Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois (born Pierre Marie Xavier Raphaël Antoine Melchior de Polignac; 24 October 1895 – 10 November 1964) was the father of Rainier III of Monaco. He was a promoter of art, music, and literature in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

and served as the head of the country's delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

) and to the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

Background and early life

Pierre Marie Xavier Raphaël Antoine Melchior de Polignac was born at the Château de Kerscamp,

Hennebont Hennebont (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in the region of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Hennebont is situated about ten miles from the mouth of the River Blavet, which divides it into two parts: the ''Ville Close' ...

Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

, France. He was the fourth son and youngest child of Count Maxence Melchior Édouard Marie Louis de Polignac (1857–1936) and his Mexican-born wife, Susana Mariana Estefanía Francisca de Paula del Corazón de Jesús de la Torre y Mier (1858–1913), whom he wed in Paris in 1881. Mexican politician Ignacio de la Torre y Mier was Pierre's maternal uncle. Pierre was a member of a

cadet branch A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...

of the House of Polignac, one of France's most renowned ducal families, noble since at least the 12th century, duke in 1780, peer in 1817. Pierre was a descendant of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

favourite A favourite was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In Post-classical Europe, post-classical and Early modern Europe, early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated signifi ...

, Yolande de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac. A veteran of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Pierre had fraternized in artistic social circles in France, becoming a good friend of

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

and

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

.Braude, Mark. 2016. Making Monte Carlo: A History of Speculation and Spectacle. Simon & Schuster. New York. pp. 136–137, 169–170,179–180, 184–188, 198–203, 209, 213–214. .

Prince

Pierre married civilly on 19 March and religiously on 20 March 1920, in Monaco, Princess Charlotte of Monaco, the illegitimate but adopted daughter of Louis II of Monaco by Marie Juliette Louvet.Velde, Francois
The Succession Crisis of 1918
Heraldica.org. Retrieved 19 June 2010. He changed his name and

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

to those borne by the

House of Grimaldi The House of Grimaldi is the Dynasty, reigning house of the Monaco, Principality of Monaco. The house was founded in 1160 by Grimaldo Canella in Genoa and became the ruling house of Monaco when François Grimaldi, Francesco Grimaldi captured Mo ...

by Monegasque ordinance issued on 18 March 1920, the day before his wedding. He had become a subject of the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, also by Monegasque Sovereign Ordinance, on 29 February 1920. From the date of the religious wedding the court of Monaco referred to him, ''

jure uxoris ''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title '' suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could beco ...

'', as

Duke of Valentinois Duke of Valentinois (; ) is a title of nobility, originally in the French peerage. It is currently one of the many hereditary titles claimed by the Prince of Monaco despite its extinction in French law in 1949. Though it originally indicated admin ...

. That title had been conferred upon his wife as heiress presumptive on 20 May 1919. His surname and arms were altered by ordinance shortly after he became a Monegasque citizen, to ensure that his dynastic issue would bear the surname of Grimaldi in compliance with Article I of Monaco's house law.Velde, Francois
Monaco: House Laws
Heraldica.org. Retrieved 19 June 2010

Civic role

Initially, the couple inaugurated a new focus in the principality on culture, as patrons of the arts.

Serge Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...

and the prince agreed that financial sponsorship of the former's dance troupe, the ''

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

'', offered an opportune means to raise the national prestige of Pierre and the international prestige of the principality. In 1922 the ''

Société des bains de mer de Monaco The Société des Bains de Mer (SBM; ), officially the Société Anonyme des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Etrangers à Monaco (; ), is a publicly traded company registered in the Principality of Monaco. SBM owns and manages the Monte Carlo Casi ...

'' (SBM), the Blanc family corporation licensed to operate Monaco's casinos, contracted with the impresario and his dancers to become Monte Carlo's resident ballet corps, eventually bringing the resort city international renown for entertainment beyond gambling. In 1926 Pierre solicited press agent Elsa Maxwell to improve the image of the principality. She conducted a media operation to pivot the principality's reputation from that of an "interior" site of fancy gaming tables and midnight catering for wealthy adults to a family-oriented outdoors venue, offering roomy beachside cabanas, golfing, a circus and, in 1929, the first

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the wo ...

. Pierre persuaded his father-in-law to allow the nation's streets to be converted annually into an auto race course for the event. While the increased tourist traffic swelled SBM's 1928 profits to 98 million French francs, it also drove up citizen and worker demand for reforms, which Louis II publicly decried, while delegating Pierre to meet with the leaders of the National Council, all of whose members resigned that year in protest. Infuriated by failure to obtain workplace improvements at SBM, on 24 March 1929 600 Monegasques stormed the palace, prompting Pierre to negotiate with them and present their demands for constitutional and labor reform to the monarch, who agreed to fresh elections and other concessions that forestalled revolution. In 1953 he was among the royal guests at the

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. Elizabeth acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon th ...

representing his son, the Prince of Monaco.

Marriage and family

According to

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extens ...

, a British writer and friend of Pierre's, his unhappy arranged marriage was complicated by his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and Princess Charlotte's affairs. In the mid-1920s, the couple unofficially separated. Prince Pierre and Princess Charlotte were judicially separated on 20 March 1930 at Paris, and in a case titled "Princesse héréditaire Grimaldi de Monaco c. Prince Pierre Grimaldi de Polignac" were divorced by ordinance of Prince Louis II on 18 February 1933. The divorce was confirmed by a Paris tribunal in December of that year. One magazine story reported that "The union ended ... under circumstances which prompted the temperamental father-in-law to vow he would call out the Monégasque army if the prince ever set foot in the principality again."Charles J. V. Murphy, "The New Riviera", ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine, 10 November 1947, page 152 The banishment from Monaco was lifted in April 1933, and Prince Pierre thereafter received an annuity of 500,000 francs a year. He and his wife had two children: * Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy (1920–2011) *

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years. Rainier was born at the Prince's Pal ...

(1923–2005)

Death

Prince Pierre died on 10 November 1964, of cancer, at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, France. ''

'' magazine in 1947 described Prince Pierre as "a slender and graceful gallant who wears his coat cape-fashion across his shoulders. His manners are exquisite; his voice so cultivated as to be practically inaudible".

Honours

* : Grand Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

* : Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

*: Grand Officer of the

Order of Saint-Charles The Order of Saint Charles (; Monégasque: ''U̍rdine de San Carlu'') is a dynastic order of knighthood established in Monaco on 15 March 1858. Award This order rewards service to the State or Prince. In particular cases, it may be grante ...

* : Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

– 1923 * : Recipient of the

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal () is a commemorative medal instituted to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. Award This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir from the Queen to members of the Royal Family ...

Ancestry

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierre of Valentinois, Prince, Duke 1895 births 1964 deaths People from Hennebont French people of Mexican descent Mexican nobility Dukes of Valentinois Counts of Polignac Polignac family House of Grimaldi Monegasque princes LGBTQ royalty LGBTQ Roman Catholics Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Monegasque International Olympic Committee members Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour 20th-century French LGBTQ people