![Coat of Arms of Maria Caterina, Princess of Monaco](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Coat_of_Arms_of_Maria_Caterina%2C_Princess_of_Monaco.svg)
Maria Caterina Brignole (or Marie-Christine de Brignole;
7 October 1737 – 18 March 1813) was Princess consort of Monaco by marriage to
Honoré III, Prince of Monaco
Honoré III (Honoré Camille Léonor Grimaldi; 10 November 1720 – 21 March 1795) ruled as Prince of Monaco and was Duke of Valentinois from 1731 to 1793. Honoré was the son of Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco, and her husband, Prince J ...
.
She separated from her husband in 1770: he died in 1795, and in 1798 she married
Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis (d ...
.
Life
Early life
Born into the illustrious
House of Brignole-Sale, Maria Caterina was the daughter of
Giuseppe Brignole-Sale, Marquis di Groppoli, and Maria Anna
Balbi, daughter of
Francesco Maria Balbi, who had been
Doge of Genoa
The Doge of Genoa ( lij, Dûxe, ; la, Januensium dux et populi defensor, "Commander of the Genoese and Defender of the People") was the ruler of the Republic of Genoa, a city-state and soon afterwards a maritime republic, from 1339 until the s ...
in 1732. As her father was the Genovese ambassador to France, Maria Caterina and her mother frequented the salons of Paris and the royal court of
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. Her biographer,
Philippe Paul, Comte de Ségur Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to:
* Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present)
* Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer
* Prince Philippe, Count o ...
, called Maria Caterina "the most beautiful woman in France".
In 1755, a marriage was proposed between Maria Caterina and Prince
Honoré III of Monaco. Honoré III had previously been the lover of her mother,
[Anne Edwards, ''The Grimaldis of Monaco'', 1992] but wished to marry to provide an heir to his throne, and was attracted by Maria Caterina's beauty.
The Prince had declined many marriage proposals, but was willing to marry Maria Caterina because of her beauty and dowry.
Her father, however, disagreed because of the bad reputation of Prince Honoré as well as the prospect of the Prince inheriting his fortune.
He relented only after intervention by King
Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
and
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
, giving his consent in late 1756.
Princess of Monaco
The marriage ceremony took place 15 June 1757 in Genoa per procura without the groom present. Maria Caterina came to Monaco by boat accompanied by a suite of the Genovese nobility. When they arrived, however, Prince Honoré did not come aboard the ship to welcome his bride. When they asked him to do so, he replied that his status as a monarch demanded that she come to him instead. The Genovese entourage answered that Maria Caterina, was a member of a ruling family of the
Republic of Genoa
The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...
(her uncles, Gian Francesco and Rodolfo Brignole-Sale, held the dogeship in, respectively, 1746–48 and 1762–64).
[Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser IV. "Monaco". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1956, p. 75. (German).] and refused to do so.
The ship was therefore stranded offshore for several days, until the predicament was resolved by the couple meeting halfway on a bridge between the boat and the shore.
The relationship was at first amicable, and the couple had two sons,
Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco
Honoré IV (Honoré Charles Anne Grimaldi; 17 May 1758 – 16 February 1819) was Prince of Monaco and Duke of Valentinois from 1814 to 16 February 1819. Because of his health, the state of affairs was managed by a regency of his brother Joseph ...
(born 17 May 1758) and
Prince Joseph (born in 1763). Maria Caterina was described as beautiful and charming and, initially, as truly in love with her spouse.
Honoré III was however not satisfied with his life in Monaco, where the political issues were managed by his uncle the
Chevalier de Grimaldi
Antoine Grimaldi, le Chevalier eGrimaldi, (Paris, 2 October 1697 – Monaco, 28 November 1784) was the de facto ruler of Monaco between 1732 and 1784. An illegitimate son of Antonio I, Prince of Monaco, Antonio I of Monaco and the dancer Éli ...
, and in the summer of 1760, he left for Paris and left Maria Caterina behind. When he eventually allowed her to join him in Paris, the marriage deteriorated, with Honoré spending more and more time with his mistress in Normandy.
Maria Caterina attended the French royal court and high society life, but was described as an introverted personality who preferred to sit with the elderly during the balls rather than to dance and who did not use make up, but also considered a great beauty.
Maria Caterina lived in Matignon, where she spent her days with the Prince de Condé, and seldom took part in court life. Honoré became more and more jealous, and demanded that she write down her thoughts for him. Once, she was alone for several hours with a handsome nobleman, who helped her to open a cupboard which had been stuck. After this incident, the jealousy of her husband worsened to the point where it was no longer endurable.
In 1765, it attracted attention in Paris that she was courted by the
Prince of Condé
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
,
Louis Joseph de Bourbon. When her spouse was informed by his brother's wife
Marie Christine de Rouvroy
Marie may refer to:
People Name
* Marie (given name)
* Marie (Japanese given name)
* Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973
* Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tro ...
, he returned from his own adultery in Normandy to scold her: when he left, Maria Caterina, who until then had regarded Condé as merely a friend, reportedly responded to Condé's feelings, and they became involved in a love affair.
Honoré III and Maria Caterina lived separate lives with their own lovers, and he did not bring her with him during his state visit to London in 1768. By 1769 she had begun to set up a home in the
Hôtel de Lassay The Hôtel de Lassay is a private mansion located on the rue de l'Université, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the current residence of the President of the National Assembly, and adjoins the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the lower ...
, an annex of the Prince de Condé's primary residence in Paris, the
Palais-Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the '' Rive Gauche'' of the Seine, across from the Place de la Conco ...
.
[Braham (1980), p. 215.]
In 1769, Honoré III, who was informed of Maria Caterina's adultery, responded by returning to Paris and openly flaunted his lovers and his adultery, upon which Maria Caterina left Paris to seek asylum in the convent of Visitation in
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
under the protection of her uncle, who was the bishop there.
Mediation by her mother brought about a temporary reconciliation, but when her father died and left his fortune to his daughter on the condition that her husband should have no access to it, Honoré III threatened to have her sent back to Monaco, upon which Maria Caterina again sought asylum in Le Mans.
Mistress of Condé
On 9 January 1770, the lover of Maria Caterina, the Prince de Condé, managed to use his influence to obtain a
legal separation
Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...
from her husband and the right to manage her own fortune.
Maria Caterina moved in with her lover days after her official separation was approved, and openly lived happily with him in his residence Chateau de Chantilly in Paris. Honoré finally realized his relationship with Maria Caterina was finished and turned his attention to his own lovers. Maria Caterina wrote to her spouse that the marriage could be summarised by three words: greed, bravery, and jealousy. Honoré III eventually accepted the relationship, and she acquired the Chateau de Betz, where Honoré allowed her to meet her sons.
In 1774, due to Maria Caterina's illicit position as Condé's mistress and status as a separated woman, the new French queen, 18-year-old
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
, offended Condé by refusing to receive Maria Caterina at court. Around 1774, Condé and Maria Caterina began the construction of the
Hôtel de Monaco, to be her permanent home in Paris. It was in the rue Saint-Dominique, near the Palais Bourbon, and was completed in 1777.
[
]
Exile
Maria lived with Condé in France until the outbreak of the French revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
in 1789, when the couple left for Germany.
In 1791, she lived with Condé in Koblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...
, where she was one of the leading ladies of the French exile émigrée court, termed as one of the 'Queens of the Emigration' along with the mistress of the count of Provence, Anne de Balbi, and the mistress of the count of Artois, Louise de Polastron
Marie Louise d’Esparbès de Lussan, by marriage vicomtesse then comtesse de Polastron (Bardigues, 19 October 1764 – London, 27 March 1804) was a French lady-in-waiting, known as the mistress of the comte d’Artois, who later reigned as Charl ...
.[Sandars, Mary Frances. ]
Louis XVIII
' (Kelly - University of Toronto, 1910).
The prince was the leader of the Condé army of émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Huguenots fled France followi ...
s. She used her great fortune to help finance the exiled French community's armed resistance. The émigrée court at Koblenz was dissolved in 1792, and the couple left for Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
.
In 1795, Prince Honoré died, and on 24 October 1798 she and the prince de Condé were married in London. The marriage was kept secret for a decade, the couple reportedly only becoming openly known as husband and wife as of 26 December 1808.
She suffered swelling in her legs at a party given by the Prince Regent
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
at Carlton House
Carlton House was a mansion in Westminster, best known as the town residence of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV. It faced the south side of Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall, and its gardens abutted St James's Park in the St James' ...
and died at Wimbledon House in Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
on 28 March 1813. Her body was laid out in state in one of the rooms and she was buried at the French émigré chapel, St Aloysius Church in Somers Town, London
Somers Town is an inner-city district in North West London. It has been strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston (1838), St Pancras (1868) and King's Cross (1852), together with the Midland Railway Some ...
on 4 April.[
]
Ancestry
References
Sources
''This page is a translation of its French equivalent unless otherwise noted.''
* Braham, Allan (1980). ''The architecture of the French enlightenment'', pp. 210–219. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
Limited view
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.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brignole-Sale, Maria Caterina Di
1737 births
1813 deaths
Maria Caterina
Nobility from Genoa
House of Grimaldi
Maria Caterina
Maria Caterina
Princesses of Monaco
Maria Caterina
Remarried royal consorts
18th-century Italian women
19th-century Italian women