Advertisement

Royal Wedding Alert! Princess Grace's Granddaughter Charlotte Casiraghi Is Married

Royal wedding season continues!

Monaco’s Charlotte Casiraghi — the 32-year-old daughter of Princess Caroline and granddaughter of Princess Grace (formerly known as Hollywood star Grace Kelly) — wed film producer Dimitri Rassam in a ceremony at Monaco’s Prince’s Palace on Saturday, PEOPLE confirms.

Rassam, 37, is the son of actress and model Carole Bouquet.

The couple, who are parents to 6-month-old son Balthazar, exchanged vows in a civil ceremony held in the Palace in Monaco, sources tell PEOPLE.

For her wedding, the bride chose a grey stone colored brocaded wedding suit, accessorized with three bows and designed by Yves St Laurent. The outfit immediately struck several fans as having drawn inspiration from the champagne and pink brocaded suit, designed by MGM stylist Helen Rose, which the newlywed’s grandmother Grace wore for her civil marriage to Prince Rainier in 1956.

The civil ceremony marriage took place at noon inside the State Apartments with mostly family and friends. Present for the ceremony were her entire family as well as Prince Albert, Princess Charlene and their children, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques.

Attendees at the wedding included the bride’s uncle, Prince Albert II, his wife Princess Charlene, Princess Caroline and the groom’s mother. Also in attendance were Charlotte’s brothers, Andrea and Pierre Casiraghi and her sister Alexandra de Hanover as well as the groom’s half-brother Louis Giacobetti and his cousin, Thomas Langmann, the Oscar-winning producer of The Artist.

RELATED: See Lady Gabriella’s Official Wedding Portraits — Taken at Meghan and Harry’s Favorite Photo Spot! Play Video

Following the wedding ceremony, an afternoon reception, a traditional Monegasque-style picnic, u cavagnëtu, was held in terraced gardens overlooking the Mediterranean. Guests, approximately 300 according to one attendee, were treated to seasonal dishes and salads, orange tea and cake.

This is Charlotte’s first marriage and Rassam’s second. Charlotte also has 5-year-old son Raphael from a previous relationship with comedian Gad Elmaleh. Rassam has a 7-year-old daughter from his previous marriage. The three children were also in attendance at today’s ceremony.

The couple’s walk down the aisle comes after a long courtship. “They’ve actually known one another for a while,” a palace source told PEOPLE, characterizing their relationship as “a remote friendship of many years.”

According to sources, the couple — whose mothers have been friends for years — “were reconnected” by friends in Paris during Christmas 2016. Charlotte first signaled their relationship by wearing a vintage black velvet gown at the 2017 Bal de la Rose (which several sharp-eyed royal watchers recognized was the exact number her mother previously wore to a high-profile Monaco event that she had attended alongside Rassam’s mother in December 2000).

They became engaged during a family ski trip in March 2018. Days later, Charlotte silently wore her pink diamond solitaire to the annual Bal de la Rose. In October, she gave birth to the couple’s son.

Dimitri Rassam and Charlotte Casiraghi | Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Dimitri Rassam and Charlotte Casiraghi | Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

While Charlotte purposefully was not given the title of “Princess” at birth, she is currently 11th in the line of succession to the Principality’s throne. With her marriage to Rassam, their son Balthazar could become 12th in the line with Prince Albert’s consent. Under Monaco’s civil code, children are allowed to enter the line with a subsequent marriage, sanctioned by the reigning sovereign.

Essentially raised outside the spotlight, Charlotte and her husband were educated in elite Paris schools before graduating from the Sorbonne (Rassam holds a History degree; Charlotte, a B.A. in Philosophy) In addition, the pair share an ineluctable bond, each having suffered the loss of their fathers at an extremely young ages: Rassam at age three and Charlotte, only four when her father Stefano Casiraghi died in a motorboat accident in 1990. Following his death, Charlotte and her brothers were raised for several years outside Monaco in an attempt to minimize their exposure to the press.

As an independent producer, Rassam has been responsible for a variety of films ranging from comedies and drama (Escobar: Paradise Lost with Benicio del Toro) to children’s entertainment including Netflix’ Little Prince. Charlotte, a veteran equestrian and champion show rider, has developed a career involving modeling (Gucci, Mont Blanc) with occasional journalism while maintaining a discreet “royal” presence at certain Monaco charity events as sponsor and organizer.

Charlotte Casiraghi and Dimitri Rassam
Charlotte Casiraghi and Dimitri Rassam

A largely private couple, the pair have chiefly ignored public interest in their relationship. They did, however, publicly threatening legal action in January against newspapers and magazines propagating rumors of a split between them. In recent months, they have attempted to adjust to the inevitable spotlight, increasingly attending a series of red carpet events together, including several at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.

  • Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

The selection of Monaco’s historic 800-year old “Pink Palace” was the couple’s first choice for their civil ceremony, according to sources, as it’s a family tradition. Caroline’s first marriage occurred in the palace and both of Casiraghi’s brothers had civil ceremonies on the palace grounds before religious ceremonies at disparate locations.

Following the afternoon reception, guests headed to the five-star Monte Carlo Beach Hotel where an evening dinner is to be held there, prepared by the hotel’s chef Paolo Sari, with poolside and on the beach dancing to go into the late hours.

Charlotte and Dimitri are expected to host a larger multi-day wedding celebration next weekend for friends and family at an undisclosed location in southern France.