Royal Profile: Charlotte Casiraghi-Rassam

Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi-Rassam was born 3 August 1986 as the middle child and only daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco and Stefano Casiraghi {Source}.She is the (former?) stepdaughter of Prince Ernest August of Hanover {Source}.She has two brothers, a sister-in-law, a half-sister, two stepbrothers, two stepsisters-in-law, two nephews, two step-nieces and two step-nephews{Source}:

  1. Prince Ernest-August, Hereditary Prince of Hanover (1983)
    1. Princess Ernest August, Hereditary Princess of Hanover (Ekaterina Malysheva) (m. 2017)
      1. Princess Elisabeth Tatiana Maximiliana Iacobella Faiza of Hanover (2018)
      2. Prince Welf August of Hanover (2019)
  2. Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi (1984)
  3. Prince Christian of Hanover (1985)
    1. Princess Christian of Hanover (Alessanda de Osma) (m. 2017)
      1. Princess Sofia of Hanover (2020)
      2. Prince Nicolas of Hanover (2020)
  4. Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi (1987)
    1. Beatrice Borromero-Casiraghi (1985, m. 2017)
      1. Stefano Ercole Carlo Casiraghi-Borromeo (2017)
      2. Francesco Carlo Albert Casiraghi-Borromeo (2018)
  5. Princess Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Marym Virigina of Hanover (1999)
Of her siblings, she is the only one who's godparents are not in any way biologically related to her. Her godparents are{Source}:
  1. Albina de Boisrouvray (her mother's best friend, who can often be seen at her show jumping competitions as seen in the photo from September 2002)
  2. Massimo Bianchi (her father's brother-in-law, her paternal uncle)
She spent her early childhood years in Monaco, attending the local private school, Les Dames St. Maur (that was merged with two other Catholic schools in Monaco in the late 1990s to create L'Institut François d’Assise Nicolas Barré). Tragedy struck her immediate family in 1990, when her father died in a speedboat accident, her mother whisked her and her brothers off to St. Remey-de-Provence, France in order to minimize their exposure to the press {Source}.

During the 1990s, Charlotte discovered a love for horses and show jumping. From 2001 through 2004, as a member of Marcel Rozier's Team Marionnaud, Casiraghi participated in a number of Junior and Amateur class show jumping competitions. She was trained successively by both of Rozier's sons, first Philippe and then Thierry Rozier{Source}.

Upon her mother's remarriage, her family moved to the Parisian suburb of Fontainebleau, where Charlotte and her brothers began attending school. Charlotte graduated top in her class from Lycée François Couperin, Fontainebleau in 2004. After passing her bac, she enrolled in the hypokhâgne and khâgne course at the Lycée Fénelon, in St-Germain-des-Près, Paris, in the hope of entering the École normale supérieure (Paris). She took the written entrance exam for ENS in June 2006, but failed to make the list of candidates eligible to proceed to the oral exam. Instead, she studied Philosophy at Sorbonne IV, and it has been debated among Royal Watchers if she ever actually graduated-a report Charlotte doesn't endorse or deny in interviews.

She has completed two internships, firstly with the publishing house of Pierre Laffont in Paris, and then later from October 2007 with the Sunday magazine supplement of The Independent newspaper of London. She a published writer and magazine editor. She was the editor-at-large for Abovemagazine in 2009{Source}{Source}. With two friends, she left that role in order to focus on the founding of the ecological/fashion-related Ever Manifesto. Through her work as the editor-at-large for Above magazine, she befriended Stella McCartney, whom she interviewed for the magazine's first issue. Also for Above, she was reported in Women's Wear Daily as being "instrumental in securing an interview with Gomorrah author Roberto Saviano (which took place in hiding thanks to Saviano’s dissection of the Mafia)." On 21 September 2009, she announced plans to publish 3,000 copies of Ever Manifesto, a free publication on the fashion industry's harmful impact on the global environment and to promote sustainability in fashion. She revealed that her collaborators with the Loro Piana-funded project are the socialite Alexia Niedzielski and advertising executive Elizabeth von Guttman{Source}. She also revealed that the environmentally conscious designer Stella McCartney, as well as her own uncle Prince Albert II, greatly enlightened and influenced her. Specifically, she said: “It’s only recently that I’ve questioned the way that I’ve been consuming. I haven’t been as conscious as I should have been{Source}. ” The debut issue of Ever Manifesto was distributed for free at the 10 Corso Como boutique during Milan Fashion Week and again at Colette in Paris during Paris Fashion Week. She has contributed to the October 2009 issue of 20, the free newspaper of her now former boyfriend, Alex Dellal's gallery, 20 Hoxton Square Projects. Currently, she is one of the contributors to the Global Champions Tour magazine {Source}.


She is considered a private citizen of Monaco as she is not a titled member of the Princely Family and rarely carries out public duties like her aunts, uncle and mother do. Growing up the granddaughter of the Prince, and now as an adult as the niece of the Prince, Charlotte has had her share of royal duties on occasion. She was appointed patroness of the Public Safety Division, Maritime and Airport Police of Monaco, when she was just 11 years of age {Source}. In 2010, she assumed the role of Honorary President of the Jumping International de Monte-Carlo, a role previously fulfilled by her mother{Source}. In 2009, and again in 2011, she joined her uncle for the presentation of the trophies for the Monaco Grand Prix automobile race, a task usually undertaken by her mother. Every year since 2006, she has attended the Rose Ball (Bal de la Rose).


In December 2013, she embarked on an new endeavor-motherhood. She gave birth to a son, Raphael Elmaleh in Monaco. Her son's father is famed French actor and comedian Gad Elmaleh, who Charlotte was linked to from 2012-2015{Source}. Casiraghi-Rassam gave birth to her second child, another son, this time with fiancée Dimitri Rassam, named Balthazar Casiraghi-Rassam in October 2018 {Source}. In June 2019, Casiraghi-Rassam married Dimitri in a civil ceremony in Monaco, followed by a religious ceremony at Sainte-Marie de Pierredon Abbey in St. Remy-de Provence, France, where Charlotte grew up{Source}. Due to his parents marriage, it places Balthazar in succession for the Monegasque throne between his mother and aunt Alexandra.

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