Monaco's Princess Caroline announces birth of grandson

(AFP) Princess Caroline of Monaco on Friday announced the birth of her first grandchild - a boy born to her non-royal son Andrea Casiraghi and South American heiress Tatiana Santo Domingo.

A statement from the palace said the baby was born on Thursday and that "both the mother and the child are doing well."

Caroline is the eldest child of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace, the former Hollywood star Grace Kelly, whose fairytale 1956 wedding catapulted Monaco from a sleepy Riviera town to a watering hole for the world's rich and famous.

Andrea is Caroline's son from her second marriage, to Stefano Casiraghi, an Italian industrial heir killed in a speed-boat racing accident in 1990.

Caroline's brother, Albert, is the ruler of the tiny principality and Andrea Casiraghi is second in line to the throne as Prince Albert and his wife Princess Charlene, who got married in 2011, have not had any children yet.