Princess Stéphanie of Monaco was born on February 1, 1965, to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and American actress Grace Kelly. She is the youngest child of the couple and the younger sister of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Caroline, Princess of Hanover.
Stéphanie's early life was marked by her love for sports and her close relationship with her mother. She was described by her mother as a "warm, bright, amusing, intelligent and capable girl" and a "good athlete". Her mother lovingly referred to her as "wild child".
Tragedy struck on September 13, 1982, when Stéphanie and her mother were involved in a car accident while returning home from their farm in Rocagel, France. The accident resulted in the death of her mother, and Stéphanie sustained a hairline fracture of a neck vertebra.
The official report of the incident stated that Grace suffered a stroke while driving, but rumors began to circulate that Stéphanie was actually behind the wheel. Stéphanie refused to speak publicly about the incident until 1989, when she gave an interview to author Jeffrey Robinson, insisting that the rumors were untrue.
She did not discuss the subject again until a 2002 interview with French magazine Paris Match, in which she repeated her denial and discussed the trauma of being beside her mother at the time of the accident. She said, "Not only did I go through the horrible trauma of losing my mother at a very young age, but I was beside her at the moment of the accident. Nobody can imagine how much I've suffered, and still suffer."
Stéphanie was educated at the Dames de Saint-Maur in Monaco and then at the école and collège Dupanloup in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. She earned her baccalauréat from the Cours Charles de Foucauld in 1982 and studied classical dance and piano, competed in gymnastics and horse riding.
After her physical recovery from the accident that killed her mother, Stéphanie started an apprentice programme at Christian Dior under the direction of head designer Marc Bohan. She debuted as a model on the biannual haute couture special published by Spanish magazine ¡Hola! in 1984 and repeated the venture in 1990. She also became the spokesman of the Swiss beauty line La Prairie and appeared on the cover of French Vogue.
Stéphanie's early career was marked by her work as a model, and she covered German Vogue and the American edition of Vanity Fair in 1985. She also appeared on the cover of French Vogue, photographed by Helmut Newton in September 1986.
