On January 16, 1923, one hundred years ago, a press release was published on the front page of the Journal de Monaco: “HSH the Prince subsequently announced to His Excellency the Minister of State, the President of the National Council and the Mayor of Monaco, instructing them to be part of it to the population, that HSH the Hereditary Princess was expecting, for the month of next May, the birth of a child.”
Immediately, the Principality burst into demonstrations of joy.
The arrival of a child in the main family is always a significant event. But perhaps even more so a hundred years ago. We have indeed come to go through a period of uncertainty as to the succession of the Grimaldi family.
It had started after the First World War. At that time, 71-year-old Prince Albert I was worried that his 49-year-old son Louis II was still single.
The French fear of a German prince on the throne
France feared that one day the Monegasque throne would go to a German prince, which was unthinkable in the aftermath of the war. Or, it was possible. Indeed, for lack of an heir to Louis II, the first on the list of succession after Louis II was Guillaume d’Urach. This German prince was born in the Prince’s Palace of Monaco in 1864. His mother was Florestine of Monaco, daughter of Prince Florestan 1st (himself grandfather of Albert 1st). Florestine had married a German aristocrat, the Duke of Urach. The accession to power of Guillaume d’Urach was therefore legitimate.
We had to do something ! And, for starters, amending the successor law that dated back to John Iuh of Monaco, in 1454. A solution had arisen from the fact that Louis II, while being unmarried, had an illegitimate daughter. By allowing the latter to gain power, a French presence on the throne of Monaco would be ensured. Louis II had, in fact, a daughter out of wedlock. When he was a lieutenant in the 3rd African Chasseurs Regiment in 1898, he fell in love with a model who posed for art photos, Marie-Juliette Louvet. A girl was born on September 30, 1898 in Constantine, named Charlotte.
Charlotte saves the day
She was the one who was going to save the day. A legal path to the throne had to be opened up for him. The President of the French Republic, Raymond Poincaré, a former lawyer for the princely family of Monaco, became involved in the affair. He modified the Franco-Monegasque Treaty dating from 1861 which governed the protectorate relations between France and Monaco.
From now on, the succession to the throne of Monaco could “is carried out by way of adoption for the benefit of a direct heir of French nationality approved by the French government”. The document was secretly signed in Paris on July 17, 1918 between Stephen Pichon, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Count Balny d’Avricourt, representative of Prince Albert I. It was formalized at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
Ordinances succeeded Monaco on October 30 and 31, 1918 by Albert 1er. instituting the right of succession by so-called “solemn” adoption. Prince Albert I then agreed to the adoption by Louis II of his illegitimate daughter Charlotte. This adoption was described in Paris on May 16, 1919, in the presence of Raymond Poincaré.
Charlotte thus became Serene Highness of Monaco and Duchess of Valentinois, titles which will be confirmed by a sovereign ordinance of Monaco dated May 20, 1919.
In the order of succession to the throne, Charlotte became hereditary princess after Louis II.
Would the principality of Monaco be led one day by a woman? This had been the case only once in history, in the 18th century. century, with Louise-Hippolyte, daughter of Antoine 1st.
But in the male tradition of the Grimaldi princes of Monaco, a boy was expected. But for that, you first had to marry Princess Charlotte! She was 22 years old.
Pierre de Polignac marries Princess Charlotte
The lucky winner was Pierre de Polignac, 25, a member of a very old and noble French family. The wedding took place in Monaco, civilly on March 18, 1920 and religiously the next day. By principal ordinances of March 17 and 20, Pierre de Polignac was naturalized Monegasque under the name of Grimaldi and at the same time became Duke of Valentinois.
Pierre de Polignac was a friend of the arts, a regular at the salon designated by Proust provided by his cousin Princess Edmond de Polignac, a patron whose fortune came from his father, manufacturer of Singer sewing machines.
On December 28, 1920, the newlyweds had their first child: a daughter, Princess Antoinette.
The Monegasques were now expecting a boy. Did the new pregnancy announced on January 16, 1923 result in the birth of a male heir? We had to wait until May 31 to find out. That day the future Prince Rainier III was born. It was he who, on May 9, 1949, would take the reins of the Principality because, in the meantime, on May 30, 1944, on the eve of his majority, his mother Charlotte would definitively refuse power. The future of the Principality was assured.
Princess Charlotte’s milestone dates
– September 30, 1898 : born in Constantine (Algeria)
– July 18, 1911: Change of identity: becomes Charlotte Grimaldi of Monaco.
– March 18, 1920, married Count Pierre de Polignac in Monaco.
– March 20, 1930: Separates from her husband.
– 1939-1945: Assumes a role of nurse with the wounded of the Great War present in Monaco.
– Beyond 1945: Lives between Paris and the Grimaldi castle in Marchais in the Aisne. Become a prison visitor.
– 1956: Lives with René Girier, a former prisoner, who becomes his driver.
– April 19, 1956: Appeared for the last time in the Principality at the wedding of Rainier III and Grace Kelly