Striking Similarities between the Royals of England and Monaco

Have you ever had an occasion to compare and contrast the royal families from countries around the globe? Since the United States doesn’t have royalty, other than the celebrities that we treat as royalty, it's interesting to study actual royal families and see what their lives are like and what experiences they had encountered. One striking likeness can be made between the royal families of England and Monaco. Prince William and Harry and Princess Caroline and Stephanie have all had similar experiences and their lives appear to parallel each other in certain striking ways.

The most apparent and striking similarity is that both pairs of siblings were born to two very beautiful and famous mothers who were revered by many around the world. Princess Diana, Prince William and Harry's mother, was the UK's "People’s Princess" and Grace Kelly, Princess Caroline and Stephaine's mother, was considered America's Princess. Grace Kelly was a award-winning actress who then married Monaco’s Prince Rainier III in 1956. Both of these women were killed in car accidents at fairly young ages. Princess Grace was 52 when she suffered a stroke and crashed her car with her youngest daughter, Stephanie, in the car while driving to her country home. Princess Diana was 36 when she was killed in a Paris car crash that involved the paparazzi following and harassing her to her end. The deaths of both of these women were a shock to the world. The hospital where Grace Kelly died was renamed The Princess Grace Hospital Centre. coincidentally, Princess Diana attended the funeral of Princess Grace as a representative of the British royal family. Nearly 100 million people from all over the world watched her funeral. The death of Princess Diana shocked the globe and people mourned for a very long time. It is estimated that two billion people watched Princess Diana’s funeral, making it one of the most watched televised events in history.

Similarly to having their mothers' idolized all over the world, Princes William and Harry and Princesses Caroline and Stephanie were all born into prominent royalty. There are quite a few similarities between the oldest Prince William, and the oldest Princess Caroline, and between the younger Prince Harry, and the younger Princess Stephanie. Although the princesses from Monaco are quite a bit older than the Princes (Princess Caroline is 53 and Princess Stephanie is 46 years old), their lives have many parellels. Prince William was the first born of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and is second in line to the throne of England. Princess Caroline was the first born to Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, and is currently heir presumptive to the crown of Monaco, where her brother, Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco rules. "Heir presumptive" means Princess Caroline is next in line to the throne of Monaco. She will wear the crown of Monaco if she outlives her brother Albert II, and no legitimate child is born to Albert in the meantime. From the day they were born, both Prince William and Princess Caroline have been preparing to represent their respective Royal Families in a polished and cultured manner. Both William and Caroline received impeccable educations. William attended Eaton College, a public school for boys ages 13 to 18. It is often referred to as the most famous public high school in the world. Here William studied biology, geography and history of art. He then went on to study geography and history at the University of St. Andrews after taking a year off to join the British Army. Caroline majored in philosophy and minored in biology and psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris. After the Sorbonne, she studied ballet at Marika Besobrasova School of Dance in Monte Carlo. She is fluent in five languages. In 1982, at the age of 25, Caroline became the First Lady of Monaco. After her mother died, Caroline became responsible for hosting multiple national and social events on behalf of Monaco. It is common knowledge in England and all over the world that Prince William will one day become the King of England. Being the first-born into royalty seems to have guided these two people's lives into a certain direction that they might not have desired, but they are both handling everything that comes their way with grace and dignity.

Prince Harry and Princess Stephanie on the other hand have chosen different paths in their lives. Being the younger siblings and as such, devoid of the royal responsibilities and duties so prominent within the lives of first-born royals has given Harry and Stephanie freedoms that were not granted to William or Caroline. Both Prince Harry and Princess Stephanie have been stamped as troublemakers, and Harry is regularly called a "bad boy." Harry’s reputation began to become more rowdy as he came into his teenage years. He started drinking and partying a little more than the royal family wanted. Hisbehaviors were broadcasted all over every British newspaper and tabloid and Harry wasn't able to get away with anything. One of the more publicized "bad boy" actions that Harry was seen doing was dressing up as a Nazi at a costume party. A large number people were offended by his choice in costume and lost respect for the prince. He was also becoming known for physically fighting with the paparazzi that follow him incessantly and caused the untimely death of his mother. Stephanie on the other hand was labeled the "black sheep" of the Monaco royal family. Where her sister was very studious, Stephanie had the reputation for being a bit more adventurous. She studied piano and dance in Paris and then moved on to more high speed and dangerous sports like water skiing, snow skiing and swimming. She broke the mold of proper princess etiquette by getting tattoos and marrying a bodyguard with whom she had two children with and then broke up with shortly after. Then quite quickly, Stephanie gave birth to a third child whose father she refused to name and then met an elephant trainer from the circus. She and her three children followed the circus for a number of years and Stephanie ultimately married an acrobat. Her actions were not what would be expected of a princess, but she was determined to not be held back by her title. She seems more interested in being seen as herself rather than just a princess.

Perhaps Prince Harry and Princess Stephanie's wild sides come from the fact that they were both quite young when their mothers died and their rebellions were seen as a way of coping with their losses. Princess Stephanie was in the car with her mother when she crashed her car. After the death of Princess Grace, Stephanie lost a great sense of stability and it seemed she took her near death experience to heart and decided she wasn’t going to waste a minute of her life by doing things she wanted to do. Prince Harry was at a quite impressionable age when his mother, Princess Diana, died. Prince Harry is the one who wrote a note labeled "Mummy" to his mother that was then placed on her casket at her funeral. It seems that his loss led to him rebelling and perhaps looking for the same stability that Princess Stephanie was also seeking.

All four of these royals have had tragedy strike them and they have each handled it differently. However, what seems to be common across both families is that the first born child of these royal families has each taken the reigns and responsibilities handed down to him/her with grace and dignity and has created an aura of respectability around him / her. Prince Harry and Princess Stephanie, on the other hand, have made different choices in their lives that they might not have made had they been the first born or had tragedy not struck them at such an impressionable period in their lives.

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Works and writes in LA