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
Charles III, Prince of Monaco served in the French Navy during the Franco-Prussian War, earning for his service the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor. The Order of Saint-Charles was instituted on 15 March 1858, during the reign of Prince Charles III. In his middle years his sight greatly weakened, and by the last decade of his life he had become almost totally blind. In fact, Dr. Thomas Henry Pickering wrote in 1882: "So far back as 1860, Prince Charles lost his eyesight..." He died at Château de Marchais on 10 September 1889. He was succeeded by his son Albert I of Monaco.