Monaco ⁱ/ˈmɒnəkoʊ/, officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian: Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city state, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. Bordered by France on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea, its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy, and is only 15 km (9.3 mi) north east of Nice, France. It has an area of 1.98 km² (0.76 sq mi), and a population of 35,986, making Monaco the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. Monaco has a land border of only 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), and a width that varies between 1.7 km (1.1 mi) and 349 metres (382 yards). The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires district, which is 161 metres (528 feet) above sea level. Monaco's most populated Quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins. After a recent expansion of Port Hercules, Monaco's total area is 2.05 km² (0.79 sq mi), with new plans to extend the district of Fontvieille, with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.

Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, Countess of Polignac (Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth Grimaldi; born 1 February 1965) is the youngest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and American actress Grace Kelly, and the sister of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Caroline, Princess of Hanover. Currently the sixth in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne, she has been a singer, swimwear designer and fashion model.

Stéphanie was born to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and Grace, Princess of Monaco, on 1 February 1965. She is the youngest of their three children, after Princess Caroline and Albert II, Prince of Monaco. Stéphanie was named after her great-great-great-great-grandmother Stéphanie de Beauharnais. Her godparents are her maternal uncle John B. Kelly, Jr. and paternal cousin Elisabeth-Anne de Massy. Her mother Grace, who described Stéphanie as a "warm, bright, amusing, intelligent and capable girl" and a "good athlete", lovingly called her "wild child" (French: enfant terrible).

On 13 September 1982, while returning home from their farm in Rocagel, France, Stéphanie and her mother Grace had a car accident. Grace died the next day, on 14 September, while Stéphanie sustained a hairline fracture of a neck vertebra. Although the official version was that Grace suffered a stroke while driving, it was rumoured that Stéphanie, who had to miss her mother's funeral due to her recovery, was actually driving. Stéphanie herself refused to talk about her mother's death until 2002, when she said, "Not only did I go through the horrible trauma of losing my mother at a very young age, but I was beside her at the moment of the accident. "Nobody can imagine how much I've suffered, and still suffer."