Louise d'Aumont, ''duchesse d'Aumont, duchesse Mazarin et de La Meilleraye'', (Louise Félicité Victoire; 22 October 1759, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 13 December 1826, in Paris) was a French Duchess and a

Princess of Monaco Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for t ...

by marriage to

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 illness, the state of affairs was managed by a regency of his brother Joseph ...

Life

She was the only child and daughter of Louis Marie Guy d'Aumont, Duke of Aumont (1732–1799), and Louise Jeanne de Durfort, ''duchesse Mazarin et de La Meilleraye'' (

, 1 September 1735 -

, 17 March 1781). Louise d'Aumont was a direct descendant of

Hortense Mancini Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin (6 June 1646 – 2 July 1699), was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France, and a mistress of Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. She was the fourth of the five famous Mancini ...

, the mistress of King

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

, who was one of the two heirs of her uncle, King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

's chief minister

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

. Also she was a descendant of

Michel Le Tellier Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Barbezieux, seigneur de Chaville et de Viroflay (19 April 1603 – 30 October 1685) was a French statesman. Biography Le Tellier was born in Paris to a Parisian magistrate, Michel III Le Tellier, and his wife, Cla ...

. She married Honoré, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, on 15 July 1777 in

. The couple had two children, Prince Honoré V and Prince Florestan I. The marriage was arranged in order to give Monaco access to her great fortune. However, her family's assets were tied up in lawsuits, and Louise went into debt in Monaco because of her gambling and expensive wardrobe. The marriage between Louise and Honoré was unhappy, and they soon separated. In March 1793, Monaco was annexed to Revolutionary France, and the members of the former ruling dynasty became French citizens. In parallel, her brother-in-law,

Prince Joseph of Monaco Prince Joseph Marie Jerôme Honoré of Monaco (10 September 1763 – 28 June 1816) was the second son of Honoré III, Prince of Monaco, and Maria Caterina Brignole and the younger brother of Prince Honoré IV. Joseph served as regent of Mona ...

spend most of his time abroad to negotiate foreign loans, making him and his family suspect of being contra-revolutionary traitors. Joseph's wife

Marie Thérèse de Choiseul Marie Thérèse ''Françoise'' de Choiseul (8 December 1766 – 27 July 1794) was a French noblewoman and a Monegasque princess, married to Prince Joseph of Monaco in 1782. Life She was the daughter of Jacques Philippe de Choiseul-Stainville, J ...

was arrested in the absence of her spouse, as was his father, his brother and his sister-in-law, Louise. Louise and her children where rescued from prison by her family doctor, Desormeaux, who forged a release order from prison and hid them until the fall of

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre ferv ...

. On 28 March 1794, Louise gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Amélie Céleste Erodore d'Aumont (died 1820). The father of the child is believed to have been Antoine de Montazet, archbishop of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. The marriage of Honoré IV and Louise ended in divorce in 1798, giving Louise sole access of her fortune. Louise married secondly René François Tirand des Arcis on 6 February 1801, and divorced him in 1803. Louise removed her eldest son from her will because he had an illegitimate child, and willed her entire fortune to her younger son, Florestan.Anne Edwards, ''The Grimaldis of Monaco'', 1992 Through their descent from Louise and her mother, the princely family of Monaco now lays claim to the wealth and estates bequeathed by Cardinal Mazarin, including the Duchy of Rethel, and the Principality of Château-Porcien.

Ancestry

References

Monaco: 1662 to 1815
retrieved 8 February 2007
World Roots
retrieved 8 February 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Aumont Mazarin, Louise D'

Louise d'Aumont Mazarin Louise d'Aumont, ''duchesse d'Aumont, duchesse Mazarin et de La Meilleraye'', (Louise Félicité Victoire; 22 October 1759, in Paris – 13 December 1826, in Paris) was a Dukes in France, French Duchess and a List of Monégasque consorts, Princess ...

House of Grimaldi 1759 births 1826 deaths Burials at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate Aumont, Duchess of, Louise Hereditary princesses of Monaco Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Dukes of Mayenne Mothers of Monegasque monarchs