All About Grace Kelly’s 3 Children with Prince Rainier III of Monaco

Grace Kelly’s life was a true fairytale when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956, becoming Princess Grace. The starlet left Hollywood behind to fulfill her duties as a Monégasque royal, including raising her three children with the Prince: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert II, and Princess Stéphanie. 

Kelly’s life was tragically cut short in 1982 when she suffered a stroke behind the wheel, leading to a car accident. According to People, the actress had been driving back to Monaco from her family’s country home. She died from a brain hemorrhage on September 14, 1982, at just 52 years old. A teenage Princess Stéphanie, who was also in the car, left the wreck with major injuries but ultimately recovered.

Stéphanie reflected on the fatal accident in 2015. “After I got over my anger, got past the sense of injustice that was inside me, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I said, ‘Wait! Logically, you should have died, too,’” she shared with a French publication Point de Vue, per the same People story. “If I was kept alive, it was for a reason. You have a place in this world. You have to find it.”

All three of Kelly’s children are committed to upholding her legacy of philanthropy and patronage. The family founded the Princess Grace Foundation-USA in 1982 as a way to pay tribute to her, according to the foundation’s official website. It’s now helmed by Prince Albert, who succeeded his father as the reigning monarch of Monaco upon Prince Rainier III’s death in 2005.

On the 40th anniversary of Kelly’s passing, Albert remembered his mother and the many lives she touched. “Many times during a day, a week, not only do I find myself thinking of [Grace Kelly], but numbers of people still recall her to me,” he told People in 2022. “They remember her and that’s a great tribute to her and who she was — to what an exceptional human being she was.”

Here’s everything to know about Grace Kelly’s three children, who are part of Monaco’s royal family.

Princess Caroline

Kelly welcomed her first child with Prince Rainier III, Princess Caroline, on January 23, 1957, at the Princes Palace. 

The palace’s official website notes that the princess studied piano, flute, and ballet as a child. After receiving her French Baccalaureat with honors in 1974, she attended the Sorbonne in Paris. There, she studied philosophy and minored in psychology and biology.

Upon her mother’s sudden passing, Caroline became Monaco’s de facto first lady at 25 years old. The princess had already assumed some royal duties—in 1979, her parents appointed her the President of the Monegasque Committee for the International Year of Children. Her devotion to helping children through this and later efforts, like setting up a youth crisis hotline, earned her the appointment of Goodwill Ambassadress by UNESCO in 2003.

The 68-year-old royal is also a mother and grandmother herself. In 1978, she wed Parisian banker Philippe Junot, per WWD. They divorced in 1980. Three years later, she wed Italian businessman Stefano Casiraghi. The couple welcomed three children together: son Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi, daughter Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi, and son Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi. 

Stefano died in a boating accident in October 1990, at age 30. Nine years later, Caroline married His Royal Highness Prince Ernst of Hanover. With Prince Ernst, she welcomed her youngest child, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, in 1999, per her official royal biography.

While Kelly’s firstborn daughter rarely gives interviews, her brother Prince Albert II has offered updates on her life over the years. In 2017, he described her as “quite a remarkable woman” to People. “What she’s done over the years, helping Monaco in various ways, on the cultural and charitable sides — she’s always there. She’s often the first person on board,” the monarch added.

He also described her as a “very good mother, and probably an even better grandmother” in the same interview. “She really raised her kids well. Without a father for many years, that’s important. I’m incredibly proud of her children and to have them turn out as they have — that’s a tribute to her.”

Prince Albert II

Kelly and Rainier welcomed their first and only son, Prince Albert II, on March 14, 1958. 

While his older sister chose Europe for her studies, Albert headed to the United States, attending Amherst College, per the palace’s official website. At Amherst, he joined the Chi Psi fraternity and toured with the school’s glee club. He graduated with a degree in political science in May 1981, with his parents and sister in attendance at the commencement ceremony.

Following graduation, he obtained the rank of Ship-of-the-Line Ensign (2nd class) while training on the French Navy’s “Jeanne d’Arc” helicopter carrier. He proceeded to collect honorary doctorates and other awards from various universities and governments around the world. 

In 1992, he welcomed daughter Jazmin Grimaldi with Tamara Rotolo. He later welcomed his first son, Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, with flight attendant Nicole Coste in 1997.

After the passing of his father in 2005, Albert ascended to the throne as the sovereign prince of Monaco. As a ruler, he’s shown particular concerns for Monaco’s economic development, commitment to the environment, and advancement of human rights protections. In 2006, Albert established the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for environmental protection with a mission of promoting sustainability and finding solutions to major crises like climate change.

The prince wed Charlene Lynette Wittstock in July 2011, making her Princess Charlene of Monaco, per People. The princess is a former Olympic swimmer, having represented South Africa at the 2000 Summer games. As a royal, she shares Kelly’s passion for helping underprivileged youth, serving as patron or fundraiser for various charities—including several in her native Africa.

Albert and Charlene share twins Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, born in December 2014. 10-year-old Jacques is heir apparent to his father’s throne. According to their father, the twins enjoy an athletic lifestyle—just like their two Olympian parents. “[T]he kids do sports, they do Taekwondo and tennis at school, and swimming of course. They’ve got a full schedule. They’re great,” he told People in 2022.

Princess Stéphanie

Kelly and Rainier welcomed their third child, Princess Stéphanie, on February 1, 1965.

Like her older siblings, the princess was drawn to athletics from a young age. According to her official palace bio, she’s tried her hand at classic dance, gymnastics, swimming, and skiing. She graduated from Paris’s Collège Dupanloup in 1982, just a few months before her mother’s shocking death.

Reflecting on the accident which spared her life but claimed her mother’s, she’s discussed the difficulty of processing such a tragedy. “It’s only in the last few years that I’ve been starting to cope with it,” she shared in Jeffrey Robinson’s 1989 biography, Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait. “I still can’t go down that road [where the accident occurred], even if someone else is driving. I always ask them to take the other road.”

Stéphanie found peace with help from her family, including her older siblings, who shared her desire to support their father the prince. “Each of us tried to rebuild ourselves, and all three of us pulled together for our dad, whose suffering was indescribable. It was him whose pain was the greatest, he who felt the most emptiness … the most abandoned,” she said in the 2018 biography Albert II of Monaco, the Man and the Prince, per Monaco Life.

A young Stéphanie found success as a model and intern for Christian Dior in the early ‘80s. She even designed her own swimwear line, titled ‘Pool Position.’ Later, she dropped the hit single “Ouragan.”

As a royal, the princess has been a longtime champion of AIDs research. She was named a Special Representative for UNAIDS in 2006. She also established Maison de Vie, a charitable residence in Vaucluse, France, offering respite to individuals living with HIV/AIDs.

Princess Stéphanie shares two children with ex-husband Daniel Ducruet: son Louis, born in 1992, and daughter Pauline, born in 1994. The couple were married from 1995 to 1996. Two years later,  Stéphanie welcomed another daughter, Camille, per her royal bio.

Camille recently paid tribute to her late grandmother by wearing a recreation of the latter’s iconic Edith Head gown worn in the 1954 film Rear Window. The elegant recreation was the work of Italian designer Elisabetta Franchi. Camille donned the dress for her 2025 appearance at Monaco’s 76th Red Cross Ball.