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Monaco

Tatiana Santo Domingo and Andrea Casiraghi welcome their third child

It’s not just the third Cambridge baby making his debut onto the royal scene this week: Andrea Casiraghi and his wife Tatiana welcomed their third child in Monaco on Thursday, 19 April. The news was first reported this weekend exclusively by Vanity Fair Spain before Hola! was able to get confirmation yesterday.

Casiraghi, the eldest child of Princess Caroline of Hanover and nephew to Prince Albert II of Monaco, welcomed this weekend. The newborn’s name is Maximilian “Max” Rainier.

Tatiana’s pregnancy was never confirmed by Princess Caroline’s office, though rumours circulated from last fall, and Tatiana was photographed with a visible baby bump throughout the spring. Princess Caroline has expressed her “joy” at having another grandson.

The newborn has two older siblings: a five-year-old brother named Alexandre, who goes by Sasha, and a three-year-old sister named India. Unlike in the United Kingdom, the Monégasque line of succession is still based on male-preference cognatic primogeniture, which means that Max immediately displaced his older sister in the line of succession, unlike Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, who cannot be displaced by the birth of her younger brother.

There was a time when Andrea Casiraghi seemed destined for the throne. His uncle, Prince Albert, did not have legitimate children for the longest time and his grandfather Prince Rainier altered the succession to include Princess Caroline and Princess Stéphanie and their legitimate children. It was thought that if Prince Albert died childless that the throne would pass to Princess Caroline and that she would immediately abdicate it to Andrea.

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene now have twins who were born in 2014, securing the succession, and Max Rainier Casiraghi is now sixth in line to the throne.

Max Rainier is the first of this year’s Monaco royal baby boon, as all three Casiraghi siblings are reportedly expecting children in 2018.

Pierre Casiraghi and his Italian-born wife Beatrice are expecting their second child soon, joining a son named Stefano. The rumour floating around this weekend was that Beatrice had given birth prematurely when Pierre was spotted at the hospital in Monaco, however, Beatrice took to her personal Twitter to deny this.

Charlotte Casiraghi is also rumoured to be expecting her second child – and first with rumoured fiancé Dimitri Rassam. Charlotte has a four-year-old son with French comedian Gad Elmaleh named Raphaël.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.