Britain and Monaco; Did You Know?

Britain and Monaco: Did you know that ......

• Lord Charles I of Monaco once pillaged Southampton, England and was later wounded at the battle of Crecy.
• King Edward III of England "bought" Lord Rainier II of Monaco for 12,000 gold francs.
• King Charles II of Britain and Prince Louis I of Monaco shared a mistress (not at the same time of course!)
• Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart, daughter of King Charles I of Britain, and Princess Catherine-Charlotte of Monaco (wife of Louis I) were very close friends for some time which led some gossip mongers to think the two had an affair.
• In 1767 the Duke of York died in Monaco and the room he stayed at in the Princely Palace is still called the York room in his honor. King George III of Great Britain gave some of his late brother's horses to Prince Honore III of Monaco for taking care of the Duke in his final days.
• During Napoleon's Hundred Days British troops occupied Monaco for a short time. The French Emperor was not eager to defend the place as Prince Honore V of Monaco had reported his arrival to the French King.
• Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton was the first British-born Princess of Monaco. She was the first wife of Prince Albert I and mother of Prince Louis II.
• In 1910, during a protests for political reform Prince Albert I of Monaco called in British sailors from a nearbye warship to safeguard British interests and take up key positions in the event of a general revolt.
• Prince Rainier III and Princess Antoinette of Monaco had an English nanny as children, a cousin of Winston Churchill, and both spoke English before learning French.
• As a small boy Prince Rainier III went to boarding school in England which he found so intolerable that he tried to run away.
• When Prince Rainier III was looking for a wife one of the first names suggested was Princess Margaret of Great Britain. The idea was dismissed because it was not thought she would convert to Catholicism.
• Before Prince Charles married Diana some magazines suggested Princess Caroline of Monaco as a possible match for the Prince of Wales even though the two had never met at that point and by British law if Charles had married Caroline he would have lost his birthright to be the next King of Great Britain.