Prince Albert in Wyoming

Last Thursday, September 19, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco was in Cody, Wyoming, to celebrate the centenary of the visit of his great-great grandfather Prince Albert I. His predecessor on the Monegasque throne had visited the area in his time, guided by "Buffalo Bill" Cody himself (as you read about here last year when this visit was first announced).  Today's Sovereign Prince presented the first prize to two American scientists, Arthur Middleton and Joe Riis in recognition of their work. The award was named the 'Camp Monaco Prize' in honor of the previous expedition of Prince Albert I in which their hunting camp was named "Camp Monaco". As you can see in the photo above, that name was carved on a nearby tree and that portion of the tree has been preserved in honor of the occasion when a Prince of Monaco first came to the wild west state of Wyoming in 1913.

Birthday of the First Albert

It was on this day in 1848 that HSH Prince Albert I of Monaco was born to TSH Prince Charles III and Princess Antoinette. He would go on to fame as the "Sailor Prince", a pioneer in the science of oceanography and the sovereign who gave Monaco her first constitution.

Prince Going to Wyoming

Buffalo Bill and Prince Albert I

It was recently announced that HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco will be visiting the state of Wyoming to attend the 2013 Buffalo Bill Historical Center Patrons Ball for the 100th anniversary of the visit of HSH Prince Albert I of Monaco to Cody, Wyoming for a hunting expedition with the legendary scout and western showman. The Monegasque ambassador said,

"As you know, 2013 is ... the centennial of the visit to Cody of Prince Albert I, the scholarly prince and co-founder of oceanography. In September 1913, he went hunting with the iconic Buffalo Bill. Now, I have the distinct honor of informing you that Prince Albert II has accepted the kind invitation of Governor Matt Mead and the BBHC board of trustees to participate in this celebration and will be present here next year."

There is no word yet if HSH Princess Charlene will be accompanying the Prince. However, we do know that, while he is in the neighborhood, the Sovereign Prince (and noted super-environmentalist) will present a biodiversity award for the Yellowstone region on behalf of the Prince Albert II Foundation. A fitting tribute as well for Buffalo Bill Cody who was also something of an early-day environmentalist, concerned with the state of the great outdoors in Wyoming and the surrounding western region.

In 1993, Prince Albert II made a memorable visit to Cody, Wyoming for the 80th anniversary of the expedition by his predecessor. It was on that occasion that former girlfriend Tamara Rotolo showed up at the event with her then 17-month old daughter Jazmin Grace to gain an acknowledgement that the baby was Prince Albert's. That was soon established and the Prince has supported Jazmin ever since. This time, we can be confident there will be no such "surprises".

Colonel Cody looks on as Prince Albert I presents a special rifle to a Crow chief

The Great War Begins

It was during this week in 1914 that the "guns of August" were heard, marking the start of the First World War as German troops marched into Belgium and France. The conflict, thankfully, would not touch Monaco directly but the Principality and moreso the House of Grimaldi played a part in the conflict. As we have discussed before, HSH Prince Albert I was a good friend of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The two had very different characters to be sure, but both shared a love of hunting, archaeology and most of all a love of the sea and sailing. In fact, the Prince was with the Kaiser on his yacht when the German monarch first learned of the murder of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Prince Albert I, after serving in the Franco-Prussian War, became a pacifist and he did his best to try to prevent World War I from starting by trying to get the main players together to talk out their differences -something which is hard to say would not have worked since there really wasn't much motivation for going to war in the first place. Everyone was going to war because everyone else was. The only people who did not have any choice in the matter were the French and the Belgians; they went to war because they were attacked, though even the French were far from innocent in the whole affair as they had been pushing the Russians to intervene in what had been a localized Austro-Serbian conflict. Prince Albert was very distressed that his peace efforts were rejected but he still did all he could to minimize the damage. His personal appeals to the Kaiser are credited with saving the French towns of Sissonne and Marchais from total destruction.

Prince Louis II

The outbreak of war was particularly painful for Prince Albert I because Monaco had always been very close to France and by his mother the Prince of Monaco was half Belgian. He was pained by what happened to France and Belgium but was simply heartbroken at the tremendous waste of the entire conflict, for all those involved. He allowed the Principality of Monaco to be used freely by the Allied powers to send wounded soldiers to recover and relax but he wanted no part in the actual conduct of the war. This almost brought him into conflict with his son and heir Prince Louis, a veteran of the French army who was determined to rejoin and serve at the front. Prince Albert wanted no part in causing any harm to anyone and did not really want his son to either, however, he came to understand the point of view of Prince Louis who felt that if he did not go to the front he would be letting down all of his friends and comrades in the French army he had trained and served with. He allowed him to go and Prince Louis proved to be a great soldier, upholding the reputation of his family going back to the Hundred Years War and before. When peace came, Prince Albert breathed a sigh of relief but although Monaco had been untouched by the fighting, it was not unaffected by it.

In those days the gaming industry was the primary source of income for the principality and the customer base was almost exclusively the wealthy aristocrats and minor royals of Europe. World War I brought business to a halt and after the war most of the great noble and royal houses who had frequented Monte Carlo were either destitute or had been overthrown. It would also not be long until another world war broke out that would see Monaco occupied and bombed. Prince Albert I had never been fond of the gaming industry himself but tolerated it as something necessary. It would be left to his son, Prince Louis II and even more so his successor Prince Rainier III, to see the Monegasque economy fully recovered and diversified to prevent such hard times in the future.

The Prince and the Pole

Last night, HSH Prince Albert II was at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, to attend a special series of lectures and gala dinner at the Scott Polar Institute in honor of the explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Scott was an officer in the British Royal Navy who led expeditions to the South Pole, was the second man to reach the South Pole after Roald Amundsen of Norway. Also attending the festivities was HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in his first public engagement since being released from the hospital for heart trouble (still doing pretty good for a man of 90). Along with the rest of those present, Prince Albert met with polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes who spoke about his experiences, descendants of Robert Scott were also present to discuss their famous ancestor, his life and work.

There is, of course, a tradition of interest in the polar regions amongst the Princes of Monaco named Albert. The Scottish explorer, William Speirs Bruce, who almost accompanied Scott on his famous voyage, joined Prince Albert I in some of his scientific voyages and the Prince placed Bruce in charge of the scientific observations made during his studies. Prince Albert II also accompanied a Russian arctic expedition in 2006 and became the first head-of-state and reigning monarch to reach the North Pole. In 2009 he visited Antarctica on an expedition to study the effects of global warming on the south polar region. The great concern Prince Albert II has for the environment has fueled most of his studies and interest on the state of the northern and southern polar regions.

Birth of Albert I

Today in Grimaldi history, in the revolutionary year of 1848, the "Sailor Prince" Albert I of Monaco was born to Prince Charles III and Princess Antoinette de Merode-Westerloo. What we have had to say about HSH Prince Albert I.

Albert I, the Paternal Prince

It seems to me that many people have a somewhat incomplete or even incorrect view of HSH Prince Albert I, great-great grandfather of the current Sovereign Prince of Monaco. All too often he is viewed as a rather distant and somewhat unfeeling man. However, this is not true. To be sure, he was a man of dignity and restraint and a man of science who could, as many men of science often are, appear indifferent to matters of the heart. However, Prince Albert I cared deeply for his country, his people and their welfare. This was seen from the very start of his reign at his formal enthronement in 1889. Upon the passing of his esteemed father, Prince Charles III, Albert revived an old Grimaldi family custom. He invited the heads of all the native Monegasque families to the Princely Palace. They gathered in the Court of Honor at which point Prince Albert I presented himself to them and asked if there were any who objected to his becoming their Sovereign Prince. Of course, none objected and the new Prince was acclaimed with great enthusiasm by the assembled patriarchs. At that point the gentlemen were ushered into the palace Throne Room where they showed their allegiance and the Prince greeted each one in turn. This was an ancient custom that the earliest Grimaldi rulers had practiced but which had fallen into disuse. Prince Albert I revived it as a way of strengthening the bonds of family loyalty between the people and their Sovereign Prince.

Of course, as we all know, for Prince Albert I, his life, his love and his lady was the sea and he was often absent on his voyages of scientific study and exploration. He was most comfortable on his yacht, dredging the ocean floor rather than mixing with the society elites and crowned heads of Europe who occupied the magnificent salons of Monte Carlo. He was also uncomfortable with the fashionable crowd because of his rather disapproving attitude toward gambling. He had never been enthusiastic about the gaming industry, set up during the reign of his father, yet he did recognize that it generated the income that allowed him to support the charitable and scientific causes he cared about and considered most important. Some of his lesser-known works include dispatching study missions abroad to learn ways of improving medical care in Monaco and adapting modern methods of education for the country. He also famously said that whenever there was any scientific study or research in need of assistance, “I will be there”. This, in part, also stemmed from his dim view of gambling. He knew that the wealthy elites poured money into Monaco by way of the gaming tables and he felt a little troubled by this so he was determined to ‘pay it back’ by advancing causes that would benefit everyone such as his scientific endeavors and his establishment of the Institute for Peace. He always sought to increase the knowledge and to make scientific knowledge more available for everyone in the world.

Prince Albert I was a sincere man of peace, having seen the horrors of war as an officer in the French navy in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. He had tried to avert the First World War but was obviously unsuccessful. However, he did prevent that massive conflict from possibly starting sooner. Since he was trusted and admired by both the French government and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, he was often able to act as an unofficial intermediary and calm tensions between the two long-time rivals. One of his greatest successes came over the First Moroccan Crisis in 1905-1906. The German Kaiser had visited Morocco and spoke in favor of Moroccan independence which greatly offended the French and which France and Britain took as an act of hostility on the part of Germany against their colonial empires. Tensions flared between the UK, France, Russia, Italy and Spain on one side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other. War seemed eminent as Germany began calling up her reserves and French troops began moving to the eastern frontier and it was into this hostile atmosphere that Prince Albert I of Monaco stepped forward to try to bring about a peaceful settlement. In spite of all the tensions, the Prince got the French and Germans to agree to an international conference where Germany found she had scant support and was forced to back down and go along with France resuming her position of dominance in the region. During the Second Moroccan Crisis, Prince Albert I played no part at all as he viewed it as a simple grab for spoils and would not be part of it. The result of that conflict was another set-back for Germany and Morocco becoming a formal protectorate of France.

This was but one example of the many times Prince Albert I helped to smooth Franco-German relations. Most controversial, probably, was his role in the “Dreyfus Affair” in which he did play a part, defending the innocent Jewish officer and assisting several of the other victims of the wave of anti-Semitism that swept France in the aftermath of the sad episode. This should all serve to illustrate that Prince Albert I was more than just the "Sailor Prince" or purely interested in the science of oceanography and nothing else. He was a paternal, caring monarch, interested in "giving back", improving the lives of his people, furthering world progress and working for peace. He was a good guy.

Accession Day of Albert I

It was on this day in 1889 that HSH Prince Albert I succeeded his father (Charles III) as Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Under his leadership, the character of Monaco was to change a great deal as the principality became a center for scientific research, culture and peace. Although his father had never understood his fascination with the sea, Prince Albert I established the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco which has grown in prestige ever since and remains a major center for oceanographic research to this day. His interest in archaeology also prompted him to found the Institute for Human Paleontology and the actions of his consort, Princess Alice, brought high culture to Monaco in the form of the opera, ballet and theater. When the threat of world war began to appear on the horizon, Prince Albert founded the International Institute of Peace in Monaco to try to find a way to avoid such a disaster and having been a veteran of the Franco-Prussian War, the Prince was only too aware of what horrors resulted from the last time the French and Germans had had at each other. When the war came anyway, he intervened with the German Kaiser, who had been his friend, to lessen the suffering of people in Belgium and Alsace and he established hospitals and recovery centers in Monaco for the Allied soldiers. He was a great man and widely respected all around the world, the first Prince of Monaco to be known in America as well as Europe (he was the first Grimaldi to visit the United States) and it was quite traumatic when he died in 1922, honored by the people of Monaco and scientific societies all around the world.

End of a Bad Romance

It was on this day in 1880 that HSH Prince Charles III of Monaco, on his own authority as Sovereign Prince, legally dissolved the marriage of (then) Hereditary Prince Albert and Princess Mary Victoria. There were some high-powered match-makers behind the marriage but, alas, the two never seemed to really hit it off. The daughter of the Duke of Hamilton didn't really seem to like anything about her life after she said "I do". She didn't like her husband, didn't like her new country or her new family. After the birth of their son Louis, Princess Mary Victoria essentially ran away and it was years before she and her husband even exchanged letters. When they did it was because she had fallen in love with a Hungarian nobleman and asked Prince Albert to see about getting their marriage annulled. That took a great deal of time, money and arguing with the Vatican before it was all settled. However, on the civil side of things, Prince Charles III could settle things easily, as in Monaco he was the law, and so he did 131 years ago today. Prince Albert I later went on to marry the American-born Alice Heine who, if that marriage did not last either, was at least much more pleased with and popular in Monaco.

Birthday of Albert I

It was on this day in 1848 that H.S.H. Prince Albert I of Monaco was born in Paris, France to HSH Prince Charles III of Monaco and the Belgian Countess Antoinette de Merode-Westerloo

Rebellion in Monaco

Although not a pleasant subject, nor one most today like to talk about, there was, at one point, at least something of a rebellion in the idyllic Principality of Monaco. This was not, as some might expect, during the years when Monaco was a relatively poor and isolated country when the House of Grimaldi had to take dowries seriously into account when arranging marriages to pay off a seemingly immovable deficit. It was, rather, in the Twentieth Century, after the opening of Monte-Carlo and the boom in tourism that came with the principality being a chic place for royals and the well-to-do to vacation. However, despite all of the glamour on the surface, the principality had very real problems and that was the extent to which the native Monegasque felt left out of all of the opulence that had descended upon their tiny country along with the horde of well dressed foreigners dripping with jewels and gaining and losing fortunes at the gaming tables.

The municipal council was made up entirely of foreign investors and included not a single native-born Monegasque. Their monarch, HSH Prince Albert I, was not unpopular and certainly not a tyrant or a harsh man, but he was seldom at home and preferred sailing and pursuing his oceanographic studies to economic reports, business models or the lack of civic care for the sick and infirm or the lack of schools for local children. The Sovereign Prince was a generous man but most of his charity went to foundations, mostly of a scientific nature, while investment at home was overseen by Camille Blanc who preferred to spend on tourist oriented luxuries that would earn a better return. The Monegasque paid no taxes it was true but neither could they earn a living by any but the lowest paying jobs; carrying luggage, cleaning rooms and the like for their wealthy visitors. Discontent grew and finally approached the breaking point.

It was on April 4, 1910 that a crowd of about 600 men organized themselves and marched on the palace demanded to speak to their Prince and present him their complaints. They wanted something done about all the foreign workers who were occupying all of the better paying jobs. Efforts had been made to raise this issue before but had been put off to be dealt with at a later date. Finally the Monegasque would wait no longer and appeared ready to make trouble. Their farms and orchards were gone, converted to villas, and yet there was high unemployment and few opportunities for the local people. Prince Albert I was greatly alarmed, as was Camille Blanc though more about what the upset might cause the coming tourist season. In Marseilles French troops were put on the alert and 300 British sailors from a flotilla off Villefranche to be placed at the disposal of the prince to secure British lives and property if there should be an outbreak of violence. The Hotel de Paris was stocked with wine cases filled with guns and ammunition and strategic points were designated for the British sailors to defend in the event of trouble.

Thankfully, unlike other countries, there was no violence. When presented with the grievances of his people Prince Albert I took action. He agreed to grant his subjections representation in the government and on June 19, 1910 the Monegasques, for the first time, participated in the democratic process, electing four Monegasque men to the municipal council. However, Albert I still feared that his people were unhappy and there was, it must be said, no shortage of agitators, oftentimes from outside of Monaco, demanding that the country “progress” with the times. As a result, on October 16, Prince Albert I agreed to the drafting of a constitution; the first in the history of Monaco. The work was done in Paris with input from French jurists, the four representatives of the Monegasque people, Prince Albert I and Hereditary Prince Louis II. As a result, on January 5, 1911 Monaco, officially at least, became a constitutional monarchy and Albert I was no longer an absolute monarch. However, from that day to this, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco remains effectively an absolute monarch in all but name.

Still, it was a benevolent rule that Albert I and successive Princes of Monaco held over their people. As part of the changes brought about by the confrontation was the right of the people to have a say in government, to have their views and concerns represented and given voice. Furthermore, their welfare was greatly improved as Prince Albert I ceded some of his own financial holdings to establish a public domain and the budget was reorganized to include funding for public education, public health services and humanitarian assistance for the poor and elderly. Today, as then, the Monegasques are still a small minority in their own country, but they have very happy and comfortable lives with virtually no poverty or unemployment at all. This is due to the care and generosity of the Sovereign Prince, the House of Grimaldi and also because of their system of government. That first constitution did not last very long but the history of constitutional monarchy in Monaco started with that march on the palace on April 4, 1910 and the action taken by the scholarly “Sailor Prince” Albert I.

Anniversary of Albert I

It was on this day in 1889 that Albert I became Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Known as "the Scholar" and "the Sailor Prince", Albert I was the son of HSH Prince Charles III and after coming to the Monegasque throne laid the foundation for Monaco to become a center of scientific research and development in the emerging field of oceanography of which Albert I was an enthusiastic student. A veteran of the Spanish and French navies, Prince Albert became a pacifist later in life but was also very good friends with German Kaiser Wilhelm II. His contributions to science are numerous, particularly in the fields of botany and oceanography. He had many trials in his private life but, in many ways, for much of his life his first love was always the sea and he looked with great hope on the modern world and felt that the great scholars he associated with and the new advances in science and technology were about to bring in a new era of understanding and advancement to the world. As such he was always opposed to cruelty and discrimination wherever he found it. The Prince earned a number of enemies in France when he spoke up in defense of the unjustly accused Captain Alfred Dreyfus (a Jewish officer in the French army convicted of spying for Germany on fabricated evidence). In fact, it was through his friendship with the Kaiser that he learned who the real spy was and that Dreyfus was as innocent as he always claimed to be. Prince Albert was crushed when World War I broke out and his vision of the future seemed to go up in flames. Naturally attached to France, the son of a Belgian mother but a friend of the Kaiser he tried to arrange peace but no one would listen. When war came he opened the luxuries of Monaco up for wounded soldiers to recover in the sun and splendor of Monte Carlo. Honored by many nations, Prince Albert I was the first Monegasque prince to visit the United States and who married the first American Princess of Monaco. His life had its ups and downs but the reign of Prince Albert I started today in 1889.

First Monegasque in DC

Regular readers of Mad for Monaco will recall that HSH Prince Albert I was the first Grimaldi to visit the United States when he went on a bear hunt in Wyoming with the famous "Buffalo Bill" Cody. You may also recall that Albert I tried to arrange the trip through President Teddy Roosevelt, himself a noted hunter, but was brushed off by the former Rough Rider. Well, many years later after a World War and Prince Albert becoming famous around the world for his trailblazing work in the field of oceanography as well as his service in trying to ease the suffering of the Great War the Prince of Monaco was honored by the American executive in a special way. Albert I became the first Prince of Monaco to be received at the White House when U.S. President Warren G. Harding had the Monegasque sovereign over to decorate him with the National Geographic medal and a medal from the National Academy of Sciences. As an interesting side note, the current Monegasque monarch, HSH Prince Albert II, has long said that it was a National Geographic map showing the environment in peril that first sparked his interest in environmentalism and eventually led to his long-standing crusade against global warming. The next Prince of Monaco, after Albert I, to visit the White House was HSH Prince Rainier III who was received by President Dwight D. Eisenhower with his soon-to-be wife and consort Grace Kelly.

Princess Mary Victoria of Monaco

She was born Lady Maria Victoria Douglas-Hamilton on December 11, 1850 to the 11th Duke of Hamilton and Princess Marie Amelie of Baden. When the Grimaldis began looking for a suitably high-born wife for the heir to the throne, Hereditary Prince Albert, they were steered toward the young Lady Hamilton who was a third cousin of the French Emperor Napoleon III and first cousin to Queen Carola of Saxony, Queen Stephanie of Portugal, King Carol I of Romania

and Countess Marie of Flanders; mother of the future Belgian King Albert I. Princess Maria Caroline of Monaco, Albert's grandmother, was the driving force behind the "project" and she had earlier tried to arrange a marriage with Princess Mary of Cambridge but the formidable Queen Victoria was not about to let that happen. Emperor Napoleon III advised the Princess to lower her sights a tad and he helped arrange the match with Lady Hamilton. She and Prince Albert first met at one of the Emperor's parties in 1869.

The couple married soon after and within the year the 19-year-old Scottish Princess of Monaco had given birth to a son, named Louis, who would one day inherit the Monegasque throne. However, Princess Mary Victoria was not happy with her husband, she was not happy with Monaco and generally not happy about much. Even before she had given birth to Louis (July of 1870) she had announced in January that she was leaving Monaco and separating from Prince Albert and no one could persuade her otherwise. When she left she took young Louis with her and, a few years later, when Prince Albert tried to get the boy back it led to legal strife between the former couple. In 1878 the Princess began to seek an annulment from Rome. She claimed that her mother had forced her into the marriage.

Since the product of the union was to inherit the throne of Monaco the investigation into the validity of the marriage took on a special importance and the Pope appointed a special commission to handle the matter. The two sides squared off as the Princess argued that the marriage was invalid and should be dissolved while Prince Albert argued the contrary. Tongues wagged when the marriage was declared invalid and the Pope refused to confirm the ruling until it could be looked into further. The Pope ordered a new commission to retry the case and the next time Prince Albert was much more involved in trying to defend the validity of his marriage. However, the ultimate result was the same and the marriage was annulled on January 3, 1880 by the Church with the provision that Prince Louis remained legitimate and able to inherit the throne one day. HSH Prince Charles III declared the marriage dissolved in the civil law of Monaco on July 28.

That came none too soon as on June 2, 1880 the Lady Hamilton married her second husband, Count Tassilo Festetics von Tolna. They had four children and lived well enough until the former Princess of Monaco passed away on May 14, 1922 in Budapest, Hungary.

Albert I, Monaco and the Great War

August is a month to remember the horrific outbreak of World War I, the conflict that has been described as an act of mass-suicide by the western world. It is not, however, often thought of in connection with Monaco yet the principality, though neutral, was greatly affected by the Great War. The reigning monarch, HSH Prince Albert I, had become an avowed pacifist by 1914 and his background probably had alot to do with this and the Prince was deeply torn by the conflict. He was a veteran of the military having served in the French and Spanish navies and he knew what war was all about. France was the protecting power

of Monaco and there was no country to which Monaco was closer. Yet, there were also family ties with Germany. One of Prince Albert's many foreign decorations was the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia (the dominant state in the German Empire). His mother was from Belgium and the invasion of that country no doubt struck a cord with him.

Yet, to his credit, unlike other pacifists, Albert did not stop at words and took action to do what he could to try to avert war. He set up the International Institute of Peace in Monaco in the hope that countries would talk through their problems there rather than resorting to military force. He also spoke directly with German Kaiser Wilhelm II to try to dissuade him from taking military action against France but it was, obviously, to no avail. He tried to convince the Kaiser that such a conflict would be a disaster for all involved and indeed all of Europe and the world. Of course, after a certain point even the Kaiser proved powerless to stop the march to war. After the outbreak of World War I Prince Albert was neutral but not totally uninvolved and felt a great deal of sympathy for the people of Belgium and northern France who were suffering under German occupation. Again, he contacted Kaiser Wilhelm II directly to urge him to restrain his forces, particularly General Karl von Bulow, in their treatment of the conquered populace. As a result of his strong actions he was able to save two villages in Alsace from probable annihilation by the German forces. Prince Albert also provided humanitarian relief to the Allied soldiers in the form of hospitals and convalescent centers and his own son, Prince Louis, served in the French army during the war with great courage and heroism, eventually becoming a general.

Although not often remembered Prince Albert I of Monaco should be given credit for having more foresight than many other world leaders at the time and actively tried to prevent the First World War and to ease the suffering of those involved once that calamity erupted.

H.S.H. Prince Albert I

Today HSH Prince Albert I is often hailed for his adventurous expeditions to the polar regions, scientific and environmental interests, but he is, in fact, simply following the example of one of his predecessors on the Monegasque throne; HSH Prince Albert I. He brought attention to many of the same issues that Prince Albert II is addressing today. He was born Albert Honore Charles Grimaldi on November 13, 1848 in Paris, France to HSH Prince Charles III of Monaco and the Belgian Countess Antoinette de Merode-Westerloo. Throughout his life Albert was to display a fascination with the sea in both military and civilian life as well as an admirable intellectual curiosity. His first experience as a professional sailor was with the Royal Spanish Navy. As with the heir to any monarchy it was never too soon to think about marriage and family and Prince Albert had some powerful figures backing him up in that endeavor.

The main force plotting for a good match for Albert was his grandmother, Princess Maria Caroline Gilbert de Lemetz; wife of the late Prince Florestan I of Monaco. She set her sights fairly high and first hoped for a marriage between her grandson and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a cousin of HM Queen Victoria of Great Britain. When she met with no success on her own she enlisted the aid of Emperor Louis Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie of France. Perhaps being a bit more realistic the French Emperor assured Princess Caroline that Queen Victoria would never allow one of her cousins to marry a Grimaldi who would not have been considered of sufficiently high status for the British. The Grimaldis being Catholic did not help them in the eyes of Protestant Britain either. Instead, Napoleon pointed the Princess toward the sister of his friend the Duke of Hamilton; Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton. While not royalty she was well off, well connected, the daughter of a duke and third cousin to the French emperor. With little regard for the feelings of those involved Princess Caroline forged ahead in arranging the match; already hearing wedding bells for her grandson in her head.

Hereditary Prince Albert met his bride-to-be in August of 1869 at a ball hosted by the French Imperial Couple and by September 21 the two were married and by the next year the Princess had given birth to a son and heir; Louis Honore Charles Antoine Grimaldi. It was to be a pivotal year for Prince Albert as it was little more than a week after the birth of Louis that the Franco-Prussian War broke out and Prince Albert was quick to enlist in the French Imperial Navy where he served with distinction and was awarded the Legion of Honor. Of course, the years of 1870-1871 were disastrous for the French, witnessing their humiliating defeat, the fall of the Second Empire, revolution and the siege of Paris. Prince Albert I left with a lasting horror of war and found little comfort waiting for him at home. His teenage bride was dissatisfied with virtually everything around her. She detested Monaco and felt no great love for her husband either. Not long after Louis was born Princess Mary took her son and abandoned Monaco. A divorce quickly followed and on July 28, 1880 Reigning Prince Charles III ordered the marriage dissolved and an annulment was obtained from the Vatican with the special allowance that the legitimacy of Prince Louis would not be effected so that the succession would not be endangered and he could inherit the throne of Monaco in his turn.

Putting his military career behind him, Albert devoted more time to his longtime fascination with oceanography. This was the area in which he was to have the greatest influence on history as he was extremely gifted in the new field of study and personally developed several new techniques and instruments for measurement and exploration at sea. He studied hard and over time would make Monaco an international center for oceanography. He worked alongside numerous scholars, scientists and assorted leaders in the field and eventually founded the now famous Oceanographic Institute of Monaco with an aquarium, museum, library and research facilities in Paris. Prince Albert went on a number of exploration and study voyages and is credited with discovering the Princess Alice Bank at the Azores in 1896 (Princess Alice was the name of his ship on the voyage). Nor did he devote all of his intellectual curiosity to marine matters. While on land he spent a great deal of time studing the origins of humanity and he founded the "Institute for Human Paleontology" that sponsored a number of archeological expeditions. In 1909 all of his scholarly efforts were recognized by the international community when he was made a member of the prestigious British Academy of Science. By that time, Albert already had an additional new job.

Following the death of his father Charles III in Paris, Albert succeeded to the Monegasque throne on September 10, 1889. Later that year the new reigning Prince Albert foreshadowed the actions of a future Prince of Monaco when he married the American Marie Alice Heine, Dowager Duchess of Richelieu. A German-Jew from New Orleans, the daughter of a building contractor, Marie Heine had married the French Duc d'Richelieu but was widowed by the age of 21 with a young son Armand. The union was as much a success as the Prince's first marriage had been a failure. Princess Alice proved to be good for Albert and good for Monaco as well. With her background she was able to bring a new level of good business sense to the principality that her more scholarly husband found to be of great value. She went to work on the books and greatly strengthened the Monegasque economy which was much more volatile then than it is now. However, she was not entirely concerned with economics and after getting things sorted out on the business front was able to focus more on the traditional role of Monegasque consorts which was the cultural front and adding more style and sophistication to the tiny country. She was a patron of the opera, theater and the ballet which became quite famous under the direction of the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. This does not mean that Prince Albert I was a "hands-off" ruler by any means, but his wife was a strong right-arm in his duties.

This made it all the more surprising when this latest marriage did not work out either. People were shocked considering how good for the principality the match had been, however, as the public and royals alike are constantly reminded, marriages are about more than just practicality. In 1902 the princely couple separated but did not divorce and the two never had any children so there was, at least, no complications there. So what was the cause of the separation? As usual we have only gossip to rely on. It was rumored that Princess Alice had been having an affair with the composer Isidore de Lara. Supposedly this led Prince Albert to become so enraged that he slapped his wife in public at the opera one evening. Princess Alice was also rumored to be an exceptionally jealous woman after she banned the courtesan Caroline Otero, better known as "La Belle Otero" from Monaco in 1897 after being seen with her husband with whom she was rumored to be having an on-again-off-again affair with since 1893. If all the rumors can be believed it would seem that neither party was completely blameless in the failure of their marriage. Princess Alice's father tried to get a portion of her large dowry back but to no avail and after the breakup Alice moved to London where she led an active social life, supported many cultural, artistic and humanitarian causes and was famous for her stylish entertaining of numerous famous individuals from writers and painters to future Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Back in Monaco Prince Albert had many pressing concerns to occupy his time.

With political tensions growing in Europe between the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance Monaco faced an uncertain economic future. Prince Albert worked to counter this by encouraging more tourism and trying to improve the public face of his country. In 1911 he founded the Monte Carlo Rally to draw racing fans to Monaco who would, hopefully, spend some time and money in the casino while they were there. He also granted Monaco a constitution that same year but was careful to make sure it did not limit his monarchial authority and in any event it did not last long and was suspended with the outbreak of World War I. That disastrous event was a particularly painful turn of events for Prince Albert. He was a veteran of the French military but also had among his many foreign decorations the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia (the dominant state in the German Empire). However, his own taste of war and his life experiences had, by 1914, turned Prince Albert into an avowed pacifist. To his credit, unlike other pacifists, Albert did not stop at words and took action to do what he could to try to avert war. He set up the International Institute of Peace in Monaco in the hope that countries would talk through their problems there rather than resorting to military force. He also spoke directly with German Kaiser Wilhelm II to try to dissuade him from taking military action against France but it was, obviously, to no avail.

After the outbreak of World War I Prince Albert was neutral but not totally uninvolved and felt a great deal of sympathy for the people of Belgium and northern France who were suffering under German occupation. Again, he contacted Kaiser Wilhelm II directly to urge him to restrain his forces, particularly General Karl von Bulow, in their treatment of the conquered populace. As a result of his strong actions he was able to save two villages in Alsace from probable annihilation by the German forces. Prince Albert also provided humanitarian relief to the Allied soldiers in the form of hospitals and convalescent centers and his own son, Prince Louis, served in the French army during the war with great courage and heroism, eventually becoming a general. After the war the tourist-based economy of Monaco was in bad shape with little anyone could see to be done to help. With the world calming down the Reigning Prince was again recognized by the international community for his many contributions to the scientific and marine exploration fields. The American Academy of Science have him a medal for his life's work in 1920 and the following year the Explorer's Club made him an Honorary Member; their highest level of membership. Only one year after that, on June 26, 1922, Prince Albert I of Monaco passed away in Paris at which time he was succeeded by his son Prince Louis II. Despite the problems in his private life Prince Albert had been a very able monarch for Monaco. Thanks to him the country enjoyed a better reputation as a center for intellectual study and peaceful diplomacy as well as arts and culture rather than simply being known only as a gambling escape for the wealthy of Europe.