The Marquis de Puyguilhem

Antoine Nompar de Caumont, marquis de Puyguilhem and (after 1692) the duc de Lauzun came from a noble French family but grew up mostly with the family of Antoine III de Gramont, a relative of his. If that name sounds familiar, it should; he was the father of Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont who later married HSH Prince Louis I of Monaco. The two shared a great deal of personal history. Long before she was promised to the Grimaldi heir, the beautiful young Charlotte de Gramont was, at the age of twenty, first in love with Antoine Puyguilhem. He was six years older than Charlotte, skinny, blond headed with a witty tongue, a malicious nature and a lust for wealth, women and lofty titles. Puyguilhem was just as passionately infatuated with Charlotte as she was with him, which is not at all surprising given the qualities she possessed. One observer remarked on her captivating beauty that she was, "a creature made for love and sensuality". When her father, Marshal of France de Gramont, informed his daughter that she was to be married, she hoped it would be to Puyguilhem. He was of lofty rank after all and was captain of the King's Household Cavalry. But the old Marshal could not stand the marquis, who could be rather unpleasant and who was rather impoverished for a nobleman.

As we know, her father's choice was Louis de Monaco, duc de Valentinois. Charlotte was less than pleased. Those closest to her witnessed her depression and remarked that, "The reason was that someone else pleased her more". Referring, of course, to Puyguilhem. The marquis remained attached to her, even after her wedding and kept on eye on her while the newlyweds were in Paris. He suspected that, married or not, she would come back to him eventually. However, when Charlotte, six months pregnant at the time, returned to Monaco to be with her husband, Puyguilhem became alarmed that he might be losing her. In a comic turn of events he followed Charlotte to Monaco (or at least to Toulon where Louis and Charlotte took a French galley for the last leg of their journey), dressing up in various costumes to try to disguise himself so her servants would not recognize him but he was never able to approach her. His cause seemed lost.

Then, in 1665 Charlotte, by then Princess of Monaco, returned to Paris and the fashionable society she always most enjoyed. Once again, Puyguilhem thought he would have his conquest. Yet, once again, there was interference but this time from none other than His Most Christian Majesty King Louis XIV of France and Navarre. The King had started to cast his ever-wandering eye in the direction of the Princess of Monaco and Puyguilhem was sensitive to the competition. He was still a regular at court, seen at every lavish dance and still winning criticism from those around him. Court chronicler Saint-Simon said he was, "ambitious, capricious, fanciful, insanely jealous, always going too far, never content with anything, without education, conversation or wit, by nature peevish, solitary and withdrawn, haughty in his demeanor, innately spiteful and sly". So it seems like Saint-Simon was not a big fan.

As King Louis XIV moved closer and closer to Princess Catherine-Charlotte of Monaco, Puyguilhem grew more and more jealous, finally losing his temper and throwing a minor tantrum in front of the King. The "Grand Monarch" was not impressed and ordered the marquis to return to his regiment of dragoons but Puyguilhem pretended that he didn't hear the King and stormed out, stomping in to Charlotte's apartments and threw such a fit he smashed one of her mirrors. Not a smart move to say the least. When he returned to his own quarters he found the King had left him a little note informing him that he would be provided with new accomodations -in the Bastille. After six months of fuming he was released and finally seemed to have given up on Princess Charlotte. Not long after he tried, without success, to seduce a daughter of King Carlos III of Spain. It seems amazing that a man so many described as "ugly" attracted so many women. The Grande Mademoiselle, Anne Duchess of Montpensier (King Louis' cousin) threw herself at him and Puyguilhem decided not to resist.

His affairs and intrigues continues to cause him trouble at the French court (leading to another stay in the Bastille for a time) before he moved to England to enter the employ of King James II. When the Stuart monarch, the last Catholic King of Great Britain, was about to be forced into exile, it was Puyguilhem who escorted James' lovely Italian Queen, Mary of Modena, and their son to safety in France. He also participated in the attempted restoration of James II in Ireland where, despite his much talked-about ill qualities, was known as the most honest in the King's circle of advisors. The failure of the expedition meant that he would never be restored to favor at the court of Louis XIV but Queen Mary of Modena was grateful enough for his support of the Jacobite cause that she used her influence to help secure his title of Duc de Lauzun. He died in 1723, leaving no heirs despite his marriage to a 14-year old girl (Genevieve de Durfort) in 1695.

The Magician of Monte Carlo

Gambling in Monaco was first allowed by HSH Prince Florestan I, two months before his death, who signed the law legalizing it in April of 1856. However, once legal, it did not actually come about until December 14, 1856 when the first gaming facilities were opened at the Palais de la Condamine, over a century before what most regard as the start of the gaming industry in the principality. That is understandable as it did not become a major focus until the reign of HSH Prince Charles III who, on December 3, 1860, instituted the constitution of the Societe des Bains de Mer (which still owns the opera, casino and Hotel de Paris to this day). It would take still more time, and further development of road and rail links to France and Italy for the business to start booming. In time, it did so and the Casino of Monaco was inaugurated on February 18, 1863 with a great deal of publicity and international attention. What really made the gaming industry take off though was largely through the effort of Monsieur Francois Blanc.

It was Francois Blanc who purchased control of the SBM for the (then) enormous sum of 2,290,000 francs. An ingenious businessman and wizard of finance, economics and (significantly) promotion, it was Francois Blanc to whom a great deal of the credit is owed for making Monaco, and the soon to be created district of Monte Carlo particularly, the most famous and fashionable gaming center in the world. Francois Blanc was a native of Provence, born with his twin brother Louis on December 12, 1806. Growing up in a small, quiet town, the two boys dreamed of fame and fortune and were impressed when a circus came to down, particularly the games of chance which were so obviously lucrative. They followed the circus throughout the south of France, taking numerous jobs and learning all of the tricks of the trade. Eventually they went into the gambling business in Marseilles and became quite successful. Both realized they had found a way to make their boyhood dreams a reality.

Eventually Francois and Louis amassed enough of a fortune to branch out. In Bordeaux they speculated on government pensions and got into real estate development. Using inventive strategies (some of which would later be outlawed) their already considerable fortune grew rapidly. This attracted attention and they were arrested and brought to trial on accusations of fraud. However, there were no laws against what they had been doing (no one had been creative enough to come up with such a system before) and so, in the end, they were fined for bribing government officials and released, still far ahead of the game. After that bit of unpleasantness they left Bordeaux for Paris. There, they came up with new games of chance to get around existing anti-gambling laws and opened up a number of establishments before King Louis Philippe passed new laws that put them out of business.

Never ones to give up, the brothers moved to Luxembourg and opened a very profitable gaming business there. That was only a stepping stone to their biggest success yet in the Principality of Hesse-Homburg near Frankfurt. Homburg was suffering under a mountain of debt and the local monarch signed a very beneficial contract with Francois and Louis Blanc to develop the tourism industry. This they did with phenomenal success. Homburg quickly became the ‘hot spot’ of Europe with gambling houses, lavish hotels, theatres, spas, gardens and cultural attractions that caused the rich and famous across the continent to flock there. Soon, Francois Blanc was given the nickname, ‘the Wizard of Homburg’. Eventually, once the debts were gone and the prosperity seemed permanent, the government in Frankfurt turned against gambling and Francois Blanc was once again out of business but, as always, not out of ideas.

Homburg had been able to attract visitors only in the summer months. During the winter the elites all retreated to the mild climate of the Riviera and that gave Blanc the idea that, in such a location, he could attract tourists all year round. He also read that, seeing the rags-to-riches story of Homburg, the Prince of Monaco had recently legalized gambling in his tiny principality. Francois Blanc went to Monaco, bet his fortune on gaining control of the SBM and, as they say, the rest is history. He invested heavily in the country, helped establish the new roads and rail lines that would make it accessible to the population centers of Europe and he promoted the area as the new fashionable spot for fun, relaxation and games of chance. Prince Charles III gave him considerable freedom and, again, he invested heavily in the country but it all paid him back handsomely.

The “Wizard of Homburg” had become the “Wizard of Monte Carlo” and the recurring money problems the principality had endured throughout her history would largely become a thing of the past after the arrival of Francois Blanc. He died in Switzerland in 1877 leaving behind a fortune of 72 million francs which, today, would be roughly equivalent to over 450 million euros.

Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé

Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé, had more than a few connections with the Grimaldi Princely Family during the tumultuous period of the French Revolution which saw the Kingdom of France destroyed and the Principality of Monaco annexed to the French Republic. He was born Louis Joseph de Bourbon on August 9, 1736 to Louis Henri Duc d’Bourbon and Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg. As a prince of the blood he was a member of the very highest echelon of French society. His grandmother, in fact, was the daughter of King Louis XIV by his famous mistress Madame de Montespan. His father died in 1740 and his mother the following year and Louis Joseph was raised by his uncle the Comte d’Clermont. By his mother he was related to the House of Savoy and to a whole horde of French royals and aristocrats on the side of his father. On May 3, 1753 he married Charlotte Elisabeth Godefride de Rohan, granddaughter of the Duc d’Bouillon at Versailles.

Soon the father of three (though one daughter did not long survive) the Prince de Condé busied himself with building projects, attending court and overseeing the upbringing and beneficial marriages of his children. His was a very familiar face at the courts of King Louis XV and King Louis XVI as well where he held the rank of Grand Maître de France in the King’s household. The military was also a long established duty and the Prince de Condé saw action in the Seven Years’ War (known in America as the French and Indian War) and rose to the rank of general, also serving for a time as Governor of Burgundy. However, life in France was soon to take a very dark turn with the growing discontent that eventually led to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Up to this point there was not much of a connection between the Prince de Condé and the House of Grimaldi. They would have met at court where the Prince of Monaco was well known and since the Princes of Monaco were also members of the French aristocracy. The Revolution, however, would bring the Grimaldi and the Condé together.

Sensing the trouble to come, when the Paris mob stormed the Bastille in 1789 the Prince de Condé went into exile, saving himself from what would surely have been certain death in the Reign of Terror that followed. To be a Bourbon in France at the height of the terror was almost as good as a death sentence. The King, the Queen and even the Duc d’Orleans were executed in 1793. That same year Prince Honore III of Monaco was deposed and later arrested, his country annexed to the French Republic and renamed Fort Hercules. His son and heir, Honore IV, was arrested in Paris with his father, but his second son, Prince Joseph of Monaco had fled with his wife into exile. While in exile Prince Joseph of Monaco made common cause with Prince Louis Joseph de Condé who was organizing a royalist army at Coblenz in 1791, made up mostly of French exiles, with the aim of returning to France to liberate their country from the forces of the revolution and the rule of Madame Guillotine.

The Army of Condé, as it came to be called, included a long list of famous names from the French aristocracy and Royal Family. Aside from the Prince de Condé and Prince Joseph of Monaco there was the Duc d’Enghien (grandson of the Prince de Condé), the Comte d’Artois (brother of the late King Louis XVI), the Duc d’Richelieu, the Duc d’Blacas and Chateaubriand and so on. Originally they fought alongside the imperial forces of Austria until squabbling between the two forces compelled the Prince de Condé to transfer his men to the British jurisdiction in 1795. However, that year was to see the last of Prince Joseph in the ranks, though his presence had already cost him dearly. Word that he had joined the counter-revolutionary forces of the Prince de Condé reached Paris and when his wife returned to France to see about their children she was discovered, arrested and sent to the guillotine in 1794. She was the last victim of the terror and the more moderate forces that took charge after allowed Prince Joseph to return to France to take charge of family affairs after the death of his father.

The Prince de Condé, however, continued onward with his mission, fighting in Swabia in 1796 before being forced to transfer to Poland and join with the Imperial Russian Army when Austria made peace with the republic in 1797. When Russia left the allied camp in 1800 the Prince returned his forces to the British camp, undoubtedly not an easy thing to do for a man who was a veteran of the Seven Years’ War. The Prince and his army fought in Bavaria but was disbanded in 1801 without ever seeing their dream of the liberation of France and the restoration of the monarchy come to fruition. The Prince de Condé went into exile in England where he lived with his second wife, none other than Marie Catherine de Brignole-Sale, the ex-wife of Prince Honore III of Monaco, whom he had married in 1798. In fact, it was the Prince de Condé, already the smitten kitten, who had helped obtain the final break between the then Princess of Monaco and her husband while she had taken refuge in a convent following after Honore III had been driven to fury by the affair his wife had been having with the Prince de Condé in Paris.

In any event, the former Princess of Monaco spent herself into poverty supporting French royalists and their cause, which was also the cause of her husband, until her death in 1813, so much so in fact that the British Royal Family had to step in to help with the funeral expenses. When Napoleon Bonaparte was finally defeated the Prince de Condé was able to return to Paris and take up his place again in the French court after the restoration of King Louis XVIII. He died in 1818 leaving two children; his son who succeeded to his title and his daughter who had taken vows and risen to become abbess of Remiremont Abbey. He was buried in St Denis Basilica.

Victor Amadeus II of Savoy

Having recently noted the anniversary of the tragically premature passing of HSH Princess Louise-Hippolyte of Monaco it should be noted that her death was a sad occasion for many people far beyond the boundaries of Monaco. One of those who certainly took notice was Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. Born in Turin in 1666 he was quite advanced in age for the time when he became infatuated with the lovely and lively Princess Louise Hippolyte, Duchess of Valentinois. During his life he would be, at various times, King of Sicily and King of Sardinia as well as Duke of Savoy. In 1684 he married Princess Anne-Marie of Orleans, daughter of Prince Philippe of France (brother of King Louis XIV) and Princess Henrietta of England. The early years of his reign saw a crackdown on the Protestants in his domain but this was eventually eased up when political considerations forced him into an alliance with the Protestant Dutch and English. Whereas Savoy had previously been very friendly with France, Victor Amadeus II broke with this tradition and fought with Empire against France in the Nine Years War and War of Spanish Succession. Though Monaco itself was neutral this effectively put him at odds with the towering Prince Antoine of Monaco (father of Louise-Hippolyte) who was very pro-French and fought in the service of the King of France.

His first wife died in 1728 and in 1730 he married a local woman, beneath his station but with the permission of Pope Clement XII. However, even though his first wife was very devoted Victor Amadeus II was not a faithful husband. He would certainly have jumped at the chance of an affair with Princess Louise-Hippolyte as well, but she was not too wild on the idea. She found the old gentleman rather boring and in any event was herself quite devoted to her own husband. Victor Amadeus liked to drop in on the princess at Monaco for “surprise” visits but Louise-Hippolyte caught on and proved too clever for him. With her extensive social network she was instantly informed as soon as he set foot in Nice, which surely meant he would then be on his way to Monaco. As secretive as he thought he was being, he was watched the entire time and the Princess knew every step of his progress. He never quite figured out how it happened that as soon as he crossed the Monegasque border for one of this “unexpected” visit’s the local artillery would fire off an earth-shattering salute.

In any event, Victor Amadeus, influential figure though he was, did not have a very happy end to his life. In 1731 Princess Louise-Hippolyte of Monaco died, which certainly distressed him, and he was not to live very much longer himself. The year before he had abdicated in favor of his son Charles Emanuel III. However, he later tried to go back on his decision and his son had him arrested. He suffered a stroke and blamed his wife for his misfortunes. He died in 1732, only a year after the early loss of the Princess of Monaco he so wished to have.

Onassis vs. Grimaldi

Today granddaughters Athina Onassis and Charlotte Casiraghi may be good friends but in the recent history of Monaco the rivalry between HSH Prince Rainier III and the shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis was one of the most critical and hard fought battles in Monegasque history that shed no blood. Prince Rainier III was on his way to conflict with Onassis as soon as he came to the throne upon the death of his grandfather HSH Prince Louis II and the focus would be the SBM (Société des Bains de Mer de Monaco) which controls the gaming industry and the three largest and most lavish resort hotels in the principality. During the latter years of the reign of HSH Prince Albert I (a scholarly man who found gambling distasteful) and throughout the reign of Prince Louis II (a soldier likewise little attracted to luxury vacations and the tourism industry) the business and profits of the gaming industry had declined considerably, mostly, it must be said, because of two rather traumatic incidents known as the First and Second World Wars. Aristotle Onassis sailed into Monaco on his luxury yacht Olympic Winner and saw a great opportunity before him.

Onassis saw that there was a great opportunity for profit represented by the valuable real estate owned by the SBM quite apart from the casino that was long considered the primary holding of the company. Onassis envisioned Monaco becoming a lavish haven for the super-rich exclusively with new resorts catering to the rich and famous, a larger harbor capable of handling bigger yachts and luxury cruise liners and bigger and more extravagant villas. By the time Rainier III came to the throne Onassis was heavily invested in Monaco and well on his way to becoming the majority share-holder of the SBM. So it was that when Prince Rainier took up the government of Monaco he found he had a very ambitious and independent partner, in a stronger position than he was, at the SBM and the Precious Metals Society announcing they were bankrupt and this held, at the time, more than half the reserve funds of the principality. He was further hampered by the retention of several of those responsible for this disaster which was done on the advice of Jean-Charles Rey, the then love interest of his older sister HSH Princess Antoinette of Monaco.

Ever since there has been talk that the bad advice was part of a concerted effort on the part of Princess Antoinette to have Rainier III deposed and her own son, Baron Christian de Massey, put on the throne in his place. Onassis also did not hesitate to give the Prince his own unsolicited advice, stressing that such a family feud was bad for business -which he certainly cared about. Prince Rainier took firm measures behind the scenes to put his sister in her place but kept up a good front in public, showing a happy and united family, so as not to alarm the public and potential investors. Nonetheless the tension and rivalry between the Prince and Onassis only increased. When the Prince married the American actress Grace Kelly, Onassis went all out for the occasion but was privately a little skeptical about the match. Apart from a temporary truce for the wedding Onassis and Rainier continued to clash over their conflicting vision for Monaco.

Onassis was putting millions of dollars into the SBM, building and embellishing playgrounds for the global elites. Prince Rainier wanted to make Monaco a welcoming destination for people of all classes, not just the super-rich. Behind closed doors the Grimaldis referred to Onassis as “the Greek” and complained of how his influence was becoming pervasive. For his part, Onassis was far from respectful toward the Princely Family and angered the Prince by constantly addressing him as “Rainier” instead of “Your Serene Highness”. A comment referring to the SBM as one of his “toys” also did not go over well at the palace. Onassis did not treat the Prince with great respect and thought him rather simplistic; a sort of simpleton who had to be humored with lip-service while he ran things as he saw fit. He was afraid that the desire of the Prince to appeal to middle and working class tourists would drive away the elites Onassis wished to attract. While he was planning bigger and better country clubs, pampering centers and luxury liner accommodations Prince Rainier III was planning to build factories, low rent apartments for workers, hotels that would be in the price range of middle class tourists and less expensive entertainments. Onassis viewed these ideas as silly at best and at worst a detriment to the exclusive sort of Monaco he envisioned.

The Prince turned out to be a more astute businessman and ruler than Onassis had given him credit for. He had assumed that Princess Grace would attract Hollywood celebrities to Monaco and raise the status of the country, as he wished, as a place for the rich and famous. Onassis was right in that this did indeed happen but Princess Grace also used her celebrity to reach out to those lower down on the social ladder and she was absolutely supportive of her husband and his vision for Monaco. Finally the tensions between the Prince and the tycoon became outright opposition as Rainier III used his powers as Sovereign Prince to veto the appointments Onassis made to the board of the SBM. Prince Rainier III might have been dependent on the SBM (and thus Onassis) for the majority of his income but he was also effectively an absolute monarch and had no qualms about using his authority to ensure that he rather than Onassis ruled in the principality.

Onassis gave in to some of the plans Rainier III had but tried to finish off the struggle by stipulating that his further cooperation would depend on the Prince giving up his veto rights and management influence in the SBM. For Prince Rainier, this was out of the question and he was further pushed to his limit when Jean-Charles Rey, finally known to be in league with Princess Antoinette, began opposing him in the National Council and he was not above taking sides with Onassis to oppose the Prince. Soon, Onassis was publicly referring to himself as the “real” ruler of Monaco. When Onassis, Rey and their confederates on the Council united to oppose the Prince’s plan to build a laboratory for his friend Jacques Cousteau to advance the study of oceanography they had finally pushed Rainier III to the limit. On January 29, 1959 HSH Prince Rainier III announced to his people by radio that he would tolerate no further efforts to undermine his rights and that he was suspending the constitution. Rights of political assembly were abrogated and the National Council was dissolved. The Prince would rule in his own right, by princely edict, until constitutional reforms could be put in place.

In the aftermath of this Onassis tried one last time to assert his control using the democratic reforms Prince Rainier had put in place during his brief stint as an absolute monarch. He could, he reasoned, use his influence to gain political strength but he was thwarted by a PR offensive by Prince Rainier who even made common cause with Rey who had recently become his brother-in-law by a civil marriage to Princess Antoinette. Secure in his position Prince Rainier drew up laws to break the dominance Onassis had by making new shares of the SBM to be owned by the government which would make Rainier III majority shareholder. Onassis tried to stop this bill in the courts but had no success. Seeing that his era of control of the SBM and thus his place of influence in Monaco over, Aristotle Onassis boarded his yacht Christina and departed Monaco, selling off his remaining shares in the SBM. Given his attitudes and behavior and the fact that Rainier’s plans were already leading to economic improvements, the Monegasque were not sad to see him go. Onassis felt he had been very unfairly treated of course, but one thing no one could deny was that no one would ever again view Prince Rainier III as a shallow simpleton or anything other than a very strong and shrewd monarch and businessman. In the long struggle between the Prince of Monaco and Aristotle Onassis it was the Prince who had emerged victorious.

Albert's Godmother

Victoria Eugenie was born in Scotland in 1887, the daughter of Prince Henry of Battenberg, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and first cousin of King George V of Great Britain. She was named after her grandmother Queen Victoria and her godmother the Spanish-born Empress Eugenie of France, consort of Emperor Napoleon III (who happened to be good friends with the Grimaldis of Monaco). Due to an incorrect reading of her name she became known to her family as Ena. Her father died while serving in Africa and Ena grew up in the court of Queen Victoria. In 1905, while at a dinner hosted by King Edward VII, the princess caught the eye of His Catholic Majesty King Alfonso XIII of Spain. A long-distance courtship began despite great misgivings from Alfonso's family over Ena's Protestant religious, rather obscure German heritage and the haemophilia that was carried by Queen Victoria's family.

In spite of all this King Alfonso XIII was determined to marry Victoria Eugenie and only a year later they were engaged and soon married after a marriage treaty was agreed upon between the British and Spanish governments which required the removal of the princess from the British royal succession for marrying a Catholic. On May 31, 1906 the couple married and on their wedding day only narrowly escaped an attempt on their lives by an anarchist bomber. This may have been a clue as to things to come. Victoria Eugenie, Queen of Spain, was in general not accepted by the Spanish people and when her first child, a son, was found to have haemophilia King Alfonso XIII held his wife responsible and never forgave her. While it was true that the Queen did pass on the disease it is also true that Alfonso knew this would be a possibility before he insisted on marrying her.

The couple went on to have seven children but were never reconciled and finally lived mostly apart with Queen Ena devoting her time to charity work. In 1923 Pope Pius XI awarded her the Golden Rose. She continued her work to help the poor and promote education until the coup of 1931 forced the Spanish Royal Family into exile after which Spain was declared a republic and the country soon fell into civil war. Queen Ena lived in the U.K. until the government informed her that she was unwelcome after which she moved to Switzerland. She saw her husband again in Rome in 1938 on the occasion of the baptism of her grandson Juan Carlos (the current King of Spain). The former King died in 1941.

For a long time the Grimaldis of Monaco had been good friends with the Bourbon family and also had good relations with the family of General Francisco Franco who ruled Spain after the civil war until his death and the restoration of the monarchy. It was through these ties of friendship that HSH Princess Grace came to know the Spanish Royal Family and, in her study of the world she married into, came to be an admirer of Queen Ena. It was a mark of the great respect Princess Grace had for the Queen that she named her godmother of her only son, Prince Albert II, when he was born in 1958. Queen Ena last visited Spain in 1968 for the baptism of her great-grandson Prince Felipe of the Asturias. She died at her home in Switzerland the following year at the age of 81.

Pope Innocent IV

In the history of the Catholic Church one pontiff who, inadvertently, had a major impact on Monaco was Pope Innocent IV. Coincidentally enough he was a native of Genoa, born there as Sinibaldo Fieschi in 1195. He was educated in Parma and Bologna until being called to Rome to serve in the Curia in 1226. The Church had enjoyed a succession of strong popes, particularly Pope Innocent III during whose reign the Church reached its peak of political power in Europe. Lately, however, conflicts had arisen with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (quite famous and formidable in his own right he was known as the ‘Wonder of the World’). After a very long and contentious conclave Cardinal Fieschi was elected, a decision he accepted with great reluctance. He had been on friendly terms with the Emperor but as pope he could have no favorites and Frederick II expected this and it surely turned heads when he took as his name Innocent IV.

Problems arose almost immediately over imperial control of the Church (such as in the appointment of bishops) and the earlier seizure of northern Italy from the papacy by the Emperor. Italians were roused to anger against the German monarch and open conflict seemed inevitable. In 1244 the Pope left Rome (where German agents made things dangerous for him) and moved to Genoa and from there he later went in disguise to France where he was warmly received in Lyons. Safe to act freely he summoned a council aimed at reminding the Emperor that his power had limits. On July 17, 1245 the Pope and assembled bishops formally excommunicated Frederick II and absolved his subjects of all allegiance to him. All across Europe there were preparations for war but, perhaps fortunately for the Pope, Frederick II died only five years later which ended the crisis for the moment and Innocent IV returned to Rome.

The Pope had numerous political as well as religious matters to deal with and, like the previous pontiff of his name, maintained that as the Pope was the Vicar of Christ he had final authority over all kings and princes. He intervened in Portugal, Austria but could be a strong ally to monarchs as well as an adversary, taking the side of King Henry III of England even when the nobles and bishops of the country were opposed to him. He even sent a mission to the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Guyuk Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan. He asked the Mongol Emperor to cease his attacks on Christian countries and advised him to become a Catholic. Guyuk kept his own religion and sent a message back demanding that the Pope and all the monarchs of Europe submit to the rule of the Great Khan. That submission was not forthcoming.
In his latter days Pope Innocent IV was again occupied by problems with the Holy Roman Empire, specifically the offspring of Frederick II who were still struggling for domination of Italy. He died in 1254 in Naples but the battle lines had already been drawn and across Italy, particularly northern Italy, factions emerged which supported the Pope (the Guelphs) and the Emperor (the Ghibellines). One of the places where this rivalry was fiercest was in the Pope’s native Genoa where both sides made war against each other in true vendetta fashion. The result was a Ghibelline victory and the expulsion of the Guelf families, one of which was the House of Grimaldi. Driven from their home they looked to take their revenge and seek their fortunes elsewhere and the target they had in mind was the Ghibelline fortress on the Rock known as Monaco.

So, if you have ever wondered why Pope Innocent IV was featured on a Monegasque postage stamp...now you know.

Bishop Augustin Grimaldi

Augustin Grimaldi was born in 1482, the son of Seigneur Lambert of Monaco and his wife the Lady Claudine. Lords Jean II and Lucien were his brothers and Augustin himself would one day rule Monaco as well, though he took a different path in life, becoming a priest and eventually rising to the positions of Bishop of Grasse and Abbot of Lérins. This was something of a family tradition as his uncle, Jean-André Grimaldi, had also been Bishop of Grasse and a diplomat on behalf of his brother Lord Lambert. Bishop Augustin would do much the same but with even greater success. He may be most remembered outside the country as the founder of the village of Valbonne in France, but in Monaco he is remembered as a national savior.

His first, most vital service, came during the Genoese invasion of Monaco in 1506-1507. While his brothers Lord Lucien and Charles were struggling to repel the Genoese Bishop Augustin of Grasse was dispatched by the brothers, along with their sister Francoise, to the court of King Louis XII of France to appeal for French assistance. Genoa had tried to keep the French out of it but King Louis had considerable interests in northern Italy and the last thing he wanted was a revived and more powerful Genoese republic. So, Bishop Augustin was successful and Louis XII dispatched the French Governor of Savona, Yves d’Allégre, with his troops to come to the aid of the Monegasque. In mid-March of 1507 the Genoese spotted the approaching French army and finally gave up their attack and retreated.

Bishop Augustin was left in charge of things in Monaco while Lord Lucien joined the French in pursuing the enemy, finally joining in a siege against Genoa led by King Louis XII himself. The French and Grimaldi forces were successful but in the aftermath Lucien was imprisoned by his ally after he refused to either sell Monaco to France or become the vassal of the French king. Bishop Augustin was still overseeing the cleanup of Monaco, which was in ruins after the Genoese attack, when he received a message from Louis XII demanding the surrender of Monaco. Naturally, the Bishop refused and the King promptly ordered his galleys to move against Monaco by sea and dispatched 4,000 troops to attack overland.

The situation could not have been more desperate. The small Monegasque army had been reduced to a skeletal force and the fortifications were in ruins because of the recent attack. There were hardly any soldiers, few supplies and almost no money. Bishop Augustin, in response, did the only thing he could do; he stalled. Using every diplomatic trick up his sleeve he kept the French out with a string of vague and contradictory messages. He weaved red tape like a master and in so doing saved Monaco from utter disaster. Bishop Augustin kept this going until the tide turned against the French in Italy and Louis XII was forced to release Lucien. Yet, in the years that followed, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King of Spain, defeated the French in Italy, captured Genoa and cast a long shadow over Monaco.

The next year, in 1523, Lord Lucien was assassinated in an attempted coup led by the Doria family. Bishop Augustin happened to be passing through on his way back from Cannes a short time after these events and so, according to the will of their mother Claudine, Bishop Augustin took charge of the government as regent in the name of his young nephew Honore I. Historians since have hailed Bishop Augustin as the most intelligent of the three brothers to rule Monaco and such an estimation seems believable. Already famous for his diplomatic skill, the Bishop proved a firm leader in the aftermath of the murder of his brother and, full of righteous indignation, he organized his forces to hunt down and punish those responsible.

Bishop Augustin was known, even at the time, as a remarkable man. Having lived in Rome he was well connected there, respected in the French court for his diplomatic talents, well known for his great intelligence and his piety, even going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem some years before. He was 44 when he became regent of Monaco but, being a man of the cloth, he had to have the permission of the Pope to hold temporal power. Because he was so well known and admired by the curia in Rome this was quickly granted and he could carry on with the government of Monaco. His first order of business was to punish the murderer of his brother, namely Barthélemy Doria. Through some trickery he managed to capture him but when Pope Clement VII advised showing mercy Bishop Augustin released him.

Doria later died while serving in the French army and it had not escaped the notice of Bishop Augustin how little the French seemed bothered by the crisis that had shaken Monaco. The country was still in a very precarious situation and needed the protection of a great power. The two most powerful monarchs in the region were King Francois I of France and Emperor Charles V of Spain. Bishop Augustin would have to choose one or the other and Pope Clement VII advised him to choose the Emperor. Augustin sent a relative, Leonardo Grimaldi, to negotiate an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor, the most powerful man in Europe at the time. Leonardo went too far in the first negotiations, sacrificing Monegasque independence, but Bishop Augustin was so persuasive in his appeal that Emperor Charles V annulled the agreement and in the Tordesillas declaration recognized the independence of Monaco.

Emperor Charles V visited Monaco during the regency of Bishop Augustin; a guest of some considerable significance. To some extent the decision to align with Spain was the correct one. Charles V defeated the King of France, obtained Spanish dominance over Italy and was even given the Iron Crown of Lombardy by Pope Clement VII. Yet, the Spanish presence proved burdensome and the treasury of Monaco was emptied paying for the garrison as promised compensation never arrived. Thus it was said that Bishop Augustin came to regret his decision to take Monaco into the Spanish sphere of influence at the end of his life. That end came on April 14, 1532, suddenly, which caused rumors of poisoning to spread but there is no evidence of that. Bishop Augustin had literally saved Monaco on more than one occasion and proved himself a masterful regent as well as a devout churchman. The alliance he arranged would last until 1641 when Prince Honore II ousted the Spanish and took Monaco back into the orbit of France where it has remained ever since.

Monegasque Sculptor Francois-Joseph Bosio

One of the most famous names to ever come out of Monaco, and one of the most famous names in the world of art in general, was the Monegasque sculptor Joseph-Francois Bosio. He was born on March 19, 1769 in Monaco where a small square in Monaco-Ville honors him. His family roots went back to the island of Corsica and they owned a large estate called Pieve dei Bosio which was elevated to a county. It was in the late XVIth Century that the family settled in the Principality of Monaco. He showed early artistic promise and from the age of 16 was refining his skills as a sculptor. From a heap of iron he produced a striking figure of Christ which attracted the attention of HSH Prince Honore III. Seeing potential in the young man the Sovereign Prince gave him a scholarship to attend school in Paris under the famous master sculptor Pajou.

Bosio served in the French army during the Revolution, becoming a lieutenant, but left the army and wandered northern Italy working on his art, mostly doing religious pieces for chapels and convents. He spent time in Florence, later worked in Rome and Naples and returned to Paris when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor. While in Italy he had befriended the sculptor Bartolini who he met again in Paris and arranged his meeting with the director of the Imperial Museums, Denon, who appreciated his talent and commissioned work from him. His talent was seen and appreciated and Empress Josephine posed for a bust for him which so impressed the Emperor Napoleon that he placed the bust in his private quarters and named the humble artist from Monaco the official favored sculptor of the French Empire.

The fame of Bosio grew to such an extent that the fall of the empire and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy had no effect on him. He was appointed to the Academie des Beaux Arts and was retained as first sculptor by King Louis XVIII. In 1817 he was, by royal decree, made a tutor at the royal school of fine arts. King Charles X confirmed the status of Bosio bestowed by his elder brother and even elevated him to the status of a baron on May 11, 1828. During his career Bosio produced many famous pieces and busts of all the monarchs he served. His statue of a young King Henri IV is displayed at the Louvre, his equestrian statue of the famous King Louis XIV stands in the Place des Victoires but it is his many pieces from classical Greco-Roman mythology that are probably most famous.

Bosio died on July 29, 1845. A month later Raoul Rochette, permanent secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts, at a memorial at his tomb, stated of Bosio that, “He was born in a State, almost imperceptible on the political map of Europe, but which yet will one day be celebrated as the birth-place of a great artist”. Today Monaco is famous for much more but in the arena of fine art the name of the Monegasque sculptor Bosio will be remembered and honored forever.

Princely Mistress: Hortense Mancini

One of the most fascinating and famous figures to touch the history of Monaco and the Grimaldi dynasty was Hortense Mancini, Duchess Mazarin. She was born in Rome in 1646 and was the favorite niece of the powerful Cardinal Mazarin, the power-behind-the-throne in France. She was one of five sisters and all became famous for their beauty. Their father was Baron Lorenzo Mancini but their mother took them to Paris so her ‘eminent’

brother could help arrange socially advantageous marriages for the girls. As far as that idea went things worked pretty well. Laure married the duc de Vendome, Olympe married Eugene-Maurice of Savoy-Carignano (parents of the famous Prince Eugene of Savoy), Marie was an early mistress of King Louis XIV and married Lorenzo Colonna (and if that name doesn’t sound familiar read up on your papal history and it soon will) and Marie Anne married the duc de Bouillon.

What about Hortense though? She was proposed to by none other than King Charles II of Britain (never one to miss a pretty face) and while the King of England, Scotland and Ireland who was also the first cousin of King Louis XIV of France might have seemed like the most prestigious marriage of all -Cardinal Mazarin did not think so. At the time King Charles II was not actively the king of anything and was living in exile on the generosity of friends and relatives. When Charles II was restored to the British throne the Cardinal realized he made a mistake and tried to have a do-over and offered his niece to the Stuart king but the miffed Charles wouldn’t have it. Similar proposals from the Duke of Savoy and the Duke of Lorraine also fell through.

Finally Hortense was married to the fabulously wealthy duc de La Meillerave who was then titled duc Mazarin. It was a lucrative marriage all around but not a happy one. Hortense was a pretty, fun-loving and popular girl; intelligent, carried herself well and the life of the party. Her husband was an obsessively prudish, miserly control freak who wouldn’t let his wife associate with men, refused to allow his female servants to milk cows because he thought it was sexual and even knocked their front teeth out to make them less attractive to men. The guy had problems. He was so paranoid about his wife cheating on him that he made surprise searches of the house at all hours. In short, he made life a living hell for Hortense.

Bullied by her husband and cut off from men she began an affair with a teenage girl which, when her husband found out, earned her a one-way ticket to a convent. The two were such a problem the nuns sent them back and after a nightmarish existence and giving birth to four children Hortense managed to escape on June 13, 1668 with the help of her brother and went to Rome to live with her sister. She need not have worried though as powerful men all over Europe were tripping over each other to declare themselves her protector, the most prominent of which was King Louis XIV. Another was the Duke of Savoy and she went to live under his wing in grand style but as her and the Duke got a little too “friendly” once the Duke passed his wife showed Hortense the door.

What was she to do? Where was she to go? London of course, where the English ambassador to France hoped to win favor by making Hortense the new favored mistress of Charles II. She went to England on the excuse of visiting her cousin Mary of Modena (wife of the future King James II) and as expected Charles was smitten immediately by Hortense and was soon lavishing money and gifts on her as his primary mistress. Things were going great for her, but all those years of repression with her husband must have had an effect on her. Since being freed from so many years of enforced virtue Hortense couldn’t seem to get enough and rumors began to swirl of her having additional affairs with a number of men and women alike. One of her lovers was HSH Prince Louis I of Monaco, which seemed to anger Charles more than the rumors of her lesbian relations. She and Charles managed to remain on good terms but Charles finally pushed her aside and brought back the Duchess of Portsmouth to console him.

Hortense stayed in England for quite some time. After Charles died his brother King James II took good care of her (she was his cousin by marriage) and even after James was overthrown by his son-in-law William of Orange nothing changed except a reduction in her pension. Hortense Mancini died on November 9, 1699 with some even claiming it had been a suicide. One thing is certain, she “touched” a lot of lives in her years (her life could have been a soap opera) and she had quite an impact on many of the most powerful people of her time. Prince Louis I of Monaco had been absolutely besotted with her. He drenched her in praise and flattery but she seemed more amused by than in love with him. It was another famous mistress, Nell Gwyn, who tattled on her to Charles II. When the King cast her off in a fury Prince Louis offered her a handsome sum to run away with him as his mistress but that shocked Charles into making a better offer and taking her back.

This incident basically ruined what emerging relations there were between Britain and Monaco (Prince Louis I had to quit England and return to the continent) but it was not the end of the role of Hortense Mancini in the history of the Grimaldi dynasty. One of her descendants, many years later, was Louise d’Aumont who married Prince Honore IV of Monaco which means that, despite things not working out between her and Louis I, all of the subsequent Princes of Monaco down to Albert II today have a little bit of Hortense Mancini flowing in their veins.

King Louis XIII of France

King Louis XIII of France occupies a special place in Monegasque history. Louis was born on September 27, 1601 to King Henri IV and Queen Marie de Medici and became King of France and Navarre in 1610. At this time the Principality of Monaco was within the sphere of influence of the Kingdom of Spain. However, the Monegasque monarch, HSH Prince Honore II, was planning to change that situation in the biggest political turnaround in the history of Monaco. His aim was to take Monaco from the Spanish camp to the French camp.

During the reign of King Louis XIII, thanks in large part to his cunning minister Cardinal Richelieu, the star of France was on the rise. This was a momentous time for such a decision as France and Spain were then on opposite sides of the Thirty Years War. Although usually generalized as a war between Catholics and Protestants things were not really that simple and Catholic France joined the Protestant side as a way to advance French power at the expense of their greatest continental rival the Catholic Hapsburgs of Austria.

Louis XIII saw the French nobility brought into line with the Crown, rescinded the privileges of the Protestant Huguenots (though their freedom of religion was maintained), modernized the ports and put France on the road to becoming a major naval power again. He also was a great patron of the arts and expanded French influence in North America. The framework was being laid for the unsurpassed greatness France was to achieve during the future reign of the “Sun King” Louis XIV. Prince Honore II of Monaco had already been going in a very French direction. He redecorated the Princely castle, making it more of the palace we know today, favoring French styles and even wearing his hair in the fashion of Louis XIII.

Everything had to be done in secret and Honore II succeeded so well in this that the Spanish never suspected a thing. On September 14, 1641 King Louis XIII signed the Treaty of Péronne which reestablished formal diplomatic relations between France and Monaco. Louis XIII wrote to Honore II saying, “I assure you that you will discover in me such sincere good will toward you and all your House that you will never come to regret the decision you made known to me”.

King Louis XIII recognized the sovereignty of Monaco and agreed to be the protector of the principality. He promised to send a garrison of 500 French troops which he would pay for but who would answer to the Prince of Monaco who would also be party to all future treaties signed by France. To make up for the estates in Italy the Spanish had granted to the Prince of Monaco Louis XIII promised to pay an annual pension of 75,000 livres from three French fiefdoms; a duchy, a marquisate and a comté. This was the foundation of the special relationship between France and Monaco that has endured, with few interruptions, to this very day.

Once Honore II pulled off his coup and subdued the Spanish garrison in Monaco he hurried to King Louis XIII who granted him several noble titles and decorated him with the Order of the Holy Spirit. As for King Louis XIII, he had some trouble producing an heir to the throne but when that day came he dedicated his kingdom to the Blessed Virgin Mary in thanks for her intercession. He died on May 14, 1643 leaving a stronger kingdom than the one he had inherited and with a foundation for further future greatness that would come during the long reign of his famous son.

Charles Auguste de Matignon

Charles Auguste de Goyon de Matignon, Comte de Grace was the uncle of HSH Prince Jacques I of Monaco and one of the leading soldiers of France in his day. Born in 1647 he was the sixth son of Francois de Goyon, lord of Matignon and Anne de Malon of Bercy. He embarked on a military career at an early age and in 1669 took part in the campaign in Holland in which he distinguished himself and later served usefully in Flanders and Germany in 1684. When his brother Charles died in 1674 he was given the title of Comte d'Grace and in 1688 was made governor of the province of Aunis. In 1689 accompanied King James II of Great Britain and his Jacobites to Ireland where he commanded troops in the effort to restore James II to the throne that had been usurped by his son-in-law William of Orange. Of course, as well all know, the enterprise ended in defeat at the battle of the Boyne. One observer described him as a good and honest man but was less than impressed with his military abilities.

Matignon returned to France after the Jacobite defeat saw action at the sieges of Mons and Namur. In 1691 the King of France gave him the rank of brigadier general and in 1693 the rank of major general. In 1708 he was awarded the supreme military prize with the rank of Marshal of France with the name of Marshal of Mantignon. In 1715 he was dispatched with the nominal King James III of Great Britain (the Old Pretender) for another Jacobite uprising to restore the Stuarts to the British throne, however, this expedition gained even less traction than the first and was quickly suppressed by the government forces of the Hanoverian King George I. Marshal Matignon returned to France and served on the battlefield again in Flanders before his death in 1729 at the age of 83 having by that time also acquired the titles of Chevalier of Torigni and Baron of Bricquebec. In 1942 his portrait was featured on a 20+10 cent Monegasque stamp.