Catherine Charlotte de Gramont

Catherine Charlotte de Gramont, Princess of Monaco

Catherine Charlotte de Gramont (* 1639 ; † June 4, 1678 in the Palais Royal in Paris ) was Princess of Monaco and Duchess de Valentinois by marriage .

At the French court she was considered a light-hearted lady and is said to have briefly been mistress of the French king Louis XIV . She was chief steward in the Palais Royal , the residence of Philippe d'Orléans , the king's brother.

Life

Catherine Charlotte was the daughter of Antoine de Gramont, Duke of Gramont (1604–1678) from the House of Gramont , and his niece and wife Françoise Marguerite du Plessis (1608–1689), daughter of Hectors de Chivré, seigneur du Plessis and niece of Cardinal Richelieu . Her father was one of the most influential courtiers at the French court and had been Marshal of France and Viceroy of Navarre and Béarn and Governor of Bayonne from 1641 . Her brother was Armand de Gramont , Comte de Guiche.

Catherine Charlotte had inherited her father's disposition and charm. In 1660 she married Louis Grimaldi, 2nd Prince of Monaco (1642–1701), grandson of Honoré II. Grimaldi, 1st Prince of Monaco in Paris . He was the godchild of Louis XIII. and his wife Anne of Austria . Due to some intrigues, the couple was temporarily punished by disfavor and then settled in Monaco . After the death of his grandfather in 1662, who had been called Duke de Valentinois until then, took the name "Louis I. Prince de Monaco" and became the ruling prince.

The princely couple was finally called back to the French court. In 1665 Catherine Charlotte became the chief stewardess of Henriette of England, Duchess of Orléans , the king's sister-in-law. Madame de Monaco was beautiful and flirtatious and attracted many courtiers to court her, including François de Neufville, Duke of Villeroy and Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Duke of Lauzun . It was even said that she had a love affair with the king for a while. His brother, Duke Philippe d'Orléans , had a relationship with Catherine's brother Armand at a young age , who later became a lover of the Duke's wife, Henriette, in whose service Catherine was. When Armand, with the support of the Duchess, wanted to relax the king's mistress Louise de La Vallière , he fell from grace and was banished from the court. After the favorites of the Duke of Orléans had presumably poisoned his wife Henriette, the latter married Liselotte von der Pfalz for the second time . Madame de Monaco stayed with the latter as chief steward and - unlike most of the other courtiers in the Palais Royal - became her close friend. She even tried, as she had already done with Henriette, to convince Liselotte of the joys of lesbian love, to which she also gladly indulged, but in vain. With just as little success she then tried to find a lover for the strict and rather frigid Liselotte, for which she had chosen Philippe de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme .

Very disappointed by his wife's antics, Louis I joined the army and achieved great fame there.

Their marriage had six children, including:

1. Antoine I (1661–1731), Prince of Monaco ∞ Princess Maria of Lorraine
2. Francesco Grimaldi (1669–1748), archbishop

Construction activity

In 1675, Catherine Charlotte de Gramont commissioned the construction of a church in Monaco, which is now called the Musée de la Chapelle de la Visitation .

literature

• WH Lewis: Assault on Olympus. The rise of the House of Gramont between 1604 and 1678. Harcourt, Brace, New York 1958.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dirk Van der Cruysse: Being a Madame is a great craft. Liselotte of the Palatinate. A German princess at the court of the Sun King. From the French by Inge Leipold. 14th edition, Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 3-492-22141-6 , p. 233.

predecessor	Office	Successor
Ippolita Trivulzio	Princess of Monaco 1661–1678	Mary of Lorraine