Royal Profile: Princess Caroline of Hanover

Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Monaco was born 23 January 1957, the eldest of three children to Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace of Monaco. She was very aware of her responsibilities from early on in life. "I was raised with a sense of duty, obedience and… guilt," she once said of her childhood. "What I had to do always came before what I wanted to do."{Source}.

She attended local schools in Monaco until her upper education years, when she was sent to St. Mary's School, Ascot{Source}. She received her French Baccalaureat with honors in 1974 {Source}. She attended The University of Paris: Sorbonne VI from 1974-1977, when she received a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, with minors in psychology, biology{Source}.  During her youth she took ballet lessons at the Marika Besobrasova School of Dance in Monte-Carlo and studied both piano and flute{Source}.

She has been married a total of three times. The first of her three marriages was to Philippe Junot, shortly after graduating Sorbonne{Source}. This marriage ended childless and in divorce three years later{Source}. Her second marriage was to Stefano Casiraghi on 29 December 1983{Source}. Together she had three children with Casiraghi{Source}:

• Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi (1984)
• Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi (1986)
• Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi (1987)

Sadly, Stefano would die while their children were fairly young in a tragic boating accident{Source}. She would marry a third time, to Prince Ernest Augustus IV of Hanover, with whom she has one child:

• Princess Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Maryam Virginia of Hanover (1999)

After the tragic death of her mother in 1982, Princess Caroline began taking a more active role as de facto First Lady of Monaco. Prior to this, she was appointed by her parents as President of the Monegasque Comittee for the International Year of the Children in 1979{Source}. Since April 1983, she has been the Honorary President of the Guides de Monaco, which became the l'Association des Guides et Scouts de Monaco in 1992{Source}. In December 1982, her father appointed her as president of the Garden Club of Monaco, President of the Organizational Comittee of the Festival of Monte-Carlo Arts (later renamed  Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo (Springtime Arts of Monte-Carlo){Source}. Her father also appointed her as President of the Princess Grace Foundation{Source}. In 1985, she re-created Monaco's ballet company from the ground up{Source}. In 1988, she was appointed president of the Prince Pierre Foundation{Source}.  In 1992 she was appointed the President of the Artistic Board of the Prix International d'Art Contemporain (International Contemporay Art Prize){Source}. In April 1993, Princess Caroline was appointed the President of l'AMADE Mondiale (Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance) or (Worldwide Association of Children's Friends){Source}. On December 2nd, 2003, UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura has appointed 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{Source}. 

The Princess also holds many international organizations to heart, many of which involve children or the disabled {Source}. She extended her High Patronage to the Peter Le Marchant Trust' located in England, which organizes free barge trips for the handicapped{Source}.