Princess Maria Carolina de Bourbon des Deux-Siciles isn’t a name that rolls off the tongue – but it’s now on the lips of every socialite and political pundit in France. The 22-year-old Italian aristocrat, who is the elder daughter of the Duke of Castro, was splashed across the cover of gossip magazine Paris Match last week, gazing into the eyes of her new beau. Was he notable for being a duke, a prince or another such member of the hereditary elite? Not at all. The suitor in question was Jordan Bardella: the right-wing powerhouse whom polls suggest will succeed Emmanuel Macron as French president next year. 

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In an interview with Hello! in 2024, Maria Carolina declared she was “still waiting for Prince Charming to come and serenade me with a guitar and a red rose.” It’s not known if Bardella wooed his princess with a song and a flower but the two certainly looked like they were head over heels as they strolled along the Corsican coastline. The official line is that the pair were unaware they were being stalked by a photographer. But their clothes, their posture and their poise strike many as a little too stage-managed. 

One prominent left-wing politician described the relationship as part of a “sickening new phase in the normalization of the far-right.” The headline in the radical........

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