Everything about Princess Charlotte Duchess Of Valentinois totally explained
Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois, Countess of Polignac (Charlotte Louise Juliette de
Grimaldi, née Louvet) (
30 September 1898 –
15 November 1977), styled
HSH The Princess Charlotte, was the daughter of
Louis II, Prince of
Monaco, and the mother of Prince
Rainier III. From 1922 until 1944, she was the Hereditary Princess of Monaco, heiress to the throne.
Birth and adoption
Born Charlotte Louvet in
Constantine, Algeria, she was the illegitimate daughter of
Marie Juliette Louvet, a cabaret singer, and Prince
Louis II. On the death of Prince Louis II, theretofore without a legitimate heir, the throne of Monaco was due to pass to
Wilhelm, the German
Duke of Urach, Louis II's cousin, a son of Princess Florestine of Monaco; to forestall this event, on
15 May 1911 a law was passed recognizing Charlotte as Louis's daughter, and making her a member of the sovereign family. Though it was later held to be invalid under the 1882 statutes, an Ordinance of
30 October,
1918 allowed her to be adopted. Louis adopted Charlotte in Paris on
16 May,
1919, bestowing on her the surname Grimaldi and the title
Duchess of Valentinois; she was thus his
heir apparent as Hereditary Princess from 1922 until
30 May 1944 (see
below).
Legality of Adoption
A shadow of doubt exists over the legality of this adoption. The Monegasque Civil Code (Articles 240 and 243) required that the adopting party to be at least fifty and the adoptee twenty-one. The 1918 Ordinance changed the age limit to eighteen (Charlotte was twenty at the time) but not the other age limit and Louis was only 48.
Marriage
In
1920, Louis arranged Charlotte's marriage to Count
Pierre de Polignac of
Guidel,
Morbihan,
Brittany,
France who, by the Prince's ordinance, took the surname Grimaldi and became a Prince of Monaco. The couple had two children:
Their marriage was not, however, a happy one; they separated in
1930 when Charlotte left him to live with her Italian lover,
Del Masso. The couple were divorced in
1933.
Late life
On
30 May 1944, the day before her son's 21st birthday and in full agreement with her father, Charlotte ceded her rights to the throne to her son Rainier, subject to the stipulation that he didn't predecease her. From this date she was no longer Hereditary Princess of Monaco, though she retained the titles of Princess of Monaco and
Duchess of Valentinois.
Late in life she went to college, obtaining a degree in
social work. After her son assumed the throne, Princess Charlotte moved to live at Le Marchais, the Grimaldi estate outside of
Paris. Despite the objections of her children who feared for her safety, she turned the estate into a rehabilitation centre for ex-convicts. She lived at the estate with her lover, a noted French former jewel thief named
René Girier and nicknamed "René la Canne" (René the Cane).
In
1977, Princess Charlotte died in Paris, France.
Further Information
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