Monaco has a royal wedding to look forward to. Princess Alexandra of Hanover, the youngest child of Caroline of Monaco, has announced on social media her engagement to Ben-Sylvester Strautmann, the former basketball player and entrepreneur she has been with for around ten years. Her ring, by the Italian jeweller Antinori di San Pietro, mixes yellow and white gold around a large yellow diamond. No date has been given yet. The news prompted Vanity Fair Italia to look back at her mother’s own three weddings, and they make a fascinating lesson in bridal style.
1978: Dior and a palace full of stars
Caroline was 21 when she married the French businessman Philippe Junot, 17 years her senior, at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco on 29 June 1978. Her parents, Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly, were not thrilled with the match, but the day itself was grand: around 600 guests, with European royalty mixing with Grace’s Hollywood friends, among them Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Ava Gardner. The bride wore an embroidered, bohemian-style Dior gown and skipped the tiara and showy jewels, although the night before, at a ball given by her parents, she had worn a diamond tiara that belonged to her mother. The couple divorced in 1980, and the Catholic Church later annulled the marriage in 1992.
1983: champagne silk and three sapphires
Her second engagement, to the Italian sportsman and businessman Stefano Casiraghi, was announced on 19 December 1983, and the wedding followed just ten days later, on 29 December. It was a small civil ceremony in the palace’s Hall of Mirrors. Instead of a classic bridal gown, Caroline chose a long-sleeved, midi-length wrap dress in champagne silk crêpe, again by Dior, with a small bow in her hair in place of a tiara. It is still a reference for brides who would rather not dress like brides. Her engagement ring was just as original: a gold band set with three sapphires, one pink, one yellow and one blue, a lovely idea for anyone drawn to sapphire rings, multi-gemstone rings or fancy coloured sapphire earrings. The couple had three children, Andrea, Charlotte and Pierre, before Stefano Casiraghi’s death in a powerboat racing accident on 3 October 1990.
1999: a Chanel suit, worn again
Caroline married Prince Ernst August of Hanover on 23 January 1999, her 42nd birthday, in a discreet civil ceremony with only close family and friends. She wore no wedding dress at all, but a sky-blue two-piece suit with a collared, double-breasted jacket and knee-length skirt, designed by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel’s 1997 haute couture collection, which she had already worn in public. Their daughter, Alexandra, was born that July. A pale blue look like that pairs beautifully with aquamarine earrings and a structured handbag.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia (Ana Salas, translated and adapted by Alberto Frigo, originally published by Vanity Fair Spain, 31 October 2026); Wikipedia, “Caroline, Princess of Hanover”; Wikipedia, “Stefano Casiraghi”.
