Caroline of Monaco: Busybody Fundraiser and Model Princess

Princess Caroline of Monaco certainly lives lavishly. Every summer, she recharges her batteries on the 118-foot PACHA III as it weaves around and along the jet-set playgrounds of the Mediterranean. For this peaceful time, she pays a heavy price, being shown in magazines on board the yacht in her bikini, surrounded by her children and their dearest friends. Her lawyer, Mattias Prinz, pointed to her most recent cruise when he addressed the European Court of Human Rights on 13 October 2010. He said that the German tabloids continue to expose her most private moments and to use for their defense the argument that her open-air activities, whether private or public, are fair game (see previous blog entry).

But while the lawyers do battle for her in the courts, the Princess pursues her altruistic and cultural passions. In Florence, she indulged her fascination with art and architecture, all the while helping to raise money simultaneously for AMADE and the Uffizi Gallery of the Palazzo Vecchio (See previous blog). Paris Match recently referred to Her Royal Highness as “Charlene’s shadow,” but they could not be more off the mark. Despite her much-gossiped-about separation, and possible divorce from Prince Ernst of Hannover, all of which is bittersweetly counteracted by her brother’s engagement to Charlene Wittstock, the Princess has not been hovering in the shadows! Besides the aforementioned charitable commitments, there was the outing with Scouts of Monaco to celebrate their centennial on 25 September; the philharmonic concert in Monaco, conducted by Yakov Kreizberg, on 26 September. Then, early in October, there was the inauguration of the model for “Aquariva” designed by Marc Newson and sponsored by the Ferretti Group. The Princess was named as Godmother (or Patroness) of the Aquariva project. Aquariva is an exclusive made-to-order yacht, much like the one commissioned by the Gucci Group and designed by Frida Giannini to mark Gucci’s 90th anniversary next year.

This week, on Wednesday, 20 October, Princess Caroline attended the gala fundraiser for GEMLUC, Monaco’s cancer charity for which she serves as Honorary President and which was founded in 1973. The event was held in the Automobile Club.

Next summer, Monaco will have a Princess Consort for the first time since Princess Grace. She — that is, the new Princess Charlene — will be the tiny Principality’s “First Lady,” which of course is only a fanciful title for use in the media, and which has heretofore been the distinction of Princess Caroline for the past 28 years. Yet despite the tabloid implications of the young bride overshadowing, or replacing the ripe old sister-in-law (there is a 20-year age difference between them), it seems farfetched that Caroline could ever be so easily sidelined. Princess Caroline is too well-established, too much renowned as a humanitarian and has been too long beloved by the people of Monaco to be replaced by her brother’s foreign bride. On the contrary, said bride will have to work extra hard to earn the people’s affections, and what better example might she follow than her elder sister-in-law?

Filed under Germany, Monaco
Tagged House of Hanover, Media, Patronage, Princess Caroline of Hanover, Princess Charlène of Monaco.