Jordan Bardella, the French right’s self-styled champion of working-class voters and a possible future presidential contender, is facing criticism after a high-profile appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix, where detractors branded him an “aspiring jet-setter.”
The 30-year-old leader of the National Rally was photographed over the weekend with his partner, 22-year-old Italian heiress Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, marking the couple’s first public appearance together. The pair appeared affectionate as they attended the glamorous Formula 1 event.
The match has stirred debate well beyond celebrity gossip. According to local media, the relationship has drawn sharp reactions from Bardella’s left-wing critics and has also unsettled some figures within his own party.
For years, National Rally has worked to position itself as the voice of anti-establishment and blue-collar France, seeking support from voters who feel alienated by the political elite. Bardella, in many ways, has embodied that message.
Raised by his working-class mother on a housing estate in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris, he has carefully built his public image around defending ordinary French citizens and speaking for those who feel overlooked.
But party insiders reportedly worry that his relationship with Princess Maria Carolina — a social media influencer and heiress to a former Italian royal house — could undermine both his personal brand and the party’s broader political narrative. The concern, they fear, is that the image of Bardella in elite circles may clash with the down-to-earth identity that has helped fuel his rise.
On Sunday, the couple were seen taking selfies together, whispering in one another’s ears and sharing a giggle as they joined the famous and wealthy at the prestigious Monte Carlo circuit.
Guests at the occasion included Kim Kardashian, Princess Charlene of Monaco and Catherine Zeta-Jones – as well as Princess Maria Carolina’s sister Princess Maria Chiara, 21, and her parents, Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, and Princess Camilla, Duchess of Castro, the bouffant-haired ‘momager’ to her socialite daughters.
Jordan Bardella and Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies put on a cosy display as they watched the action unfold at the Monte-Carlo circuit
Prince Carlo, who has an estimated net worth of $200million, holds a claim to the now-defunct throne of the former House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, which ruled over southern Italy and Sicily during the 18th and 19th centuries.
But despite having no land or people to rule, the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies has made sure they stay as relevant as possible in high society, having previously rubbed shoulders with US President Donald Trump, Prince Albert of Monaco, King Frederik of Denmark, Spain’s King Felipe and Britain’s Prince Michael of Kent.
Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix marked Mr Bardella’s first public appearance with Maria Carolina after rumours about their relationship were sparked in January, when they were spotted leaving a party for Paris’s elite together.
Together, they make an impressive power couple and have been dominating headlines in France and Italy. But their romance is also proving to be divisive, with critics suggesting Mr Bardella, the protégé of hard-Right politician Marine Le Pen, is ‘blurring’ his working class image.
In public, officials from his party have been quick to defend the politician, apparently presenting the relationship as a ‘fairy story’, reported The Times.
However, privately some have reportedly questioned his decision to attend the star-studded event and have shared their concern over how this will come across on the presidential campaign trail.
Mr Bardella is expected to run in the 2027 election if the Paris Appeal Court upholds its conviction against RN leader Ms Le Pen and bans her from elected office.
Ms Le Pen, 57, is challenging a March 2025 verdict that found her and other members of her RN party guilty of misusing EU Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016 who allegedly worked for the party instead of doing parliamentary tasks.
Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix marked Mr Bardella’s first public appearance with Maria Carolina after rumours about their relationship were sparked in January
If convicted, she could be sentenced to a ban from elected office or she will have to wear an electronic tag – or both, among other options. If allowed to run, she is widely seen as a top contender to succeed centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
Ms Le Pen denies accusations that she was at the centre of a fraudulent system meant to siphon off EU funds.
Speaking of Mr Bardella, a source reportedly told Le Parisien: ‘He is fitting in well but I don’t see how he will be able to campaign if he goes to Italy or Monaco every weekend.’
An insider suggested to the newspaper that Mr Bardella was trying to bond with the princess’s family at the Monte-Carlo occasion, while an RN MP insisted: ‘Almost nobody cares… but he had better not always be seen at events like this.’
They labelled attacks from his critics as ‘unworthy’. French Green Party (The Ecologists) leader Marine Tondelier wrote on Facebook: ‘The “people’s candidate” Jordan Bardella was having a blast with the jet set in the VIP area of the Monaco Grand Prix.
‘His private life is his own business. But publicly displaying himself in a haven of tax evasion and fuel economy sends a political message that even he cannot ignore.
‘Amidst super yachts, supercars and outrageously expensive suites, Jordan Bardella is in his element, where he wants to be.
‘Far removed from the concerns of ordinary French people and the worries of the French. This man in no way has the stature of a president of the Republic.
The pair make an impressive power couple and have been dominating headlines in France and Italy
‘He is an aspiring jet-setter whose only love is luxury.’
Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party, told local media: ‘Bardella has never been on the side of the workers; he prefers to drink champagne in Monaco with his princess.’
However, Mr Bardella’s team insisted the couple were in the official stand, not the VIP area and said that the glasses they had been holding were not filled with champagne.
Vice-president of the RN, Sébastien Chenu, told France Info: ‘I am delighted that his girlfriend, who could possibly become First Lady, is a young woman who speaks six languages.
‘Not everyone can have a string of disadvantages… Being ugly, having bad hair, being bitter,’ he added, saying he was ‘delighted’ for his colleague.
He continued: ‘I think they project a nice image; they seem like a rather harmonious couple.’
The pair reportedly first met at the Monaco Grand Prix a year earlier when Mr Bardella attended with his father, a motor-racing enthusiast.
In April, Maria Carolina and the RN leader were pictured in Corsica in images published by French magazine Paris Match.
The pair were shown strolling along a path on the Mediterranean island after the magazine said it had ‘stumbled upon’ them during a trip there.
‘Bardella posed for photos with the select few, whilst his gaze lingered on the beautiful princess sharing the VIP box,’ Paris Match reported.
Princess Maria Carolina, who was brought up between Rome, Paris and Monte Carlo, attended Harvard and studied at the Istituto Marangoni in Italy, and moves in high circles.
Princess Maria Carolina attends the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards red carpet during Milan Fashion Week last year
In the summer of 2023, the princess made headlines after she was said to be engaged to Prince Christian of Denmark, with the royal even seemingly fanning the flames of the rumours until she later appeared to dismiss the speculation.
Then in June 2024, Maria Carolina was photographed holding hands with Brigitte Macron at an event in Paris celebrating the 60th birthday of Stéphane Bern, a French royalty watcher.
She was also invited to sit in the front rows near François Hollande, the former French president, and Mr Trump at the ceremony marking the reopening of Notre-Dame in December 2024.
The US President invited the princess and her family to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2018, and the family publicly congratulated their ‘friend’ on his re-election on November 5, 2024.
In 2024, the princess told Tatler: ‘I am still waiting for Prince Charming to come and serenade me with a guitar and a red rose. The position is still open, and I’m accepting applications.’
The relationship marks a striking contrast for Mr Bardella, who was raised by his working-class mother on a housing estate in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis and has built his political brand on championing ordinary French voters.
The unlikely pairing has fuelled speculation in French media about how it could shape Mr Bardella’s public image as he positions himself for a possible Elysee bid.
Rumours had already been swirling after Mr Bardella was seen with the Duchess of Calabria and Palermo at high-profile events earlier this year, with images circulating in the French and Italian press in January.
Questioned afterwards, Mr Bardella said: ‘I do not wish for my private life to be discussed. It is my last bastion of freedom, and I intend to preserve it as much as possible,’ before confessing to RTL that he was ‘a happy man’.
Commentators were quick to interpret the pictures in April as a deft move by the social media-savvy politician to soften his image ahead of a likely bid for the presidency.
Maria Chiara and her sister Princess Carolina, pictured with their father at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, are known to chase the spotlight, often posing for photos on glamorous trips and giving tell-all interviews to Italian media
‘It’s one more step in building his image after a nationwide tour to promote his book,’ said Philippe Moreau Chevrolet, a communications professor at Sciences Po.
He added: ‘This is the beginning of a story that will be fed over time and will turn into a serial. Soon we’ll be getting other covers about holidays and dinners in town.’
Mr Bardella was likely seeking to push ‘a narrative that humanises him and reassures people about his ability to commit,’ he said.
He added: ‘Will his voters buy into the fairy tale of the descendant of Italian immigrants who’s dating a princess? Or will they say he’s betraying us to join the jet set? We don’t know.’
Left-wing lawmaker Alexis Corbiere decried what he called ‘a new stage in the normalisation of the far-Right’.
Ms Le Pen has since 2011 sought to distance what is now called the RN party from the legacy of her father who openly made antisemitic and racist statements. Mr Bardella took over in 2022.
The RN became the biggest single party in parliament after Macron called snap polls in 2024, and it established a stronger footprint in local elections earlier this year.
Mr Bardella’s public appearance with the princess goes against his usual preference to keep his private life under wraps. He has reportedly not been publicly linked with anyone since splitting with Nolwenn Olivier, Marine Le Pen’s niece, in 2023.
Meanwhile, when asked to respond to long-running speculation that he was gay, Mr Bardella said: ‘I’m straight. I could say the opposite to please you, but… there’s not the shadow of a doubt,’ reported Tatler.
Maria Chiara and Carolina have become well-known in aristocratic circles for their lavish parties and fashionable looks at glitzy events.
They’ve also been known to chase the spotlight, often posing for photos on glamorous trips and giving tell-all interviews to Italian media.
They’re not above flexing their connections either, with Maria Chiara previously saying: ‘The Bourbon family is related to almost all the royal families or former rulers of Europe, it’s a kind of big club.
‘King Felipe VI of Spain, he is my father’s cousin and I am very close to the heir, Leonor, who, like me, loves sports and in particular women’s football.
‘Then the Belgian royals were often our guests in the summer in Saint-Tropez… and one of my best friends is Alexandra of Hanover, Caroline of Monaco’s youngest daughter.’
While the family has no official remit, they spend their time doing charity work and promoting the interests of southern Italy.
The two sisters also rub shoulders with the most elite socialites of Europe, speaking fluently in English, French and Italian.
In recent years, they have been building a large fanbase by sharing snaps of their luxurious lives on Instagram, and clips of themselves on TikTok, dancing, showing off their style, and having fun in various glamorous locations.
The sisters – who are managed by their mother – have also made appearances at Paris Fashion Week while in 2023, the siblings announced they would be starring in Côte d’Azur: In the Privacy of Billionaires, Stars & Princesses on the French streaming service, myCANAL.
Carolina, Duchess of Calabria and of Palermo, will inherit her father’s title and duties, and his claim to head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Who are the ancient royal family of Bourbon-Two Sicilies?
The last King of Two Sicilies was Francis II, who was overthrown in 1860 and spent the remainder of his life in exile
The Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies – or Bourbon des Deux Siciles – is an ancient branch of the Spanish royal family which ruled parts of southern Italy for more than 100 years from 1734 to 1861. Its descendants still carry the name today, some 150 years later.
The line descends from Philippe de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France (1638–1715), who established the Bourbon dynasty in Spain in 1700 as Philip V (1683–1746).
In 1759 King Philip’s younger grandson was granted the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, becoming Ferdinand IV and III (1751–1825), respectively, of those realms. His descendants occupied the joint throne (renamed ‘Kingdom of the Two Sicilies’ in 1816) until 1860.
The family, then led by Francis II, was overthrown in 1860 by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, who proclaimed a dictatorship on behalf of Victor Emmanuel II, the the King of Piedmont-Sardinia and later King of Italy. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Sardinia were merged into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.
The deposed Francis II and his wife spent time in Rome as guests of the Pope where they ran a government in exile. They left the city before it was occupied by the Italians in 1870.
They led a wandering life from then on, living in Austria, France, and Bavaria.
Francis II died in 1894 and was succeeded by his half-brother, Prince Alfonso, who was in turn succeeded by his son, Prince Ferdinand Pius, Duke of Calabria.
Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, 57, and Princess Camilla, Duchess of Castro, 49, with their daughters Princess Maria Carolina, 17, and Maria Chiara Di Bourbon-Two Sicilies, 15
The succession has been disputed since Ferdinand’s death in 1960. Both his nephew Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, and brother Prince Ranieri, above, laid claim to the throne. This feud continues between their descendants today
The succession has been disputed since Ferdinand’s death in 1960 because he had six daughters and no sons to carry the family line.
Both his nephew Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, and brother Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro, laid claim to the throne. This feud continues between their descendants today.
Chiara and Carolina are the daughters of Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, grandson of Prince Ranieri. The claimant on the other side of the family is Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria, grandson of Infante Alfonso.
Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, grandson of Prince Ranieri, and his wife Camilla
Prince Carlo, who only has two daughters, has overturned centuries of male primogeniture and has stated his title will pass to his eldest daughter, Carolina.
Prince Carlo married his wife Camilla, daughter of Italian film star Edoarda Crociani, better known as Edy Vessel, in 1998 at Monte Carlo cathedral. Camilla’s sister Cristina revealed their mother was obsessed with her daughters marrying princes.
As head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Carlo holds many honours, including Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Saint Januarius, of the Two Sicilian Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and Order of Saint Ferdinand and Merit.
Today Carlo and Camilla are ‘very active in promoting the cultural, artistic, historical, and spiritual identity of southern Italy,’ according to their official website. They split their time between homes in Monte Carlo and Paris.
Camilla is also active in charity work and gives her time to the Red Cross and UNICEF, as well as the Association Monaco Against Autism, Amitié sans Frontières et la Princess Grace of Monaco Foundation.
She campaigns against animal cruelty and is in charge of her own non-profit organisation, the Camilla of Bourbon Charitable Foundation, which works with the government in Mauritius to preserve its wildlife and promote sustainable development.
The family posing for pictures at the Influencer Awards in Monaco in 2019, with Chiara in a pink gown, Camilla in a grey number and Carolina in a rose gold dress
