Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco
Princess Caroline hands out diplomas to the new nurses
Thirty-nine candidates received their diplomas from Princess Caroline at the hospital in Monaco. The Princess is patron of the nursing school, based at the hospital that carries her mother's name.
Princess Caroline of Hanover handed out the diplomas to this year's graduates of the nursing school in Monaco on Tuesday. The ceremony was held at the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace, the principality's hospital.
The students welcomed the Princess with applause. Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco
Thirty-nine candidates received diplomas in all: 25 nurses from the IFSI and 14 nursing assistants from the IFAS. Princess Caroline is patron of the school.
The Princess arrives at the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace. Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco
• Diploma and badge
The candidates received both their diploma and the school's badge from the Princess, one by one.
Princess Caroline presenting the diplomas. Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco
Each candidate also received the school's badge. Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco
One by one the candidates came forward. Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco
• The hospital carries her mother's name
The hospital where the ceremony took place bears the name of the Princess's mother, Princess Grace, who died in 1982.
Princess Grace, born Grace Kelly, was driving from the family's country house at Roc Agel towards Monaco on 13 September 1982, with her daughter Stéphanie beside her. According to the official account she suffered a cerebral haemorrhage at the wheel, lost control and went off the steep mountain road just outside La Turbie. The car fell some thirty metres down the slope, and Stéphanie, then seventeen, escaped with a hairline fracture to a neck vertebra.
The Princess was taken to the hospital in Monaco with serious head injuries and fractures, and died the following day at the age of 52. Rumours later circulated that it was Stéphanie who had been driving, but they have been denied both by the palace and by her.
This year's nursing class, which began in 2023, had Jacques Pastor as its sponsor. Claya Cros finished top of the class.
The whole class gathered for a group photograph after the ceremony. Photo: Palais Princier de Monaco