Charlotte Casiraghi, Beyond the Image
- Nathalie Dassa
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Chanel ambassador, accomplished horsewoman, and member of Monaco's intellectual scene, the daughter of Caroline of Monaco and granddaughter of Grace Kelly is also a lover of philosophy. In her first solo book, based on a short story by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, she explores the boundaries and rough edges of the crack.
"I have often been reduced to an image on glossy paper, to a life of dreams and privileges. It can be summed up in a few photos taken at balls or fashion shows, or in what people think they know about my love life. (...) But everything that matters to me, my convictions and my personality, is almost never revealed by this image that sticks to me like glue." With these opening words, Charlotte Casiraghi begins her first book, after co-authoring a collection of discussions on the nature of sensitivity, Archipel des passions (Seuil Publishing, 2018), with philosopher Robert Maggiori. Her unique journey remains rooted at the intersection of culture, equestrian sports, and fashion. La Fêlure (Julliard Publishing) draws its inspiration from a short story by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-up, in which the creator of Gatsby sheds his shackles as a socialite writer to confront his alcoholism, a few years before his death. Over 384 pages, she draws on works by leading figures in literature, poetry, and philosophy, as well as music and navigation, examining this catharsis at the heart of our cracks, which offers both downward and upward possibilities within the same space-time.
The art of side step
Ingeborg Bachmann, Colette, George Sand, Marguerite Duras, Anne Dufourmantelle, Bernard Moitessier, J. J. Cale, Balzac, Blaise Pascal... Charlotte Casiraghi invites us to a feast fit for a king. With her fluid, refined, and introspective pen, she carefully scratches away at the veneer of life to dissect what lies beneath.
Through her selection, she analyzes fragments of stories from their novels, essays, poems, and correspondence, while also recounting their childhoods, their own lives, and their relationships with others, which led them to create these literary masterpieces. There is a much grace in her style, restraint in her words, and courage too, in her willingness to embrace the vulnerability that we so often try to avoid or displace, in order to better understand it, grasp it, and perhaps even tame it.
A graduate in philosophy from the Sorbonne in Paris, Charlotte Casiraghi has always been passionate about the discipline. She, who will turn 40 on August 3, 2026, co-founded “Les Rencontres philosophiques de Monaco“ (Philosophical Encounters of Monaco) and the “Prix de la Principauté“ (Principality's Prize), dedicated to an author's entire philosophical work, on the Rock. With Chanel, for whom she has been an ambassador since 2021, she also imagined “Les Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon” (The Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon), where she honors contemporary female authors through podcasts and literary recommendations.
Rebuilding possibilities
Daughter of Caroline of Monaco, granddaughter of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III, niece of Prince Albert II of Monaco, Charlotte Casiraghi is part of the long princely line of the Grimaldi family. Although the Monegasque does not hold the title of “princess” like her custodians, she has representative duties as the niece of a head of state. Above all, she keeps her life discreet, with a rare elegance born of generosity, respect, and attention to others.
She never misses the “Bal de la Rose“, a worldly event combining tradition and modernity created by Grace Kelly in 1954, while allowing her sensitive reflections on human beings and their relationship to the world to flow freely. For this mother of two children, from two relationships to comedian Gad Elmaleh and producer Dimitri Rassam, philosophy and literature continue to open up the realm of possibilities and offer “a greater understanding of the complexity of humanity.”
In this first book, Charlotte Casiraghi wisely captures the notion of fracture in all its forms, transcending the boundaries of style, intellect, and heritage. For, as Leonard Cohen so aptly sang, “There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.”
384 pages, €22.90
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