Stefano Casiraghi

The son of Giancarlo Casiraghi (1925–1998), a wealthy businessman, and Fernanda Biffi (1925–2024), Stefano Casiraghi grew up in the Casiraghi family's estate, Villa Cigogne, in Fino Mornasco. He had two brothers, Marco and Daniele (1956–2016), and one sister, Rosalba. He also developed an early passion for the speedboat races on Lake Como. He followed in the footsteps of his brothers by enrolling at Milan's Bocconi University, but left without obtaining a degree. He began to work for his father and his oldest brother, Marco.

Casiraghi was involved in the real estate and retail export enterprises of the family business that his father had built up. His obituary in The New York Times described him as a financier and Chairman of Cogefar France (a construction subsidiary of Fiat). The same source said he had a majority interest in Engeco, a Monaco-based construction company which he founded in 1984. At the time of his first child's birth, he was the director of the Christian Dior boutique in Monte Carlo.

On 29 December 1983 in Monaco, he and Princess Caroline married in a civil ceremony in the Hall of Mirrors of the Monegasque Princely Palace. They were not able to have a Catholic ceremony because Caroline had been divorced from Philippe Junot, and an annulment had not yet been obtained. However, as Caroline was over three months pregnant, the couple did not want to wait any longer.

The couple had three children: Andrea (born 8 June 1984), Charlotte (born 3 August 1986), and Pierre (born 5 September 1987). The children were born at Princess Grace Hospital Centre in Monaco, respectively, fourth, eleventh and eighth in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne, after their twin cousins and their mother. Although their parents had not married in the Church, as required for legitimacy under church law, they were legitimized by Pope John Paul II in February 1993, eight months after their mother's marriage to Junot was annulled in June 1992.