Category Archives: Current Monarchies

Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry Beaufort was an English prelate and statesman who was Bishop of Lincoln (1398 – 1404), Bishop of Winchester (1404 – 1447), a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (1426 – 1447), and Lord Chancellor of England three times (1403 – 1405, 1413 – 1417, and 1424 – 1426). Born circa 1375, Henry Beaufort was the second of the three sons and the second of the four children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress Katherine Swynford, whom he later married as his third wife in 1396. The surname of Henry and his three siblings is derived from the now-demolished Beaufort Castle, a property in Champagne, France that John of Gaunt had sold years before. John of Gaunt likely felt it was a safe name to give to his illegitimate children by Katherine Swynford.

All British monarchs since King Henry IV are descended from Henry’s father John of Gaunt. In fact, most European monarchies are descended from John. The Houses of Lancaster, York, and Tudor were all descended from John of Gaunt’s children:

During the Wars of the Roses, the battle for the English throne pitted the House of Lancaster and the House of York against each other.

Henry’s father John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry Beaufort’s paternal grandparents were King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England. His maternal grandmother is unknown but his maternal grandfather was Paon de Roet, a knight from the County of Hainault (now part of Belgium and France) who first came to England in 1328 when Philippa of Hainault married King Edward III of England.

Henry’s mother Katherine Swynford; Credit – http://kettlethorpechurch.co.uk/katherine-swynford/

Henry had three siblings:

Henry had three half-siblings from his mother’s first marriage to Sir Hugh Swynford (circa 1340 – 1371), a knight in service to John of Gaunt:

  • Blanche Swynford (1367 – circa 1374), died in childhood
  • Sir Thomas Swynford (1368 – 1432), married (1) Jane Crophill, had three children (2) Margaret Grey, no children
  • Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369), became a nun at Barking Abbey in 1377 with help from her future stepfather John of Gaunt, where she lived the religious life with her cousin Elizabeth Chaucer, daughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Katherine’s sister Philippa de Roet

King Henry IV of England, Henry’s half-brother from his father’s first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry had seven half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to the wealthy heiress Blanche of Lancaster:

The effigy of Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile, Henry’s half-sister from his father’s second marriage to Constance of Castile; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry had two half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Infanta Constance of Castile:

  • Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile (1372 – 1418), married King Enrique III of Castile and León, had three children. Through their son Juan II of Castile, Catherine and Enrique III are the grandparents of Isabella I, Queen of Castile and great-grandparents of Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), the first wife of King Henry VIII of England.
  • John of Lancaster (1374 – 1375), died in infancy

Henry and his siblings likely spent their early years at Kettlethorpe Hall in Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire, England, a property that had belonged to the first husband of Henry’s mother, Sir Hugh Swynford, who had died in 1371. Kettlethorpe was a small, quiet village, close to the city of Lincoln but 150 miles from London. It would have been a perfect place for John of Gaunt to carry on a discreet affair and have his illegitimate children raised as he had made a second marriage in 1371 and Katherine was a recent widow.

Two years after the death of his second wife Constance of Castile, John of Gaunt married his mistress Katherine Swynford, Henry Beaufort’s mother, on January 13, 1396, at Lincoln Cathedral in England. After the marriage of Katherine and John, their four children were legitimized by both John of Gaunt’s nephew King Richard II of England and Pope Boniface IX. After Henry Bolingbroke, John of Gaunt’s eldest son by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, deposed his first cousin King Richard II in 1399, and became King Henry IV, he inserted the Latin phrase excepta regali dignitate (except royal status) in the documents that had legitimized his Beaufort half-siblings and supposedly that phrase barred them from the throne. However, many disputed and still dispute the authority of a monarch to alter an existing parliamentary statute on his or her own authority, without the further approval of Parliament.

John of Gaunt treated his Beaufort children as cherished members of the family but he was careful that the provisions he made for them would not interfere with the Lancaster inheritance reserved for his legitimate children. Instead, he found other forms of income for them through marriages and for his second son Henry, through the church. Because of John of Gaunt’s cautions, his Beaufort children were held in great affection by their half-siblings.

Henry was destined from an early age to have a career in the Roman Catholic Church. At that time in the Church, there were benefices, ecclesiastical offices that bestowed an income on its holder. A prebend was a type of benefice connected with a cathedral or a collegiate church (a church administered by a chapter of canons). In January 1390, when Henry was about fifteen years old, he was given the wealthy prebend of Thame in the Diocese of Lincoln. In August 1390, Henry had been given the prebend of Riccall in the Diocese of York. The additional wealthy prebend of Sutton in the Diocese of Lincoln was given to Henry in January 1391.

It was not at all unusual for teenagers to be granted church offices at this time. The benefices would provide for Henry’s living expenses and his education. Beginning in the academic year of 1390 – 1391, Henry attended Queens College at the University of Oxford to study civil and canon law. After his year at Oxford, Henry was sent to Aachen, a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, to continue his studies in civil and canon law.

In 1397, Pope Boniface IX issued a papal bull making twenty-two-year-old Henry Beaufort the Dean of Wells Cathedral in Somerset, England, most likely at the request of Henry’s father John of Gaunt. It was at this time that John of Gaunt pressed Pope Boniface IX to legitimize his four children by his former mistress Katherine Swynford whom he had married in 1396. The pope was more than eager to grant the influential John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster his wish. In early April 1397, Henry was ordained as a deacon, and later that month, he was appointed Chancellor of Oxford University.

On February 27, 1398, in a move that astounded many, twenty-one-year-old Henry was named Bishop of Lincoln by his first cousin King Richard II of England who had received a papal bull from Pope Boniface IX instructing him to do so. Despite thirty being the required age for bishops, John of Gaunt had again pressed Pope Boniface IX, and again wishing to gain favor with John of Gaunt, the pope agreed. Henry resigned from the position of Chancellor of Oxford University and on July 14, 1398, he was consecrated as Bishop of Lincoln.

Henry Beaufort, while Bishop of Lincoln, fathered an illegitimate daughter with an unknown woman. Jane Beaufort and her husband Sir Edward Stradling were both named in Beaufort’s will. Sir Edward held several government positions over the years which he may have owed to the influence of his father-in-law.

  • Jane Beaufort (1402 – 1453), married Sir Edward Stradling, had one son and one daughter

In 1403, four years after his half-brother Henry Bolingbroke deposed their mutual first cousin King Richard II and became King Henry IV, Henry Beaufort was appointed Lord Chancellor of England for the first of three times. On November 14, 1404, he was appointed Bishop of Winchester. Henry Beaufort was a trusted advisor to his half-brother King Henry IV (reigned 1399 – 1413) and his nephew King Henry V (reigned 1413 – 1422). He played an important role in English history during the first half of the fifteenth century and became extremely wealthy and influential in the process.

King Henry V of England; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1421, King Henry V named Henry Beaufort the godfather of his only child, the future King Henry VI. On August 31, 1422, thirty-five-year-old King Henry V, a warrior king, the victor against the French at the Battle of Agincourt, determined to conquer France once and for all, succumbed to dysentery, a disease that killed more soldiers than battle, leaving a nine-month-old son to inherit his throne. The infant King Henry VI was entrusted to the care of his great uncles, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester and Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter.

King Henry VI’s accession – It is likely that Henry Beaufort is in this drawing; Credit – Wikipedia

During the minority of King Henry VI, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester was a leading figure on the regency council. In 1424, Beaufort was appointed Chancellor of England for the third and final time but was forced to resign in 1426 because of disputes with King Henry VI’s other uncles, in particular Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Pope Martin V appointed Beaufort as a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1426.

There is often confusion over Beaufort’s participation in the trial of Joan of Arc, who is famous for her role in the Siege of Orléans and the coronation of King Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years’ War against England. After successfully leading several French military actions, Joan of Arc was captured, handed over to the English, convicted as a heretic, and burnt at the stake in 1431. Twenty-five years later, her conviction was formally overturned, and she became a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1920. Although an 1825 painting by Paul Delaroche shows Henry Beaufort interrogating Joan of Arc, she was actually interrogated by Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, the judge in the trial of Joan of Arc, and there is no evidence that an encounter with Beaufort ever took place. The full record of the trial, which lists all those who took part in Joan of Arc’s trial on a daily basis, shows that Beaufort was not at the trial nor the execution. His only appearance was on May 26, 1431. On that day, afraid of what would happen to her in English hands, Joan relented and signed a document in which she admitted to her charges.

Tomb of Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester; Credit – By Scrivener-uki – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8755532

Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester died on April 11, 1447, aged 71 -72, at Wolvesey Castle, also known as the Old Bishop’s Palace, in Winchester, England. He was buried in the chantry he had founded at Winchester Cathedral. His tomb has an effigy of him wearing the red robes of a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a wide-brimmed hat.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Henry Beaufort – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Beaufort> [Accessed 30 June 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-beaufort-1st-earl-of-somerset/> [Accessed 30 June 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2017. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-of-gaunt-1st-duke-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 30 June 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/katherine-swynford-duchess-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 30 June 2022].
  • Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
  • Weir, Alison, 2009. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. New York: Ballantine Books.
  • Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Tomb effigy of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset; Credit – www.findagrave.com

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset is significant in the history of British and Scottish royal genealogy. The Tudor dynasty was directly descended from him as he was the great-grandfather of King Henry VII of England. Henry VII based his claim to the English throne on the descent of his mother (and John’s granddaughter) Lady Margaret Beaufort from John of Gaunt, a son of King Edward III of England. John Beaufort’s daughter Joan Beaufort married James I, King of Scots, and was an ancestor of the Scots House of Stuart and the English House of Stuart.

All British monarchs since King Henry IV and most European monarchs are descended from John of Gaunt. The Houses of Lancaster, York, and Tudor were all descended from John of Gaunt’s children:

During the Wars of the Roses, the battle for the English throne pitted the House of Lancaster and the House of York against each other.

John’s father John of Gaunt; Credit – Wikipedia

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset was the eldest of the three sons and the eldest of the four children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress Katherine Swynford, whom he later married in 1396. John was born circa 1373. The surname of John and his three siblings is derived from the now-demolished Beaufort Castle, a property in Champagne, France that John of Gaunt had sold years before. John of Gaunt likely felt it was a safe name to give to his illegitimate children by Katherine Swynford.

John’s mother Katherine Swynford; Credit – http://kettlethorpechurch.co.uk/katherine-swynford/

John Beaufort’s paternal grandparents were King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England. His maternal grandmother is unknown but his maternal grandfather was Paon de Roet, a knight from the County of Hainault (now part of Belgium and France) who first came to England in 1328 when Philippa of Hainault married King Edward III of England.

John had three younger siblings:

John had three half-siblings from his mother’s first marriage to Sir Hugh Swynford (circa 1340 – 1371), a knight in service to John of Gaunt:

  • Blanche Swynford (1367 – circa 1374), died in childhood
  • Sir Thomas Swynford (1368 – 1432), married (1) Jane Crophill, had three children (2) Margaret Grey, no children
  • Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369), became a nun at Barking Abbey in 1377 with help from her future stepfather John of Gaunt, where she lived the religious life with her cousin Elizabeth Chaucer, daughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Katherine’s sister Philippa de Roet

King Henry IV of England, John’s half-brother from his father’s first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster; Credit – Wikipedia

John had seven half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to the wealthy heiress Blanche of Lancaster:

The effigy of Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile, John’s half-sister from his father’s second marriage to Constance of Castile; Credit – Wikipedia

John had two half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Infanta Constance of Castile:

  • Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile (1372 – 1418), married King Enrique III of Castile and León, had three children. Through their son Juan II of Castile, Catherine and Enrique III are the grandparents of Isabella I, Queen of Castile and great-grandparents of Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), the first wife of King Henry VIII of England.
  • John of Lancaster (1374 – 1375), died in infancy

John and his siblings likely spent their early years at Kettlethorpe Hall in Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire, England, a property that had belonged to Sir Hugh Swynford, the first husband of John’s mother, who died in 1371. Kettlethorpe was a small, quiet village, close to the city of Lincoln but 150 miles from London. It would have been a perfect place for John of Gaunt to carry on a discreet affair and have his illegitimate children raised as he had made a second marriage in 1371 and Katherine was a recent widow.

John of Gaunt treated his Beaufort children as cherished members of the family, However, he was careful that the provisions he made for them would not interfere with the Lancaster inheritance reserved for his legitimate children. Instead, he found other forms of income for them through marriages and for his second son Henry, through the church. Because of John of Gaunt’s cautions, his Beaufort children were held in great affection by their half-siblings.

Two years after the death of his second wife Constance of Castile, John of Gaunt married his mistress Katherine Swynford, John Beaufort’s mother, on January 13, 1396, at Lincoln Cathedral in England. After the marriage of Katherine and John, their four children were legitimized by both John of Gaunt’s nephew King Richard II of England and Pope Boniface IX. After Henry Bolingbroke, John of Gaunt’s eldest son by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, deposed his first cousin King Richard II in 1399, and became King Henry IV, he inserted the phrase excepta regali dignitate (“except royal status”) in the documents that had legitimized his Beaufort half-siblings and supposedly that phrase barred them from the throne. However, many disputed and still dispute the authority of a monarch to alter an existing parliamentary statute on his or her own authority, without the further approval of Parliament.

Shortly after John Beaufort was legitimized, he was created Earl of Somerset. During the summer of 1397, he was one of the noblemen who helped King Richard II free himself from the power of the Lords Appellant. As a reward, John was created Marquess of Somerset and Marquess of Dorset and was made a Knight of the Garter.

Since John Beaufort was the first cousin of King Richard II and the half-brother of King Henry IV, he held several important appointments:

Effigy of Margaret Holland; Credit – www.geni.com

On September 27, 1397, John Beaufort married Margaret Holland (1385 – 1439), the niece of John’s first cousin King Richard II of England. Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Alice FitzAlan. Like her husband, Margaret was also descended from English royalty. Her father’s mother was Joan of Kent, 4th Countess of Kent, Princess of Wales, a granddaughter of King Edward I of England. Margaret descended from Joan’s first marriage with Thomas Holland 1st Earl of Kent. Joan’s second husband was Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince) who predeceased his father King Edward III of England. Joan and her second husband were the parents of King Richard II of England, the half-brother of Margaret Holland’s father Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent.

John Beaufort and Margaret Holland had six children:

After John’s first cousin King Richard II was deposed by John’s half-brother Henry Bolingbroke, in 1399, the new King Henry IV rescinded the titles that had been given to those nobles who had helped King Richard II free himself from the power of the Lords Appellant. John Beaufort lost his Marquess of Dorset title and was demoted from Marquess of Somerset back to Earl of Somerset. Despite this, John was loyal to his half-brother, serving in various military commands and on important diplomatic missions.

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset died on March 16, 1410, aged about thirty-seven, at the Royal Hospital of St. Katharine by the Tower, a medieval church and hospital next to the Tower of London. He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England near the tomb of his uncle Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), and the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, a final resting place probably chosen by his half-brother King Henry IV who was buried there himself in 1413.

Tomb of John Beaufort 1st Earl of Somerset, Margaret Holland, and Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence; Credit – https://thehistoryjar.com/tag/john-beaufort/

After his death, John Beaufort’s wife Margaret Holland married his nephew Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (1387 – 1421), the son of King Henry IV, but they had no children. Margaret’s second husband died, aged thirty-three, on March 22, 1421, at the Battle of Baugé during the Hundred Years’ War in Anjou, France. Margaret survived both her husbands, dying on December 30, 1439, aged fifty-four, at St. Saviour’s Abbey, Bermondsey, in London, England. Margaret and both her husbands are buried together in a carved alabaster tomb in St. Michael’s Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England. Atop the tomb is an effigy with Margaret lying between her two husbands.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Beaufort,_1st_Earl_of_Somerset> [Accessed 29 June 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Margaret Holland, Duchess of Clarence – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Holland,_Duchess_of_Clarence> [Accessed 29 June 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2017. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-of-gaunt-1st-duke-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 29 June 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/katherine-swynford-duchess-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 29 June 2022].
  • Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
  • Weir, Alison, 2009. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. New York: Ballantine Books.
  • Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Katherine Swynford was the long-time mistress and the third wife of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the fourth but the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. The descendants of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt are significant in English and Scottish history. The Tudor dynasty was directly descended from their eldest son John Beaufort, great-grandfather of King Henry VII of England, the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Katherine and John are the great grandparents of King Edward IV and King Richard III from the House of York. Their granddaughter Joan Beaufort married James I, King of Scots, and was an ancestor of the Scots House of Stuart and the English House of Stuart.

Born Katherine de Roet in circa 1350, probably in the County of Hainault, now part of Belgium and France, she was the daughter of Paon de Roet, a knight from Hainault who first came to England in 1328 when Philippa of Hainault married King Edward III of England. Katherine’s mother is unknown. Katherine’s father Paon de Roet remained in the service of Queen Philippa in England. He took part in the Hundred Years’ War, including at the Battle of Crécy and the Siege of Calais. In 1349, Paon de Roet returned to Hainault, where he served Margaret II, Countess of Hainault, Queen Philippa’s sister. In 1351, Paon de Roet accompanied Margaret II, Countess of Hainault, when she was forced to flee to England due to a civil war with her son. Paon de Roet returned to the County of Hainault in March 1352 but shortly thereafter, all mention of him disappears.

Katherine had three known siblings:

Coronation of Queen Philippa who played a major role in Katherine’s life; Credit – Wikipedia

From 1352, Katherine and her sister Philippa were raised in the household of Queen Philippa, wife of King Edward III of England. This would suggest that their mother was dead. Being raised in the household of the Queen of England, Katherine would have known all the members of the royal family including her future lover and husband John of Gaunt and would have been well versed in court etiquette and protocol. Queen Philippa would have ensured that Katherine received a good education.

Around 1360, Queen Philippa placed Katherine in the household of her daughter-in-law Blanche of Lancaster who was married to John of Gaunt. Blanche gave birth to seven children between 1360 and 1368, and Katherine assisted with their care. Around 1366, a marriage was arranged for Katherine by John of Gaunt at the request of his wife Blanche of Lancaster. Katherine married Sir Hugh Swynford (circa 1340 – 1371), a knight in service to John of Gaunt.

Katherine and Hugh had three children:

  • Blanche Swynford (1367 – circa 1374), named for Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, died in childhood
  • Sir Thomas Swynford (1368 – 1432), married (1) Jane Crophill, had three children (2) Margaret Grey, no children
  • Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369), became a nun at Barking Abbey in 1377 with help from her future stepfather John of Gaunt, where she lived the religious life with her cousin Elizabeth Chaucer, daughter of Geoffrey Chaucer and Katherine’s sister Philippa de Roet

On September 12, 1368, John of Gaunt’s wife Blanche of Lancaster died at age 23, possibly of the plague or possibly from childbirth complications, while John was away at sea. John married again on September 21, 1371, to Infanta Constance of Castile, the daughter of Pedro I, King of Castile and León. John and Constance had two children, a son who died in infancy and a daughter Catherine of Lancaster who married King Enrique III of Castile and León. Through his daughter Catherine, John of Gaunt is the great-grandfather of Isabella I, Queen of Castile and the great-great-grandfather of Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. John of Gaunt is the ancestor of all subsequent monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile and a united Kingdom of Spain.

Three years after the death of Blanche of Lancaster, Katherine also lost her spouse. In 1370, Hugh Swynford went on a military campaign with John of Gaunt to Aquitaine in present-day France. When John of Gaunt returned to England in the fall of 1371, Hugh did not accompany him due to illness. He died in Aquitaine on November 13, 1371. His widow Katherine was given the management of Hugh’s estates in Coleby and Kettlethorpe in Lincolnshire, England.

After the death of her husband, Katherine became a member of the household of John of Gaunt’s second wife Constance of Castile. It is uncertain exactly when Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt became lovers. However, the affair certainly had started by late 1372 as Katherine and John’s eldest child was born no later than 1373.

Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt had had three sons and one daughter. Their children’s surname is derived from the name of the now-demolished Beaufort Castle, a property in Champagne, France that John of Gaunt had sold years before. John of Gaunt likely felt it was a safe name to give to his illegitimate children by Katherine Swynford.

John of Gaunt, painting circa 1593, probably modeled after John of Gaunt’s tomb effigy; Credit – Wikipedia

John gave Katherine several estates and a generous allowance. In 1381, John was forced to break off his relationship with Katherine out of political necessity. The 1371 marriage of John to his second wife Constance of Castile, a claimant to the throne of Castile, had been a calculated plan for England to gain control of the Kingdom of Castile, and John’s relationship with Katherine while being married to Constance was not helping in the plan to gain control of Castile. Constance of Castile died on March 24, 1394, and the English never gained control of the Kingdom of Castile.

Katherine’s coat of arms as Duchess of Lancaster, after her marriage to John of Gaunt: three gold Catherine wheels on a red field. The wheel emblem shows Katherine’s devotion to her patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel. Credit – By Sodacan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27269786

In the early 1390s, even before the death of his wife Constance, John of Gaunt resumed his affair with Katherine. Two years after the death of his second wife Constance of Castile, John married Katherine on January 13, 1396, at Lincoln Cathedral in England. After the marriage of Katherine and John, their four children were legitimized by both John’s nephew King Richard II of England and Pope Boniface IX. After Henry Bolingbroke, John’s eldest son by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, deposed his first cousin King Richard II in 1399, the new King Henry IV inserted the phrase excepta regali dignitate (“except royal status”) in the documents that had legitimized his Beaufort half-siblings and supposedly that phrase barred them from the throne. However, many disputed and still dispute the authority of a monarch to alter an existing parliamentary statute on his or her own authority, without the further approval of Parliament.

Tomb effigy of the eldest son of Katherine and John of Gaunt, John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset; Credit – www.findagrave.com

The descendants of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt are significant in English and Scottish history. The Tudor dynasty was directly descended from their eldest son John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, great-grandfather of King Henry VII of England. Henry VII based his claim to the English throne on the descent of his mother Lady Margaret Beaufort from John of Gaunt, a son of King Edward III. John Beaufort’s daughter Joan Beaufort married James I, King of Scots, and was an ancestor of the Scots House of Stuart and the English House of Stuart.

Katherine and John of Gaunt’s only daughter Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland, the wife of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland; Credit – Wikipedia

Katherine and John’s only daughter, another Joan Beaufort, was the maternal grandmother of two English kings from the House of York, the brothers King Edward IV and King Richard III. Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, becoming by conquest King Henry VII of England. Henry VII’s claim to the English throne was strengthened by marrying Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of King Edward IV and the great-granddaughter of Joan Beaufort, Katherine and John’s daughter.

Tomb of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster in Lincoln Cathedral; Credit – www.findagrave.com

John of Gaunt died on February 3, 1399, at Leicester Castle in England at the age of 58. Even though he had married two more times, John was buried with his first wife Blanche of Lancaster at Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Unfortunately, the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed Old St. Paul’s Cathedral and the magnificent tomb of Blanche and John. Katherine Swynford, John’s widow, survived him by four years, dying in Lincoln, England, on May 10, 1403, at about the age of 53. She was buried at Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, England.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Katherine Swynford – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Swynford> [Accessed 26 June 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2017. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-of-gaunt-1st-duke-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 26 June 2022].
  • Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Суинфорд, Екатерина — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%83%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B4,_%D0%95%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0> [Accessed 26 June 2022].
  • Weir, Alison, 2009. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. New York: Ballantine Books.
  • Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Isabella’s first of three husbands, King John of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester was the first wife of King John of England. Born circa 1173/1174, Isabella was the youngest of the four children and the second of the two daughters of William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and Hawise de Beaumont of Leicester. Isabella’s paternal grandparents were Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester. Her maternal grandparents were Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester and Amica de Gael.

Isabella had three elder siblings:

In 1176, King Henry II of England betrothed his youngest son John to Isabella of Gloucester. As Isabella was only three and John was only nine, the marriage had to be delayed. Isabella’s father William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was a first cousin of King Henry II as his father was the illegitimate son of King Henry I, Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester and King Henry II’s mother Empress Matilda was the legitimate daughter of King Henry I. Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was Matilda’s chief military support during the long civil war called The Anarchy with their cousin Stephen of Blois (King Stephen of England) for the English throne. Isabella stood to inherit part of her father’s estate along with her two elder sisters because their only brother had died. However, King Henry II disinherited Isabella’s elder sisters so that Isabella would become Countess of Gloucester in her own right and John would eventually receive the whole Gloucester estate. In 1183, when her father died, Isabella became the Countess of Gloucester in her own right.

John’s father King Henry II died on July 6, 1189, and John’s elder brother succeeded their father as King Richard I of England. On August 29, 1189, John and Isabella of Gloucester were married at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, England and John assumed the Earldom of Gloucester in the right of his wife. Isabella and John were second cousins as they were both great-grandchildren of King Henry I of England. For that reason, Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury declared the marriage null by reason of consanguinity. Roman Catholic Canon Law prohibited marriage between a couple who were within four degrees of consanguinity. As second cousins, Isabella and John were within three degrees. An appeal was made to Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury was overruled by Pope Clement III.

On April 6, 1199, John’s childless brother King Richard I died of gangrene from an arrow wound, and John became King of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 27, 1199. John’s next order of business was to have his marriage to Isabella annulled. Isabella and John were ill-matched and the marriage had produced no children. Isabella had not been acknowledged as queen and the marriage was easily annulled using the grounds of consanguinity. John kept Isabella’s lands and Isabella did not contest the annulment. After the annulment, John granted the title of Earl of Gloucester to Isabella’s nephew Amaury IV, Count of Évreux. When Amaury died without children in 1213, Isabella once again became Countess of Gloucester in her own right and held the title until she died in 1217. In 1200, John married Isabella of Angoulême, the only child of Aymer III, Count of Angoulême, and therefore destined to be Duchess of Angoulême in her own right. John and Isabella of Angoulême had five children including John’s successor King Henry III.

Isabella’s third husband Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella married two more times. On January 20, 1214, she married Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex. King John charged Geoffrey 20,000 marks to buy her in marriage and to obtain her title, jure uxoris, a Latin term that means “by right of his wife” and so Geoffrey was the 4th Earl of Gloucester. The marriage resulted in no children and Geoffrey died in 1216 in a tournament. In September 1217, Isabella married Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent. However, the next month, on October 14, 1217, Isabella died at age 43 and was buried at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England. Isabella’s nephew Gilbert de Clare, the son of her sister Amice and Richard de Clare, became the 5th Earl of Gloucester.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_FitzGeoffrey_de_Mandeville,_2nd_Earl_of_Essex> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Isabella, Countess of Gloucester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella,_Countess_of_Gloucester> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_FitzRobert,_2nd_Earl_of_Gloucester> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • Unofficial Royalty. 2016. King John of England. [online] Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-john-of-england/> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Antoinette de Merode, Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Antoinette de Mérode, Princess of Monaco; Credit – https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/

Antoinette Ghislaine de Merode, the wife of Charles III, Prince of Monaco, was born on September 28, 1828, in Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and after 1831 in the Kingdom of Belgium. She was the sixth of the seven children and the fourth of the five daughters of Werner Jean-Baptiste Merode, Count of Merode (1797 – 1840), a Belgian politician from a Belgian noble family, and Countess Victoire de Spangen Uyternesse (1799-1845).

Antoinette had six siblings:

Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

On September 26, 1846, her 18th birthday, in Brussels, Belgium, Antoinette married the 27-year-old future Charles III, Prince of Monaco, then the Hereditary Prince of Monaco and Marquis of Baux. Charles was the son of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, and Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz. It was a double wedding, as Antoinette’s elder sister Louise married Carlo Emmanuele dal Pozzo, 5th Prince of Cisterna at the same time.

Late 19th-century drawing of the Château de Marchais; Credit – Wikipedia

Although they sometimes were in Monaco, Charles and Antoinette preferred to live in France, where Antoinette had acquired the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France. The Château de Marchais still belongs to the Princely Family of Monaco.

Charles and Antoinette had one child:

Antoinette’s mother-in-law Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Antoinette’s mother-in-law Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco showed her the ropes of French society and soon Antoinette was well known in the Parisian society of the Second Empire, ruled by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Napoléon III, Emperor of the French. In 1855, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited France, Antoinette and Charles attended the magnificent ball in their honor at the Palace of Versailles. Antoinette was so affected by this that she decided her son Albert, who was only seven years old, would marry into the British royal family. This did not happen but Albert’s first wife was the daughter of the British William  Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton.

Florestan, Prince of Monaco died on June 20, 1856, and was succeeded by his 38-year-old son as Charles III, Prince of Monaco. Antoinette was now Princess of Monaco. During his early reign, Charles began to lose his eyesight. He depended greatly on his wife Antoinette as his condition continued to worsen.

However, in 1862, Antoinette was diagnosed with cancer, and the advice and assistance of Charles’ mother Maria Carolina became vital. Even though Antoinette was very ill, she was more concerned about her husband and mother-in-law. She insisted to her husband that his 70-year-old mother must not take on too much work. In the last stages of her illness, Antoinette had been moved to the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France in the belief that the country air might help her. However, she soon asked to return to Monaco where she would be near her husband, her son, and her mother-in-law. Antoinette traveled from France to Monaco in a coach accompanied by a doctor and two maids. Three months later, on February 10, 1864, 35-year-old Antoinette died.

Antoinette’s grave; Credit – Credit – www.findagrave.com

Antoinette was buried in the crypt of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Monaco. Later in Charles III’s reign, construction began on a new and larger church, the Cathedral of Monaco, built on the site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 but the current cathedral was built over the areas of the previous church and the old burial site so that the sovereign princes and consorts originally buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas are now buried in the Cathedral of Monaco.

Charles never remarried. Because of his blindness, he was a recluse for the last decade of his life. He survived his wife Antoinette by twenty-five years, dying at the age of 71 from pneumonia on September 10, 1889, during a visit to the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France, with his sister Princess Florestine at his bedside. He was interred in the crypt of the Cathedral of Monaco, still not yet completed.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Mérode – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_M%C3%A9rode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, S., 2022. Charles III, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-iii-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/florestan-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-caroline-gibert-de-lametz-princess-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Merode — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_Merode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Werner de Merode (1797-1840) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_de_Merode_(1797-1840)> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
  • geni_family_tree. 2022. Antoinette Ghislaine Comtesse de Mérode-Westerloo. [online] Available at: <https://www.geni.com/people/Antoinette-de-M%C3%A9rode-Westerloo/5294493014970050473> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
  • Nl.wikipedia.org. 2022. Werner de Merode – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_de_Merode> [Accessed 7 May 2022].

Infante Alfonso of Spain

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Infante Alfonso of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

Fourteen-year-old Infante Alfonso was killed by a gun on March 29, 1956, while in a bedroom with his elder brother, the future King Juan Carlos I of Spain. What happened in that bedroom, who pulled the trigger, and whether or not it was an accident are still unclear.

Alfonso Cristino Teresa Ángelo Francisco de Asís y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón Dos-Sicilias was born on October 3, 1941, in Rome, Italy, where his family had settled after the Spanish monarchy was overthrown in 1931 and Spain became a Republic. He was the youngest of the four children and the second of the two sons of Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona and Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Alfonso’s paternal grandparents were King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. His maternal grandparents were Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his second wife Princess Louise of Orléans.

Alfonso had three elder siblings:

Juan Carlos, Juan, Count of Barcelona, and Alfonso in 1950; Credit – Von Paco Marí – This image belongs to the Marín Collection and was provided to GureGipuzkoa by Hauxe Quelle: Kutxa Fototeka (Kutxa Photograph Library). The image has been delivered under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license and can be found here. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56196709

In the summer of 1942, the family moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where Alfonso’s paternal grandmother, Queen Victoria Eugenei, lived in exile. Four years later, the family moved to Estoril, Portugal, where a permanent family home was established. In 1950, Alfonso and his brother Juan Carlos were sent to study in San Sebastián, Spain where a private school had been established at the Miramar Palace. In 1956, Alfonso continued his high school studies, while his brother Juan Carlos began military training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain.

In March 1956, 14-year-old Alfonso and 18-year-old Juan Carlos traveled to Portugal to spend the Easter holidays in Estoril with their parents and two sisters. On March 29, 1956, Holy Thursday, the entire family attended Mass in the morning. In the afternoon, Alfonso participated in a local junior golf tournament. The whole family attended evening Mass at 6:00 PM. After returning home, Alfonso and Juan Carlos went upstairs to their bedroom. Around 8:30 PM, Alfonso was shot with a .22 caliber revolver. When the boys’ father went upstairs, he found his youngest son had been shot in the head and was lying in a pool of blood. Despite his father’s efforts to revive him, Alfonso died in his father’s arms.

The Spanish Embassy in Portugal issued an official press release:

While His Highness the Infante Alfonso was cleaning a revolver last evening with his brother, a shot was fired hitting his forehead and killing him in a few minutes. The accident took place at 20.30 hours, after the Infante’s return from the Maundy Thursday religious service, during which he had received Holy Communion.

Which of the two brothers pulled the trigger may never be publicly known, but at that time, Juan Carlos was said to have admitted to family and friends that he felt responsible. As a military cadet, he would have been aware of the danger of loaded guns. Alfonso also would have been aware of the danger because he participated in hunting. It seems certain that both boys would have been repeatedly told not to clean loaded guns. Even the origin of the gun is in doubt. According to one story, the gun was given to Alfonso by Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain. According to another story, Juan Carlos received the gun as a gift from Francisco Moreno y Zuleta, Count de los Andes while he was studying at the military academy. The boys’ mother said that Juan Carlos and Alfonso brought a small pistol back from Spain, but they never told her who gave it to them. Afterward, the boys’ father, Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona, threw the gun into the ocean.

Tomb of Infante Alfonso; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Alfonso’s funeral, conducted by Monsignor Fernando Cento, the Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, was held on March 31, 1956, Holy Saturday. He was buried at the municipal cemetery in Cascais, Portugal. Alfonso remained buried in Portugal for thirty-six years until, at the request of his father, his remains were transferred to Spain, during the reign of his brother King Juan Carlos I. On October 15, 1992, six months before the death of his father Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, Alfonso was interred in the Pantheon of Infantes at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, in a strictly private ceremony attended by Alfonso’s brother King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Alfonso’s father and mother, his two sisters, and a small group of close relatives.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Infante Alfonso of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Alfonso_of_Spain> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Alfonso de Borbón (1941-1956) – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_de_Borb%C3%B3n_(1941-1956)> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Independent. 1992. Juan Carlos lays to rest a haunting Spanish tragedy. [online] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/juan-carlos-lays-to-rest-a-haunting-spanish-tragedy-1557621.html?fbclid=IwAR3AEUoXNkeovi2ZpBIYqEgFaQjmrR6il56JZj_9zyEvokMarAEhU6HgR1o> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1956. Don Juan’s Son Is Killed In Spanish Gun Accident. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/03/30/94288384.html?pageNumber=3> [Accessed 24 June 2022].

Charles III, Prince of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Honoré Grimaldi was born on December 8, 1818, in Paris, France. During his reign as Charles III, Prince of Monaco, the famous Casino de Monte-Carlo was established and the construction of the Cathedral of Monaco began. He was the only son and the eldest of the two children of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, and Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz. Charles’ paternal grandparents were Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco and Louise d’Aumont, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye in her own right. His maternal grandparents were Marie Francoise Henriette le Gras de Vaubercy (1766 – 1845) and the second of her three husbands Charles-Thomas Gibert (1765 – ?).


Charles’ parents Florestan, Prince of Monaco and Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles had one younger sister:

Charles was raised in France. In 1641, during the reign of Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, Monaco had become a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families. In January 1793, during the French Revolution, Honoré III, Prince of Monaco, Charles’ great-grandfather, was deposed and the Principality of Monaco was annexed by France.

After the defeat of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French in 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration which saw Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the beheaded King Louis XVI, become King of France, Florestan’s uncle Prince Joseph of Monaco petitioned King Louis XVIII to restore the Principality of Monaco to the Grimaldi family. Florestan’s father Honoré IV finally became Sovereign Prince of Monaco in 1814. The independence of Monaco lasted for only one year. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, an international diplomatic conference that reconstituted the European political order after the downfall of Napoleon I, declared that Monaco would be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia, now part of Italy.

In 1841, when Charles’ father Florestan became Prince of Monaco upon the death of his unmarried brother Honoré V, neither 56-year-old Florestan nor his son 23-year-old son and heir Charles had ever been to Monaco. Florestan was ill-prepared to assume the role of Sovereign Prince. During his reign, the real power lay in the hands of his intelligent and capable wife Maria Caroline.

By 1842, Charles was disturbed by his mother’s takeover of Monaco but realized his father was content with the situation and would not intervene. Charles wrote a stern letter to his mother criticizing her actions and threatening to request the Kingdom of Sardinia (Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia) to force his father Florestan to abdicate in his favor. Maria Carolina replied with a scathing letter. Charles did make a request to Sardinia that was squelched by his mother. Charles and his mother Maria Carolina came to an understanding. For the rest of Florestan’s reign, Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

Antoinette de Mérode, Princess of Monaco; Credit – https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/

On September 28, 1846, in Brussels, Belgium, Charles married 18-year-old Countess Antoinette de Mérode, the daughter of Count Werner de Mérode, a Belgian politician, and Countess Victoire de Spangen Uyternesse. Although they sometimes were in Monaco, Charles and Antoinette preferred to live in France, where Antoinette had acquired the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France. The Château de Marchais still belongs to the Princely Family of Monaco.

Charles and Antoinette had one child:

Charles III, Prince of Monaco by François-Auguste Biard, 1869; Credit – Wikipedia

After a reign of nearly fifteen years, Florestan, Prince of Monaco died, aged 70, on June 20, 1856. He was succeeded by his 38-year-old son as Charles III, Prince of Monaco. At the time of Florestan’s death, Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia with little prospect of financial security. Despite Charles’ issues with his mother Maria Caroline, she had prepared him to reign as the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Charles had the benefit of his mother’s advice for most of his reign as she was alive for twenty-three years of his thirty-three-year long reign.

The land in orange shows the part of Monaco that was annexed to France, leaving Monaco with a sliver of land less than one square mile on the Mediterranean Sea.; Credit – By Notscott – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4375559

During Charles’ early reign, the towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which made up nearly the entirety of Monaco’s territory, had become tired of heavy taxation. Menton and Roquebrune declared their independence, hoping for annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, but France protested. The unrest continued until Charles gave up his claim to Menton and Roquebrune which were formally ceded to France in exchange for 4 million francs. In 1860, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the French Empire under Napoleon III, Emperor of the French concluded the Treaty of Turin. Under the treaty, the Sardinian army pulled out of Monaco and Monaco became a French protectorate once again. This lasted for only one year. The Franco-Monégasque Treaty of 1861 recognized the independence of Monaco.

Casino de Monte-Carlo before 1878; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite receiving 4 million francs for the annexation of Menton and Roquebrune, the loss of revenues from Menton and Roquebrune greatly affected Monaco’s financial situation. It should not be surprising that to solve Monaco’s financial issues, the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco and developing Monaco into a seaside resort was Maria Caroline’s idea. She recalled visiting Hesse-Homburg, a small sovereign landgraviate in central Germany that was prosperous because of a gambling casino. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, named after Charles III as Carlo is the Italian for Charles (Monte-Carlo = Mount Charles in English), opened in 1865, nine years after the death of Florestan, and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Fearing that the citizens of Monaco would squander their money on gambling, Maria Carolina had the idea to ban all citizens of Monaco from gambling at the casino. That rule is still in effect. At the time of the building of the casino, Monaco’s population was approximately 1,000. Within three years, thousands of people from England and other European countries had built homes in Monaco.

During his early reign, Charles began to lose his eyesight. He depended greatly on his wife Antoinette as his condition continued to worsen. However, in 1862, Antoinette was diagnosed with cancer, and the advice and assistance of Charles’ mother Maria Carolina became vital. Antoinette, aged 35, died on February 10, 1864. Charles never remarried. In 1869, upon the death of her husband, Charles’ sister Florestine came to Monaco to help care for her brother.

The Cathedral of Monaco; Credit – By User:Berthold Wernerld Werner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15613011

Besides the Casino de Monte-Carlo, a new cathedral was another important contribution Charles made to Monaco. He decided to build a new and larger church on the original site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 and the first stone of the new church was laid in 1875. The new Cathedral of Monaco, completed after Charles III’s death, was dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception with Saint Nicholas of Myra and Saint Benoît (Saint Benedict of Nursia) as secondary patron saints. Sometimes the cathedral is called St. Nicholas Cathedral after the original church.

Despite dealing with the effects of aging, Maria Caroline remained sharp-minded and capable and was a constant force in the life of her son Charles. Maria Caroline survived her husband Florestan, Prince of Monaco by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 86, on November 25, 1879. She was interred at the new larger church that was still under construction, the Cathedral of Monaco, that her son Charles III was building.

Grave of Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – www.findagrave.com

By the end of his life, Charles was richer than he ever dreamed but he was also ill and lonely. Because of his blindness, he had been a recluse for the last decade of his life. Charles III, Prince of Monaco, aged 71, died from pneumonia on September 10, 1889, during a visit to the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France, with his sister Princess Florestine at his bedside. He was interred in the crypt of the Cathedral of Monaco, still not yet completed.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Mérode – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_M%C3%A9rode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III, Prince of Monaco – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III,_Prince_of_Monaco> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/florestan-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-caroline-gibert-de-lametz-princess-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Merode — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_Merode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III (prince de Monaco) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III_(prince_de_Monaco)> [Accessed 6 May 2022].

Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Maria Carolina Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on July 18, 1793, in Coulommiers, France, Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, wife of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, was the only child of Marie Francoise Henriette le Gras de Vaubercy (1766 – 1845) and the second of her three husbands Charles-Thomas Gibert (1765 – ?) who was a lawyer. Marie Francoise’s first husband Augustin Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy had died in 1789. She then married Charles-Thomas Gibert and the couple divorced in 1797.

Maria Caroline had an elder half-brother from her mother’s first marriage to Augustin Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy:

  • Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy (1788 – 1851), married Amélie d’Aumont, had two sons

After divorcing Maria Caroline’s father, Marie Francoise married her third husband Antoine Rouyer de Lametz (1762 – 1836), Chevalier d’Empire and Knight of the Legion of Honor. The marriage did not produce any children but Antoine Rouyer de Lametz officially adopted his wife’s daughter Maria Caroline and she added “de Lametz” to her name.

In 1814, Marie Caroline’s half-brother Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy married Amélie d’Aumont at the Château de Lametz (link in French), the home of his mother’s third husband Antoine Rouyer de Lametz. Amélie d’Aumont was the illegitimate daughter of Louise d’Aumont, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye in her own right. Louise d’Aumont had also been Hereditary Princess of Monaco as the wife of the future Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco but the couple had divorced in 1798 before Honoré IV became Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

Florestan, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Florestan of Monaco, Louise d’Aumont’s younger son with Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco, attended his half-sister’s wedding celebrations and met Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, the half-sister of the groom. Florestan spent the summer of 1815 at the Château de Lametz and the couple decided to marry. Because Florestan’s family did not approve of the marriage, the wedding, on November 27, 1816, was quiet and modest.

Florestan and Maria Caroline had two children:

Florestan and Maria Carolina lived in France. In 1641, during the reign of Honoré II, Monaco became a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families. In January 1793, during the French Revolution, Honoré III, Prince of Monaco was officially declared deposed and the Principality of Monaco was annexed by France.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration which saw Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the beheaded King Louis XVI, become King of France, Florestan’s uncle Joseph petitioned King Louis XVIII to restore the Principality of Monaco to the Grimaldi family. Florestan’s father Honoré IV finally became Sovereign Prince of Monaco in 1814. The independence of Monaco lasted for only one year. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, an international diplomatic conference that reconstituted the European political order after the downfall of  Napoleon I, declared that Monaco would be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Florestan’s mother Louise, d’Aumont was Louise was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye, the mistress of King Charles II of England, and one of the two heirs of her uncle Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the First Minister of King Louis XIV of France. Louise was the heir of Hortense Mancini’s titles and the Mazarin family wealth. When Florestan’s mother Louise died in 1826, she left her entire fortune to her younger son Florestan because her elder son Honoré V had an illegitimate child. Maria Caroline was a skillful businesswoman. She handled the family finances and successfully managed the fortune Florestan inherited from his mother.

Florestan’s elder brother Honoré V, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Because Florestan’s brother Honoré V, Prince of Monaco had never married, Florestan was the heir to the throne of Monaco. After a reign of twenty-two years, Honoré V, Prince of Monaco died on October 2, 1841, in Paris, France, aged 63, and was succeeded by his brother Florestan.

Florestan had lived in France his entire life and had never been to Monaco. He was ill-prepared to assume the role of Sovereign Prince. During his reign, the real power lay in the hands of his wife Maria Caroline. She took over the finances of Monaco just as she had done with the family finances. Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

By 1842, Maria Carolina’s son Charles was disturbed by his mother’s takeover of Monaco. He realized his father was content with the situation and would not intervene. Charles wrote a stern letter to his mother criticizing her actions and threatening to request the Kingdom of Sardinia (Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia) to force his father Florestan to abdicate in his favor. Maria Caroline replied with a scathing letter. Charles made a request to Sardinia that was squelched by his mother. Maria Carolina and her son Charles came to an understanding. For the rest of Florestan’s reign, Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

After a reign of nearly fifteen years, Florestan, Prince of Monaco died, aged 70, on June 20, 1856, in Paris, France. He was succeeded by his 38-year-old son Charles III, Prince of Monaco. At the time of Florestan’s death, Monaco was a weakened country with little prospect of financial security. However, Charles III had been well prepared by his mother Maria Caroline to reign as the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. He benefitted from his mother’s advice for most of his reign as she was alive for twenty-three years of his thirty-three-year-long reign.

During Charles III’s early reign, the towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which made up 95% of Monaco’s territory, were formally ceded to France, resulting in France’s formal recognition of Monaco’s independence. However, rebellions in these towns had exhausted Monaco’s military resources for decades.

Casino de Monte-Carlo before 1878; Credit – Wikipedia

It should not be surprising that to solve Monaco’s financial issues, the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco and developing Monaco into a seaside resort was Maria Caroline’s idea. She recalled visiting Hesse-Homburg, a small sovereign landgraviate in central Germany that was prosperous because of a gambling casino. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, named after Charles III as Carlo is the Italian for Charles (Monte-Carlo = Mount Charles in English), opened in 1865, nine years after the death of Florestan, and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Fearing that the citizens of Monaco would squander their money on gambling, Maria Carolina had the idea to ban all citizens of Monaco from gambling at the casino. That rule is still in effect.

When the casino was built, Monaco’s population was approximately 1,000. Within three years, thousands of people from England and other European countries had built homes in Monaco. Maria Caroline remained an advisor to her son for the rest of her life. Her assistance was especially needed after her son Charles III began to go blind and his wife Antoinette de Mérode died from cancer in 1864 at the age of 35.

Grave of Maria Caroline, Princess of Monaco; Credit – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7832623/caroline-gilbert_de-lametz#view-photo=2562571

Maria Caroline survived her husband Florestan, Prince of Monaco by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 86, on November 25, 1879, in Monaco. She was interred at the new larger church, still under construction, the Cathedral of Monaco, that her son Charles III was building to replace the Church of Saint Nicholas.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III, Prince of Monaco – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III,_Prince_of_Monaco> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Caroline_Gibert_de_Lametz> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/florestan-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Caroline Gibert — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Gibert> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III (prince de Monaco) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III_(prince_de_Monaco)> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Florestan — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florestan> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Geneanet. 2022. Family tree of Louis Pierre MUSNIER de MAUROY. [online] Available at: <https://gw.geneanet.org/peter781?lang=en&p=louis+pierre&n=musnier+de+mauroy> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Thepeerage.com. 2022. Person Page – Marie Francoise Le Gras de Vaubercy. [online] Available at: <http://www.thepeerage.com/p74097.htm#i740962> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Wikitree.com. 2022. Marie-Louise Charlotte Gabrielle (Gibert) de Monaco (1793-1879) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree. [online] Available at: <https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gibert-4> [Accessed 27 April 2022].

Florestan, Prince of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Florestan, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Tancrède Florestan Roger Louis Grimaldi was born in Paris, France on October 10, 1785. He was the younger of the two sons of Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco and Louise d’Aumont, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye in her own right. Honoré V’s paternal grandparents were Honoré III, Prince of Monaco and Maria Caterina Brignole who came from a Republic of Genoa (now in Italy) noble family. His maternal grandparents were Louis Marie Guy d’Aumont, Duke of Aumont (link in French) and Louise Jeanne de Durfort, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye (link in French).


Florestan’s parents Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco and Louise, d’Aumont; Credit – Wikipedia

Florestan’s mother Louise, d’Aumont was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye, the mistress of King Charles II of England, and one of the two heirs of her uncle Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the First Minister of King Louis XIV of France. Louise was the heir of Hortense Mancini’s titles and the Mazarin family wealth.

Florestan’s elder brother Honoré V, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Florestan had one elder brother:

In 1641, during the reign of Honoré II, Monaco became a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families.

Florestan’s grandfather, Honoré III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

The French Revolution had dire consequences for the princely family of Monaco. In January 1793, Florestan’s grandfather Honoré III, Prince of Monaco was officially declared deposed and the Principality of Monaco was annexed by France. The members of the former ruling Grimaldi dynasty lost all aristocratic privileges in France, were dispossessed of their French property, and became French citizens. During the Reign of Terror, in September 1793, eight-year-old brother Florestan, his parents Honoré IV and Louise, and his grandfather Honoré III were arrested and imprisoned in Paris as enemies of the people.

Heads of aristocrats on pikes during the Reign of Terror; Credit -Wikipedia

Florestan and his mother Louise were rescued by a family doctor who forged release papers and hid them in his home until the Reign of Terror was over. The wife of Florestan’s paternal uncle Prince Joseph of Monaco was not as lucky. Joseph spent most of his time abroad negotiating foreign loans, making him a suspect of counter-revolutionary activities. When Joseph did become involved in a counter-revolution, his wife Marie Thérèse de Choiseul was arrested in the absence of her husband, condemned to death, and guillotined in 1794, one of the last victims before the end of the Reign of Terror.

In October 1794, Florestan’s grandfather Honoré III and father Honoré IV were released from prison. Honoré III never recovered from his imprisonment and died in Paris on March 21, 1795, at the age of 74. Honoré IV, whose chronic ill health had been worsened by imprisonment, would have become Prince of Monaco but Monaco was no longer a sovereign monarchy. However, Honoré IV’s family properties in France which had been confiscated were returned to him but they were in poor condition and all of the contents were gone.

In 1794, Florestan’s mother Louise had given birth to an illegitimate daughter Amélie Céleste Erodore d’Aumont while her husband Honoré IV was still imprisoned. The father of the child is believed to have been Antoine de Montazet, Archbishop of Lyon. After Honoré IV’s release from prison, Louise and Honoré IV’s marriage became unhappy and the couple separated, eventually divorcing in 1798. Louise made a second marriage to René François Tirnand-d’Arcis on February 6, 1801, and divorced him in 1803.

While growing up, Florestan saw his father infrequently and the seven-year age gap between Florestan and his brother Honoré V meant that Florestan stayed with his mother while his brother had a successful career in Napoleon’s army. To his mother’s shock, at the age of seventeen, Florestan became an actor in the Théâtre de l’Ambigu-Comique in Paris. Florestan joined the French army after being threatened with disinheritance by his mother. He struggled with army life and never rose above the rank of corporal. Florestan was taken prisoner in 1812 during the unsuccessful French invasion of Russia and was not released until 1814.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration which saw Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the beheaded King Louis XVI, become King of France, Florestan’s uncle Joseph petitioned King Louis XVIII to restore the Principality of Monaco to the Grimaldi family. Florestan’s father Honoré IV finally became Sovereign Prince of Monaco in 1814. The independence of Monaco lasted for only one year. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, an international diplomatic conference that reconstituted the European political order after the downfall of  Napoleon I, declared that Monaco would be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

By the time Honoré IV became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, his physical condition had worsened and he was now paralyzed on one side of his body. Because of his condition, a regency was established to rule in his name. Honoré IV’s brother Joseph was regent from 1814 -1815 and then Florestan’s brother Honoré V served as regent until his father died in 1819 when he succeeded him as Honoré V, Prince of Monaco.

Florestan’s wife Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1814, Amélie d’Aumont, the illegitimate daughter of Florestan’s mother, and therefore, his half-sister, married Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy at the Château de Lametz (link in French). During the wedding celebrations, Florestan met Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, the half-sister of the groom. Florestan spent the summer of 1815 at the Château de Lametz and the couple decided to marry. Because Florestan’s family did not approve of the marriage, the wedding, on November 27, 1816 was quiet and modest.

Florestan and Maria Caroline had two children:

When Florestan’s mother Louise died in Paris, France on December 13, 1826, aged 67, she left her entire fortune to her younger son Florestan because her elder son Honoré V had an illegitimate child. After this, Honoré V and Florestan never spoke to each other. Florestan’s wife Maria Caroline was a skillful businesswoman. She handled the finances of the family, and successfully managed the fortune Florestan inherited from his mother.

Because Honoré V had never married, Florestan was the heir to the throne of Monaco. Neither Florestan nor his son Charles had ever been to Monaco. Honoré V had lived in Paris, making only two annual trips to Monaco. After a reign of twenty-two years, Honoré V, Prince of Monaco died on October 2, 1841, in Paris, France, aged 63, and was succeeded by his brother Florestan.

Florestan had lived in France his entire life and had never been to Monaco. He was ill-prepared to assume the role of Sovereign Prince. During his reign, the real power lay in the hands of his wife Maria Caroline. She took over Monaco’s finances just as she did with the family finances. Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

By 1842, Florestan’s son Charles was disturbed by his mother’s takeover of Monaco. He realized his father was content with the situation and would not intervene. Charles wrote a stern letter to his mother criticizing her actions and threatening to request the Kingdom of Sardinia (Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia) to force his father Florestan to abdicate in his favor. Maria Caroline replied with a scathing letter. Charles did make a request to Sardinia that was squelched by his mother. Maria Carolina and her son Charles came to an understanding. For the rest of Florestan’s reign, Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

Entrance to the common vault where the Grimaldi family members originally buried at the Church of St. Nicholas are buried; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Florestan, Prince of Monaco died, aged 70, on June 20, 1856, in Paris, France. He was buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Monaco. During the reign of Florestan’s son Charles III, Prince of Monaco, a new and larger church, the Cathedral of Monaco, was built on the site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 but the current cathedral was built over the areas of the previous church and the old burial site so that the sovereign princes and consorts originally buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas are now buried in the Cathedral of Monaco.

At the time of Florestan’s death, Monaco was a weakened country with little prospect of financial security. It was not until the reign of Florestan and Maria Caroline’s son Charles III, that the finances of Monaco would finally be in order. It should not be surprising that the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco was Maria Caroline’s idea. The Casino de Monte-Carlo opened in 1865, nine years after the death of Florestan, and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Maria Caroline survived her husband by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 86, on November 25, 1879, in Monaco.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florestan,_Prince_of_Monaco> [Accessed 22 April 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Caroline_Gibert_de_Lametz> [Accessed 22 April 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/honore-iv-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 3 April 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Honoré V, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/honore-v-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 22 April 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Louise d’Aumont, Hereditary Princess of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/louise-daumont-hereditary-princess-of-monaco/> [Accessed 3 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Florestan — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florestan> [Accessed 22 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Caroline Gibert — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Gibert> [Accessed 22 April 2022].

Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend – Thursday, June 2, 2022 to Sunday, June 5, 2022

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Queen Elizabeth II, official photo for the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne; Credit – The Royal Family Facebook page

On February 6, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom marked seventy years on the British throne. Celebrations were held in the United Kingdom from Thursday, June 2, 2022 to Sunday, June 5, 2022.

Thursday, June 2, 2002

The Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony witnessing the Royal Air Force fly-past

Trooping the Colour: Queen Elizabeth II did not take the Salute due to her mobility issues. Instead, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, and The Princess Royal took the salute accompanied by members of the Royal Family at the Birthday Parade on Horse Guards (Trooping the Colour) at Whitehall, London. The Royal Family, including The Queen, witnessed a fly-past by the Royal Air Force from the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth II beginning the beacon lighting

Platinum Jubilee Beacons: Over 1,500 beacons were lit throughout the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom Overseas Territories, continuing the long tradition of celebrating Royal Jubilees, Royal Weddings, and Coronations with a chain of lights across the country. Queen Elizabeth II began the ceremony by touching a globe representing the Commonwealth nations,  sending a chain of lights from Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace.

Friday, June 3, 2022

Members of the Royal Family and other guests listen to Prime Minister Boris Johnson speak

Service of Thanksgiving: A Service of Thanksgiving for Queen Elizabeth II‘s 70-year reign was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Due to her mobility issues, The Queen did not attend.

Saturday, June 4, 2022

The Princess Royal watches a race with her son Peter Phillips and his girlfriend Lindsay Wallace

The Derby at Epsom Downs: Members of the Royal Family attended the Derby at Epsom Downs. Due to her mobility issues, The Queen did not attend.

The audience including members of the Royal Family enjoying the concert

Platinum Party at the Palace: A music concert that was held in front of Buckingham Palace featuring “the world’s biggest entertainment stars.” The Queen did not attend but she would have been able to see the concert from Buckingham Palace.

Sunday, June 5, 2022

The Earl of Wessex joins the crowds taking part in the Big Jubilee Lunch on the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park 

The Big Jubilee Lunch: Communities across the United Kingdom came together for The Big Jubilee Lunch as part of the official celebrations for HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. More than 70,000 Big Lunches were held across the United Kingdom.

Crowds gather to see Queen Elizabeth II stand on the balcony during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in front of Buckingham Palace

The Platinum Jubilee Pageant: A pageant featuring approximately 5,000 people from across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth was held against the backdrop of Buckingham Palace combined with street arts, theatre, music, circus, carnival, and costumes.

Unofficial Royalty’s Queen Elizabeth II Resources

 

As a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II’s seventy years on the throne, Unofficial Royalty proudly lists all our resources regarding Her Majesty.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.