Background and career
Charlotte Marie Pomeline Casiraghi (born 3 August 1986) is a Monégasque writer and philosopher with experiences working in journalism and publishing. She has worked extensively as a brand ambassador and fashion model. While for many years she pursued equestrianism, her main interests revolve around French philosophy and literature. She is the second child of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, and the late Stefano Casiraghi, an Italian industrialist. She is twelfth in line to the throne of Monaco. Her maternal grandparents were Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and American actress Grace Kelly.
Charlotte Casiraghi was born in Princess Grace Hospital Centre in La Colle, Monaco, on 3 August 1986 to Princess Caroline of Monaco and Stefano Casiraghi. She was christened on 20 September 1986. Her godparents are Albina du Boisrouvray and Stefano Casiraghi's brother-in-law, Massimo Bianchi. She has two brothers: Andrea (b. 1984) and Pierre (b. 1987). When she was four years old, her father was killed in a boating accident. After his death, Princess Caroline moved the family to the Midi village of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in France, with the intention of minimizing their exposure to the press. In January 1999, Charlotte gained a stepfather and two stepbrothers, (Prince Ernst of Hanover and Prince Christian of Hanover), when her mother married Ernst August, Prince of Hanover. Six months later, Casiraghi's half-sister, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, was born at a clinic in Vöcklabruck, Austria. Casiraghi is one of the godmothers to her sister. The family then moved north to the Seine et Marne region near Paris. From 2001 through 2004, as a member of Marcel Rozier's Team Marionnaud, Casiraghi participated in a number of Junior and Amateur class show jumping competitions. She was trained by his son Thierry Rozier.
After her father's death and the family's move to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, she entered the French public school system. Later, as her family moved north to Le Mée-sur-Seine, she attended the Lycée François-Couperin, in nearby Fontainebleau, where her philosophy teacher was Robert Maggiori, who was to play a major role in her life. She obtained her baccalaureate exam in July 2004 with summa cum laude. She then enrolled in the hypokhâgne and khâgne course at the Lycée Fénelon, in St-Germain-des-Près, Paris, in the hope of entering the École normale supérieure (Paris). She took the written entrance exam for ENS in June 2006, but did not proceed to the oral exam. In 2007, Casiraghi earned a Licence de Philosophie (B.A.) from the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne. She completed two internships, first with the publishing house of Éditions Robert Laffont in Paris, and then later from October 2007 with the Sunday magazine supplement of The Independent newspaper of London. In 2018, she told Clara Le Fort of Billionaire magazine: "I continued studying philosophy while at the Sciences Po Doctoral School." According to her official website, as well as an interview she sat for in 2023, Casiraghi furthered her studies for a master's degree at the Catholic University of Paris. She earned her master's degree in the class of 2024.
In 2010, while still competing in equestrian sport, Casiraghi became the official ambassador for equestrian collections at Gucci. In 2014, she became the face of Gucci Cosmetics. Casiraghi later modeled for Yves Saint Laurent's campaign for its Fall 2018 collection that ran under the hashtag #YSL15. She was photographed by David Sims and was the primary face of the campaign. In 2018, Casiraghi collaborated with Montblanc, of which she had been global brand ambassador since 2015, on a line of jewelry called Les Aimants. The line, inspired by Nancy Cunard, was made in collaboration with Zaim Kamal, the creative director of the brand. Les Aimants was officially launched at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Casiraghi modeled for photographer Collier Schorr in the eighth issue of System magazine. In a gender fluid framework, she modeled clothing from the Gucci menswear line. The campaign challenged notions of constructed gender identity and expressed Casiraghi's suitability for its message by saying that she exemplified the muse ("Gucci muse with a royal bloodline") whose heritage links her with archetypes associated with Hollywood and royalty. On 22 December 2020, she became a brand ambassador of Chanel. She was the global face for Chanel's Spring/Summer 2021 campaign. The year 2022 saw her expand her brand ambassadorial role as she assumed a prominent role in promoting the Chanel Cruise 2022–23, unveiled at Les Baux de Provence and destined for Monaco. Noting that Casiraghi had been the star of the fashion house's Spring 2021 campaign, Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel SAS, assured the press that Casiraghi "would continue to play an important role in the brand's communications." He highlighted her collaboration with designer Virginie Viard, who shared Casiraghi's intellectual and philosophical vision. Casiraghi's most memorable moment as a Chanel brand ambassador was her appearance on the runway for the Spring/Summer 2022 Haute Couture Show at the Grand Palais Éphémère. She did not walk on the runway; she rode onto it on the back of a Spanish bay horse called Kuskus. By then, as she told a journalist two years later, she was somewhat out of practice on horseback, but she loved the novelty and the secrecy and surprise behind the stunt. The unusual entrance was accompanied by a short, equestrian-themed film featuring Casiraghi. The film was shot by contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan, The film, which was set to music by Sébastien Tellier, was shot in vintage quality film and highlighted the harmonies between horse and rider.
In 2021, when Viard was the director of design at Chanel, she invited Casiraghi to be the spokesperson and co-host for Les Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon, a cultural series in podcast and video form. The series expanded the fashion house's literary tradition which is rooted in its earliest days, since its founding by Gabrielle Chanel. Casiraghi was a key fixture on the panel that would discuss, usually in French, a particular female author and set of works. The episode on Virginia Woolf in 2021 was the first to be broadcast in English and away from Paris. (It was held at Somerset House in London.) Each literary rendezvous consisted of a panel with Casiraghi, literary scholar Fanny Arama, an actress who was a brand ambassador for Chanel, and a writer. Each panelist was a woman, a key feature in line with the project's goal of female emancipation. That episode and others that were conducted in English (like the American debut with Siri Hustvedt and Rachel Eliza Griffiths) added to the panel the writer Erica Wagner. The Rachel Cusk episode, the 13th overall, was also conducted in English, with Naomi Campbell joining the discussion on how pregnancy and maternity complicate the creative process for women.
In 2015, Casiraghi founded Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco (In English: "Philosophical Encounters" or "Meetings"). The organization, of which she is president, is known for short as "PhiloMonaco." Her co-founders include her former teacher in Fontainebleau, the philosopher Robert Maggiori. The others original founders are Joseph Cohen and Raphael Zagury-Orly. Casiraghi's mother, Princess Caroline, is among the long list of honorary members of the organization, which is, in essence, a think tank for the discussion of contemporary issues, publishing on philosophical topics, engagement with the public in meaningful dialogue, educational programs for schoolchildren. Moreover, there is an annual prize for the recognition of outstanding writing on philosophical themes ("which has opened up new paths in the field of philosophy and introduced alternative approaches in science, politics, theology, history, anthropology, ethics or psychoanalysis.") Other well-known thinkers who are/were part of the organization as honorary members include philosopher Jean-Luc Marion, the late Umberto Eco, Boris Cyrulnik, and Albina du Boisrouvray, Casiraghi's godmother. The writings and the life of Anne Dufourmantelle (another honorary member) made a strong impact on Casiraghi, who wrote about Dufourmantelle's book Défense du Secret for Libération and also wrote the preface for that book. Casiraghi and Dufourmantelle, who died in 2017, were friends, sharing, according to Casiraghi, a passion not only for philosophy but for horses. Casiraghi wrote the preface for L'érotisme maternel et son sens aujourd'hui by psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva published in 2017. Kristeva is an honorary member of Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco. In May 2016, the two women also published (in Air France Magazine) their letters to one another, reflecting on motherhood and womanhood, under the title: "Epistolary Encounters". Casiraghi also wrote "Souffrances inconnues", a chapter in Kristeva's work Révolte et reliance. This chapter was originally a lecture that Casiraghi delivered at the colloque de Cerisy in 2021. In August 2026, it was announced that Casiraghi had been hired to be the director of a new collection for the Actes Sud publishing house in France. The collection, called Un pas de côté (step aside), will curate and publish philosophical works that explore ordinary concepts from new perspectives. The first title from the collection, La vérité sort de la bouche des enfants, by the French psychologist Laurence Joseph, would be released on 23 September.
