Monaco.

Elisabeth-Anne de Massy 

She is known in Monaco for her charity efforts and appearing with the family on the balcony at Monaco’s National Day Celebrations. She attends the annual Monegasque Red Cross Ball with her cousins. She’s often accompanied by at least one of her two children to Monaco’s National Day Celebrations and the Red Cross Ball. She is honorary president of several Monégasque organizations, including: All-sports Country team (A.S.Co.T., honorary president of the tennis tournament, since 1992), The Monaco Country Club (president), Monaco Tennis Federation (president), among others. She is president of Monaco’s Rolex Masters Tennis Tournament.

Cécile de Massy

She is the co-founder and president of the Ladies Lunch Monte Carlo. Inspired by Ladies Lunch Geneva, Cecile decided to establish something in Monaco where the goal is to raise funds for children and teens by organizing two lunches per year, with the exclusive participation of women. In 2009, Cecile invited Charlene Wittstock, now The Princess of Monaco, to be the Honorary President for Ladies Lunch Monte-Carlo.

(Keith) Sebastien Knecht de Massy 


He is a member of his aunt Elisabeth-Anne de Massy’s organization, All-sports Country team (A.S.Co.T., Team Monaco captain of the tennis tournament. He also serves as president of the board to his wife's organization, ConservationGuardians.

Donatella Knecht de Massy

She has been involved with: MOM ( Mothers of Monaco who provided funding for children from under-developed countries to be able to come to the Principality for heart surgeries, as well as supplying an orphanage in Tunisia with much-needed supplies), and Ladies Lunch Monaco (a group who raise funds to support other charitable institutions in the Principality). She is also co-founder and president of the board to ConservationGuardians.

Jazmin Grace Grimaldi

On a visit to Fiji during her Thanksgiving break in November 2006,she was inspried to create The Jazmin Fund. The Jazmin Fund is a division of Naqaqa Giving Foundation. The Naqaqa Giving Foundation is a foundation started by Gavin de Becker. The fund was set up to assist the Fijian people.

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