Carlota Casiraghi, the Heir of Grace Kelly in Search of the Art of Being Oneself

Carlota Casiraghi visited Madrid this week for the presentation of the book 'Infancy and Violence' by French neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, which she has prefaced. The philosopher princess participated in a literary event at the French Institute alongside the author; France's ambassador, Kareen Rispal; the Culture Counsellor, Simond de Galbert; and Leopoldo Kulesz, director of the publishing house Libros del Zorzal.

During the event, they debated philosophy, neuroscience, empathy, education, and social media, leading Carlota to question the pursuit of quick solutions as a sign of the times: "What requires a lot of patience is ultimately not very interesting or does not fit into the market logic," she reflected. "Everything fragile needs to be repaired," she noted, highlighting "the difficulties adolescents may face due to the quest for quick diagnoses." "Fragility today demands too much time," she expressed.

These musings, born from her passion for philosophy, contrast with her more frivolous side as a European royal 'it girl', inheriting the glamour of her mother, Princess Caroline of Monaco, and her grandmother, Grace Kelly, while being a staple of the tabloid press. Her contributions include writing for publications like 'Libération', 'Madame Figaro', and 'Another Magazine', where she discusses culture, art, and philosophy, alongside covers in fashion magazines such as 'Vogue Paris', 'Harper's Bazaar', 'Elle', and 'Vanity Fair'. This duality has led her to be the face of brands like Gucci and Chanel while organising the Monaco Philosophical Encounters.

Simultaneously, her life has been chronicled in the tabloids, from her first known love, Austrian aristocrat Hubertus Herring Frankensdort, in the early 2000s, to Nicolas Mathieu, the French writer linked to her after her separation from French film producer Dimitri Rassam, father of her youngest child. Her list of romances also includes Felix Winckler, Alex Dellal, and Gad Elmaleh, the French actor and comedian with whom she had her firstborn.

The daughter of Princess Caroline and Stefano Casiraghi discovered philosophy while studying at the François Couperin high school in Fontainebleau, about 60 kilometres from Paris. Professor Robert Maggiori planted a seed of critical thinking and reflection in her that has continued to flourish. The admiration was mutual, so much so that for Maggiori, Carlota became his best student, and she reciprocated by choosing to study Philosophy at the Sorbonne University.

Over the past two decades, she has been committed to promoting philosophy and emphasising the importance of thought and reflection in all areas: "Luxury and cosmopolitan life are part of sensitivity," she said a few years ago. And although she knows philosophy should not be analysed personally, she acknowledges that her privileged position influences her worldview, and she accepts it.

Hence, her recurring themes include passions and how to transform them to achieve inner freedom, beauty and art as a means of knowledge and emotional redemption, female freedom and the role of women in philosophical thought and society, or nature and care linking ecology with sensitivity and ethics. Among her main influences are Baruch Spinoza, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Michel Foucault, Simone Weil, and Gilles Deleuze.

Her intellectual journey will reach a new milestone next year when her first solo book is published. The French publisher Éditions Julliard will release 'La Fêlure' (which can be translated as the crack or the fissure) on January 29, 2026, in which, as she outlined during her visit to Madrid, she presents an intellectual and emotional journey through human fragility based on the texts of great authors.

"A literary and sensitive investigation into the notion of fissure," explains the French press, in which the niece of Albert of Monaco explores the works and lives of writers, poets, and adventurers to reflect on this idea. It is not a "pure" philosophical essay nor an autobiography, but a "journey" through the "inner crack", of what in us is broken and how that can have value. A journey Carlota undertakes through the lives and works of personalities like Francis Scott Fitzgerald, author of titles such as 'The Great Gatsby' or 'This Side of Paradise'; poet Anna Akhmatova; writers Ingeborg Bachmann, Colette, or Marguerite Duras; navigator Bernard Moitessier; or singer J. J. Cale.