Personal Glimpses of Princess Caroline & her family

[le_ptit_diablotin]

Hello!

I'm back again... I'm sorry to reply late!

Well I will tell you how I met the Princess Caroline twice in Monaco in the beginning of April 1996 (during my holiday there) and have a short but marveillous and nice conversation with Caroline during the Jumping International in Fontvieille which the Princess Caroline is presidente of this. I perfectly knew where and when she would attend to the Jumping International.

Fortunately, after the Jumping contest, she went out with their children (yeah they were very young, how they are very attractive!) and Pierre asked to her mom to eat some belgian fries outside as a natural person. I have already crossed of them inside and outside. By lucky the Princess Caroline just passed beside me and I just didn't know how I will try to have a nice conversation with her, I was VERY nervous and VERY excited I am saying myself "Go on Johan, it's NOW or it will be never!"

I called the Princess Caroline by courtesy and formal and she is returned to me and said to me "yes, Mister?" while smiling and very very natural!!! Waaaaaaaaaaouwww

I was indeed a bit nervous and just didn't know of what I will speak with her. You know I was not prepared as well... Well I have to tell you the truth I am deaf but speak as very well in french.

I said "Good Afternoon Madam I am sorry to disturb you but I would like to tell you that I am deaf and I am Johan I am from Belgium, don't worry I read your lips very good to understand you" I was very shy

And she was a bit astonished, surprised and said to me "oh really, are you really deaf?" "you read on my lips? It's marvellous!" The Princess Caroline was tried to articulate very good with me... I was feeling like an angel!

I said to her that I was received two little letters from Caroline (I wrote twice to her for her birthday and my best wishes for the New Year Eve) and Caroline has reply to me the little words with her signature!!!! That's why I said to her "I just would like to thank you for responding to my letters!"

"Oh with my pleasure... " she said.

And I asked her if she accepts to take a picture with me!

She immediately accepted with a great pleasure...

Woooooooow

I was indeed very very very happy to having a picture of her and me, can you imagine?

And to finish our conversation I said many thanks for taking a bit time with me... because I knew she has a bit busy because of engagements obligations. So I fully respected of her. There weren"t any bodyguards to protect her! Just surrounded with some friends and their children.

The Princess Caroline always went with a big smiling...

Please enclosed hereby my only picture of me and Caroline. Please remember that I've met her, it was in April 1996 so Caroline had a short hair because of suffering from alopecia in 1996! I was 20 years old!

She worn the Chanel tailor dark blue with horse pin's. She was very beautiful but a bit shy and a bit reserved as like the Grimaldi's family.

The same day, at the night of the Gala of Jumping International, the whole Grimaldi family (except the Princess Stéphanie), I saw the Prince Rainier III and his brother the Prince Albert.

Hopefully you like my truly stoy

Johan

 

[miau]

Such a nice story! Thank you so very much for entertaining us, Johan!!! xxx

 

[le_ptit_diablotin]

Many thanks Miau!!! Your message really touched to me...

Indeed I have a lot lot lot lot to tell you about the Princess Caroline...

See you soon...
Johan

 

[Coquine]

Wow, what a nice story ! I couldn't imagine that she was that 'approchable' (sorry I don't know if this word exists in English) and that she'd accept to let make a picture ! But maybe you were just really lucky !

 

[Piewi]

You are so lucky Johan!! And even more brave! I wouldn´t talk with her
BTW the pic is great!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[ChantalC]

Wow! What a wonderful story, Johan! I am suprised you met her and even talked to her. I would love to meet and talk to her in person like you did! In fact, I am also suprised you are deaf because I am deaf myself too. You can read lips and I can read lips too. The pic of you and Princess Caroline is beautiful! You are so lucky! Thank you for sharing!

 

[sebastian]

C'est trés cool Johan.
She's a very nice person indeed - she always was.

 

[Ianna]

Agree with others!

Wonderful story, Johan! I'm glad you had opportunity to meet and even talk to Princess Caroline!
And such a lovely photo..so honest smiles..

 

[Regina]

I Loved your story, Johan. I can see how good and polite person you are, and I'm glad to see how nice and sincere Princes Caroline was. She always was one of my favourit princesses and now I'm feeling very proud of her. Thank you for sharing your story!

 

[Cassi]

You`re really brave. I think I would totally chicken out if I met some royals. I would be too surprised and too scared to say something. Thank`s for the pic and the story.

 

[Tosca]

Thanks for sharing your nice story with Johan! I deeply admire you, not for your courage shown in talking to PC, but for the inner strenght you show in everyday life!
Hugs.

 

[armelle MORAND]

How lucky you are to have met the nice Princess Caroline ! (And great photo you take with her !) I'm sincerely happy for you and thanks a lot to share !

 

[tbhrc]

Oh I found it.... Thanks for sharing this story with us.... I really love the photo... I think you made some of us pretty jealous. Just kidding....

 

[le_ptit_diablotin]

Wow, what a nice story ! I couldn't imagine that she was that 'approchable' (sorry I don't know if this word exists in English) and that she'd accept to let make a picture ! But maybe you were just really lucky !

Thank you very much!! Yeah I was feeling fear if the Princess Caroline refused to make a picture with me but by lucky she immediately accepted because she was really touched and had a nice conversation with me so I don't see why she could refuse to have a pic with me...

You are so lucky Johan!! And even more brave! I wouldn´t talk with her
BTW the pic is great!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks a lot for your nice message You know before I've met Caroline I really love to meet and love to talk with Caroline "into my minds" I always wish to talk with her. It's my dream of course... but once I just found the Princess Caroline there and in real life, so I was a bit "panicked and fear" because I just didn't find any words to talk with her "like I was lost"

Well I am very lucky...

C'est trés cool Johan.
She's a very nice person indeed - she always was.

THANKS Sebastian I knew since a long time Caroline is always a very nice person but also a sensitive person

Agree with others!

Wonderful story, Johan! I'm glad you had opportunity to meet and even talk to Princess Caroline!
And such a lovely photo..so honest smiles..

Thank you! I would love to having several pictures of her and me but I only have the one and exclusive picture... but I have also several pics of Caroline alone and with their children and her whole family (except Princess Stéphanie) during the Gala at the Jumping International.

 

[princess olga]

I agree that's a great picture and lovely story, Johan!

It confirms something I'd always suspected & hoped: that Caroline is a true princess in more ways than merely nominally. She behaves like one, too.

 

[le_ptit_diablotin]

I Loved your story, Johan. I can see how good and polite person you are, and I'm glad to see how nice and sincere Princes Caroline was. She always was one of my favourit princesses and now I'm feeling very proud of her. Thank you for sharing your story!

Thanks Regina You can be sure I am always a polite and fully respect person

 

[tsarina]

In March of 2002, my husband and I saw Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst in Monaco.They were going to the Hermes store accompanied with 4 bodyguards. Princess Caroline in real life is even more beautiful, she has a very sweet, young face with incredible blue eyes. I have never found Ernst to be particularly attractive, but I must say in real life he is much better looking- very bohemian like,his hair is like a lion's mane.

 

[california1]

FOUR bodygaurds??? wow, really, i was wondering, how come you NEVER seem to see pics of the bodygaurds, ever. 1 or more, when you see pics of caroline and/or her kids out and about, but there are never any bodygaurds around, and some of these pics are very wide shots, if there was a bodygaurd or two around, let alone 4, they would be too far away to do anything or protect anyone if they are that discreet and far away. Where i live, president bush has visited several times, and trust me, you know his bodygaurds/secrect service is right there next to him. they hoover over him like a mother over her newborn baby.,

 

[Ianna]

Thanx for sharing, tsarina! Ernst's lion's mane ..that's part of his boho charm

 

[rosana]

how lucky you are!!!!!! i hope to see har some day, its a long time dream

 

[rosana]

how lucky you are johan, what a nice story, and a lovely picture.i wish i could see her some day, but i would be so nervous!!!!!!!! good for you

 

[Tosca]

Princess Caroline in real life is even more beautiful, she has a very sweet, young face with incredible blue eyes

.

I was told that in real life Princess Caroline looks much older than in pictures and has lots of wrinkles.

 

[cro girl]

A friend of mine who spent a part of her summer holidays in Italy last year told me that she saw Pss Caroline in Ponza and that she looked younger in person than on pics.

 

[mw7060a]

FOUR bodygaurds??? wow, really, i was wondering, how come you NEVER seem to see pics of the bodygaurds, ever. 1 or more, when you see pics of caroline and/or her kids out and about, but there are never any bodygaurds around, and some of these pics are very wide shots, if there was a bodygaurd or two around, let alone 4, they would be too far away to do anything or protect anyone if they are that discreet and far away. Where i live, president bush has visited several times, and trust me, you know his bodygaurds/secrect service is right there next to him. they hoover over him like a mother over her newborn baby.,

Unfortunately they must need them with the recent reported plot in the news to kidnap PSS Caroline's children. It's good that one can't tell in photos that the bodyguards are around...that means they must be doing their job if one can't see them.

 

[cro girl]

Some time ago I watched a tv show about bodyguards and their job. I remember they maid a comparisson between bodyguards in Europe and in US. They said that in Us it is a thing of prestige to have 'gorilla' sized bodyguards so walk in circles around their clients and never live them alone. In Europe it is a thing of discretion, I know some security specialist said that with famous people in Europe, you won't see their bodyguards unlerss someone trys to do something stupid or bother them, and then they jump out of nowhere.

 

[Grace]

A friend of mine who spent a part of her summer holidays in Italy last year told me that she saw Pss Caroline in Ponza and that she looked younger in person than on pics.

I was told exactly the same thing (maybe we have a friend in common...)
And I was also told Ernst is much more handsome in person than in pics.

 

[iloveroyals]

I remember reading that when Princess Caroline lived in Saint-Remy de Provence, she had a female bodyguard. That could explain why id doesn't look like they have bodyguards, a female bodyguard could look like a friend.

 

[iloveroyals]

I loved Le ptit Diablotin story. He could sell it to a magazine !
My story is much more prosaic. In 1974, I attended Rainier's Jubilee in Monaco, organized around a picnic offered to all Monegasques. Although I am not a Monegasque, I was with my husband, a freelance photographer, who was covering the story. He got a pass and got one for me as his assistant. I got to see Princess Caroline twice, once when she and her family were leaving the palace on foot one of the days of the festivities, and the other time at the picnic. These are my impressions. Coming out of the palace rince Rainier was very much at ease,very much the leader. Prince Albert was very shy, slim, elegant, very handsome in a British-American kind of way, obviously uncomfortable with being in the spotlight. Princess Grace was extremely elegant, perfect, almost too much so, and looked like a queen in her bearing: poised, at ease, but a bit on the stiff side. Princess Caroline looked a bit overdressed (a little too dressed up in a suit) but she combined the ease of her father with the queenly bearing of her mother. No sign of shyness whatsoever. Almost challenging in a "Look at me" kind of attitude. (I don't mean it in an unpleasant way, just to emphasize her self-confidence). Stephanie was not present.
At the picnic : Rainier was "chumming up" with the Monegasques, very relaxed, young-looking, very handsome in his Mediterranean way, seemingly really enjoying himself being with his "subjects" in this informal setting. Princess Grace and Princess Stephanie wore Provencal costumes, Stephanie clinging to her mother, a little like Alexandra does with Caroline. Princess Grace didn't seem at ease at all, she really did look stiff and out of place in that traditional costume and didn't move much and spoke only to her near-by companions. Caroline was wearing the Monaco colors, bell-bottom red pants (fashionable then) and a red and white polo shirt and a red scarf around her neck. Her hair was quite short, with a sort of flip part that gave her a youthful, carefree attitude. As I have mentioned somewhere else, she seemed to dominate everybody around her, but in a very friendly way, smiling, laughing, applauding (little girls gave a dance for the princely family), very modern, very "together", unpretentious, yet very aware of her popularity, and also very alert to all that went on. She had the most beautiful face and complexion, and her simple yet stunning outfit was perfect for her age (17 I think). There was a dance, and she danced with several partners, old palace staff it seemed like, smiling and talking graciously. She had that way of moving which I find unique in her, as if she glides, or bounces, very light-footed and animated, so full of energy. It's hard to describe. From looking at her, you knew that was a girl who would go far, even if she had not been a princess, a girl you knew could study, focus, and be a leader. I am sorry to say she made her mother look timid and dim (in the sense of without light) as she absorbed and radiated all the light herself. She really exuded a joie de vivre , a sort of delight in being so beautiful and loved, that I find missing in her daughter.
I still have my husband's pictures, the pictures I took myself, and I was even in a photograph in a magazine page reporting on the event, taking pictures.
Now, a small confession: my daughter thinks my interest in royals is unseemly at my age (only teenagers follow celebrities) and she advised me to lie on my age in my bio. I am actually 53, and have been following Caroline since I was 16. I can remember the first picture I clipped out of her (Caroline as a ballerina at 12 performing for her parents and an audience), not knowing it was the first picture of a collection that has covered 37 years ! The boxes get heavier and heavier everytime I move but it is worth it !
I taught French at the University of Pennsylvania in the late eighties, and although her cousin Grace Levine who was majoring in French was not my student, I often saw her in the hallways. She also had an aura, although a different one. She was also incredibly beautiful, in the Princess Grace style, very blond, very fine featured, elegant in a preppy way that suited her very well, elusive though, and shy. I have a series of pictures a Philadelphia Inquirer photographer took of her (gave to my husband because she knew of my interest), and I was so sad to hear of her passing. Such a lovely young woman, like a delicate pale rose.

 

[louisgarrel]

your story is lovely, it's nice to grow up alongside the people you admire, especially if that person is princess caroline of monaco. i see myself doing the same with the casiraghi trio

 

[rosana]

iloveroyals what a nice story, you are lucky you´ve seen them all, your description of Caroline is wonderful. 37 years!!! wow, im astonished,you must have lots of pictures!!!