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The connection between the House of Windsor and the House of
Grimaldi begins in the 19th century when Albert I,
Prince of Monaco married a beautiful and willful British aristocrat
called Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton. Her father was the
11th Duke of Hamilton and her mother was a German
princess, Marie of Baden. Marie provides the first link
between Princess Charlene’s baby and Elizabeth II.
Marie Amelie Elisabeth Caroline of Baden, born in 1817, was the
daughter of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden and, through him, was the
great, great, great granddaughter of Jan Willem, Prince of
Orange. One of Jan Willem’s great, great, great, great
granddaughters was Queen Mary – the grandmother of our present
Queen. It’s this 17th century ruler of Holland who
connects the current Royal Families of Great Britain and
Monaco.
But there is another, even older link between the two houses and
again it comes from Lady Mary Victoria. Her father William
was an important Scottish peer, and descended from Mary, eldest
daughter of James II of Scotland (1437 – 1460). James II’s
son, James III, was the direct ancestor of all later Scottish
monarchs including Mary, Queen of Scots whose son, James VI, in
1603 united his country’s crown with that of England where he was
known as James I. His direct descendant is Elizabeth II.
The woman who provides these links, Lady Mary Victoria, actually
spent very little time in Monaco. Her marriage to Albert I
was an arranged one and the couple met for the first time
around a month before their wedding, which took place at the
fabulously romantic Chateau de Marchais in France. Their only
child, Louis, was born a year later, but Mary Victoria began to
dislike her life in Monaco, and she eventually left her
husband. Their marriage was annulled in 1880, nine years
before Albert became Monaco’s Sovereign Prince.
But while Mary Victoria may never have been consort of Monaco, she
does ensure that the baby of the current consort, Charlene, has
links to the British Crown. Elizabeth II is the longest reigning
monarch in Europe, but she will still call the continent’s newest
royal a cousin when Monaco finally gets its heir at the end of
2014.
photo credit: DrabikPany via photopin
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