Annales monégasques

More than three hundred evocative photographs of Prince Rainier III, put into context and displayed alongside personal documents and objects, are being exhibited by the Palace Archives and the Audiovisual Institute of Monaco in the Grands Appartements between 31 May and 20 August 2023. The sovereign can be seen performing his duties, ploughing through paperwork’ in his office, being celebrated every year on 19 November in very special ceremonies, where distinguished guests are welcomed in the traditional spirit of patronage. Following which, there’s a closer look into the man himself in his homes, at different stages of his life: at ‘Villa Iberia’, the palace where he was born, raised and where the bachelor prince lived until his marriage, in the house at Roc Agel, the home he built for family life, and at the historic residence of the Grimaldis, the retreat of a lifetime, the Château de Marchais. Finally, there was a look back at some of the palace’s great moments, from the end of the Second World War to pivotal moments in history when the population rallied together, including the height of the Franco-Monegasque crisis and the proclamation of a new constitution.

Noblemen were using equestrian depictions on their personal seals as early as the 11th century. The first known Grimaldi seal, made for Rainier I in 1305, shows the sovereign as a mounted warrior, a practice that had long been common among the high-born but would soon be abandoned. This article takes a closer look at this particular seal, the first of its kind to depict the Grimaldis on horseback, and, remarkably, also the first in a long line of equestrian seals used by the lords and princes of Monaco from the 14th to the 18th centuries. It is also the oldest known representation of the family coat of arms. The final part of the study relates how, on his accession to the throne, Prince Rainier III brought the equestrian seal up to date with a contemporary design used on coinage, stamps, and decorations, as part of what appeared to be a genuine PR strategy intended to assert control over the princely image and dynastic heritage.

On his accession to the throne, Prince Rainier III chose his first Minister of State personally, appointing eminent economist Jacques Rueff (1896-1978), who also happened to be a friend of his father, Prince Pierre. It was while serving in the French Liberation Army at the end of the Second World War that the future Sovereign first encountered Rueff, then an officer with the Military Mission for German and Austrian Affairs in Berlin. Coming mere months after Rainier’s accession, the appointment heralded the new Prince’s strong political vision for Monaco. Between 1949 and 1950, he and Jacques Rueff together laid many of the foundations for the decades that would follow, against the complex backdrop of difficult negotiations with France and a domestic crisis. Their efforts restored order to the Principality’s economy and finances, ushered in urban development and tourism, and greatly raised the country’s international profile.

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Although the first Monegasque stamps were issued under the reign of Charles III in 1885, Prince Rainier III is known to have been a true philatelist. Having inherited the collection developed by his ancestors Albert I and Louis II, he continued to grow and enhance it throughout his reign. After appointing a curator of the collection in 1950, he set up a philatelic advisory committee in 1985, followed by a museum of stamps and coins in 1995. As for Monegasque stamp production, whether intaglio, rotogravure or offset printing, the sovereign took a keen interest and monitored it closely.

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The crisis severely affected postal services, both domestically in Monaco and between the two countries, and in turn impacted the way the Monegasque population sent and received their everyday mail. The examples given illustrate just how complicated it became to send correspondence within Monaco, from France to Monaco, and from Monaco to France. The crisis was ultimately resolved with a new postal treaty, marking an end to a unique period in the history of the Monegasque mail.

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Recognising the importance of yachting for the Principality’s reputation, Prince Rainier III founded the Yacht Club de Monaco in 1953, to promote his country. The sovereign was a sailor, a diver, and enjoyed family excursions and exploratory cruises, such as his trip to Equatorial Africa in 1954. Between the beginning and end of his reign, the Prince owned a dozen sailing and motor yachts, along with Riva motorboats and other small craft.

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In 1902, Prince Albert I made the trip from Paris to Villers-sur-Mer (Calvados, Normandy) on a motorcycle, then, what is more, between 1903 and 1905, each year in May, he journeyed from Monaco to Paris on a British Humber Beeston motorcycle, sometimes with great detours by south-western or eastern France, and even by Switzerland. During these rough and perilous journeys, that lasted one to two weeks, he travelled incognito, oftentimes with his mechanic as sole company. In 1905, Charles Sauerwein, his aide-de-camp and scientific collaborator, accompanied him. The prince’s autograph diary gives an invaluable and hitherto unpublished account of the budding and still hazardous Belle Époque motorcycling practices, and wonderfully depicts a little-known side of the ruler, who rode motorcycles until the end of his life, and was one of the pioneers of long-distance motorcycle travels.

This article proposes an approach to Prince Albert I’s passion for hunting, covering both traditional and science-based hunting practices. Numerous documents, including those drawn up by the Prince himself, and particularly his book, La Carrière d’un Navigateur (The Career of a Navigator), his hunting logs and his handwritten journal, show that he pursued this passion using a reasoned practice for which he never stopped advocating. In this field, as in many others, he was therefore a pioneer, who foresaw with clarity the current debates on this controversial subject.

On 2 June 1885, Prince Albert, then aged 36, sent his father, the reigning Prince Charles III of Monaco, a letter in which he described the funeral of Victor Hugo, which he had attended the day before, anonymously, amid the biggest crowds that Paris had ever seen. Here, he demonstrated an enormous independence of mind: far from the distorting caricatures peddles by the clerical newspapers, his admiring, respectful account was close in spirit to the reports in the moderate press, with a clear refusal to give into sensational pronouncements, figures and anecdotes, focusing instead on the essentials. If it was indeed ‘to the love and worship of science’ that he owed his ‘habit of impartial analysis which saves one from becoming carried away and leads to the truth’, as he would later write at the end of a conference on oceanography, this letter is a fine example applied to the history of his era.

The personal writings of Prince Albert I contain frequent condemnations of colonisation, as illustrated in his journal: “I think that everything that [we] are seeing happening today under the guise of colonial expansion hides behind misleading names every injustice imaginable that is used to appropriate assets belonging to others, while appearing to be working to promote civilisation” (Albert I’s journal, 2 August 1896). This deep personal conviction was made public in La Carrière d’un Navigateur [The Career of a Navigator] (1901): “Slavery has been abolished, but people born on primitive soil civilised by whites are despoiled of their heritage by force when trickery does not succeed.”
It is worth considering the practical significance of these condemnations. The Monegasque Sovereign did not hesitate to invest large sums of money in a colonial undertaking in Mozambique (the Madal company); acting as a mediator between France and Germany during the First Moroccan Crisis, he saw colonial arrangements between the powers as a key means of maintaining peace. These contrasting positions may, to some extent, be explained by the Prince’s adherence to the stereotypes of his era regarding the native ‘races’ of colonised countries. While Albert I absolutely and clearly rejected violent, conquering colonialism, the possible temptation of ‘enlightened’ paternalism was very much still within him.

As a result of Prince Albert I’s pacifist beliefs, which led to the foundation of the International Institute of Peace, and his vision of the principality as a cosmopolitan, open and cultured country, from 1910 to 1937 Monaco was home to an Iranian pacifist and diplomat, his country’s first representative to the League of Nations and the First Hague Peace Conference: Prince Mirza Riza Khan Arfa-od-Dowleh. This essay explores his pacifism, juxtaposing an ideal with the tangible peace and security that he sought when he arrived in the Principality in 1910, fleeing the world that was on a path to war. The essay also reveals that while Prince Arfa’s efforts to achieve peace failed, he established a cultural link between East and West in the heart of Monaco, by hosting one of the first private museums of Iranian art in Europe in his Villa Ispahan, thereby inspiring curiosity and sharing knowledge about the East in general and Iran in particular.

The conditions on the frontlines of the Great War – multiple injuries, disease – gave Prince Albert I the opportunity to demonstrate his interest in science (combating tetanus) and his altruism (care for the blind). Two temporary hospitals and a convalescent home were established in the Principality. In August 1914, the requisition of the Riviera Palace in Beausoleil as a hospital – where Princess Charlotte served – was undoubtedly an alternative to the offer of the Prince Albert Hospital, which the French authorities initially declined due to the Principality’s neutrality. Prince Albert visited the Principality’s hospitals at least once a year, during spring. His influence extended to the temporary hospitals bordering the Principality. He contributed to the expanded availability of healthcare on the French Riviera. The Prince drew on scientific, diplomatic and human approaches.

In the field of human sciences, historiography has tended to focus on Prince Albert I’s efforts to further prehistoric studies. The aim of this article is to point out that the Prince was first interested in the anthropology of modern humans, before he began supporting research on fossil humans. By studying his practice of anthropology, we can then focus attention on some methodological aspects and highlight his intellectual references, as well as some of his scientific and philosophical choices.

Common goods emerged as the subject of diplomatic negotiations during the nineteenth century, and historical research is now taking an increasing interest in this issue. Prince Albert I of Monaco’s work in oceanography, and his determination to give this new science legitimacy, led him to focus particularly on issues of safety at sea and the conservation of fishery resources. Imbued with the internationalism of his era, he addressed these issues transnationally, although there were many obstacles to actually taking any action.

Prince Albert I of Monaco contributed to expanding scientific understanding in a number of fields, and notably in the geography of the seas and oceans. A member of the Société de géographie, the oldest geographical society in the world, from December 1885, he visited several times to give presentations or share reports on his discoveries, including on the Gulf Stream, on fishing, on the anatomy and feeding of pilot whales and on his expeditions to the Lofoten Islands and to Spitsbergen.

Jules Massenet’s opera Thérèse was originated at the Monte-Carlo Opera on 7 February 1907. This opera, which, at a little more than an hour, is short, featuring concentrated action, is set in October 1792, close to Versailles, outside (park, steps) the manor belonging to the Marquis de Clerval, who has emigrated, and in Paris, in June 1793, at the home of André Thorel, a Girondist.
This paper proposes to highlight the complexity of the socio-political situation surrounding the creation of Thérèse, both in Paris and in Monaco. In effect, creating such an opera in 1907, in a principality like Monaco, was not politically harmless, not least since Thérèse is a moment in a broader story: the ‘memory’ of the Revolution until 1914. What else does Thérèse ‘tell’ us about the political and artistic sensibilities of Albert I, and the way in which Massenet translates – or not – the politics and his emotions into his musical language?

Alice Heine, the widow of the Duke of Richelieu, would meet Albert I in 1879 and marry him in 1889. She left him in 1901, but remained Princess Alice of Monaco for the rest of her life. Liked, adored, celebrated, envied, sometimes hated, for 15 years she promoted the Principality’s cultural life. An unpredictable Pygmalion, an influential woman, and one who was also influenced herself, her personality is worthy of study and her role deserves to be reassessed, even though she remains an elusive figure.

“Todas las cosas del mondo pasan presto su memoria sinon la fama i la gloria” [“All things are quickly forgotten in this world except fame and glory”]. This strange inscription, engraved in March 1548, mixing Italian, Latin and Spanish, is written on a door lintel in the alley of La Miséricorde, in Monaco-Ville. It is one of the very rare testimonies left by Spain, as a political protector from 1524 of the seigneury, then principality of Monaco. It was not until 1605 that it imposed a permanent garrison on the Rock. How did these soldiers, who stayed in the place until their expulsion in 1641, “put up” with the local population? And what reception was given to them by the inhabitants of the little city? Were the human links, which were created between “occupiers and occupied”, forced, without real collusion? Or were they established more durably, between men and women brought together by political issues that went beyond their daily lives?

This article attempts to identify these Spanish soldiers, who pass from the rank of foreigner to that of neighbour and, gradually, are perceived differently by those who welcomed them. Only the study of a few elements that enabled them to integrate into the local population (marriages, godparent, the practice of religion, transactions and work), and that of the values they shared with civilians such as poverty, language and solidarity, will lift the veil on a discreet, but anything but tasteless character.

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This article discusses the attribution of the portrait of Giovanna Grimaldi Trivulzio (Monaco, Princely Palace) to the Provençal painter Bernardin Mimault (1609-1673), affirmed in art-historical literature since the 1930s but not based on sound scholarly evidence. Compared with the small number of known works signed by Mimault – and bearing in mind an unpublished painting in the Franciscan Monastery of Saorge (département of Alpes-Maritimes) – the portrait of Giovanna clearly seems to be by a different hand. Though cropped, another likeness of the noblewoman, currently in a private collection (with a Trivulzio provenance), contains numerous parallels in style and iconography with the painting in Monaco, suggesting the same authorship. The two pictures are here connected with payments made between April and July 1620 to the Milanese painter Alfonso Pozzobonelli (1592-after 1620), and to his father Giuliano, for two portraits of Giovanna commissioned by the Trivulzio family (Giovanna, sister of Prince Onorato II, had married Gian Teodoro Trivulzio, future prince and cardinal). It seems legitimate to suppose that the two versions of the same portrait were painted by Alfonso Pozzobonelli, one to be sent to Monaco, the other remaining in the couple’s Milanese residence at Porta Tosa. In addition, the date in the documents, 1620, is the same as that inscribed along the lower edge of the canvas in Monaco.

Comparison with the few portraits attributable to Alfonso offers further support for this new attribution. Analysis of other archival documents, including some significant biographical data, make it possible to reconstruct the circumstances leading to the commission of the two paintings and, more generally, to focus on the extraordinary figure of Giovanna, educated by her maternal uncle Federico Landi, Prince of Valdetaro, in anticipation of potentially having to govern Monaco. She died very young in November 1620 of “acute fever”, having just given birth to the family heir Ercole Teodoro, only a few months after being immortalized in these two portraits.

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Prince Honoré III of Monaco (1720-1795) opted for a military career in the French Army, in line with the XVIIth century tradition of warrior sovereigns, and in accordance with the wishes of his father the duke of Valentinois. He became a musketeer in the King’s Guard in 1736, then an ensign in the King’s Regiment of Foot, in which capacity he was present at the camp at Compiègne in 1739, in the presence of Louis XV. In 1740, at last, he was able to purchase, by means of annuity purchase, the Tallard Infantry Regiment, which became the Monaco Regiment. This unit was known for its many officers from Dauphiné and its uniform, which the prince endowed with a distinctive purple colour. A great many officers of the regiment had fought in the wars of Louis XIV.

Honoré III took part with his regiment in the campaigns of the War of the Austrian Succession. He was at the camp at Dunkirk in 1742, and was involved in the attempted landing in Britain. In 1744, he followed Maurice of Saxony at the camp of Courtrai, and after that was under the command of the Prince of Conti in Germany in 1745. During the battle of Rocoux, the 11th October 1746, he was lightly injured and saved by sergeant Jean Vidal hitherto unknown to Historians. On the 2nd July 1747, at the battle of Laeffeldt, the Monaco Regiment suffered heavy losses, and Honoré III distinguished himself at some risk to his life. This military experience proved to be a source of assertiveness for him and a path towards learning how to rule as a prince.

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Prince Honoré V of Monaco (1778–1841) is a unique personality. Restoring in 1815 the sovereignity of the Grimaldi family over the principalty, after its disappearance during the Revotution and the Empire, he tries by every means possible to defend it and to develop the Monagasque economy, very poor at this time, in an interventionist approach, inspired by the enlightened despotism of the 18th century.

In a context of assertion of sovereignty, it is not surprising that he approved, at the end of his reign, the plan for an ambitious monetary project. Despite its failure, we’ve still got two medals struck on the fringe of it, at the monetary workshop of the palace, in 1838, one for the visit of the consul of France in Nice (and Monaco), M. de Canclaux, the other for the construction of a modern bridge over the Careï, in Menton, ensuring the territorial continuity of the Principalty, then ten times larger than today.

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This article is devoted to the French library of the castle of Lichtenstein in Germany which contains 1645 titles, listed in a catalog, and about 3 500 volumes. It focuses on describing the library in its current environment, to find out how it was set up and to analyze its cultural characteristics. This library, perfectly preserved in an exceptional place, largely comes from the legacy of Princess Florestine of Monaco’s father Florestan. It seems that after moving to Germany in 1863, following her marriage to duke William of Urach, Florestine enriched this library. True model of the aristocratic libraries of its time due to the number of its works, the high quality of the bindings and the wide cultural field it covers, the library is an exceptional monument of French culture in Germany.

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From 1897 and for nearly fifteen years, after many newspaper articles about the salient episodes of his maritime journeys, Prince Albert I devoted himself to the preparation of a book entitled La Carrière d’un navigateur which brings together all of these columns as announced almost from the beginning.

This article lingers over the conditions of this first edition printing. The gestation of the book with the Plon-Nourrit publishing company proved to be long and difficult, given the perfectionist nature of the prince, who intends to maintain control over corrections and formatting until the end.

After several unsatisfactory impressions in the sight of the prince, the book finally appeared in the fall of 1902. From then on, it has been the subject of many and various reactions. The prince, meanwhile, is already starting a second edition.

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The expulsion of the spanish garrison from Monaco the 17th November 1641 has been studied as yet from Italian and Monegasque documents. The publication of a French contemporary testimony, published the 18th December 1641, provides some new precisions, and supplies the « très chrétien » point of view in the context of french-monegasque entente after the alliance reversal of the Principality.

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When he was a teenager, Albert, hereditary Prince of Monaco, adopted two principles: to be useful and to leave a mark of his activities. A family and friendly correspondence, also active and appreciated by the recipients, led him to tell about the outstanding episodes of his maritime journey.

In 1888 and 1889, he published two articles in the prestigious Revue des deux mondes. His role as a sovereign has forced him to put aside this writing activity for six years. Then, Albert I of Monaco published three texts in the Nouvelle Revue - “À la chasse”, “La mort d’un cachalot”, “L’âme du marin” – in the Revue de Paris, the Grande Revue, and finally in the Revue scientifique.

Nevertheless, he wished to bring together all these articles in a book which, from the second publication, were given a caption: “La carrière d’un navigateur”.

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University exegesis means that Princess Alice of Monaco inspired Marcel Proust for the character of the princess of Luxembourg in In Search of Lost Time. At the very least, she went to Geneviève Straus’ ‘Proustian’ salon and, in London (with the complicity of the rani Margaret Brooke) as in Paris, counted numerous friends in the world of letters and arts: Pierre Loti , Guy de Maupassant, Paul Bourget, Frank Harris, Oscar Wilde, Isidore de Lara, Hugues Le Roux, Sarah Bernhardt, etc. The annual exhibition of fine arts created in 1893 and the lyric programming of the salle Garnier during the Belle Époque were a great success thanks to Princess Alice. Albert I of Monaco and herself, for the duration of their married life, have been in fact at the heart of an apparatus of artists, figures from the press, opera or science who set up a cultural lifestyle so important to the reputation of the Principality, between 1880 and 1902.

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Symbolic representations obeying codes from the Middle Ages, ecclesiastical coats of arms are intended to reflect the personality, origins, or pastoral program of their bearer. Both a legacy of history and contemporary creation, episcopal heraldry sees its use differ according to the context and the character of the prelates. Thus, Charles Theuret, first bishop of Monaco in 1887, made an exuberant use of his arms, while Charles Brand, first archbishop in 1981, did not use them during his short Monegasque episcopate. The spirit of Second Vatican Council dealt a temporary blow to this tradition, but the communication needs of the XXIst century have revived the need for a visual identity.

The appointment of a new Archbishop of Monaco at the start of 2020 is an opportunity to examine a varied iconography, which had never, until then, aroused any study.

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In 1960, prince Rainier III of Monaco named a 28-year-old American, Martin Dale, Privy Councilor for the Economy. Dale will mobilize his economic competences and his networks in the American business community in order to attract the headquarters of major Anglo-Saxon companies and transform the Principality into a financial center of international stature. This project is part of a more general policy of modernization led by the prince since the 1950s. However, the French-Monegasque crisis (1962-1963) will slow down the reform’s greater scheme. Martin Dale will find himself at the heart of the tensions, accused of favoring American interests to the detriment of France. Despite pressure from General de Gaulle, he will be kept in his position. Until his departure in 1964, he continued his mission of promoting Monaco to the United States.

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Coming from Rome, where the plague is declared, and going to France, where she is expected like a queen that she is no longer quite, Christina of Sweden would like to make a stopover in Monaco. This wish for a visit from a very prominent figure from the Europe of the time should have flattered the Prince of Monaco, concerned about the recognition of his sovereignty. Worried about the diplomatic consequences of the passage of a woman with a contrasting reputation, who passes to be from the party of Spain, in a fortress where a French garrison is stationed, Honoré II asks the King of France, his protector for fifteen years instructions. Even reassured on the political question, he does not derogate from the health precaution and poses quarantine as a condition of disembarkation. The galleys of the queen only mark a stop off the Rock.

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John Grimaldi the First, lord of Monaco from 1427 to 1454, had to fight during all these years against the aims of his big neighbours – namely the Republic of Genoa, the duchies of Savoy and Milan –, eager to seize Monaco, strategic stronghold between Provence and Italy. Despite the determination he made to preserve the independence of his Rock of Monaco, John ended up selling, in the spring of 1451, his seigneury to Dauphin Louis, future king of France Louis XI, retaining only the government of the place in the name of the Dauphin. Thus, totally ignored, the delphinal banner waved for three years on the towers of the two castles of Monaco, until the death of John Grimaldi and the beginning of the reign of his son Catalan. Finally the place remained in the hands of the Grimaldi, the Dauphin having not executed the clauses of the bill of sale and having abandoned his plans of foreign Italian policy.

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A volume housed in the Archives of the Principality of Monaco contains drafts of letters written in 1630 by Honoré II to various individuals, revealing his lively collecting activity, especially as regards landscape and still-life paintings, mostly Flemish. His privileged correspondents were Jan Roos and Cornelis de Wael, who were then active in Genoa, and from whom he commissioned numerous paintings, also on the occasion of their visits to Monaco in November 1629 (de Wael) and February-March 1630 (Roos). In addition the letters reveal the Prince’s appreciation for two of the major painters in Genoa, Domenico Fiasella and Luciano Borzone, who were repeatedly asked to work for him. His interests spread beyond Liguria, reaching artists in Milan, Rome, Naples, Florence, Flanders and Spain. In Madrid he commissioned the portraits of the Spanish Royals; from Rome he received the portrait of Cardinal Teodoro Trivulzio, his brother-in-law, as well as various paintings by the Neapolitan Domenico Viola, who was then in the circle of the Bamboccianti. His writing reveals a very defined taste, expressed through clear judgements on the quality of paintings and precise requests to artists regarding subject, material and format.

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The Monaco Egg, a masterpiece made by the House of Fabergé, has an undeniable imperial provenance.

Previously dated 1887, it was presented by Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra to Empress Maria Feodorovna in honor of the 1895 Easter festivities, the first celebration of its kind since Emperor Alexander III’s death in the Fall of 1894. This egg initiated the tradition of a series of eggs offered by Nicholas II to his mother. With the exception of the third imperial egg, whose surprise included a watch that transformed the egg into a clock, the Monaco egg represents the first clock egg in the imperial series. Many of the clock eggs were presented to Empress Maria who enjoyed collecting elaborate mechanisms.

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Created in 1868 in the context of urban development linked to the growth of Monte-Carlo, the cemetery of Salines was expected to face the new needs induced by the increase of the population of the Principality in the second half of the nineteenth century. It also had to meet the new sanitary requirements and replace the old Monegasque small graveyards, including that of the Saint-Nicolas church, the most important. Having become the only cemetery in Monaco, it experienced the same problems of space as the Principality and sometimes had to use the same strategies to develop. But, beyond these questions of urbanism, this cemetery is, like other necropolis of the French or Italian Riviera, an interesting example illustrating the funerary Mediterranean culture.

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As early as 1876, Carl Vogt proposed for a research centre to be established in Villefranche-sur-Mer, taking into account the peculiarities of the fauna and topography in that area. During the 1880s, several attempts were made, but difficulties arose between the protagonists: the French Jules Barrois, the Swiss Hermann Fol and the Russian Alexis Korotneff. When Prince Albert I of Monaco spent several months in his Principality in 1890, all these persons tried to obtain his help.

The main wish of the Prince was to resume his oceanographic work. Over about fifteen days, he went to sea on board Fol’s well-equipped yacht, Amphiaster. So he became acquainted with the use of a steamer. A study was undertaken for the apparatus, particularly the traps and closing nets devised and/or improved by him and those used by Fol; the methods for their use and the results obtained were thoroughly compared. Before and after the creation of the Oceanographic Museum, relations between the Prince and the oceanographers in Villefranche-sur-Mer were restricted to neighbourly terms, exchanges of animals and information. A program for common researches was never concluded.

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The principality of Monaco takes a significant part in the life and work of the Scottish writer Robert W. Service (1874–1958). After having been world widely celebrated for his Canadian High North writings and then regarding his First World War poems on the Somme front, he dwelt at Monaco which inspires him The Poisoned Paradise. A Romance of Monte-Carlo published in 1922. This book alongside with its film adaptation took advantage of the hugely mainstream adventure novel trend. Besides of this literary success, the novel is giving an extremely relevant account of Monaco during the Roaring Twenties.

After the Second World War, Robert W. Service settles definitively with his family at Monaco where he finds, as he explained it many times, all the propitious components allowing his inspiration to flourish. Service was regularly celebrated by the local and Anglo-Saxon media; when in 1956, the Royal Wedding happened to be another highlight owing to his special moments with Grace Kelly and her parents.

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Claude de Kemoularia’s mission in the service of Prince Rainier III of Monaco from 1965 to 1967 coincided with the climax and the outcome of the crisis between the Prince of Monaco and Aristotle Onassis. Kemoularia’s personal archives allow to highlight the details of the negotiations that led to the departure of Onassis from the Société des Bains de mer (S.B.M). Kémoularia’s direct correspondence with Rainier III updates the principality’s methods of government a few years after the establishment of the Monegasque Constitution of 1962. It also shows the importance for Monaco of French support, particularly in banking circles face Onassis.

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Designed as a photographic tour through the Palace State rooms, this exhibition, presented in the State rooms in the Palace of Monaco, from 14 Mai to 15 October 2019, organized by the Palace of Monaco Archive and the Audiovisual Institute of Monaco, follows in Grace Kelly’s footsteps in the very places where she met Prince Rainier, around the dress she wore that day, along with personal items, letters, testimonials, newspaper clips and film excerpts. All this documentation shows how the reportage, which went virtually unnoticed at the time, became legend, with its memories and anecdotes.

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Comme l'indique son surnom de « prince musicien », Antoine Ier de Monaco, qui régna de 1701 à 1731, était un mélomane averti, non seulement sensible aux harmonies françaises, mais également aux italiennes. À l’instar de ses ancêtres il sut inculquer à ses enfants l’amour de l'art, particulièrement celui de la musique. Si ses trois filles furent musiciennes, c’est avec la cadette, Marie-Pelline (1708-1726), qu’il partageait véritablement cette passion, la pratiquant avec elle au quotidien. Claveciniste émérite, elle restera célèbre grâce au grand François Couperin, ami intime de son père, comme le prouvent plusieurs lettres. En 1722 celui-ci dédia en effet à Marie-Pelline une composition, délicat portrait musical : La Princesse de Chabeüil, ou la muse de Monaco.

Henri IV enfant du sculpteur monégasque François-Joseph Bosio (1768-1845) fut une des œuvres les plus reproduites du XIXe siècle assurant la postérité de son auteur. Traduit dans différents matériaux, édité abondamment en réductions, ce prototype sculpté de roi-enfant, fondateur de la dynastie des Bourbons, fut le réceptacle d’ambitions politiques avant de devenir une référence esthétique de la sculpture néo-classique française. Cet article s’attache à établir un historique de la diffusion des versions en marbre, argent, bronze et plâtre d’Henri IV enfant de 1823 à 1900, permettant ainsi de discriminer les fluctuations de sens accompagnant cette variété de transformations du modèle.

François-Joseph Bosio (1768-1845) est né à Monaco et y vécu jusqu’à l’âge de dix-sept ans. Mais c’est à Paris, comme sculpteur, qu’il a conquis gloire et célébrité. Après son départ de la principauté en 1785, il semble avoir peu à peu adopté la patrie française dont lui sont venues ses commandes. Pourtant, après sa mort, son souvenir est devenu un objet de fierté pour les Monégasques. Dans le contexte du renouveau incarné par l’avènement de Charles III, la principauté ne pouvait que célébrer un personnage si illustre. Poussés par leur patriotisme, les écrivains, journalistes, hommes politiques et poètes locaux ont, chacun à leur manière, commémoré un homme qu’il fallait relier à l’histoire nationale. Aujourd’hui encore, alors que la mémoire de Bosio a décliné dans le souvenir des Français, il est encore fêté avec flamboyance à Monaco.

Comme Eugène Süe, Félicité Robert de Lammenais, Victor Hugo, Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, et bien d’autres hommes et femmes illustres ou tout simplement célèbres sous le Second Empire et la Troisième République, les princes Charles III et Albert Ier ont été sensibles au charme singulier de Marie Laetizia Rattazzi-de Rute (ex-Mme de Solms), petite fille de Lucien Bonaparte, avec qui ils ont partagé des moments de leurs existences. Bien que ces épisodes relatifs à la famille Grimaldi ne soient point évoqués par les biographes, les lettres et télégrammes inédits conservés aux Archives du Palais de Monaco en portent témoignage. L’étude présentée ici se propose d’en rendre compte.

À l’heure du tricentenaire de la fondation de La Nouvelle-Orléans (1718-2018), la Principauté de Monaco a renouvelé cette année ses liens avec la ville par le biais de la visite du maire de La Nouvelle-Orléans à Monaco et de la visite de S.A.S. le prince Albert II à La Nouvelle-Orléans. Cet article retrace l’origine de ces liens noués par la princesse Alice de Monaco, née à La Nouvelle-Orléans et seconde épouse du prince Albert Ier. L’ancrage néo-orléanais de la famille d’Alice Heine remonte à la période révolutionnaire et aux circulations entre la France, les Antilles et les États-Unis. L’itinéraire des familles Miltenberger, Dorfeuille et Heine témoigne des vagues migratoires successives qui font de La Nouvelle-Orléans un pôle urbain et portuaire majeur au milieu du XIXe siècle et un centre de brassage de plusieurs générations de migrants francophones. Les origines maternelles d’Alice Heine sont issues des migrations coloniales de France vers Saint-Domingue puis vers La Nouvelle-Orléans après les troubles révolutionnaires et l’indépendance d’Haïti, à l’occasion desquelles ses arrière-grands-parents et grands-parents ont trouvé à La Nouvelle-Orléans de nouvelles opportunités de succès. Ses origines paternelles proviennent de l’installation plus récente de son père français d’origine allemande Michel Heine, dans le cadre de l’essor commercial de La Nouvelle-Orléans au milieu du XIXe siècle. Alice, née en 1857, et sa famille, doivent cependant abréger leur séjour américain et regagner la France du fait de la guerre de Sécession (1861-1865).

Une attirance précoce, irrésistible, pour la mer fait naître chez le prince Albert Ier de Monaco une vocation de navigateur. Elle ne se limite pas, comme la mémoire collective tend à la restreindre, à ses travaux scientifiques et à sa contribution décisive aux progrès de l’océanographie. Le nombre et la complexité des activités humaines liées au domaine maritime suscitent chez le prince de multiples initiatives.

Les « fortunes de mer », dans lesquelles, tour à tour, il joue le rôle de sauveteur et subit les épreuves du naufrage, le poussent à tenter de créer une Union maritime internationale destinée à combler les lacunes du droit international en matière d’abordages, de collisions et d’assistance maritime. Dès 1886, il se fait l’apôtre d’une gestion raisonnée des ressources vivantes marines. Des dispositions réglementaires et législatives, nationales et internationales, sont indispensables pour éviter toute surexploitation. Seules des études scientifiques peuvent conduire à une législation responsable, d’autant mieux si elles sont menées dans le cadre de commissions internationales, telles celles adoptées à Genève en 1908 pour l’Atlantique et la Méditerranée. Enfin, souverain d’un État littoral, le prince Albert Ier promulgue une vingtaine d’ordonnances souveraines et dote la rade de Monaco de constructions et d’infrastructures afin d’améliorer la configuration naturelle du site.

Exposition préparée dans le cadre du lancement des « Explorations de Monaco » par S.A.S. le Prince Albert II, présentée au Musée d’histoire naturelle de Funchal du 6 septembre 2017 au 7 janvier 2018.

Now largely destroyed, the château of Torigni used to be one of the greatest and noblest houses in Normandy, and was in the 18th century one of the principal residences of the princes of Monaco. Numerous archival documents, mainly preserved in the Palace Archives, allow to trace its history: at first a fortified castle built for an illegitimate son of King Henry Beauclerc of England, it was reconstructed in the mid-14th century before becoming in the 16th century a much more sumptuous house. Jacques II de Matignon built a large château whose fronts, designed by a member of the Du Cerceau family, were covered with stone bosses. His descendants had this great building improved by new interior decorations, the most important being the cycle of paintings ordered in 1651 from Claude Vignon. A large park was created near the château, and a great cascade was built in the early 18th century. However, these landscaping were destroyed after the French Revolution, which lead to the loss of the majority of this great princely residence.

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The diploma of doctorate in canon and civil law, obtained by Hercule Grimaldi in 1584 at the University of Pavia, is translated here from latin and commented. In addition to its outstanding aesthetic and technical quality, this charter contains a lot of informations about the doctorate in law in the 16th century, its requirements and procedures, at that special time of Europe’s history, during the Counter-Reformation. Moreover, the doctorate obtained by Hercule demonstrates real Grimaldi’s interest in University, which can play an important role not only in instructing monarchs, but also in promoting the symbolic image of the dynasty, by honouring its remarkable figures.

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The great charm of Peter Paul Rubens, the painter of the Seventeenth-century European courts, could not be grabbed by the Grimaldi House: Honoré II inventories include some paintings attributed to him, while Antoine I requested the Monegasque painter Jean-Augustin Vento for some copies of his celebrated Maria de Medici Cycle. Anyway his most passionate admirer was Jacques I: among the paintings attributed to the Flemish master in his possession, we can find the so-called Le fils de Paul Rubens, a beautiful portrait so far preserved. The painting, currently at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, is now attributed to Cornelis de Vos, a great Flemish portraitist and also Rubens collaborator. It is identified as the portrait of his daughter Susanna. (full text in French)

At first sight, Principality and Serenissima were, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, two independent States that geography, history, politic, and economic separated more than they gathered. Even so, Antoine I’s « Grand Tour » is a problem; how can we explain his long presence in the city of the Doges (nearly one month), unlike he stayed only a few days in the other towns he crossed? Perhaps because his father, Louis I, had ties that were transcribed in many ways. Which ones and how? Did his successors continue them? Quite always, everything has to do with this prince.

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Not surprisingly, Hercule Florence’s personality owes its debt to his childhood and parenthood. He wrote some pages about this time in Nice and Monaco, which are here published, introduced by our own researches helping to know better these 1793-1823 years around the young inventor and his parents. We tried here to enhance the documents existing in the Archives of Monaco, of Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes, sometimes supporting, sometimes correcting Hercule Florence’s memories. (full text in French)

In 1817, the plenipotentiaries of the prince of Monaco and of the king of Sardinia signed in Turin the two treaties which established and regulated the protectorate of Sardinia on the principality of Monaco which lasted until 1860 when the ancient Savoy county of Nice and the villes libres of Menton and Roquebrune were annexed to France. The treaties were ratified by king Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia on 8 and 11 november 1817 in the royal hunting castle of Stupinigi, close to Turin. Today, almost two centuries after the treaties of Stupinigi, we want to commemorate the most significant events that marked this period so interesting from a historical and diplomatic profile. This essay examines in detail some aspects of the Franco-Sardinian-Monegasque diplomatic and territorial controversy under the Stupinigi treaties. (full text in French)

The award-winning writer and philosophy teacher, Armand Lunel (1892-1977) received the Théophraste-Renaudot first prize in 1926 and marked several generations of pupils through his teaching from 1920 to 1953 at the High School in Monaco (Lycée de Monaco). Throughout his life he constantly declared his unceasing esteem for the Prince and his family as well as for the inhabitants of a country that he loved as much as the figures from his own Provençal childhood. Although his works reveal little of his deep attachment to Monaco, his commitment to the activities of various associations and institutions in his capacity as a prominent literary figure made him a true cultural ambassador for Monaco in France and in the world. Finally, the course of Lunel’s life and career is significantly representative of the hardships faced by a Jewish civil servant during World War II, dismissed by Vichy, protected by the Princely family and reinstated at the Liberation by the Monegasque government. (full text in French)

In early 1892, the state took over the distribution of matches in Monaco. After half a century of French boxes surcharged « monaco », the first illustrated boxes and books appeared around 1950. Their initial “woodcut” style was later replaced by beautiful photographic illustrations on sold boxes and by advertisements, especially for cigarettes and other products of the Régie monégasque, mainly on boxes for free distribution. From a technical point of view, the wooden boxes disappear to the benefit of cardboard boxes, and the books simply glued took the place of the old tacked ones. (full text in French)

Up through the first half of the 14th century, the kings and princes of the territories continued to rely primarily on military service, turning to the chivalry in particular, in order to wage their war as successfully as possible. However, at the end of the Middle Ages, recruiting soldiers in this manner increasingly meant providing pecuniary consideration, wages and in-kind compensation. Such was the case of Charles Grimaldi, who served the French monarchy and the Anjou dynasty over many long years. His enlistment enabled him to build political fame and financial power. (full text in French)

Honoré II (1597-1662), the first of the Grimaldis to bear the title "Prince of Monaco", instituted a true monarchy. He modeled his system largely after that of the French royalty and forged an alliance with France in 1641 in order to leave the Spanish protectorate. The chaplain Don Francesco Bottino provided a detailed printed account of the prince's royal funeral, which he himself organized and presided over.

The chaplain pronounced the funeral oration on November 4, 1662, the same day as the majestic, solemn funeral ceremony, ten months after the prince's January 10th passing and the presentation of the prince's mortal remains at the palace and the burial ceremony, which took place on January 12th in the St. Sebastian chapel of St. Nicholas Church.

The November funeral ceremony, which followed in the grand Baroque tradition, which one was modeled on the magnificent Italian funeral services, satisfied two aims : the glorification of the actions, virtues ans Christian faith of the deceased and above all, the enthronement of Louis, his successor. The funeral as performance served to coronate the heir. In order to illustrate the princely genealogy, it was essential that the decoration process, featuring numerous statues, sayings, allegories and ephemeral sculptures, be sumptuous. The facade, naves and choir were completely covered with drapery and epitaphs as means of illustrating the origins and power of this monarchy by divine right. The cenotaph, placed on top the catafalque, paid spectacular homage to the deceased by raising him up to God and reminding everyone of the dynasty's glory. (full text in French)

Jacques-François-Leonor de Matignon (1689-1751), who took the throne as Jacques I, "pièce rapportée dans la dynastie Grimaldi", created a great picture Gallery ; he also moved part of the Monegasque collections to his house of Passy and Torigni, particularly though to his magnificent Parisian mansion, the Hotel de Matignon. He overcame the Italianate taste of his predecessors, showing to be deeply broadminded towards Europe and really passionate for Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, prince of the Dutch painters of the Golden age. About twenty Rembrandt's paintings were found in inventories and records of the Archives, either originals or copies. The purpose of this article is to introduce the splendid Self-portrait, the charming Portrait of a man holding gloves, in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Portrait of a man in a board brimmed hat, in the Japanese Kawamura Mémorial Museum of Art, the mysterious Jewess (Christie's London) and the Admiral Cornelis Tromp from the Louvre Museum. (full text in French)

The archives, and more specifically the post mortem inventories, teach us that the ancient palace of Monaco's library has existed since at least the Renaissance and was continuously enriched through all major periods of history before completely disappearing under the influence of revolutionary confiscations. The review of its collections allow us to better understand its relations with the lords and the princes of Monaco, as well as their entourage. It also confirms their importance, quantitatively and in quality, which has made of the palace of Monaco's library at least equal of its homologues, notably the French ones. (full text in French)

Under the cloak of the Italian "springtime of the peoples", Menton, principal city of the principality of Monaco, rebelled against the prince. The rebels demanded that the same reforms as those by Charles-Albert I in the kingdom of Sardinia surrounding the Monegasque territory. Nevertheless, noticing the hesitations of Florestan I to realize a new government, which would allow Menton to have the same political role as in the demographic and economic area, the rebels decided to secede. The process is considered unfounded by the prince and his partisans, the political conflict carries on through the newspapers in the neigbouring province, the Echo des Alpes Maritimes founded in January 1848 by about ten Niçois liberals guided by Auguste Carlone, a famous banker from Nice. The study concentrates on the way neo-publicist manage to implement a new public debate on the future of the principality if Monaco, led by some Mentonnais and Monegasque debating in the columns of the papers without having even seen or knowing each other, which enabled the writers to cleverly take position for the secessionist. (full text in French)

The name of Pierre Loti is too exclusively associated with the literary exoticism. He has been caricaturated as a perpetual nomad and it was also believed that his feminine ideal came down to his sensual heroins. Among all the attractive, cultured and well born ladies Pierre Loti met along his life, there was the Duchess Alice de Richelieu, who became Princess of Monaco (1857-1925). From 1884 to the French academician's death in 1923, Princess Alice and Pierre Loti had a very strong relationship, though not very well known. "Soul mates, we are", said Loti in 1894. To what she answered : "You are a kind of worship for me"... (full text in French)

An unlikely and inexcusable confusion led, a few decades ago, to the "amalgamation" of two virtually homonymous French artists who both had some links with the Principality of Monaco. Paul Emile Berton (born in Chartrettes in 1846, died in Paris in 1909), each year from 1894 to 1903, showed landscapes at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Monte-Carlo. Paul Louis Joseph Berthon (born in Villefranche-sur-Saône in 1872, died in Sceaux in 1934) designed two bookshop posters for Prince Albert I's book, La Carrière d'un navigateur. At Princess Alice's request he produced several illustrations for the programmes of operas performed in 1900 at the Monte-Carlo Theatre. (full text in French)

Behind the universally well-known name of Monte-Carlo, which keeps the memory of Charles III alive, builder Prince and founder of the modern Principality, there is a history. Fatherhood is plural, shared between François Blanc, the "wizard" of Monaco, the main shareholder of the Société des bains de mer, the Prince, and his General Governor Edward Imberty. It was then to forget a local place name, whose etymology could involve attacks against the casino. (full text in French)

The paper enhances first the economic role of the Black Sea between the West and the Mongol khanates in the 13th and 14th centuries and then describes what were the political functions and the economic activities of the members of the Grimaldi clan in the Genoese colonies of the Black Sea. (full text in French)

The Grimaldi Family adopted the title of Prince of Monaco in 1612. The Romanov Family ascended the throne of Russia in 1613. In 1663, Russian Ambassadors discovered Monaco and its monarch. But the dynamic relations between the Russia sovereigns and the Monaco sovereigns really began during the 19th century, by the will of H.S.H. Prince Honoré V to forge links with Russia, which had an increased power after the Napoleonic wars.

Thanks to a courteous correspondence cadenced by the Family events and by the decorations exchanges, the links were accentuated until, at the end of the 19th century, the imperial Family, attracted by the mildness of the Mediterranean climate in winter, discovered the French Riviera and Monte-Carlo.

Consular relations were officially established in 1877 between both States. H.S.H. Prince Albert I was received for the first time in 1884 by Alexandre III. In 1896, for Czar Nicolas II's coronation, Louis, Prince Hereditary of Monaco, leads the Monegasque delegation to Moscow. On the eve of the First World War, Nicolas II authorized H.S.H. Prince Albert I to hunt the bison in his imperial domain of Biéloviège in Russian Poland. H.S.H. Prince of Monaco also built with Russia scholar, scientific and personal relations. He met Admiral Makaroff in Advent Bay, in Spitzberg Island in 1899 and was admitted in various Russian scholar until 1917. (full text in French

Alexandre Dumas published in 1854 Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont's (1639-1678) so-called "memoirs", under the title Vie et aventures de la Princesse de Monaco (Princess of Monaco's life and adventures). Written by Countess Dash, a friend of Alexandre Dumas, three "memoirs" actually are romanced biography of Marshal of Gramont's daughter, Princess of Monaco, Louis I's wife. The Duchess of Valentinois' life was adventurous, and shared between the intrigues of Louis XIV court, her love for the Duke of Lauzun and her stays in Monaco. She died when she was 39 yeasr old following a painful disease. Countess Dash présents in his way the historical reality in order to accentuate the romantic aspect of the heroine's life, even if it means making some nose-thumbing to the history. (full text in French)

In the middle of the 19th century Great Britain and France organised the first World Fairs of modern times. Prince Charles III and Francois Blanc decided by common consent to take part in this "concert of nations" in 1873. Henceforth Monaco participated in the majority of these events across Europe. Looking at these pavilions and what was exhibited there allow us to establish the growth of the Principlity not only in terms of the economy, but also culture, the arts ans sciences. It highlights the two tendencies revealed by the increasingly close study devoted to these international gatherings : the march towards the modern world and the affirmation of national identity. (full text in French)

Massenet forged privileged links with Albert I of Monaco, from 1902 until his death in 1912. Staying repeatedly in the Principality, which he assimilates to a heaven of peace compared to Paris, the French composer actively participates to the cultural Monegasque life by creating several of its operas or by participating in various artistic or commemorative events. (full text in French)

We knew that there was a friendship ended with a sudden rupture between Marcel Proust and Prince Pierre. If the friendship cannot be explained, the quarrel is understandable. The witnesses, then the biographers, proposed explanations often inspired by the writer's reputation, his complex psychology and a certain taste for the sensational. This article proposes an analysis of the four letters and telegram that Marcel Proust addressed to Prince Pierreduring the summer 1920. We follow the meanders, always to be explored, of the "proustienne" friendship, we also detect the rich and sensitive personality of Prince Pierre. (full text in French)

On September 1, 1715, the Sun King died. Just a little more than a month before, he formally approved the conditions of the marriage of the heir to the Principality with Jacques de Matignon. Because of the last illness of the monarch, the contract is only signed on September 5, by the new King Louis XV, and by the Regency courtiers. According to the rules of succession of the Grimaldis, the husband must leave his family name and his coat of arms, but receives, as compensation, a title of duke and peer of France. (full text in French)

During the troubled times preceding the First World War, Prince Albert I clearly affirmed his wish to get closer to the german population. This will reached its limits because of the international events and tenacious mentalities. (full text in French)

As a convinced pacifist, Albert I did everything he could to avoid the worst. The creation of the international institute for peace is one example. (full text in French)

Baroness Bertha von Suttner wrote the famous novel entitled Die Waffen nieder, in 1889. In her writings, she wished world peace and Albert I was one of her important ally. (full text in French)

This study deals with Prince Albert I who was a convinced pacifist, germanophile and francophile in 1914, when the First World War started. (full text in French)

The paleontological institute was created in Paris in 1910 by Prince Albert I. Man of science, this sovereign was interested in the prehistory and the paleontology because scientists from several countries could collaborate. In an international movement, they shared his wish for global peace. (full text in French)

This study profiles a man of science, whose concerns could not match the political events. (full text in French)

The Société des bains de mer of Monaco was at the origins of the “Monegasque miracle”, based on the casino and the hydropathic establishment which attracted wealthy customers. This article recounts the smear campaigns that the principality had to face during the First World War, as Monaco was accused of favouring the german spying. (full text in French)

When the First World War started, the operational theater was far from Monaco. However, due to its geographical location, the region benefitted from health cities favourable to the sending, accommation and medical care of wounded soldiers. Beausoleil was one of these. (full text in French)

During the Great War, Monaco maintained its musical life. Among programming and ochestra’s compositions, a Monegasque compositor called Henri Crovetto, got inspired from the political events, to create his works and pay tribute to the Prince Albert I, along with other musicians. (full text in French)

This article presents the memory sites honouring the fallen men during the Great War, just like the war memorial located in the cemetery, the commemorative plaques in Sainte-Devote Church, in Albert I highschool, in the barracks of firemen and carabiniers, in the S.B.M. headoffice, and in different official entities of the principality. Finally, the author talks about some representative graves of soldiers. (full text in French)

Prince Louis II, also called the “prince soldier”, was many time depicted on his medals and coins. That is the reason why this article recounts his prestigious soldier career, as well as the decorations he received. (full text in French)

This document, presented by Thomas Fouilleron and Jacqueline Carpine-Lancre, is fundamental to understand the Prince Albert I’s philosophy. Written before the War to start, it insisted on the fact that a lasting European peace would only be based on the Franco-German agreement. (full text in French)

Fede Galizia was a painter from the 17th century. The Hippolyte Trivulce portrait she painted of Hippolyte Trivulce, Honoré II’s wife, is at the core of this article. Detailing the pigments used, the style, its composition and the character’s clothes, the author uses the results of recent scientific studies conducted about this paint. Moreover, she also gives details about the historical and pictorial context in order to have a better understanding. (full text in French)

Several topics are discussed within the correspondance between the sovereign of Monaco and Giovanni Antonio Sauli, whose family belonged to the Genoa oligarchy. Especially as the new prince had to impose on the European plan. The presented letters come from the princely palace’s archives, and are dated from 1628 to 1639, when Monaco was under the Spanish protectorate. (full text in French)

In the early XVIIth century, the French policy towards Italy was essential because conquering peninsula lands was a good opportunity to harm Spain. In this regard, Richelieu understood the importance of Monaco, which was under the Spanish protectorate and at the gates of the Italian province. Furthermore, the new prince intended to shake off the shackles. The negociations concluded by the Treaty of Péronne in 1641, started from the 1630s. (full text in French)

On the occasion of Prince Albert II’s visit to three towns of the Matignon lands on the 5th and 6th july 2012, this article deals with the origins of the links between the Grimaldi family and the Matignons : the princess Louise-Hippolyte’s wedding with Jacques de Matignon in 1715. Then, the author describes the genesis of the prince’s Breton roots. (full text in French)

Although heir and sovereign of a Mediterranean coast state, Prince Albert I was not attracted by this geographic area. According to him, the latin population was not as dynamic as people from Northern Europe. Nevertheless, until 1882, he visited several bordering countries such as Spain, Italy and North Africa. Among his scientific campaigns, less than twenty percent were executed in the Mediterranean. The international cooperation created the international commission for the Mediterranean sea’s scientific explorations, in the very beginning of the 20th century. (full text in French)

Important scientific documents, diagrams and photographies permit the author to give more details about a devastating event. This study is even more important because we know, for sure, the earthquake damages caused in Monaco. (full text in French)

This double anniversary is a great opportunity for the author to refer to the main money improvements under each reign. This is the second part of the article previously published in the Annales monégasques n° 36. (full text in French)

Passionate about dialect, the translator of this play by Jean Anouilh – who died in 2008 – wrote three articles in the Annales monégasques n° 20, 24 and 29. They are all dedicated to the Monegasque language and writers. (full text in French)

According to the visitor’s book, Picasso and Olga visited the princely Palace on April 14th 1925. The author makes a link between this visit and Picasso stay in Monaco, following Diaghilev’s invitation, in order to attend the first performance of the new Russian Ballets production. (full text in French)