Beatrice Borromeo: Intrepid Journalist, Human Rights Activist and Mother
Beatrice Borromeo Arese Taverna (born 18 August 1985 in San Candido Innichen, South Tyrol in the North of Italy) is an accomplished international journalist who earned her spurs in Italian television and radio. She is, of course, otherwise known as Beatrice Casiraghi after marrying Pierre Casiraghi in 2015, the younger son of Monaco’s Princess Caroline of Hanover, and nephew of HSH Prince Albert II.
From a historic Italian aristocratic background herself and now married into Monaco’s ruling aristocratic family she has a penetrating intelligence. After finishing her secondary education, in 2004, at Milan’s Liceo Classico Giovanni Berchet, she graduated with a law degree from Bocconi University in Italy, subsequently receiving a Master’s degree from from the prestigious.
Columbia Journalism School from Columbia University in the United States. That education has been put to good use as Beatrice Borromeo continues her career as an internationally recognized journalist and human rights activist.
Family History
Borromeo is the daughter of Countess Donna Paola Marzotto and Don Carlo Ferdinando Borromeo, Count of Arona the son of Vitaliano Borromeo, 2nd Prince of Angera. On her father’s side she is related to Carlo Borromeo (1538–1584), who became a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Milan, and a canonized saint.
Interestingly the prominent Saint-Charles Church in Monaco is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to this same Saint Charles Borromeo, the 16th-century Italian cardinal and archbishop. The church’s dedication to Charles Borromeo highlighted the Borromeo family’s historic ties to the Grimaldi family. Prince Charles III of Monaco selected Carlo Borromeo as his personal patron saint, and he also dedicated the highest chivalric order in the nation to him as well – The Order of Saint Charles.
The Borromeo family currently owns most of the Borromean Islands in Lago Maggiore, and many other estates. Borromeo has an older brother, Carlo Ludovico Borromeo, who is married to Marta Ferri. She has three older half-sisters from her father’s marriage to German model Marion Sybil Zota: Isabella, Lavinia, and Matilde who are all married into illustrious European dynastic families.
Borromeo’s maternal grandmother was the fashion designer Marta Marzotto (née Vacondio),ex-wife of Count Umberto Marzotto. Her uncle, Count Matteo Marzotto, is the former president and director of the Valentino fashion house at the time the label belonged to the Marzotto Group.
Beatrice has often been photographed wearing beautiful Valentino gowns, among others, including famously at her wedding.
Borromeo the Journalist
A formidable journalist determined to search for the truth, correct injustice, and to right wrongs she has appeared on many television shows in Italy, beginning with Anno Zero on Rai 2 where she worked for two years, from 2006 to 2008. Every week she interviewed guests on political developments and social wrongs.
In 2009, she hosted a weekly show on the Radio 105 Network too.
From the newspaper’s inception in 2009, she worked as a full-time reporter for Il Fatto Quotidiano continuing until 2016.
Unafraid to take on the politically powerful in a pursuit to expose corruption there are multiple examples of her skilled interviewing. These include questioning a senior influential Italian Senator who admitted to have entered politics to get immunity in order to escape arrest. Her initial reporting for Il Fatto Quotidiano, published on 14 September 2009, was about a high ranking politician and his involvement in alleged mis-allocation of European funds.
Beatrice was a contributor to Newsweek and the Daily Beast in 2013.
Borromeo directed Mamma Mafia, a documentary in the English language about mafia women: its preview was released by the Newsweek Daily Beast Company on 31 January 2013.
She has directed several documentaries in Italian ranging from topics as the women of Ndrangheta, and the children of Caivano. Speaking of the children who live in the slums of Caivano, Borromeo said: “These children never get to be children. They live in horror and daily terror.”
Borromeo collaborated with Marco Travaglio and Vauro Senesi on the series Italia Annozero.
She also wrote the preface for Birgit Hamer’s “Delitto senza castigo” (Crime without Punishment) about the search for justice after the fatal shooting of Birgit’s brother, Dirk Hamer. Borromeo broke the story of the video confession of the alleged shooter who subsequently sued the newspaper for defamation but lost.
In a nutshell Beatrice confronts some of the most difficult issues of our age, including politics, underage prostitution, drug trafficking, and toxic waste in search for justice.
Special Envoy For Human Rights
And in November 2015 Borromeo was appointed special envoy for human rights for Fashion 4 Development (F4D), a United Nations-affiliated initiative through which she will advocate for civil and environmental issues.
It involves finding stories that are compelling journalistically. It isn’t related to fashion rather the focus is on human rights – including child marriage. In the developing world, reportedly one out of three girls gets married before the age of 18, and one in nine before the age of 15. And because of that, pregnancies and issues during the deliveries are reportedly among the first causes of death.
Fashion
Beatrice Borromeo Casiraghi has a very professional resume, in which fashion takes a back seat. She’s first and foremost a journalist striving to fight injustices against girls and women, among others. She has tried her hand at modelling perhaps almost incidentally due to her statuesque lines and undeniable beauty. Modelling reportedly was never her focus in life even if it may have been useful early on “as a first approach to the working world – being on time, being reliable, handling your own money etc.”
While the stunning photographs of her posing in costumes and jewellery might persuade you of the contrary, Beatrice Borromeo is reported as wanting to be clear that modelling wasn’t her ambition and would not satisfy her prime hunger to be of help in the world during her lifetime.
Nevertheless the fashion press are intrigued by her and will not let her fade from view. They relentlessly pursue her for interviews.
Marriage and Children
Beatrice chose to share her destiny with Pierre Casiraghi (7th in line to the Monegasque throne, at the time of her wedding). Beatrice married in a spectacular Valentino dress for the civil ceremony in Monaco, then in Giorgio Armani during the religious wedding in the wonderful ambiance of the island of San Giovanni on Lake Maggiore.
The wedding vows were commented on as taking place in front of a group that included a number of the world’s most elegant royals – as befits a guest list reflective of her family’s aristocratic history and husband Pierre Casiraghi’s royal ties (his mother being Princess Caroline of Hanover, and Princess Grace his grandmother).
Their love has been perfected by the birth of Stefano on February 28, 2017, and then of baby Franscesco on May 21, 2018.
