Today in History

It was on this day in 1841 that HSH Prince Florestan I became Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

King Carlo Alberto and Monaco

It was during the reign of HSH Prince Florestan, aided by his ever-diligent wife Princess Caroline, that the crisis over Menton and Roquebrune reached its height. The one royal figure on the other side of that crisis was HM King Carlo Alberto of Piedmont-Sardinia, head of the House of Savoy which held a partial protectorate over the Principality of Monaco since the Napoleonic Wars, including Menton and Roquebrune. When liberal outbursts began to sweep Europe, and the southern areas particularly, some royals tried to suppress the spread of such sentiments while others tried to get out in front of them. King Carlo Alberto tried to get out in front, perhaps belatedly, but quite successfully. It was a course of action that put him on a path to conflict with the Prince of Monaco. However, King Carlo Alberto was not quite the scheming man of ambition many of his enemies make him out to be. At the outset he was simply following the example seemingly being set by other monarchs and even the Holy Father in Rome. The difference was, having set out, he refused to change course. The two driving forces behind this movement were constitutional government and nationalism. This is the background.

In 1846 His Holiness Pope Pius IX was elected to the Throne of St Peter and came with a reputation for being something of a liberal, a man known for the demands he had made for governments to care for their people and for his recognition of the people of the Italian peninsula as one nation. Naturally, liberals rejoiced when he was elected and further thrilled when he released from the prisons in Rome all of those jailed for sedition or revolution or any sort of what we would call political prisoners. He appointed progressives to positions of leadership and began the unheard of process of introducing constitutional government in the Papal States with a leadership made up entirely of laymen. King Carlo Alberto followed the example of the Pope and soon in the Principality of Monaco, particularly Menton, there were cheers for Pope Pius IX and King Carlo Alberto by those hoping for the same innovations to be handed down from their Prince. However, the Pope who was so celebrated by liberals and even Protestant governments eventually became horrified by the effects of his progressive changes and ultimately became known as one of the most ardently conservative or even reactionary of pontiffs.

King Carlo Alberto, on the other hand, did not change course. His convictions may have even been strengthened by the sight of the Pope being forced to flee Rome in disguise and then brought back only by the intervention of the French army. The King of Piedmont-Sardinia would stay on the more liberal track and came to be hailed by Italian nationalists as the one monarch who never betrayed them. This meant clashes with other crowned heads, most significantly the Austrian Hapsburgs rather than the relatively powerless Prince of Monaco but it would also mean that, in the end, the House of Savoy would become the Royal Family of the unified Kingdom of Italy in the not too distant future. So, King Carlo Alberto enacted many liberal changes, including constitutional government, a system which hearkened back to the Code Napoleon but which also modeled itself somewhat on the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain which seemed to work quite well. New rights and liberties were granted and troublesome elements in Menton seized on this to demand the same in the Principality of Monaco. Many residents, even in Monaco itself as late as the 1940’s, continued to think of themselves as Italians in ethnic terms and the nationalist drive toward creating an Italian nation-state had its supporters in the Principality of Monaco.

This put Prince Florestan in a terrible position. He was no reactionary himself and, indeed, Monaco would eventually put all the demanded changes into effect, but he did not want to see his country divided or taken over by a foreign power. The problem was that the power he most feared, Piedmont-Sardinia, was the only one he was supposed to appeal to for help. Charles Trenca, a leading liberal, was an early flashpoint. He had served the House of Grimaldi since 1819 and in 1841 he had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Turin along with the Duke of Valentinois (future Prince Charles III) and King Carlo Alberto had been impressed with him. On a subsequent mission the King chose him to act as go-between with the court in Monaco on the subject of annexing Monaco to Piedmont-Sardinia. Needless to say, Prince Florestan and Princess Caroline were less than impressed with this suggestion and Trenca was eventually dismissed for his plotting on behalf of Turin.

King Carlo Alberto had showed his hand and his desire to include Monaco or at the least Menton and Roquebrune in his kingdom was now known. However, the agitation in those areas only increased even after reforms were made and Prince Florestan had no choice but to appeal to the King for Piedmontese troops to restore order. When soldiers were dispatched under General Claudio Gonnet to Menton they were met by a crowd of citizens carrying a large bust of their own beloved King Carlo Alberto. They could not bring themselves to shoot down a mob cheering their own monarch and when the crowd approached, carrying the bust before them, they simply saluted the image of their King and allowed them to pass at which point the crowd burst into cheers. General Gonnet declared that there was no trouble in Menton and marched his troops on to Monaco to report as much to the Prince. This did not go over well at the palace and they assumed, probably correctly, that General Gonnet was on the side of the protestors in wishing for annexation.

When the Revolutions of 1848 swept Europe, Menton and Roquebrune declared their secession from Monaco as “Free Cities” when similar uprisings were breaking out across Italy. Within two years they would be formally placed under the protection of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. However, King Carlo Alberto would not live to see that. Following his defeat at the hands of the Austrians in the First Italian War for Independence, he abdicated in favor of his son, Vittorio Emanuele II, in 1849 and died later that same year. Piedmont-Sardinia would not hold the former Monegasque towns for long though. As we know, in 1860, as part of a treaty to gain French support for the unification of Italy by the House of Savoy, the County of Nice, with Menton and Roquebrune included, were ceded to the Second French Empire after a referendum, disputed by some as being less than honest. Nonetheless, aside from a brief period during World War II, Menton and Roquebrune have remained a part of France ever since then.

Historic Anniversary

It was on this day in 1816 that HSH Prince Florestan of Monaco married Maria Caroline Gilbert de Lametz in what was to be one of the most successful and influential marriages in Grimaldi family history and would have quite an impact on the future of Monaco. The results of this match are still felt today.

Grimaldi Double Birthday

It was on this day in 1697 that HSH Princess Louise-Hippolyte of Monaco was born and it was today in 1785 that HSH Prince Florestan I of Monaco was born. It was Princess Louise-Hippolyte who was mother of the subsequent Mantignon-Grimaldi branch after her marriage to HSH Prince Jacques I who succeeded her on the throne after her death from smallpox in 1731. Her line would continue all the way to HSH Prince Louis II after whom, by the marriage of his daughter Princess Charlotte to Prince Pierre, we came to have the Polignac-Grimaldi line which continues to this day.

Prince Florestan, as all will remember, was that artistic, dramatic Grimaldi who had little interest in being a monarch but who inherited the job from his brother Prince Honore V. Prior to that he had served in the French army during the Napoleonic Wars, at the insistence of his mother, and was taken prisoner during the invasion of Russia. Probably his greatest contribution to Monegasque history was his marriage to the energetic and formidable Princess Maria Caroline who did much to put Monaco on a solid foundation for the future.

Today in Monegasque History

It was on this day in 1841 that HSH Prince Florestan I became Sovereign Prince of Monaco. One of the more artistic members of the Grimaldi dynasty, he was a reluctant monarch and was faced with many immense problems (through which he was helped by his energetic wife, the first Princess Caroline) and was only too willing to see responsibility pass to his son Prince Charles III. He had only inherited the throne in the first place because of the lack of a wife or children on the part of his brother Prince Honore V.

H.S.H. Princess Maria Caroline

H.S.H. Princess Maria Caroline of Monaco was the consort of Sovereign Prince Florestan I. She was born Marie Caroline Gibert de Lametz in Paris on July 18, 1793 to Charles-Thomas Gibert de Lametz and Marie-Francoise Le Gras de Vaubercey. She grew up to be a fairly well known actress on the French stage and it was in the atmosphere of 'show business' that she met the Monegasque Prince Florestan, the second son of HSH Prince Honore IV of Monaco. The two were performing at the Theatre de l'Ambigu-Comique, eventually fell in love and were married on November 27, 1816 at Commercy. In time the couple had two children; HSH Prince Charles III born in 1818 and Princess Florestine born in 1833.

Prince Florestan had never expected to become Sovereign Prince but when his older brother, HSH Prince Honore V, died in 1841 the Monegasque throne was thrust upon him. All in all he was unprepared for the job, and being the artistic type lacked the temperment of a Mediterranean absolute monarch. It is no slight to say so as no one was more aware of this fact that he was. Fortunately Prince Florestan had a strong right arm in Princess Marie Caroline and it soon became clear that while every respect was given to the Sovereign Prince it was really his strong-willed wife who was running the show in the principality.

Princess Maria Caroline was very conscious of her new status and took the administration of Monaco seriously, especially as the economy had been suffering for some time since Monaco had been placed under the protection of the Kingdom of Sardinia rather than France following the Napoleonic Wars. The populace was also influenced by the liberalism sweeping Europe and were growing increasingly loud in their demands for democracy. Princess Maria Caroline and her husband tried to address the issue and came up with two different constitutions which were submitted for public approval but both were rejected, the city of Menton being the most difficult to please. The situation became worse in 1848 when the revolutions that swept Europe inspired the towns of Menton and Roquebrune to revolt and declare their independence. Anxious to be free of his unwanted position Florestan died in 1856 and his son Prince Charles III who, thanks largely to Princess Maria Caroline, had been well prepared to assume power, proved to be one of the most significant and successful Monegasque monarchs. Princess Maria Caroline also worked with her son to lay the foundations for Monaco to become the number one resort destination in Europe, securing the country's financial future. She died in Monaco on November 25, 1879.

H.S.H. Prince Florestan I

The future Prince Florestan I, eighth Sovereign Prince of Monaco, was born in Paris on October 10, 1785 as Tancrede Florestan Roger Louis Grimaldi to Prince Honore IV of Monaco and Princess Louise d’Aumont Mazarin. An artistic soul he never thought to become sovereign of Monaco and was not prepared for the job. His elder brother, Prince Honore V, seemed to have everything in hand and Florestan followed his dream to perform on the stage and became an actor at the Theatre of the Comic Ambiguity in Paris. On November 27, 1816 he married actress Maria Caroline Gilbert de Lametz at Commercy and the couple eventually had two children; the future Prince Charles III of Monaco and Princess Florestine Gabrielle Antoinette Grimaldi. Florestan was perfectly happy with his artistic pursuits and was not at all interested in becoming the leader of Monaco but, much to his chagrin, his brother Honore V died childless and on October 2, 1841 he became Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

Florestan was not cut out to be an absolute monarch and probably no one was more aware of this than himself. To make matters worse his brother had not left things in the best of shape in Monaco. Honore V had been, in many ways, a strong, astute and practical ruler but he left this mortal coil unpopular and the public felt too heavily taxed and generally dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the Principality and were demanding a greater voice in government. Prince Florestan was also hampered by the fact that his advisors often seemed as indecisive as he was and there was a chronic lack of good suggestions. It is commonly held that the only thing that kept the Monegasque government afloat was the driving force of Princess Maria Caroline. However, Prince Florestan should be given credit for doing his best in a job he neither sought nor was prepared for. He tried to improve education by starting more advanced schools, he tried to alleviate poverty by building poor houses and offering jobs and the Monegasque equivalent of soup kitchens. Nonetheless, people found other things to complain about such as the regulation on teaching standards and the lack of democracy.

To make things worse Monaco was about to face the biggest crisis of their national history since the French Revolution. The liberal chaos of 1848 was sweeping Europe and Monaco was not immune to the disease. As the tremors of revolution grew stronger Prince Florestan felt he had no choice but to turn to the protecting Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia for help. The Sardinian troops would be a double-edged sword however, providing a safeguard against outright revolution but also a loss of independence to the House of Savoy that had long coveted the Principality of Monaco. Indeed, as the popular furor grew louder the Sardinians worked to encourage dissatisfaction and turmoil so as to pave the way for the outright seizure of Monaco for themselves. When King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia gave in to liberal calls for constitutional government this set a dangerous precedent for Monaco as many in the small principality began to advocate for annexation by Sardinia. Agents were quite adept at portraying the Grimaldi monarchy as tyrannical and painting the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia as a liberal savior.

Prince Florestan was anxious to avoid trouble and seemed to be counting the days until he could hand over power to his son, Prince Charles, who was already taking an ever larger role in the government. Prince Florestan was willing to grant constitutional government as well but the two proposed constitutions were rejected particularly by the people of Menton. Prince Florestan floundered from one course of action to another, trying to placate the mob, trying to negotiate with them and Sardinia, changing his mind, rolling back previous decisions and so on. When Sardinian troops under General Gonnet marched in ostensibly to protect Prince Florestan many people turned out to cheer them and King Carlo Alberto. The soldiers and civilians mingled together which was an alarming sight to see and to make matters worse word came that revolution had broken out in Paris.

Encouraged by events in France, which were being emulated across Europe in 1848, the people of Menton and Roquebrune revolted, formed a National Guard, raised the Sardinian flag and called on King Carlo Alberto for protection. The King was more than willing to comply, though annexation was not forthcoming, and the Sardinian troops marched back in. The vote for the annexation of Menton and Roquebrune passed unanimously; fairly convincing evidence that it was fraudulent. The annexation undoubtedly would have happened were it not for the Sardinian defeat at the hands of the Austrians at the battle of Novara in 1849. France was also not interested in Sardinia enlarging herself at the expense of their former protectorate. As a result Menton and Roquebrune were declared free towns which no one seemed to know what to do with or under whose jurisdiction they actually fell. In Monaco it was still hoped that they would remain or wish to rejoin the Principality of Monaco after getting a taste of Sardinian occupation. Prince Charles went to Menton in 1854 hoping to rally support for Monaco and the Grimaldis but although his welcome was initially a warm one the authorities eventually arrested him.

The French stepped in and were able to obtain the release of Hereditary Prince Charles and there was some hope in Monaco that the new leader of France, Napoleon III, might prove to be their savior but Sardinian support for France and Britain in the Crimean War meant that Monaco was left friendless. It was then, with Monaco divided, suffering a heavy financial strain and with roughly eighty percent of her territory in political limbo and under foreign occupation that Prince Florestan died in Paris on June 20, 1856. It was left to his son, Prince Charles III, to deal with the consequences of the many disasters that had befallen Monaco during his reign. Although he was a reluctant and unprepared prince, Florestan had done the best he could to deal with situations that were inflicted on him by forces beyond his control. It is, perhaps, also to his credit that his son Charles III would prove a far more formidable prince.