Little Prince Rainier

Yesterday's Tram Tuesday post, showing the scenic tramline between Nice and Monaco, made me want to post some more on Monaco. Here we have a card with the royal children of Monaco, Rainier and Antoinette, children of  Prince Pierre and Princess Charlotte. Unfortunately for Princess Antoinette (born in 1920),  her younger brother, born in 1923, would become the heir to the throne.

That's just the way it is. There's protocol, you know. Although I will say that the royal protocol in Monaco is particularly unusual.

Judge for yourself. Here's the condensed recent history of the Monaco's royal family starting with Prince Louis II:

1870 - Prince Louis is born to parents who don't like each other, Prince Albert I and Lady Hamilton. Shortly thereafter, Lady Hamilton leaves Monaco forever and raises Louis in Germany with her new husband.

1881 - Yikes, Louis is 11 and he's the only heir. He must return to Monaco and to the father he doesn't know to be trained for his royal duties.

About 1891 - Like his mother, Louis doesn't like it much in Monaco. He goes off to France to enroll in the St. Cyr Military Academy. After that, he opts to join the French Foreign Legion in Africa to avoid returning to Monaco.

1895 or so - Louis falls in love with a woman, Juliette Louvet, who is variously described as a washerwoman and a cabaret dancer. She is married to a 'girlie photographer' and already has two children.

1898 - Prince Louis and Juliette conceive a child.

1904 or thereabouts - Louis is informed that the Principality of Monaco will revert to a distant German relative if he does not produce an heir.  "Hmm", he says, "Well, I did have this illegitimate child with the washerwoman/cabaret dancer in Algeria, who was married to a girlie photographer and already had two children. There's my heir!"  (This is an approximate quote)

1919 - Charlotte, the daughter of his tryst with the washerwoman/cabaret dancer, is adopted by Louis, and declared Princess of Monaco.

1920 - Louis arranges the marriage of Charlotte with Count Pierre de Polignac of Guidel, who is by all accounts gay.  Pierre becomes Prince of Monaco. Somehow, they give birth to a daughter (Antoinette) the same year.

1923 - Charlotte and Pierre give birth to a son, Rainier.

1922 - Prince Albert I dies. Prince Louis takes over.

1944 - Princess Charlotte cedes her rights to her son, Rainier. 

1946 - The 75-year-old Prince Louis marries a French actress, divorced wife of some French actor. They leave Monaco for Paris.

1949 - Prince Louis dies. Prince Rainier becomes Sovereign Prince.

1949 - Rainier's mother, Princess Charlotte, is now free. She moves in with her lover, a noted French former jewel thief, and turns the family estate near Paris into a rehabilitation center for former convicts.

1940s/50s - Prince Rainier moves in with French film star, Gisele Pascal.

1940s - Prince Rainier's sister Antoinette has three children out of wedlock with a Spanish lawyer and international tennis champion.

1950s - Antoinette starts making sounds about her son becoming heir to the throne, since Rainier doesn't have any heirs.

1956 - Rainier takes the hint and marries American film star, Grace Kelly.

Allegedly, Rainier's sister, Princess Antoinette, was so unpopular and fixated on the hierarchy, that Princess Grace demanded she leave the country.

You're probably familiar with all of the more recent history of  Caroline, Albert, and Stephanie, so I'll stop here. And in case you think all this stuff is so unbelievable that I must have made it up, check the sources at the end of the post. In the meantime, here are some more views of Monaco.

Want to know more? Check out these links.
http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/genmonaco.html
http://www3.monaco.mc/monaco/700ans/hist.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F7091EF83C5A17738DDDAB0894DA405B888CF1D3
http://madmonaco.blogspot.com/2009/08/princess-mary-victoria-of-monaco.html
http://madmonaco.blogspot.com/2009/07/hsh-prince-louis-ii.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Charlotte,_Duchess_of_Valentinois
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Antoinette,_Baroness_of_Massy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/8409783/Princess-Antoinette-of-Monaco.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Polignac
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainier_III,_Prince_of_Monaco

Happy Birthday, Grace Kelly

What is it that gives Grace Kelly that enduring mystique and appeal? She seems to personify eternal beauty and natural poise, and inspires the same sort of devotion and fascination people also have for Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. Decades after her death, people still want to read about her and gaze at her picture.

Grace Kelly was born in Philadelphia on November 12, 1929.  Her career as an  actress spanned only six years, yet she won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award.  Grace  retired from acting at the age of 26 to assume her duties as Princess of Monaco, upon her marriage to Prince Rainier. She died tragically in a car crash on September 14th, 1982, at the age of 52.

Grace and Rainier had three children, Caroline, Albert, and Stephanie. Albert, the current ruler of Monaco, is engaged to Charlene Wittstock from South Africa, so perhaps we'll see another marriage commemoration cover in Monaco again soon.

Here are some pictures from the May 27, 1958 issue of Look magazine.  It was a large magazine, so unfortunately it doesn't fit nicely into my scanner.

Princess Grace and Prince Rainier

Both the postcard and the stamp on the front commemorate the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco. I knew that Grace Kelly was an American actress, born in Philadelphia, and that she and Prince Rainier seemed very much in love. I was surprised when I read recently that Prince Rainier wanted a substantial dowry to marry Grace. Doesn't it seem strange to have a commoner family paying a dowry to a royal family. Luckily, Grace's family was able to come up with the $2 million. 

Princess Grace and Prince Rainer had three lovely children: Caroline, Albert, and Stephanie. I admired the girls very much when I was growing up. Unfortunately, they led rather tumultuous lives, marrying race car drivers, body guards, and circus acrobats, and having various out-of-wedlock children. (Well, now that I write that down, it sounds sort of fun and adventurous!) In any case, growing up in the spotlight and losing their mother in the tragic car accident in 1982 probably made for a difficult life.

The card reads:

10-18-'58

Liebe Gisela,

Here we are enjoying ourselves and thinking of you all.

Regards,

Kurt and Lonny

Kindest Regards "Grace"