Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois

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Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois (Charlotte Louise Juliette Grimaldi, née Louvet) (30 September 1898 – 15 November 1977), styled HSH The Princess Charlotte, was the daughter of Louis II, Prince of Monaco, and the mother of Prince Rainier III. From 1922 until 1944, she was the Hereditary Princess of Monaco, heiress to the throne.

1 Birth and adoption
2 Legality of Adoption
3 Marriage
4 Late life
5 External links

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Birth and adoption

Born Charlotte Louvet in Constantine, Algeria, she was the illegitimate daughter of Marie Juliette Louvet, a cabaret singer, and Prince Louis II. On the death of Prince Louis II, theretofore without a legitimate heir, the throne of Monaco was due to pass to the German Duke of Urach, Louis II's cousin, son of Princess Florestine of Monaco; to forestall this event, on 15 May 1911 a law was passed recognizing Charlotte as Louis's daughter, and making her part of the sovereign family. Though it was later held to be invalid under the 1882 statutes, an Ordinance of 30 October, 1918 allowed her to be adopted. Louis adopted Charlotte in Paris on 16 May, 1919, bestowing on her the surname Grimaldi and the title Duchess of Valentinois; she was thus his heir apparent as Hereditary Princess from 1922 until 30 May 1944 (see below).

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Legality of Adoption

A shadow of doubt exists over the legality of this adoption. The Monegasque Civil Code (Articles 240 and 243) required that the adopting party to be at least fifty and the adoptee twenty-one. The 1918 Ordinance changed the age limit to eighteen ( Charlotte was twenty at the time) but not the other age limit and Louis was only 48.

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Marriage

Image:Charlotte -children.jpg In 1920, Louis arranged Charlotte's marriage to Count Pierre de Polignac of Guidel, Morbihan, Brittany, France who, by the Prince's ordinance, took the surname Grimaldi and became a Prince of Monaco. The couple had two children:

Antoinette Louise Alberte Suzanne, born 28 December 1920, and
Rainier III of Monaco, born 31 May 1923 - d. April 6, 2005.

Their marriage was not, however, a happy one; they separated in 1930 when Charlotte left him to live with her Italian lover Dr. Del Masso. The couple were divorced in 1933.

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Late life

On 30 May 1944, the day before her son's 21st birthday and in full agreement with her father, Charlotte ceded her rights to the throne to her son Rainier, subject to the stipulation that he did not predecease her. From this date she was no longer Hereditary Princess of Monaco, though she retained the titles of Princess of Monaco and Duchess of Valentinois.

Late in life she went to college, obtaining a degree in social work. After her son assumed the throne, Princess Charlotte moved to live at Marchais, the Grimaldi estate outside of Paris. Despite the objections of her children who feared for her safety, she turned the estate into a rehabilitation centre for ex-convicts. She lived at the estate with her lover, a noted French former jewel thief named René Girier and nicknamed "René la Canne" (René the Cane).

In 1977, Princess Charlotte died in Paris, France.

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