Caroline, Princess of Hanover Caroline, Princess of Hanover Caroline, Princess of Hanover (Caroline Louise Marguerite Grimaldi; born 23 January 1957), is the eldest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and the American actress Grace Kelly. She is the elder sister of Prince Albert II and Princess Stéphanie. Until the births of her niece and nephew, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, in December 2014 she had been heir presumptive to the throne of Monaco since 2005, a position which she previously held from 1957 to 1958. Caroline is married to Ernst August, Prince of Hanover (born 1954), the heir to the former throne of
Albert I, Prince of Monaco building contractor of German-Jewish descent, Alice Heine had married the Duc de Richelieu but had been widowed by age 21 and left with a young son, Armand. Her marriage to Prince Albert proved an equal blessing for him and the tiny principality of Monaco, since Alice brought a strong business acumen, well in advance of her youth. Having helped put her husband's principality on a sound financial footing, she would devote her energies to making Monaco one of Europe's great cultural centers, with an opera, theater, and a ballet under the direction of the famed Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. Despite