Hello Monaco #09 Spring–Summer 2020 | Page 121

DYNASTY
In 1662 Honoré II had died. The Duc de Valentinois succeeded his
grandfather as Prince of Monaco, Louis I. And it fell to Louis I to foster
the relationship at the Court of Versailles and above all create
strong relations with the Sun King, the Grand Monarch of France.
Wedding Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont in 1660 was to prove decisive
in courting the favour of Louis
XIV. She was the daughter of a
key personality in the King’s entourage,
Marshal of France Antoine de
Gramont who himself favoured the
union. Her mother was Marguerite
Duplessis de Chivré, a niece of Cardinal
Richelieu. Catherine herself was
larger than life and a beauty that had
caught the eye of a number of aristocrats
in Louis XIV’s circle, but especially
with the King himself. She was
exceptionally beautiful, an absolute
star in Versailles and her dalliances
with the King smoothed the way for
her husband, who was complicit in
her role as one of the King’s mistresses, which undoubtedly maintained
him in Louis Fourteenth’s good graces.
Not only that but in the seventeenth century, under the Sun King,
Versailles was the centre of the civilized world and Catherine-Charlotte
was at the pinnacle of etiquette and possessed the sophistication
necessary to be successful at this magical and arguably
the most glamorous Court in the world. Louis Grimaldi needed a
guide to steer his way through the nuances of etiquette. Regarded
as somewhat «provincial» due to his dress by the snobbery of the
King’s sycophants, Catherine-Charlotte played an important role in
maintaining his stature and access.
AT THE SERVICE OF THE FRENCH KING
Court machinations aside, Monaco was a key military ally of
France and Louis I acquitted himself with great credit in
France’s military campaigns including battling the English
in tandem with the Dutch at The Four Days’ Battle in 1666, one of
the longest naval battles in military history.
THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT PRINCE
HONORÉ II WOULD HAVE ADMIRED
HOW HIS GRANDSON LOUIS I HAD
FORGED STRONGLY AHEAD WITH
CEMENTING SUCH CLOSE RELATIONS
WITH FRANCE AND THE SUN KING.
France in Parliament on account of being Duke of Valentinois and
a Peer of France. Later, he was made a knight of the French royal
orders on 31 December 1688.
There was one goal however that for a time eluded Prince Louis
of Monaco — and that was the official designation in the Court of
France of the title «Prince Étranger»
reserved for a select few princes. No
doubt it was for the prestige but any
extra pillar signifying Monaco’s independence
as a Princely power in
its own right was strategically important.
FAMILY DIFFICULTIES
In 1662, when Louis became a
new Prince, his family returned
to Monaco. Princess Catherine-
Charlotte was bored there, she was
missing the brilliant life in Versailles.
Thankfully, from her perspective, after
four years’ time the Grimaldis had to return to Paris where Catherine-Charlotte
de Gramont sometimes played her role as mistress
at the Versailles Court a little too close for comfort. Favoured by
the King she was also wooed by other suitors, in particular by her
cousin the Duke of Lauzun, much to the King’s annoyance — and
sufficient to have the Duke sent to the famous Bastille prison for
six months. It also caused the King to discontinue pursuing Prince
Louis’ wife — and pause for years, due to his anger, from conferring
extra titles on Prince Louis. Catherine-Charlotte always enjoyed the
sophistication and grandeur of the Versailles Court over Monaco;
Louis I was less at ease there and it impacted their personal relationship
which deteriorated.
Monaco’s Princes had to have two key talents to thrive, military
prowess and diplomatic skill — and it was to Louis’ I diplomatic
skills that the Sun King would eventually turn for help in the most
strategic foreign policy and diplomatic initiative of the time for
France — positioning for the Spanish Succession. The Spanish Emperor
Charles II of the Habsburg dynasty was childless and Louis XIV
eyed bringing the Spanish Empire under French control by securing
the Spanish throne for his own Bourbon family. This so threatened
the balance of power in Europe that it would eventually lead to
the War of the Spanish Succession among European powers. Austria
and the British in particular feared the power of a union under
one monarch of France and Spain. Late on in Louis’ reign as Prince
of Monaco, the Sun King selected him for the much heralded high
profile prestigious and key role of negotiating with the Pope on
this «Succession» issue.
© journals.openedition.org
There is no doubt that Honoré II would have admired how his
grandson Louis I had forged strongly ahead with cementing such
close relations with France and the Sun King. It was all he could have
hoped for, and more, for Monaco’s strategic positioning in Europe.
On 5 July 1668 Louis I of Monaco took the oath to King Louis XIV of
Le Prince Honoré II (1597–1662), oil on canvas, 1651 by Philippe de
Champaigne. The Prince’s Palace of Monaco collection
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