All about Princess Alexandra of Hanover and her uncanny resemblance to grandmother Grace Kelly
By Merryn Porter |
She is a member of not one, but two of Europe's royal families, but Princess Alexandra of Hanover has emerged as a style icon, just like the grandmother she never met — Princess Grace of Monaco.
Princess Alexandra of Hanover is the youngest child of Princess Caroline of Monaco and her third husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover.
She became a champion figure skater before attending a prestigious New York university. Nowadays, she is best known as a budding fashionista.
Here, we take a look at her life, including how she is related to Britain's Queen Victoria.
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Princess Alexandra was born on July 20, 1999, in Austria, just six months after the wedding of her parents.
She was her mother's fourth child, and her father's third.
Princess Alexandra was christened two months later during a ceremony at her father's Austrian hunting lodge.
Among her godmothers was her half-sister Charlotte Casiraghi, from her mother's marriage to Stefano Casiraghi, who died in a speedboat crash in 1990.
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She also has two half brothers on her mother's side, Andrea and Pierre Casiraghi, and two half brothers, on her father's side, Prince Ernst August and Prince Christian of Hanover.
Her maternal uncle is Albert II, the Prince of Monaco, who is the sovereign of the tiny principality, and she is the granddaughter of Prince Rainier of Monaco, who ruled Monaco for 56 years until his death on April 6, 2005.
Her grandmother is Princess Grace of Monaco, the US actress formerly known as Grace Kelly, who was consort to Prince Rainier from their wedding day on April 18, 1956, until her death from injuries sustained in a car accident on September 14, 1982.
Princess Alexandra is her mother's only child to bear a royal title, which comes from her father's side.
The German House of Hanover has roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland and the British Empire at various times between the 17th and 20th centuries.
The last Hanoverian ruler of the British Empire was Queen Victoria, who died in 1901.
The House of Hanover ceased to exist in anything but name when Germany became a republic in 1918.
Princess Alexandra was in line to the British throne via her father up until 2018, when she converted to Catholicism.
She is currently 13th in Monaco's line of succession.
Princess Alexandra spent her early childhood in Austria and Fontainebleau in France.
Her parents separated in September 2009, with Princess Caroline returning to Monaco with her young daughter in tow.
The couple never divorced and Caroline retained her title of Princess of Hanover but is better known by her birth title, Princess Caroline of Monaco.
Princess Alexandra, then 10, was enrolled in a Monaco school.
That year she took up figure skating after receiving a pair of ice skates for Christmas.
It seems she was a natural on the ice rink. At 11, she competed in a competition in Toulon, France.
At 12, she competed in the "Skate 7" class at the 10th Figure Skating Championship in Monaco, where she finished in second place and received the Monegasque Federation of Skating cup.
Princess Alexandra continued to excel at figure skating, and in 2015 she represented Monaco at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Austria.
She competed throughout the 2015–16 season, including at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating.
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In 2015, Princess Alexandra made her debut into Monaco's royal life at the municipality's famous Rose Ball, where she has since become a regular.
Over the next few years, she made occasional appearances with her cousins at various events, such as Monaco National Day celebrations.
She is also a regular at events such as the Monaco Grand Prix
Like her mother and grandmother before her, Princess Alexandra has a close interest in fashion and is known for her style.
She has been photographed at Paris Fashion Week shows ever since she was a teen and is often spotted at Chanel shows.
Her mother was the face of Chanel in the 1980s and her sister, Charlotte, commissioned the fashion house to design her wedding dress for her second marriage to Dimitri Rassam.
She has also been seen in the front row of Dior and Stephane Rolland shows.
Princess Alexandra often borrows clothes from her mother.
She told a Spanish publication Telva that she tries to support sustainable fashion. "I suppose that taking clothes from my mother's closet is more sustainable," she said.
Just this year she gave the ultimate fashion nod to her mother by appearing to re-wear one of her outfits from 1990.
Princess Alexandra was pictured at the Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 show in Paris on January 23 wearing a black dress with white detailing that appeared to come straight from Princess Caroline's closet.
Fan blog Royal Fashion Police was the first to identify the black coat dress with white collar and detailing and military style buttons as the same one Princess Caroline was pictured in twice, in 1990 and 1993.
It was first unveiled at the Chanel Fall/Winter 1990 Couture show.
Princess Alexandra put her own spin on the dress, pairing it with black tights and black backless high-heeled shoes. She also carried a classic Chanel handbag.
It was her second outing during Paris Fashion Week, having also attended Giambattista Valli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 show, where she was pictured wearing a long orange dress with keyhole detail and black heels.
Not much is known about Princess Alexandra of Hanover's education, however after school, she reportedly studied at the prestigious Columbia University in New York.
Now 24, she has no reason to work, with her father said to be a billionaire thanks to business and real estate interests, and Alexandra is thought to have a net worth in the millions.
Alexandra has been dating Ben-Sylvester Strautmann since 2017. The pair were pictured together in a box at the tennis this month in the company of Prince Albert and his wife Princess Charlene, hinting that they are very serious.
