When Princess Gabriella of Monaco made her official royal debut, she recreated a historic photograph which included one of the Grimaldis’ most important – and often forgotten – family members.
Accompanied by her parents, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, along with twin brother Prince Jacques, 10-year-old Princess Gabriella was in Carladès, a region of France. The trip was part of a series of events organised to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Prince Albert’s reign.
“What could be better for them than a history lesson on the ground, in contact with the people who keep these places alive today,” said the Sovereign, explaining why his children were front and centre during the visit.
As per Grimaldi tradition, at birth, Princess Gabriella was named Countess of Carladès. The location represents one of the longest-standing historical ties between Monaco and France.
“The County of Carlades, annexed to Monaco since 1643 by a decision of King Louis XIII, was assigned to Prince Honoré II,” explained the family’s official Instagram account of the honour.
“Since then, the title has traditionally been worn by the second in the order of succession to the throne. This is how Princess Gabriella, from birth, received this symbolic title, while her twin brother, Prince James, became the Marquis of Baux.”
And it wasn’t the only nod to her ancestors that the young Princess made.
After Gabriella was given the keys to the former county’s largest city, Vic-sur-Cère, the Princely family travelled to the region of Aveyron. There, the quartet recreated a photograph once posed for by her paternal great-grandmother over 100 years earlier. Sitting on the same bench and under the same tree, this was a symbolic way of marking the importance of the rarely seen royal’s role in maintaining the dynasty’s continuity.
Princess Catherine, Duchess of Valentinois, was born in 1898 in Algeria. Her father, Louis Grimaldi, was serving in the French Army while her mother, Marie Juilette Louvet, was a laundress and aspiring cabaret. Despite the fact that Louis fell deeply in love, his father disapproved of the union, not only for her lack of nobility but because Marie already had two young children.
Louis was the only child of Albert I, Prince of Monaco and his wife Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton. However, when Lady Mary had the marriage annulled a year later, he was raised in Germany by his mother and stepfather. He wouldn’t meet his own father until he was 11, when he needed to be trained as a future heir to the Monaco throne. And when his father forbade his marriage to Marie, he furiously pledged never to marry at all.
And here’s where the problem began. Due to his lack of an official heir, the throne of Monaco would have no clear successor in the event of Prince Louis’ passing, instead going to a cousin in Germany. Should this happen, France in particular would be unhappy due to its acrimonious relationship with its German neighbours.
And so, in 1919, he officially adopted his illegitimate daughter Charlotte. As such, she became Charlotte Louis Juliette Grimaldi, Princess of Monaco and Duchess of Valentinois.
This process would lead to a change in legislature, which meant that illegitimate children of the Prince – even if they were female or adopted – could be eligible to ascend the throne.
When Prince Albert I passed away on June 26, 1922, Louis Grimaldi ascended to his throne as Louis II, Prince of Monaco.
By this time, Charlotte had a young family of her own. She’d married Count Pierre de Polignac from French Brittany. He would take on the family name of Grimaldi and was given the title of Duke of Valentinois. The pair had two children, Prince Rainier and Princess Antoinette.
Sadly, however, the marriage was an unhappy one. The duo would separate in 1930, their divorce being finalised three years later.
Despite her right to the throne, in May 1944, when her son, Prince Rainier, turned 21, Princess Charlotte abdicated in his favour. It is said she did so knowing that Monaco’s population would be unlikely to accept a leader who was not only born out of wedlock but who was a divorcee herself.
Prince Rainier III ascended the throne in 1949. By his side was his proud mother.
Quitting Monaco once her son ascended the throne, Princess Charlotte lived in the Grimaldi estate of Château de Marchais outside of Paris. Having attended university late in life to become a qualified social worker, she turned the property into a rehabilitation centre for ex-prisoners.
Amongst them was renowned jewel thief René Girier, who, despite not having a driver’s licence, became her personal driver, creating a scandal when he accompanied her to his son’s wedding to Grace Kelly.
“After all these years in the shade, I thought a little sun would do him good,” she supposedly explained to her son about why she’d brought a man currently on parole.
An advocate to the end, Princess Charlotte was awarded several medals by France for her work in reintegrating prisoners into society. She passed away at the age of 79 on November 16, 1977.
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