Royal Tragedy in Monaco : Husband of Caroline Dies in Boat Crash

Tragedy revisited Monaco’s royal family today as Stefano Casiraghi, the 30-year-old husband of Princess Caroline, was killed when his speedboat flipped while he was defending his title in a world championship race, the Royal Palace said.

Caroline, 33, was in Paris when she learned of the death of her Italian financier husband. She quickly left for Monaco, wearing black mourning clothes.

It was the second tragedy to strike the Grimaldi family in eight years--Caroline’s mother, Princess Grace, died after a car crash in 1982.

Witnesses said Casiraghi and co-pilot Patrice Innocenti drove their catamaran, the Pinot di Pinot, straight into a wave at 93 m.p.h. during a morning run for the World Offshore Championships.

The 42-foot boat flipped, ejecting Innocenti. But witnesses said Casiraghi remained strapped to his seat and bore the full impact of the vessel slamming into the water.

The two-engine, five-ton boat sank with Casiraghi aboard, witnesses said.

“He surely didn’t have time to look out and, at that speed, stuck under the boat, must have been killed by the blow,” said another competitor, Michel Karsten.

Emergency crews pulled both men from the water and rushed them to Princess Grace Hospital.

The hospital said Innocenti was being treated for his injuries.

Today’s accident is the worst blow to Monaco’s ruling family since Princess Grace, the American actress who gave up Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier III, died in 1982. Caroline’s younger sister, Princess Stephanie, also was injured in the car crash.

Caroline married Casiraghi in a civil ceremony Dec. 29, 1983, under a portrait of her mother. The marriage followed an unhappy two-year union with French playboy Philippe Junot.

The couple had three children: sons Andrea, 6, and Pierre, 3, and daughter Charlotte, 4.

Caroline married Casiraghi after divorcing Junot but without obtaining a Roman Catholic Church annulment of the marriage.

She said she married again because she was in love and knew an annulment--first sought in 1981--would take a long time.

“I wanted a real home and children,” she was quoted as saying. “It was difficult for my conscience, but I was overwhelmed by the desire to have children. Surely that can be understood from a Christian point of view.”

The Grimaldi family has ruled Monaco since the 13th Century.