The British royal family has long been the focus of attention of international media. However, they’re not the only high profile royals that have interested the public in the past decades.
Americans might associate Monaco’s royal famil best with the late Hollywood star and Monegasque Princess Grace Kelly. Years after her famous marriage into royalty, one of her descendants’ wedding has made headlines once again with many news publications noting the American connections about the affair.
College Sweethearts
This time it’s her grandson by her youngest daughter Princess Stephanie that has recently walked down the aisle. Louis Ducruet, who’s 26 years old, wed his fiancée Marie Chevallier in two wedding ceremonies over the weekend.
The two were reportedly college sweethearts attending the same American university, Western Carolina University. They graduated back in 2015 from the college’s Cullowhee campus with degrees in business and marketing.
Speaking about their experience in an American university, Chevallier said she and Ducruet wanted to experience the ‘real, deep American lifestyle’ as well as experience the American school spirit.
The wedding came just a few weeks after Ducruet’s cousin, Charlotte Casiraghi, married her French film producer husband Dimitri Rassam. Casiraghi is the daughter of Princess Caroline and is 11th in line to Monaco’s throne. Meanwhile, Ducruet is currently 15th in line in the succession. It’s worth noting though that the 26-year-old doesn’t hold any royal titles.
Historic Cathedral
Ducruet and Chevallier first got married in a private civil ceremony at the Prince’s Palace before having a larger religious service, at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate in the principality of Monaco.
Also known as St. Nicholas Cathedral, the couple’s choice of wedding venue has been noted as their recent nuptials marked the first time that a member of the royal family got married there since his grandmother’s wedding to Prince Rainier III in the 1950s.
The cathedral is said to hold significance to the Monegasque royals having used the place to hold the funerals of both Kelly in 1982 and Prince Rainier III in 2005. Ducruet himself has said that it was obvious for them to choose the cathedral as it was their way of being close to his late grandfather and associating their happiness to him.
Hands-On Bride
According to sources, the bride, who works at SBM as an events project planner, was quite hands-on during the planning stages of the wedding. In fact, she’s told the German magazine BUNTE that she really enjoyed organizing her own wedding starting her preparations right after Ducruet asked her to marry him.
Meanwhile, the bride’s gown was designed by the groom’s sister, Pauline Ducruet, who is a graduate of the prestigious Parsons School of Design. Proving to be a family affair, Ducruet’s other sister, Camille Gottlieb, was reportedly one of Chevallier’s bridesmaids.
