Unofficial Royalty
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Monthly Archives: March 2022

Service of Thanksgiving for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

On March 29, 2022, a Service of Thanksgiving for His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was held at Westminster Abbey in London, England. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh died at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England on April 9, 2021, at the age of 99, just two months short of his 100th birthday. The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh took place on Saturday, April 17, 2021, at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor England. The Thanksgiving Service was organized because due to COVID-19 restrictions, there could be only 30 guests at the funeral.

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Guests

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Westminster Abbey with their two eldest children Prince George and Princess Charlotte

1,800 invited guests attended the Service of Thanksgiving including members of the British Royal Family, representatives from current and former royal families, representatives from Prince Philip’s birth family, political leaders, and representatives of many of Prince Philip’s charities.

Many guests wore Edinburgh green, a color closely associated with Prince Philip. The color was used in many official capacities relating to his position, including the uniforms of his staff and his cars. The Land Rover which was used to carry his coffin to his funeral in 2021 was Edinburgh green and the Order of Service for the Service of Thanksgiving was printed in Edinburgh green.

British royal family in the front rows, followed by foreign royalty and other important guests

Guests included:

British Royal Family

Some members of the British royal family

Queen Elizabeth II

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Prince George of Cambridge

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

The Duke of York

Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank

The Earl and Countess of Wessex

The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor

James Mountbatten-Windsor, The Viscount Severn

The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence

Peter Phillips, son of The Princess Royal, and his daughters Savannah Phillips and Isla Phillips

Zara Tindall, daughter of The Princess Royal, her husband Mike Tindall, and their daughter Mia Tindall

David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, son of Princess Margaret and his children Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley and Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones

Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret, her husband Daniel Chatto and their sons Samuel Chatto and Artur Chatto

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester

Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster, son of The Duke of Gloucester

Lady Rose Gilman, daughter of The Duke of Gloucester and her husband George Gilman

The Duke of Kent

George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, son of The Duke of Kent, and his wife Sylvana Tomaselli, Countess of St Andrews and their children Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick and Lady Amelia Windsor

Lady Helen Taylor, daughter of The Duke of Kent, and her son Cassius Taylor

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

Lord Frederick Windsor and his wife Sophie Winkleman, Lady Frederick Windsor

Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Prince Michael of Kent, and her husband Thomas Kingston

James Ogilvy, son of Princess Alexandra of Kent, The Honorable Lady Ogilvy, and his wife Julia Oglivy with their daughter Flora Ogilvy and her husband Timothy Vesterberg

Zenouska Mowatt, daughter of Marina Ogilvy who is Princess Alexandra’s daughter

Relatives of Prince Philip

Prince Philip’s great-nephew Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Prince Philip’s four sisters were represented by members of the House of Baden, the House of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and the House of Hesse, all former monarchies. The Mountbatten family was represented by Penelope Knatchbull, the wife of the current Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and India Hicks, the granddaughter of Prince Philip’s maternal uncle Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, a close friend of Prince Philip and the wife of Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma, son of Prince Philip’s first cousin Patricia Mountbatten, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma and grandson of Prince Philip’s uncle Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

India Hicks, daughter of Prince Philip’s first cousin Lady Pamela Mountbatten and granddaughter of Prince Philip’s uncle Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and her husband David Flint Wood

Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden: Heir to the Head of the House of Baden, great-nephew of Prince Philip, son of Maximilian, Margrave of Baden who is the son of Prince Philip’s sister Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark and Berthold, Margrave of Baden

Stephanie Anne Kaul, Hereditary Princess of Baden, wife of Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden

Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg: Head of the House of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, great-nephew of Prince Philip, son of Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg who is the son of Prince Philip’s sister Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark and Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Saskia Binder, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, wife of Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse: Head of the House of Hesse, into which Prince Philip’s sisters Princess Cecile of Greece and Denmark and Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark married.

Countess Floria Franziska Marie-Luisa Erika von Faber-Castell, Princess of Hesse, wife of Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse

Foreign Royalty

Queen Máxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, King Felipe VI of Spain, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

Prince Philip was born a Prince of Greece and Denmark and his Greek and Danish family background was represented by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes (born a Princess of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II’s sister), Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, and Prince Philippos and Princess Nina of Greece

King Harald V of Norway, the closest current monarch relative of Queen Elizabeth II (they are both great-grandchildren of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom), and his wife Queen Sonja were invited but were unable to attend because King Harald was recovering from COVID-19.

Current Monarchies

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands (formerly Queen Beatrix) leave Westminster Abbey after the Service of Thanksgiving

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians

Queen of Margrethe II Denmark

Prince Hassan bin Talal and Princess Sarvath El Hassan of Jordan

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg

Prince Albert II of Monaco

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden

Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson

Former Monarchies

Prince Philip’s granddaughter Zara Tindall has a word with Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, the wife of former King Constantine II of Greece, Prince Philip’s first cousin once removed

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece

Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece

Prince Philippos and Princess Nina of Greece

Princess Margareta of Romania, Custodian of the Crown of Romania and Prince Radu of Romania

Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia

Prince Kyril of Preslav (Bulgaria)

Government Officials

Prime Minister Boris Johnson talks to clergy at Westminster Abbey as he arrives for the Service of Thanksgiving

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Dame Eleanor Laing, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons

John Francis McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith, Lord Speaker of the House of Lords

Andrew Smith, Lord Mayor of Westminster and The Lady Mayoress Salma Shah

Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons

Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Priti Patel, Home Secretary

Liz Truss, Foreign Secretary

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland

Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales

Ian Blackford, Leader of the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons

Sir Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons

Simon Case, British civil servant who is the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff

Professor Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England (CMO) and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government

Cressida Dick, Metropolitan Police Commissioner

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The Service of Thanksgiving

The arrangements for Prince Philip’s funeral had been planned over many years, with his involvement and The Queen signing off on the funeral plans. However, when Prince Philip died, last-minute changes were necessary to ensure compliance with COVID-19 restrictions. Some of the original arrangements that had to be omitted from the funeral on April 17, 2021, were included in the Service of Thanksgiving. The Queen was also actively involved in the planning of the Service of Thanksgiving.

It was Prince Philip’s wish that clergy from Crathie Kirk near Balmoral in Scotland, St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, England, and the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor, England should play a role in his funeral. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this was impossible and so they were included in the Service of Thanksgiving. In line with COVID-19 government guidelines at the time of Prince Philip’s funeral, there was no congregational singing. Some of the hymns used during the Service of Thanksgiving had been chosen by Prince Philip for his funeral.

Queen Elizabeth II during the Service of Thanksgiving

Because of the recent mobility issues of the nearly 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, she entered Westminster Abbey by a side door which allowed her to walk a shorter distance from Poets’ Corner to her seat. For her comfort, the length of the service was limited to forty-five minutes.

The service was led by David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, James Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dame Sarah Mullally, Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor, Kenneth MacKenzie, Minister of Crathie Kirk, Jonathan Riviere, Rector of Sandringham, Martin Poll, Chaplain to the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park, Paul Wright, Sub-Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, and James Hawkey, Canon in Residence also participated in the Service of Thanksgiving.

The choir and congregation sang the hymn He Who Would Valiant Be, adapted from an English folk song, arranged by James O’Donnell (born 1961), words from The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan (1628 – 1688).

David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster said The Bidding.

Doyin Sonibare gives her tribute to Prince Philip

Doyin Sonibare, who holds the Gold Level of a Duke of Edinburgh Award, gave a tribute, speaking of her experience working towards the award when she was 18-years-old.

James Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland read The First Lesson, Isaiah 40:25-31 and Dame Sarah Mullally, Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal read The Second Lesson, Philippians 4:4-9.

The choir and the congregation sang the hymn All Creatures of Our God and King, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams after a melody in 1623 Geistliche Kirchengesäng Cologne, arranged by James O’Donnell, words by St Francis of Assisi (1182 – 1226), translated by William Draper (1855 – 1933).

David Conner, Dean of Windsor gives The Address

David Conner, Dean of Windsor, gave The Address, paying tribute to Prince Philip.

The choir sang Te Deum in C by Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976)

Prayers were offered giving thanks for Prince Philip’s service as Consort, for his devotion to Family, to Nation, and to Commonwealth, for his energy and spirit of adventure, for his work with the young to discover new skills and serve their communities, for his work in conservation and the good stewardship of the environment, for his gifts of character, for his humor and resilience, and for his fortitude and devotion to duty by Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor, Kenneth MacKenzie, Minister of Crathie Church, Jonathan Riviere, Rector of Sandringham, Martin Poll, Chaplain to the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor Great Park, Paul Wright, Sub-Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, and James Hawkey, Canon in Residence.

Members of the congregation sing a hymn during the Service of Thanksgiving

The choir and congregation sang the hymn Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer, music by John Hughes (1873 – 1932), arranged by James O’Donnell, words from Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch by William Williams (1717 – 1791), translated from Welsh by Peter Williams (1727 – 1796) and others

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury gave The Blessing

The Service of Thanksgiving ended with the singing of The National Anthem, God Save The Queen.

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For more detailed information about the Service of Thanksgiving, see British Monarchy: Order of Service: A Service of Thanksgiving for HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

To watch the Service of Thanksgiving, see YouTube: Prince Philip: A Service of Thanksgiving for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 2022

View photos of guests and the Thanksgiving Service at Getty Images: Service Of Thanksgiving For The Duke Of Edinburgh

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This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

BBC News. 2022. As it happened: Prince Philip Queen joins royals for memorial service – BBC News. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-60904990> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

BBC News. 2022. Queen attends Prince Philip memorial service at Westminster Abbey. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60902088> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/funeral-of-prince-philip-duke-of-edinburgh/> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

Howard, Harry, 2022. The day the Queen got to say goodbye to Philip the way she wanted. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10663357/The-day-Majesty-finally-got-say-goodbye-Philip-way-wanted.html> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

Pearson-Jones, Bridie, 2022. Prince Philip’s family at Westminster Abbey for memorial service. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10663319/Prince-Philips-family-arrive-Westminster-Abbey-Duke-Edinburghs-memorial-service.html> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

Royal.uk. 2022. Order of Service – A Service of Thanksgiving for HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. [online] Available at: <https://www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/media/order_of_service_-_a_service_of_thanksgiving_for_hrh_the_prince_philip_duke_of_edinburgh.pdf> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

The Royal Family. 2022. Service of Thanksgiving for the life of The Duke of Edinburgh. [online] Available at: <https://www.royal.uk/service-thanksgiving-life-duke-edinburgh> [Accessed 1 April 2022].

Notre-Dame de Reims in Reims, France (Reims Cathedral)

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Notre-Dame de Reims, also called Reims Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Reims, France dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the coronation cathedral and most Kings of France from 1027 – 1825 were crowned there. Reims Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Reims. The construction of the present Reims Cathedral began in the 13th century and was completed in the 15th century but there were three other cathedrals on the site.

The first Christian church in Reims was founded between 250 and 300. In the 5th century, a new church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary was built on the site. About 496, Saint Remigius, Bishop of Reims baptized Clovis I, the first King of the Franks to be baptized. Although there had been some Christians in the Kingdom of the Franks, Clovis’ baptism led to the conversion of the entire population of the Kingdom of the Franks to Christianity.

In 816, Louis I the Pious, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor was crowned in Reims Cathedral by Pope Stephen IV. The coronation revealed the poor condition and inadequate size of the first cathedral. Beginning in 818, a much larger cathedral was built on the site using stone from the old city ramparts. The interior of the new cathedral was decorated with mosaics, paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. The cathedral was consecrated in 862 and, in 976, it began to be enlarged.

By the 12th century, the second cathedral was considered too small. The existing nave and transept were preserved but the two ends of the cathedral were enlarged. The west front and its adjoining tower were demolished and replaced by two matching flanking towers. The major additions to the third cathedral were in the Gothic style but much of the original Carolingian style of the second cathedral remained.

On May 6, 1210, the third Carolingian/Gothic cathedral was destroyed by fire. Construction on the fourth and current cathedral in the High Gothic style began exactly a year later and was completed in 1275, which was exceptionally quick.

On July 24, 1481, during a renovation of the roof, two workers in charge of the lead for the roof, forgot to turn off a furnace, located in the attic of the cathedral. In a short time, the frame of the cathedral was on fire. The fire destroyed the roof, the central bell tower and its ten bells, and part of the transept. Molten lead from the roof destroyed several stained glass windows. King Charles VIII and then King Louis XII provided funds for the necessary renovations.

Reims Cathedral was near the front lines of World War I and was hit by more than three hundred artillery shells. A major restoration project began in 1919 and was completed in 1938.

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The High Altar

The high altar, made of French and Italian marble, is a copy of the 1747 altar which was destroyed by bombing during World War I.

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The Gallery of Kings

On the west facade, above the entrance to the cathedral and the central rose window and continuing on the sides of the cathedral is the Gallery of Kings, statues of French monarchs, each fifteen feet/4.5 meters high. The Gallery of Kings was constructed from 1300 – 1350. At the center is Clovis I, the first King of the Franks to be baptized, with his wife Saint Clotilde on the left and Saint Remigius, Bishop of Reims who baptized him, on the right (see photo below). Saint Clotilde was raised as a Christian and played a role in her husband’s conversion to Christianity and the spreading of Christianity throughout western Europe.

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Coronation of Charles VII, King of France and the Impact of Joan of Arc

Perhaps the most historically symbolic coronation of a French king was the coronation of King Charles VII (reigned 1422 – 1461). He inherited the French throne in desperate times. France was fighting England in the Hundred Years’ War, caused by disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagenet and the French House of Valois. English forces occupied northern France including Paris and Reims. In 1420, King Charles VI of France had disinherited his son and recognized his son-in-law King Henry V of England and his heirs as the legitimate successors to the French crown. Meanwhile, a civil war was occurring in France between the Armagnacs, supporters of the House of Valois, and the Burgundians, supporters of the House of Valois-Burgundy and allies of the English.

Charles VII’s political and military position improved dramatically with the emergence of Joan of Arc as a military and spiritual leader. The teenage Joan of Arc said she had visions of Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Margaret of Antioch, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII in his efforts to purge the English from France.

Joan of Arc led French troops to victories at the Siege of Orléans and the Battle of Patay. With the English troops dispersed, the population of Reims switched their allegiance to King Charles VII and opened the city’s gates. This allowed for the coronation of King Charles VII on July 17, 1429, at Reims Cathedral with Joan of Arc standing nearby holding her battle standard. After the coronation, Joan knelt before Charles VII and joyously called him king for the first time.

On May 23, 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundian faction and handed over to the English. She was tried on several charges including heresy by the pro-English Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, declared guilty, and then burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. In 1456, the Catholic Church ordered a second trial. The first trial and its conclusions were declared “null, void, without value or effect” and Joan and her family were fully rehabilitated.

By the time of her second trial in 1456, Joan of Arc had already become a symbol of France and she remains an important symbol of French identity and unity. On May 16, 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She is remembered at Reims Cathedral with two statues: an equestrian statue outside the cathedral and another statue in the cathedral.

French sculptor Prosper d’Epinay created a polychrome statue of Joan of Arc which he exhibited at the Salon des artistes français of 1902, an art exhibition held every year in early February in Paris. Seven years later, one of his patrons offered the statue to Reims Cathedral, at the time of Joan of Arc’s beatification as Blessed Joan of Arc. It stands in the place where Joan of Arc stood during the coronation of King Charles VII. The helmet and the armor were made from silvered bronze, the face was carved in ivory, and the tunic is yellow marble dotted with fleur-de-lis in lapis lazuli.

The bronze equestrian statue of Joan of Arc holding a sword in front of Reims Cathedral was designed by French sculptor Paul Dubois and was inaugurated by French President Félix Faure on Bastille Day, July 14, 1896. Originally the statue stood in front of Reims Cathedral with its back toward the cathedral depicting Joan of Arc riding away after Charles VII’s coronation. Today the statue faces the cathedral on the far end of Place du Cardinal-Luçon, the plaza in front of Reims Cathedral, as shown in the photo below.

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Coronations

The fact that Clovis I had been baptized at Reims Cathedral and the political power of the Archbishop of Reims led to the cathedral becoming the coronation site of Kings of France. After King Henri I was crowned at Reims Cathedral in 1027, the tradition of holding coronations there was firmly established. Since 987, when the House of Capet began its reign, and continuing through the House of Valois and the House of Bourbon, all but seven of France’s kings were crowned at Reims Cathedral. Hugh Capet, Robert II, Louis VI, and Henri IV were crowned elsewhere, Jean I reigned as the posthumous son and successor of Louis X for the five days he lived, and Louis XVIII and Louis Philippe I chose not to have coronations.

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Napoleon I, Emperor of France at Notre Dame de Paris. With the Bourbon Restoration in 1814 after the downfall of Napoleon I, the practice of royal coronations at Reims Cathedral was resumed, but only once. The Bourbon Restoration saw two brothers of the beheaded King Louis XVI on the French throne. King Louis XVIII decided not to have a coronation. However, in 1825, his younger brother King Charles X was the last King of France to be crowned and his coronation was at Reims Cathedral. King Charles X was overthrown in the Revolution of 1830 and replaced by a constitutional monarch, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans I, who reigned as Louis Philippe, King of the French and was sworn in at the Parliament in Paris rather than crowned in Reims.

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, became President of France after Louis Philippe, King of the French was deposed in the Revolution of 1848. Not content with being simply President, he arranged for a referendum to decide if he should be declared Emperor. On December 2, 1852, following an overwhelming vote in his favor, the Second French Republic ended and the Second French Empire was declared. Louis-Napoleon took the throne as Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. However, Napoleon III chose not to have a coronation ceremony. In 1870, after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the Third French Republic was declared, ending, for the last time, the French monarchy.

Several queen consorts were crowned with their husbands at Reims Cathedral. A queen’s coronation could take place years after her marriage or her husband’s accession to the throne. Queen consorts were crowned either together with their husband at Reims Cathedral, alone at Sainte-Chapelle in Paris or the Basilica of Saint-Denis, or not at all.

Coronations at Reims Cathedral

When Saint Louis IX, King of France was crowned in 1226, the current cathedral was still under construction. The coronation of kings before Louis IX took place at the earlier cathedrals in Reims.

October 5, 816 – Louis I the Pious, King of the Franks

January 28, 893 – Charles III the Simple, King of the Franks

June 30, 922 – Robert I, King of the Franks

November 12, 954 – Lothair, King of the Franks

May 14, 1027 – Henri I, King of the Franks

May 23, 1059 – Philippe I, King of the Franks

October 25, 1131 – Louis VII, King of France

November 1, 1179 – Philippe II, King of France

August 6, 1223 – Louis VIII, King of France, his wife Blanche of Castile was crowned with him

November 29, 1226 – Saint Louis IX, King of France

August 30, 1271 – Philippe III, King of France

January 6, 1286 – Philippe IV, King of France, his wife Joan I, Queen of Navarre was crowned with him

August 24, 1315 – Louis X, King of France, his second wife Clementia of Hungary was crowned with him

January 9, 1317 – Philippe V, King of France, his wife Joan II, Countess of Burgundy was crowned with him

February 21, 1322 – Charles IV, King of France

May 29, 1328: Philippe VI, King of France

September 26, 1350: Jean II, King of France, his wife Joan I, Countess of Auvergne and Boulogne was crowned with him

May 19, 1364: Charles V, King of France, his wife Joan of Bourbon was crowned with him

November 4, 1380: Charles VI, King of France

July 17, 1429: Charles VII, King of France

August 15, 1461: Louis XI, King of France

May 30, 1484: Charles VIII, King of France

May 27, 1498: Louis XII, King of France

January 25, 1515: François I, King of France

July 25, 1547: Henri II, King of France

September 21, 1559: François II, King of France

May 15, 1561: Charles IX, King of France

February 13, 1575: Henri III, King of France

October 17, 1610: Louis XIII, King of France

June 7, 1654: Louis XIV, King of France

October 25, 1722: Louis XV, King of France

June 11, 1775: Louis XVI, King of France

May 29, 1825: Charles X, King of France

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Kathedrale von Reims – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathedrale_von_Reims> [Accessed 3 February 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Reims Cathedral – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_Cathedral> [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cath%C3%A9drale_Notre-Dame_de_Reims> [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Incendie de Notre-Dame de Reims (1481) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incendie_de_Notre-Dame_de_Reims_(1481)> [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Sacre des rois de France — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacre_des_rois_de_France> [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Statue équestre de Jeanne d’Arc (Paul Dubois) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_%C3%A9questre_de_Jeanne_d%27Arc_(Paul_Dubois)> [Accessed 3 February 2022].

Jenkins, Simon, 2021. Europe’s 100 Best Cathedral. London: Penguin Random House UK.

Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont, Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont was the wife of Louis I, Prince of Monaco, and had many affairs at the French court including one with King Louis XIV. In 1641, during the reign of Louis’ grandfather Honoré II, Monaco became a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families, and Louis I, Prince of Monaco was no exception.

Born in 1639, Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont, Princess of Monaco was the second of the four children and the elder of the two daughters of Antoine de Gramont, Duke of Gramont, a French military commander, diplomat, and a Marshal of France (1604 – 1678), and Françoise Marguerite du Plessis (1608 – 1689), a niece of the powerful late Cardinal Richelieu (Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu), who served as the First Minister of State to King Louis XIII of France from 1624 until his death in 1642. Both Catherine-Charlotte’s parents came from French noble families.

Catherine-Charlotte had three siblings:

Armand de Gramont, Count of Guiche (1637 – 1673), known as Armand, married Marguerite-Louise-Suzanne de Béthune

Antoine Charles de Gramont, Duke of Gramont (1641 – 1720), married (1) Marie-Charlotte de Castelnau, had two children (2) Anne Baillet de la Cour

Henriette-Catherine de Gramont, married Alexandre de Canonville, Marquis of Raffetot

Like many other aristocratic girls, Catherine-Charlotte was educated at the Convent of the Visitation of Faubourg-Saint Jacques in Paris. When Catherine-Charlotte and her cousin Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, later Duke of Lauzun, fell in love and her father refused his permission for them to marry, they became lovers.

In 1651, when Hercule Grimaldi, Marquis of Baux, the only child and heir of Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, was killed in a firearms accident, Hercule’s only son, nine-year-old Louis, became the heir to his grandfather’s throne. Louis’ godparents were King Louis XIII of France, after whom he was named, and Louis XIII’s wife Anne of Austria. The current King of France, Louis XIV, was four years older than Louis and was his contemporary. When Louis reached a marriageable age, his grandfather Honoré II set out to find him a wife who was the daughter of a high noble at the French court.

Via a marriage to a member of the French nobility, Louis’ grandfather Honoré II, Prince of Monaco hoped to strengthen the alliance between Monaco and France against Spain and obtain valuable connections to the French court. However, such a marriage would also benefit the family of Louis’ bride. Seven foreign princes, of which the Prince of Monaco was one, were recognized by the French Crown to owe a special loyalty to France. Called ducs et pairs étrangers (foreign dukes and peers), they were given extra privileges and took precedence over the French nobility. These foreign princes walked behind the princes of the blood royal in processions. Their wives also had privileges such as sitting on tabourets (stools) in the presence of the Queen. By marrying Louis, a future Prince of Monaco, the daughter of a French noble would be assured of social, economic, and court preeminence.

Honoré II and his advisers went through a list of French nobles with marriageable daughters, and Catherine-Charlotte was chosen. Catherine-Charlotte was twenty, three years older than her prospective groom, but it was understood that she was unmarried because her father had refused to allow her to marry her cousin. Honoré II was assured that the affair between the cousins was over and that Catherine-Charlotte’s father would agree to the marriage. Only one of those statements turned out to be true.

On March 30, 1660, 21-year-old Catherine-Charlotte married 18-year-old Louis at the Gramont family’s Chateau de Pau in the Pyrenees Mountains in Pau, France. The newlyweds spent the month of April at the Chateau de Pau. They then traveled to Paris where they lived on the second floor of the Gramonts’ magnificent townhouse on the Rue de l’Autriche and regularly attended the French court. Despite being married and Honoré II being assured the affair was over, Catherine-Charlotte continued her affair with her cousin Antoine Nompar de Caumont.

Louis and Catherine-Charlotte had six children. In 1663, they founded a convent of the Order of the Visitation of the Holy Mary (also known as the Visitandines) in Monaco. Their twin daughters became nuns at the convent.

Antonio I, Prince of Monaco (1661 – 1731), married Marie of Lorraine, had six daughters including his successor Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco

Maria Teresa Carlotta Grimaldi (1662 – 1738), twin of Jeanne Maria, a Visitandine nun in Monaco, later Abbess of the Visitandine convent in Monaco

Jeanne Maria Grimaldi (1662 – 1741) twin of Maria Teresa, a Visitandine nun in Monaco, later Abbess of the Abbey of Royallieu near Compiègne, France

Teresa Maria Aurelia Grimaldi (1663 – 1675), died in childhood

Anna Hippolyte Grimaldi (1664 – 1700), married Jacques de Crussol, Duc d’Uzès, no children

François Honoré Grimaldi, Archbishop of Besançon (1669 – 1748 – link in French)

After a reign of fifty-eight years, Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, Louis’ grandfather, died in 1662, and 20-year-old Louis became Prince of Monaco. Louis needed to return to Monaco and Catherine-Charlotte was forced to accompany him against her will. In 1665, Catherine-Charlotte left her husband and children in Monaco and returned to the French court because she found life at the Monaco court boring. Upon returning to the French court, Catherine-Charlotte was appointed a lady-in-waiting to Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, the first wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the only sibling of King Louis XIV. Catherine-Charlotte resumed her affair with her cousin Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem.

King Louis XIV, who was beginning to lose interest in his mistress Louise de la Vallière, began a relationship with Catherine-Charlotte in 1665. This was actually a plot by Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans to distract the king from Louise in the hopes that he would return her. King Louis XIV ordered Catherine-Charlotte’s cousin and lover, the Marquis de Puyguilhem, to leave Paris. When Puyguilhem refused to obey, he was sent to the Bastille for six months. When Puyguilhem was released from the Bastille, Catherine-Charlotte’s affair with King Louis XIV was already over. One night Louis XIV did not find the key to Catherine-Charlotte’s room in its usual place because it had been taken by another. Louis XIV did not return to Henrietta but began his long-time affair with Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, also known as Madame de Montespan.

Because of all the rumors swirling around his wife regarding her affairs, Louis I, Prince of Monaco decided to join his brother-in-law Armand de Gramont, Count of Guiche in the Anglo-Dutch Wars fighting for the Dutch. While Louis was at war, Catherine-Charlotte remained at court and her affairs were scandalous. Among her affairs was one with Philippe, Chevalier de Lorraine, the lover of King Louis XIV’s brother, and Henrietta’s husband, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans.

In 1672, Louis and Catherine-Charlotte separated. Catherine-Charlotte obtained a position as a lady-in-waiting to Louis XIV’s mistress Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, but the position lasted only one year. In the following years, she became seriously ill, probably with cancer. Catherine-Charlotte died at the Palais Royal in Paris, France on June 4, 1678, at the age of 39. She was buried at the now-destroyed Convent of the Capuchins in Paris, France. Catherine-Charlotte had not seen her husband Louis I, Prince of Monaco during the last six years of her life, and Louis showed no grief over her death. Louis survived Catherine-Charlotte by twenty-three years, dying from a stroke on January 3, 1701, aged 58, in Rome, then part of the Papal States, where he was serving as King Louis XIV’s ambassador to the Holy See in Rome.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoine III de Gramont – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_III_de_Gramont> [Accessed 25 January 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Catherine Charlotte de Gramont – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Charlotte_de_Gramont> [Accessed 25 January 2022].

Flantzer, S., 2022. Louis I, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/louis-i-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 25 January 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Catherine Charlotte de Gramont — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Charlotte_de_Gramont> [Accessed 25 January 2022].

Historyandwomen.com. 2011. Catherine Charlotte de Gramont. [online] Available at: <https://www.historyandwomen.com/2011/11/catherine-charlotte-de-gramont.html> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Chapel Royal at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

In 1623, King Louis XIII of France (reigned 1610 – 1643) built a hunting lodge in Versailles, France, about 12 miles/19 km west of Paris. From 1631 – 1634, the hunting lodge was replaced by a small château. King Louis XIV (reigned 1643 – 1715) expanded the château into the magnificent Palace of Versailles, which this writer has visited, in several phases from 1661 – 1715. He eventually moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the de facto capital of France, and this was continued during the reigns of Louis XIV’s successors, his great-grandson King Louis XV and then Louis XV’s grandson King Louis XVI.

The Chapel Royal that we see today at the Palace of Versailles is the fifth chapel royal at Versailles. It was built from 1699 to 1710, at the end of the 72-year reign of King Louis XIV who died in 1715. Therefore, Louis XIV used the fifth chapel royal for only the last five years of his life but his successors Louis XV and Louis XVI used the fifth chapel royal during their entire reigns. The Chapel Royal, originally a Roman Catholic church, is no longer a church. It was deconsecrated in the 19th century and since then has served as a venue for government and private events and musical concerts.

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The Previous Chapels

First Chapel Royal

The first chapel royal dates from the reign of Louis XIII (reigned 1610 – 1643). It was a detached building located near the château that had replaced the original hunting lodge. This chapel royal was demolished during the construction of the Grotto of Téthys (link in French), an artificial grotto constructed in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles in 1666 during the reign of Louis XIV.

Second Chapel Royal

The second chapel was constructed during Louis XIV’s second building campaign (1669–1672) When this new part of the Palace of Versailles was completed, the chapel royal was located in the Queen’s Grand Apartment The second chapel royal was used by the royal family and court until 1678 when a new chapel royal was built

Third Chapel Royal

The third chapel royal, used from 1678 – 1682, was located next to the site of the second royal chapel which had become the Queen’s Guard Room. In 1682, Louis XIV officially moved the French court from Paris to the Palace of Versailles, and the third chapel royal became inconvenient and did not meet the needs of either Louis XIV or the court.

Fourth Chapel Royal

When the north wing of the Palace of Versailles was constructed, a new chapel royal was built in 1682. When the fourth chapel was constructed, a balcony-like, upper level, was built where the king and select members of the royal family and the court heard daily Mass. The fourth chapel royal remained in use until 1710 and it was here that many important religious events of the court and royal family during the reign of Louis XIV occurred.

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The Fifth Chapel Royal

The Chapel Royal that is seen today at the Palace of Versailles was created by King’s Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. From 1677 until his death in 1708, Hardouin-Mansart worked on the expansion of the Palace of Versailles, including the famous Hall of Mirrors. He was also responsible for other major projects during Louis XIV’s reign including Les Invalides in Paris, and the Place des Victoires and Place Vendôme, squares in Paris.

The current Chapel Royal was built near the corner formed by the wing of the King’s Grand Apartment and the north wing of the Palace of Versailles. Construction started in 1689 but was soon stopped due to the Nine Years’ War (1688 – 1697) between France and a European coalition. In 1699, construction resumed and Hardouin-Mansart continued working on the chapel until his death in 1708. His brother-in-law Robert de Cotte finished the construction. On June 5, 1710, the Royal Chapel was consecrated by Cardinal Louis Antoine de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris. The Royal Chapel was dedicated to Saint Louis IX, King of France (reigned 1226 – 1270), the patron saint of the House of Bourbon and the ancestor of King Louis XIV. Until the French Revolution, the Chapel Royal was the religious center of the French court.

The Chapel Royal is a traditional two-story palace church. The upper level, the royal tribune, a balcony lined with Corinthian columns, overlooks the nave of the chapel. This was where the King and his family sat. The royal tribune can be entered directly from the north wing of the palace through a vestibule known as the Chapel Hall. Originally, the Chapel Royal contained stalls, a pulpit, confessionals, and furniture for the use of the King and his family. Today, only the altars and the organ remain.

The Floor

The floor of the nave is paved with multi-colored marble. At the foot of the steps to the altar is a crowned monogram of two intertwined letter Ls for Saint Louis IX, the patron of the Chapel Royal, and King Louis XIV, the builder of the Royal Chapel. This can be seen in the photo above, at the bottom, although it is upside down.

The Paintings

Above, the painting on the ceiling of the nave is entitled God the Father in His Glory Bringing to the World the Promise of Redemption, painted by Antoine Coypel.

Above, the half-dome of the apse is decorated with Charles de la Fosse‘s The Resurrection of Christ.

Above, over the royal tribune is Jean Jouvenet‘s The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostles.

Altars

The altarpiece over the high altar is a gilt bronze bas-relief of The Lamentation of the Dead Christ by French sculptor Corneille Van Clève (link in French).

The nine other altars in the Chapel Royal were consecrated to the Blessed Sacrament, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the main patron saints of the royal family: Saint Louis of France, Saint Anne, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Philip the Apostle, Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Victoire, and Saint Adelaide of Burgundy.

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Royal Events

The view from the royal tribune where the King and the royal family heard daily Mass

At 10:00 every morning, the King’s Mass was said in the Chapel Royal and attended by the court. The King and his family sat in the royal tribune, a balcony that overlooked the nave of the chapel. The ladies of the court sat in the side tribunes, the side balconies. Seated below in the nave were other members of the court.

Te Deums, short religious services of blessing or thanks, were sung to celebrate military victories and the births of children. Ceremonies of the Order of the Holy Spirit, a French order of chivalry founded by King Henri III in 1578, and baptisms and weddings of princes and princesses were held in the Chapel Royal.

Among the baptisms held at the Chapel Royal were those of five future Kings of France: Louis XV, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe I, and two future titular Kings of France: Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France (Louis XVII, son of Louis XVI) and Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême (Louis XIX, son of Charles X). In addition, Felipe V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, born Philippe, Duke of Anjou was baptized at the Chapel Royal. He was the second son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, the son and heir of Louis XIV who predeceased his father. Among the funerals held at the Chapel Royal were those of Louis XIV and Louis XV.

Note: The Princes of Condé (below) were from the French Princely House of Bourbon-Condé which was a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. From 1589 – 1709, the Princes of Condé held the rank of premier prince du sang royal (First Prince of the Blood Royal). The Princes of Conti (below) were a cadet branch of the Princely House of Bourbon-Condé.

Among the weddings at the Chapel Royal were:

July 24, 1685: Wedding of Louis III, Prince of Condé and Louise Françoise de Bourbon, legitimized daughter of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan

June 13, 1688: Wedding of the future Antonio I, Prince of Monaco and Marie of Lorraine

February 18, 1692: Wedding of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, nephew of Louis XIV, and Françoise Marie de Bourbon, legitimized daughter of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan

May 19, 1692: Wedding of Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, illegitimate son of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan, and Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, daughter of Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé

December 7, 1697: Wedding of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin, son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin and grandson of Louis XIV, and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy

January 19, 1732: Wedding of Louis François, Prince of Conti and Louise Diane d’Orléans, daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

December 17, 1743: Wedding of Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Louise Henriette de Bourbon, daughter of Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti

December 29, 1744: Wedding of Louis Jean Marie, Duke of Penthièvre, grandson of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan, and Maria Teresa Felicitas d’Este of Modena

February 23, 1745: Wedding of Louis, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV, and Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain

May 3, 1753: Wedding of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé and Charlotte de Rohan

April 5, 1769: Wedding of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon

April 24, 1770: Wedding of Louis Henri, Prince of Condé and Bathilde d’Orléans, daughter of Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans

May 16, 1770: Wedding of the future King Louis XVI of France and Maria Antonia of Austria

May 14, 1771: Wedding of the future King Louis XVIII of France, brother of Louis XVI, and Maria Giuseppina of Savoy (died before her husband became king)

November 16, 1773: Wedding of the future King Charles X of France, brother of Louis XVI, and Maria Theresa of Savoy (died before her husband became king)

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

Château du Versailles. 2022. Restoration of the Royal Chapel. [online] Available at: <https://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/life-estate/restoration-royal-chapel/royal-chapel> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Château du Versailles. 2022. The Royal Chapel – The Palace of Versailles. [online] Available at: <https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/royal-chapel> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Schlosskapelle (Versailles) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlosskapelle_(Versailles)> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Chapels of Versailles – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapels_of_Versailles> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Palace of Versailles – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Chapelle royale de Versailles — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapelle_royale_de_Versailles> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Château de Versailles — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Versailles> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Louis I, Prince of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Born at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco on July 25, 1642, Louis I, Prince of Monaco was the eldest of the four children and the only son of Hercule Grimaldi, Marquis of Baux and Maria Aurelia Spinola. Louis’ paternal grandparents were Honoré II, Prince of Monaco and Ippolita Trivulzio who came from a noble Italian family. His maternal grandparents were Luca Spinola, Prince of Molfetta and Pellina Spinola who were both members of the House of Spinola, a powerful and influential family from the Republic of Genoa. Louis’ godparents were King Louis XIII of France, after whom he was named, and Louis XIII’s wife Anne of Austria.

Louis had three younger sisters:

Maria Ippolita Grimaldi (1644 – 1694), married Carlo Emaneule Filiberto de Simiane, 3rd Marchese di Pianezzo, Prince de Montafia, had one daughter

Giovanna Maria Grimaldi (1645 – ?), married Andrea Imperiali, 2nd Principe di Francavilla, had three children

Teresa Maria Grimaldi (1648 – 1723), married Sigismondo III d’Este, 4th Marchese di San Martino, had seven children

On August 1, 1651, Louis’ father, twenty-seven-year-old Hercule Grimaldi, Marquis of Baux, the only child and the heir of Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, went on a visit to the Convent of Carnoles in Mentone, then in Monaco but now in France. After the visit, he engaged in recreational shooting with some guards in the convent’s garden. Hercule was interested in how the gun worked and asked one of the guards to show him. The guard mishandled the gun and accidentally shot it toward Hercule and two other guards. All three were wounded. Fatally wounded in the spine, Hercule died the next day, and nine-year-old Louis became heir apparent to the throne of Monaco and would succeed his grandfather Honoré II in 1662.

In 1641, during the reign of Louis’ grandfather Honoré II, Monaco became a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families, including Louis. King Louis XIV of France was four years older than Louis and was his contemporary.

When Louis reached a marriageable age, his grandfather Honoré II set out to find him a wife who was the daughter of a high noble at the French court. Via a marriage to a member of the French nobility, Louis’ grandfather hoped to strengthen the alliance between Monaco and France against Spain and obtain valuable connections to the French court. However, such a marriage would also benefit the family of Louis’ bride. Seven foreign princes, of which the Prince of Monaco was one, were recognized by the French Crown to owe a special loyalty to France. Called ducs et pairs étrangers (foreign dukes and peers), they were given extra privileges and took precedence over the French ducs et pairs. These foreign princes walked behind the princes of the blood royal in processions. Their wives also had privileges such as sitting on tabourets (stools) in the presence of the Queen. By marrying Louis, a future Prince of Monaco, the daughter of French noble would be assured of social, economic, and court preeminence.

Honoré II and his advisers went through a list of French nobles with marriageable daughters, and Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont was chosen. Catherine-Charlotte was the daughter of Antoine III de Gramont, Duke of Gramont, a French military commander, diplomat, and a Marshal of France, and Françoise Marguerite du Plessis, a niece of the late powerful Cardinal Richelieu (Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu), who served as the First Minister of State to King Louis XIII of France from 1624 until he died in 1642. Catherine-Charlotte and her cousin Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Marquis de Puyguilhem, later Duke of Lauzun, fell in love, and her father refused his permission for them to marry, they became lovers. Catherine-Charlotte was twenty, three years older than her prospective groom, but it was understood that she was unmarried because her father had refused to allow her to marry her cousin. Honoré II was assured that the affair between the cousins was over and that Catherine-Charlotte’s father would agree to the marriage. Only one of those statements turned out to be true.

On March 30, 1660, 18-year-old Louis married 21-year-old Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont at the Gramont family’s Chateau de Pau in the Pyrenees Mountains in Pau, France. The newlyweds spent the month of April at the Chateau de Pau. They then traveled to Paris where they lived on the second floor of the Gramonts’ townhouse on the Rue de l’Autriche and regularly attended the French court. Despite being married and Honoré II being assured the affair was over, Catherine-Charlotte continued her affair with her cousin Antoine Nompar de Caumont. Louis had difficulty adjusting to the change in his social position and life at the French court.

Louis and Catherine-Charlotte had six children. In 1663, they founded a convent of the Order of the Visitation of the Holy Mary (also known as the Visitandines) in Monaco. Their twin daughters became nuns at the convent.

Antonio I, Prince of Monaco (1661 – 1731), married Marie of Lorraine, had six daughters including his successor Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco

Maria Teresa Carlotta Grimaldi (1662 – 1738), twin of Jeanne Maria, a Visitandine nun in Monaco, later Abbess of the Visitandine convent in Monaco

Jeanne Maria Grimaldi (1662 – 1741) twin of Maria Teresa, a Visitandine nun in Monaco, later Abbess of the Abbey of Royallieu near Compiègne, France

Teresa Maria Aurelia Grimaldi (1663 – 1675), died in childhood

Anna Hippolyte Grimaldi (1664 – 1700), married Jacques de Crussol, Duc d’Uzès, no children

François Honoré Grimaldi, Archbishop of Besançon (1669 – 1748 – link in French)

After a reign of fifty-eight years, Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, Louis’ grandfather, died in 1662, and 20-year-old Louis became Prince of Monaco. Louis needed to return to Monaco and Catherine-Charlotte was forced to accompany him against her will. In 1665, Catherine-Charlotte left her husband and children in Monaco and returned to the French court because she found life at the Monaco court boring.

Upon returning to the French court, Catherine-Charlotte was appointed a lady-in-waiting to Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, the first wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the only sibling of King Louis XIV. Catherine-Charlotte resumed her affair with her cousin and had affairs with many others including a brief affair with King Louis XIV. Because of all the rumors swirling around his wife regarding her affairs, Louis I decided to join his brother-in-law Armand de Gramont, Count of Guiche in the Anglo-Dutch Wars fighting for the Dutch. Louis distinguished himself at the 1666 Four Days’ Battle between the English and Dutch fleets.

In 1672, Louis and Catherine-Charlotte separated. Catherine-Charlotte obtained a position as a lady-in-waiting to Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, mistress of King Louis XIV, but the position lasted only one year. In the following years, she became seriously ill, probably with cancer. Catherine-Charlotte died at the Palais Royal in Paris, France on June 4, 1678, at the age of 39. She was buried at the now-destroyed Convent of the Capuchins in Paris, France. Catherine-Charlotte had not seen her husband Louis during the last six years of her life and Louis showed no grief over her death.

In 1674, Louis commanded the military campaign that led to the reconquest from Spain of the Franche-Comté, a cultural and historical region of eastern France. Following the example of King Louis XIV’s legal codification efforts in France, Louis I issued the Principality of Monaco’s first legal code, known as the Code Louis, in 1678. In 1699, King Louis XIV of France named Louis the ambassador of the King of France to the Holy See in Rome.

Louis I, Prince of Monaco, aged 58, died on January 3, 1701, in Rome, then part of the Papal States, from apoplexy, the term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. He was buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Monaco. During the late 19th century, a new and larger church, the Cathedral of Monaco, was built on the site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 but the current cathedral was built over the areas of the previous church and the old burial site so that the sovereign princes and consorts originally buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas are now buried in the Cathedral of Monaco.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Louis I, Prince of Monaco – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_I,_Prince_of_Monaco> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Honoré II, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/honore-ii-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 14 January 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Louis Ier (prince de Monaco) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Ier_(prince_de_Monaco)> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Genealogics.org. 2022. Ercole II de Monaco, Marquis des Baux : Genealogics. [online] Available at: <https://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00047483&tree=LEO> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

geni_family_tree. 2022. Louis I Grimaldi, II. prince de Monaco. [online] Available at: <https://www.geni.com/people/Louis-I-Grimaldi-II-prince-de-Monaco/5294756233670132138> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Historyandwomen.com. 2011. Catherine Charlotte de Gramont. [online] Available at: <https://www.historyandwomen.com/2011/11/catherine-charlotte-de-gramont.html> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

It.wikipedia.org. 2022. Luigi I di Monaco – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_I_di_Monaco> [Accessed 15 January 2022].

Basilica of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, France

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

The Basilica of Saint-Denis, which this writer has visited, is a Roman Catholic church in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, France. The current Gothic cathedral was built in the 12th century. The Kings of France and their families were buried for centuries at the Basilica of Saint-Denis and it is often referred to as the “royal necropolis of France.” The remains of all but three monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 are interred at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. The basilica is named after Saint Denis, a patron saint of France, who became the first Bishop of Paris in the third century. He was decapitated on the hill of Montmartre and is said to have carried his head to the site of the current church, indicating where he wanted to be buried.

A shrine-mausoleum was erected on the site of Saint Denis’ grave in about 313 AD. It was enlarged into a basilica with the addition of tombs and monuments and became a place of pilgrimage during the fifth and sixth centuries. Dagobert, King of the Franks (reigned 628 to 637) re-founded the church as the Abbey of Saint-Denis, a Benedictine monastery, and commissioned a new shrine to house Saint Denis’ remains. Abbot Suger (lived c. 1081 – 1151), a confidant of French kings and Abbot of Saint-Denis from 1122, began work around 1135 to rebuild and enlarge the Abbey of Saint-Denis into the Gothic cathedral we see today.

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Coronations of the Queen of France

Not all Queens of France, wives of the Kings of France, were crowned. A queen’s coronation could take place years after her marriage or her husband’s accession to the throne. Queens of France were crowned either together with their husband at Notre-Dame de Reims, or alone at Sainte-Chapelle or the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Marie de Medici, the wife of King Henri IV, was the last of Queen of France to be crowned. She was crowned ten years after her marriage and her husband was assassinated the day after her coronation.

The Queens of France who were crowned at the Basilica of Saint-Denis include the following:

February 8, 1492 – Anne, Duchess of Brittany, wife of King Charles VIII and 2nd wife of King Louis XII, the first Queen of France to be crowned at the Basilica of Saint-Denis

November 5, 1514 – Mary Tudor, 3rd wife of King Louis XII

May 10, 1517 – Claude of France, Duchess of Brittany, 1st wife of King François I

March 5, 1531 – Eleanor of Austria, 2nd wife of King François I

June 10, 1549 – Catherine de’ Medici, wife of King Henri II

March 25, 1571 – Elisabeth of Austria, wife of King Charles IX

May 13, 1610 – Marie de Medici, 2nd wife of King Henri IV

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Destruction and Restoration

During the French Revolution, the remains of French royals were desecrated and some tombs and effigies were destroyed. By the decree on August 1, 1793, the National Convention ordered: “The tombs and mausoleums of the former kings, mounted in the Church of Saint-Denis, in temples and in other places, across the entire Republic, will be destroyed.” This occurred systematically from August 1793 – October 1793. The remains of 46 kings, 32 queens, and 63 other royals were thrown into two large pits in the monks’ cemetery adjacent to the Basilica of Saint-Denis and covered in quicklime and soil. A combination of seventy effigies and tombs were saved because of the efforts of archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir who claimed them as artworks for his Museum of French Monuments.

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French reopened the Basilica of Saint-Denis in 1806 but left the royal remains in their mass graves. One of the first things King Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the guillotined King Louis XVI, did after the Bourbon Restoration in 1814 was to order a search for the remains of his brother and sister-in-law, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. They had been originally been buried in the cemetery at the Madeleine Church and covered with quicklime. The few remains that were found were reburied at the Basilica of Saint-Denis on January 21, 1815, the twenty-second anniversary of King Louis XVI’s execution.

In 1817, King Louis XVIII ordered the mass graves adjacent to the Basilica of Saint-Denis to be opened but due to the damage from the quicklime, identification of the remains was impossible. The remains were collected into an ossuary, a site serving as the final resting place of human skeletal remains, in the crypt of the basilica. Large marble plates on either side of the gated door leading to the crypt are engraved with the names of those whose remains are buried in the crypt. The seventy effigies and tombs that Alexandre Lenoir saved were returned to the Basilica of Saint-Denis and are now mostly in their original places.

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The Heart of Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XVI

Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, and sometimes called King Louis XVII, died from tuberculosis on June 8, 1795, at the age of ten while imprisoned at the Temple, the remains of a medieval fortress in Paris. He was buried at the Cimetière Sainte-Marguerite in Paris in a grave without any marker. However, before Louis-Charles was buried, an autopsy was performed. Following the tradition of preserving royal hearts, Louis-Charles’s heart was removed and smuggled out during the autopsy by Dr. Philippe-Jean Pelletan, a royalist, who then preserved the heart in alcohol. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1815, Dr. Pellatan offered the heart to Louis-Charles’ paternal uncle King Louis XVIII but he refused because he could not bring himself to believe that it was the heart of his nephew. Following the July Revolution in 1830, Dr. Pelletan’s son found the heart in the remnants of a looted palace and placed it in the crystal urn where it still resides. After the death of Dr. Pelletan’s son in 1879, Eduard Dumont, a relative of Dr. Pelletan’s wife, took possession of the heart.

In 1895, Carlos, Duke of Madrid, the Legitimist claimant to the French throne, accepted the heart from Eduard Dumont. The heart was kept at Schloss Frohsdorf near Vienna, Austria. Upon the death of his father Carlos, Duke of Madrid in 1909, Jaime, Duke of Madrid, the next Legitimist claimant to the French throne, inherited the heart and gave it to his sister Beatriz.

During World War II, Schloss Frohsdorf suffered damage and the heart was rescued by descendants of Carlos, Duke of Madrid and ultimately came into the possession of his granddaughter Princess Marie des Neiges Massimo. In 1975, the princess offered the heart to the Memorial of Saint-Denis in Paris, the organization that oversees the royal graves at the Basilica of St. Denis. The heart was placed in an underground crypt at the basilica where the remains of French royals that were desecrated during the French Revolution were subsequently interred.

In 2004, DNA tests using mitochondrial DNA proved the heart really did belong to Louis-Charles. Comparison samples were taken from descendants of Marie Antoinette’s sisters, members of the Bourbon-Parma family including Queen Anne of Romania who was born a Princess of Bourbon-Parma, and a strand of Marie Antoinette’s hair. With the approval of the French government, the Legitimists organized a ceremony at the Basilica of St. Denis on June 8, 2004, the 209th anniversary of Louis-Charles’ death. His heart was placed in a niche near the graves of his parents Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette whose remains were transferred to the basilica in 1815.

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Royal Burials

*Unofficial Royalty article

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_personnes_enterr%C3%A9es_dans_la_basilique_Saint-Denis

Arnegunde, Queen of the Franks (circa 515/520 – 580), wife of Clotaire I, King of the Franks

Dagobert I, King of the Franks (circa 603 – 639)

Nanthilde, Queen of the Franks (circa 610 – 642), wife of Dagobert I

Clovis II, King of Neustria and Burgundy (633 – 657)

Clovis III, King of Austrasia (circa 670 – ?)

Dagobert III, King of the Franks (circa 699 – 715)

Charles Martel, Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace (circa 688 – 741)

Pepin the Younger, King of the Franks (circa 714 – 768)

Bertrada of Laon, Queen of the Franks (born between 710 and 727 – 783), wife of Pepin the Younger

Ermentrude of Orléans, Queen of the Franks (823 – 869), wife of Charles II the Bald

Charles II the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia (823 – 877)

Louis III, King of West Francia (circa 863/65 – 882)

Carloman II, King of West Francia (circa 866 – 884)

Odo, Count of Paris, King of West Francia (circa 857 – 898)

Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, Count of Paris (circa 898 – 956)

Hugh Capet, King of the Franks (circa 939 – 996)

Robert II the Pious, King of the Franks (circa 972 – 1031)

Constance of Provence, Queen of the Franks (circa 986 – 1032), 3rd wife of Robert II the Pious

Henri I, King of the Franks (1008- 1060)

Louis VI the Fat, King of the Franks (1081 – 1137)

Philippe II Auguste, King of France (1165 – 1223)

Louis VIII, King of France (1187 – 1226)

Jean Tristand, Count of Valois (1250 – 1270) son of Louis IX

Saint Louis IX, King of France (1214 – 1270)

Margaret of France, Duchess of Brabant (1254 – 1271), daughter of Louis IX, 1st wife of John I, Duke of Brabant

Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France (circa (ca. 1248 – 1271), 1st wife of Philippe III

Alphonse, Count of Poitiers (1220 – 1271), son of Louis VIII

Prince Louis of France (1264 – 1276), son of Philippe III

Philippe III, King of France (1245 – 1285)

Blanche of France, Duchess of Austria (circa 1282 – 1305), daughter of Philippe III

Margaret of Provence, Queen of France (1221 – 1295), wife of Louis IX

Philippe IV, King of France (1268 – 1314)

Louis X, King of France (1289 – 1316)

Jean I, King of France (November 15 – 20, 1316)

Philippe V, King of France (circa 1293 – 1322)

Clementia of Hungary, Queen of France (1293 – 1328), wife of Louis X, buried in the demolished Church of the Couvent des Jacobins in Paris, effigy is in the Basilica of Saint-Denis

Princess Marie of France (1327 – 1341), daughter of Charles IV

Charles II, Count of Alençon (1297 – 1346). brother of Philip VI, buried in the demolished Church of the Couvent des Jacobins in Paris, effigy is in the Basilica of Saint-Denis

Joan of Burgundy, Queen of France (circa 1293 – 1349), 1st wife of Philippe VI

Joan II, Queen of Navarre (1312 – 1349), daughter of Louis X, wife of Philip III of Navarre

Philippe VI, King of France (1293 – 1350)

Joan I, Countess of Auvergne, Queen of France (1326 – 1360), wife of Jean II

Jean II, King of France (1319 – 1364)

Joan of Évreux, Queen of France (1310 – 1371), 3rd wife of Charles IV

Joan of Valois, Queen of Navarre (1343 – 1373), daughter of Jean II, wife of Charles II of Navarre

Joanna of Bourbon, Queen of France (1338 – 1378), wife of Charles V

Isabelle of Valois (1373 – 1377), daughter of Charles V

Charles V, King of France (1338 – 1380)

Margaret I, Countess of Burgundy, Countess of Flanders (1310 – 1382), daughter of Philippe V, wife of Louis I, Count of Flanders

Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (1328 – 1393), daughter of Charles IV, wife of Philippe, Duke of Orléans

Blanche of Navarre, Queen of France (circa 1331 – 1398), 2nd wife of Philippe VI

Charles VI, King of France (1368 – 1422)

Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France (circa 1371 – 1435), wife of Charles VI

Charles VII, King of France (1403 – 1461)

Marie of Anjou, Queen of France (1404 – 1463), wife of Charles VII

Charles VIII, King of France* (1470 – 1498)

Anne, Duchess of Brittany, Queen of France* (1477 – 1514), wife of Charles VIII, 2nd wife of Louis XII

Louis XII, King of France* (1462 – 1515)

Claude of France, Duchess of Brittany, Queen of France* (1499 – 1524), 1st wife of François I

Louise of Savoy, Duchess of Auvergne and Bourbon, Duchess of Nemours (1476 – 1531), mother of François I, wife of Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême

François, Dauphin of France, Duke of Brittany (1518 – 1536), son of François I

Charles, Duke of Orleans (1522 – 1545), son of François I

François I, King of France* (1494 – 1547)

Henri II, King of France* (1519 – 1559)

François II, King of France* (1544 – 1560)

Charles IX, King of France* (1550 – 1574)

Marie Elisabeth of Valois (1572 – 1578), daughter of Charles IX

François, Duke of Anjou (1555 – 1584), son of Henri II

Catherine de Medici, Queen of France* (1519 – 1589)

Henri III, King of France* (1551 – 1589)

Louise of Lorraine, Queen of France* (1553 – 1601), wife of Henri III

Henri IV, King of France* (1553 – 1610)

Nicolas, Duke of Orléans (1604 – 1611), son of Henri IV

Marguerite of Valois, Queen of France* (1553 – 1615), 1st wife of Henri IV, daughter of Henri II

Marie of Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, Duchess of Orléans (1605 – 1627), 1st wife of Gaston, Duke of Orléans

Marie de Medici, Queen of France* (1575 – 1642), 2nd wife of Henri IV

Louis XIII, King of France* (1601 – 1643)

Gaston, Duke of Orléans* (1608 – 1660), son of Henri IV

Anne Élisabeth of France (born and died 1662), daughter of Louis XIV

Marie Anne of France (born and died 1664), daughter of Louis XIV

Anne of Austria, Queen of France* (1601 – 1666), wife of King XIII

Henrietta Maria of France, Queen of England* (1609 – 1669), wife of King Charles I of England, daughter of Henri IV

Henrietta Anna of England, Duchess of Orléans* (1644 – 1670), first wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans

Philippe Charles, Duke of Anjou (1668 – 1671), son of Louis XIV

Marie Therese of France (1667 – 1672), daughter of Louis XIV

Marguerite of Lorraine, Duchess of Orléans (1615 – 1672) 2nd wife of Gaston, Duke of Orléans

Louis François, Duke of Anjou (born and died 1672), son of Louis XIV

Maria Theresa of Spain, Queen of France* (1638 – 1683), 1st wife of Louis XIV

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Dauphine of France (1660 – 1690), 1st wife of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France

Philippe I, Duke of Orléans* (1640 – 1701), son of Louis XIII

Louis, Duke of Brittany (1704 – 1705), son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin, grandson of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, great-grandson of Louis XIV

Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France* (1661 – 1711), son of Louis XIV

Maria Adelaide of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy, Dauphine of France (1685 – 1712), wife of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin

Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin* (1682 – 1712), son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, grandson of Louis XIV

Louis, Duke of Brittany (1707 – 1712), son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin

Charles, Duke of Berry (1686 – 1714), son of Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, grandson of Louis XIV

Louis XIV, King of France* (1638 – 1715)

Louise Élisabeth of Orléans, Duchess of Berry (1695 – 1719), wife of Charles, Duke of Berry, daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

Elizabeth Charlotte (Liselotte) of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans* (1652 – 1722), 2nd wife of Philippe of Orléans

Princess Marie Louise of France (1728 – 1733), daughter of Louis XV

Philippe Louis, Duke of Anjou (1730 – 1733), son of Louis XV

Princess Marie Therese of France (1746 – 1748), daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France, sister of Louis XVI

Princess Anne Henriette of France (1727 – 1752), daughter of Louis XV

Stillborn princess (1752), daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France, sister of Louis XVI

Xavier, Duke of Aquitaine (1753 – 1754), son of Louis, Dauphin of France, brother of Louis XVI

Princess Marie Zephyrine of France (1750 – 1755), daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France, sister of Louis XVI

Louise Élisabeth of France, Duchess of Parma (1727 – 1759), daughter of Louis XV, wife of Infante Philip, Duke of Parma

Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy (1751 – 1761), son of Louis, Dauphin of France, brother of Louis XVI

Marie Leszczyńska, Queen of France* (1703 – 1768), wife of Louis XV

Louis XV, King of France* (1710 – 1774)

Princess Sophie Philippine of France (1734 – 1782), daughter of Louis XV

Marie Thérèse, Mademoiselle d’Angoulême born and died 1783), daughter of Charles X

Sophie, Mademoiselle d’Artois (1776 – 1783), daughter of Charles X

Princess Sophie Hélène Béatrix of France (1786 – 1787), daughter of Louis XVI

Princess Louise Marie of France (1737 – 1787), daughter of Louis XV, a nun Carmelite convent at Saint-Denis under the name Sister Thérèse of Saint Augustine

Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (1781 – 1789), son of Louis XVI

Louis XVI, King of France* (1754 – 1793)

Maria Antonia of Austria, Queen Marie Antoinette of France* (1755 – 1793), wife of Louis XVI

Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France* (titular King Louis XVII of France) (1785 – 1795), son of Louis XVI

Princess Victoire Louise of France (1733 – 1799), daughter of Louis XV

Princess Marie Adélaïde of France (1732 – 1800), daughter of Louis XV

Princess Louise Élisabeth d’Artois (born and died 1817), daughter of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, grandson of Charles X

Louis Joseph of Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1736 – 1818), great-grandson of Louis XIV

Prince Louis of Artois (born and died 1818), son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, grandson of Charles X

Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (1778 – 1820), son of Charles X

Louis XVIII, King of France* (1755 – 1824)

Louis Henri Joseph of Bourbon, Prince of Condé, Duke of Bourbon (1756 – 1830), son of Louis Joseph of Bourbon, Prince de Condé

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Official Website: Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis

Unofficial Royalty: House of Valois Burials

Unofficial Royalty: House of Bourbon, House of Bonaparte, House of Orléans Burials

For a map of the tombs at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, see UK Tourism: Map of the tombs in the Basilica of Saint-Denis

Works Cited

Basilique cathédrale de Saint-Denis. 2022. Basilique cathédrale de Saint-Denis. [online] Available at: <http://www.saint-denis-basilique.fr/en/> [Accessed 14 March 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Basilica of Saint-Denis – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint-Denis> [Accessed 14 March 2022].

Flantzer, Susan, 2018. French Royal Burial Sites – House of Bourbon, House of Bonaparte, House of Orléans. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/current-monarchies-article-index/french-royal-index/french-burial-sites-house-of-bourbon-house-of-bonaparte-house-of-orleans/> [Accessed 14 March 2022].

Flantzer, Susan, 2019. French Royal Burial Sites – House of Valois. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/french-royal-burial-sites-house-of-valois/> [Accessed 14 March 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Basilique Saint-Denis — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilique_Saint-Denis> [Accessed 14 March 2022].

Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Liste des personnes enterrées dans la basilique Saint-Denis — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_personnes_enterr%C3%A9es_dans_la_basilique_Saint-Denis> [Accessed 14 March 2022].

Ippolita Trivulzio, Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Ippolita Trivulzio was the wife of Honoré II, the first Prince of Monaco, and therefore she was the first Princess Consort of Monaco. From 1331 – 1612, the rulers of Monaco were styled Lord of Monaco. In 1612, Honoré II began to style himself as Prince of Monaco. Born circa 1600 in the Duchy of Milan, now in Italy, Ippolita was the only daughter and the third of the four children of Carlo Emanuele Teodoro Trivulzio, Count of Melzo (1565 – 1605) and Caterina Gonzaga (1574 – 1615).

Ippolita had three brothers:

Gian Giacomo Teodoro Trivulzio, 1st Prince of Musocco (1597 – 1656), married Jeanne Marie Grimaldi (sister of Honoré II) had two children, after the death of his wife in 1620, he became a priest and was created a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1629

Girolamo Trivulzio (died young)

Alfonso Trivulzio (1600 – 1621), unmarried

Ippolita’s father Carlo Emanuele Teodoro Trivulzio was in the service of the Spanish army and fought in the Eighty Years’ War (1568 – 1648), initially a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces, today’s Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, against King Felipe II of Spain, who was also the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands. Carlo Emanuele died in battle in 1605 when his children were very young. The education and upbringing of Ippolita and her siblings depended solely on their widowed mother and Ippolita, the only daughter, received her education from nuns in a convent.

When Honoré II, Prince of Monaco reached the age of majority, a marriage to provide an heir was one of the first issues to be solved. Honore’s sister Jeanne Marie was married to Ippolita’s brother and marriage to Ippolita was a simple and suitable solution. Fifteen-year-old Ippolita and nineteen-year-old Honoré were married on February 13, 1616.

Ippolita and Honoré’s marriage was happy and they had one son:

Hercule Grimaldi, Marquis of Baux (1623 – 1651) married Maria Aurelia Spinola, had six children including Louis I, Prince of Monaco

Honoré II spent much time extending, rebuilding, and transforming what was originally the 1191 fortress of his Grimaldi ancestors into what is today’s Prince’s Palace of Monaco. Court customs and religious ceremonies were devised to create a connection between the monarchy and the people of Monaco. Ippolita was given a bigger role than her predecessors and participated in the decision-making.

Ippolita died on June 20, 1638, at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco at the age of thirty-seven. She was buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Monaco. During the late 19th century, a new and larger church, the Cathedral of Monaco, was built on the site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 but the current cathedral was built over the areas of the previous church and the old burial site so that the sovereign princes and consorts originally buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas are now buried in the Cathedral of Monaco.

Sadly, Ippolita’s son Hercule had an early death. On August 1, 1651, twenty-seven-year-old Hercule went on a visit to the Convent of Carnoles in Mentone, then in Monaco but now in France. After the visit, he engaged in some recreational shooting with some guards in the garden of the convent. Hercule was interested in how the gun worked and asked one of the guards to show him. The guard mishandled the gun and accidentally shot it towards Hercule and two other guards. All three were wounded. Fatally wounded in the spine, Hercule died the next day. He was buried at the Church of St. Nicholas.

Honoré survived his wife Ippolita by twenty-four years, dying on January 10, 1662, after a reign of fifty-eight years, at the age of 64, and was buried with his wife at the Church of St. Nicholas. He was succeeded by his twenty-year-old grandson Louis I, Prince of Monaco.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Ippolita Trivulzio – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ippolita_Trivulzio> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Honoré II, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/honore-ii-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Deaths from Firearms Accidents. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-deaths-from-firearms-accidents/> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

It.wikipedia.org. 2022. Carlo Emanuele Teodoro Trivulzio – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Emanuele_Teodoro_Trivulzio> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

It.wikipedia.org. 2022. Ippolita Trivulzio – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ippolita_Trivulzio> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan (Theatine Church of St. Cajetan) in Munich, Germany

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

The Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan (Theatine Church of St. Cajetan), which this writer has visited, is a Roman Catholic church located in Munich in the German state of Bavaria. The church was founded by Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (reigned 1651 to 1679) and his wife Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, in gratitude for the birth of a long-awaited male heir. Ferdinand Maria and Henriette Adelaide had married in 1650. Henriette Adelaide had a daughter in 1660, a stillbirth in 1661, and finally gave birth to a male heir, the future Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, in 1662, twelve years after her marriage.

The Theatinekirche has two patron saints. Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene (1480 – 1547), known as Saint Cajetan, was an Italian Catholic priest and co-founder of the Theatine Order and was canonized as a saint in 1671. Saint Adelaide (Adelheid) of Italy (931 – 999) (also known as Saint Adelaide of Burgundy) was the wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Adelaide was devoted to charitable work and supported the founding of monasteries. Because of her charity, Adelaide was widely revered after her death and was canonized in 1097.

Italian architect Agostino Barelli introduced Italian Baroque architecture to Bavaria with his design for the Theatinekirche. The design was modeled after the mother church of the Theatine Order, Sant’Andrea della Valle in Rome. Construction began in 1663. Barelli completed the shell of the church and left Munich in 1674 because of arguments with the site manager Antonio Spinelli and Henriette Adelaide’s confessor. The incomplete church was consecrated in 1675. Barelli’s successor as the chief architect of the Bavarian court, Enrico Zuccalli, actually Johann Heinrich Zuccalli, a Swiss architect, added the two towers which were not in the original plans, from 1684 -1692. The interior was completed in 1688 and the dome in 1690. For a long time, the outer facade of the Theatinerkirche remained unfinished. Despite many discussions, no agreement was reached. Finally, in 1765, the Bavarian court architect François de Cuvilliés the Elder designed a facade in the Rococo style which his son François de Cuvilliés the Younger completed.

During World War II, the Theatinekirche was bombed four times by the Allied Forces and suffered great damage. An altarpiece by Italian painter Antonio Zanchi was destroyed, along with the choir (the area between the nave and the sanctuary), the altar, and the south chapel. Reconstruction began in 1946 and was completed enough by 1955 to allow church services to resume.

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Interior of the Theatinekirche

Stucco Decorations

The interior of the Theatinekirche is richly decorated with stucco in the Baroque and Rococo styles with Corinthian columns decorated with acanthus leaves, ornaments, and religious figures.

The Pulpit

The 1686 black oak pulpit is the work of Austrian sculptor Andreas Faistenberger (link in German).

The High Altar

Before the World War II bombing, over the high altar hung a 1675 painting (below) by Italian painter Antonio Zanchi that depicted the patron saints of the church St. Cajetan and St. Adelaide, the founders of the church Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wife Henriette Adelaide of Savoy with their children, and two pages holding a model of the Theatinekirche. Sadly, the painting was destroyed during a bombing in 1944.

The high altar now contains a 1646 painting (below) by Flemish painter Gaspar de Crayer showing an enthroned Mary holding the infant Jesus surrounded by saints.

Statues of the Four Evangelists

In 1722, Bavarian sculptor Balthasar Ableithner (link in German) created the larger-than-life statues of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which were placed around the high altar. Only the statues of Mark and John survived the World War II bombing intact. The statue of Luke was able to be reconstructed. A new statue of Matthew was created by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ducrot and placed on the altar in 2017.

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July 11, 2011: Requiem Mass for Otto von Habsburg

Otto von Habsburg, the last Crown Prince of Austria and later in his long life, a member of the European Parliament, was the eldest and the longest surviving of the eight children of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria and his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Otto and his wife Regina of Saxe-Meiningen lived at Villa Austria in Pöcking, Bavaria, Germany, and Otto died there on July 4, 2011, aged 98. Multiple requiem masses were celebrated for Otto von Habsburg including one at the Theatinekirche in Munich, in Bavaria, Germany.

On July 11, 2011, a requiem mass was celebrated in the Theatinekirche by Cardinal Reinhard Marx and his predecessor Cardinal Friedrich Wetter. Munich’s Chief Rabbi Steven Langnas recited a Jewish funeral prayer. At the end of the requiem mass, the “Kaiserhymne” (Emperor’s Hymn), the old Austrian imperial anthem, was sung.

The requiem mass was screened on big screens at the Odeonsplatz, the large square in front of the Theatine Church, and was broadcast by Bavarian Television. Following the requiem mass, the Prime Minister of Bavaria Horst Seehofer hosted a reception for 700 invited guests in the Kaisersaal of the Munich Residenz, the former royal palace of the Wittelsbachs. Among the royalty and nobility attending the requiem mass and reception were Otto von Habsburg’s seven children: Andrea von Habsburg (born 1953), Monika von Habsburg (born 1954, twin of Michaela), Michaela von Habsburg (born 1954, twin of Monika), Gabriela von Habsburg (born 1956), Walburga von Habsburg (born 1958), Karl von Habsburg (born 1961), and Georg von Habsburg (born 1964). Also attending were members of the House of Wittelsbach – Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria and his wife Princess Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria – and Gloria, Princess Dowager of Thurn and Taxis.

On July 16, 2011, following a requiem mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, Otto was interred in the Crypt Chapel of the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, the traditional burial site of the House of Habsburg. His mother Zita of Bourbon-Parma was interred in the Crypt Chapel in 1989. At the time of his burial, Otto’s wife Regina who died in 2010, was also interred in the Crypt Chapel.

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Royal Burials

Besides the Theatinerkirche, rulers of the House of Wittelsbach have been interred at the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in Munich, Michaelskirche (St. Michael’s Church in Munich, and Andechs Abbey in Andechs. In 1977, Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, Head of the House of Wittelsbach and pretender to the former Bavarian throne from 1955 until his death in 1996, set up a Wittelsbach private family cemetery near Andechs Abbey due to the lack of space in the other Wittelsbach burial sites. The cemetery complex is now the main burial place of the Wittelsbach family.

The Theatine Church has two burial areas.

Interred in stone sarcophagi in a side chapel of the main nave:

Maximilian II, King of Bavaria (1811 – 1864)

Marie Friederike of Prussia, Queen of Bavaria (1825 – 1889) – wife of Maximilian II, King of Bavaria

When I visited the Theatinekirche, my husband did not want to pay the two euros admission to the Princely Crypt, and so I went into the crypt alone – just me and 47 coffins of members of the House of Wittelsbach – no one else was there. Being alone was a fairly creepy experience. I looked around, took photos, and exited quickly!

Interred in the Princely Crypt:

Luise Margarete Antonie of Bavaria (1663 – 1665) – daughter of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

Ludwig Amadeus Viktor of Bavaria (born and died 1665) – son of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

Stillborn son (1666) – son of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

Kajetan Maria Franz of Bavaria (born and died 1670) – son of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, Electress of Bavaria (1636 – 1676) – wife of Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria

Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (1636 – 1679)

Leopold Ferdinand of Bavaria (born and died 1689) – son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Anton of Bavaria (born and died 1690) – son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Wilhelm of Bavaria (1701 – 1704) – son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Alois of Bavaria (1702 – 1705) – son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Maximilian Emanuel Thomas (1704 – 1709) – son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Maximiliana Maria of Bavaria (born and died 1723) – daughter of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Elector of Bavaria

Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (1662 – 1726)

Therese Kunigunde of Poland, Electress of Bavaria (1676 – 1730) – 2nd wife of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Josef Ludwig of Bavaria (1728 – 1733) – son of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Elector of Bavaria

Maximilian Joseph Franz of Bavaria (1720 – 1738) – son of Ferdinand Maria Innocenz of Bavaria and grandson of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Ferdinand Maria Innozenz of Bavaria (1699 – 1738) – son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Elector of Bavaria (1697 – 1745)

Maria of Bavaria (born and died 1748)

Unnamed prince (born and died 1753)

Maria Anna of Bavaria (born and died 1754)

Unnamed prince (born and died 1755)

Maria Amalia of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (1701 – 1756) – wife of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor

Clemens Franz de Paula of Bavaria (1722 – 1770) – son of Ferdinand Maria Innocenz of Bavaria and grandson of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Margravine of Baden-Baden (1734 – 1776) – daughter of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, wife of Ludwig Georg, Margrave of Baden-Baden

Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (1727 – 1777)

Maria Anna of Pfalz-Sulzbach, Princess of Bavaria (1722 – 1790), wife of Clemens Franz de Paula of Bavaria

Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, Electress of Bavaria (1728 – 1797) – wife of Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria

Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria (1724 – 1799)

Maximilian Joseph Karl Friedrich of Bavaria (1800 – 1803) – son of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria

Maximiliana Josephe Karoline of Bavaria (1810 – 1821) – daughter of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria

Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria (1756 – 1825)

Caroline of Baden, Queen of Bavaria (1776 – 1841) – 2nd wife of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria

Auguste of Austria, Princess of Bavaria (1825 – 1864) – wife of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria

Otto of Bavaria, Otto I, King of Greece (1815 – 1867) – son of Ludwig I, King of Bavaria

Alexandra Amalie of Bavaria (1826 – 1875) – daughter of Ludwig I, King of Bavaria

Amalie of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece (1818 – 1875) – wife of Otto of Bavaria, Otto I, King of Greece

Irmingard of Bavaria (1902 – 1903) – died from diphtheria, daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria

Arnulf of Bavaria (1852 – 1907) – son of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria

Rudolf of Bavaria (1909 – 1912) – died from diabetes, son of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria

Marie Gabrielle in Bavaria, Crown Princess of Bavaria (1878 – 1912) – 1st wife of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria

Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria (1821 – 1912) – son of Ludwig I, King of Bavaria

Luitpold of Bavaria (1901 – 1914) – died from polio, son of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria

Heinrich of Bavaria (1884 – 1916) – killed in action during World War I, son of Arnulf of Bavaria and grandson of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria

Therese of Bavaria (1850 – 1925) – daughter of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria

Therese of Liechtenstein, Princess of Bavaria (1850 – 1938) – wife of Prince Arnulf of Bavaria

Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (1869 – 1955) – son of Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria

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Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Theatinerkirche (München) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatinerkirche_(M%C3%BCnchen)> [Accessed 6 January 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Death and Funeral of Otto von Habsburg – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_funeral_of_Otto_von_Habsburg> [Accessed 6 January 2022].

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Theatine Church, Munich – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatine_Church,_Munich> [Accessed 6 January 2022].

Mehl, Scott, 2012. Royal Burial Sites of the Kingdom of Bavaria. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/german-royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-kingdom-of-bavaria/> [Accessed 6 January 2022].

Theatinerkirche.de. 2022. Theatinerkirche München. [online] Available at: <http://www.theatinerkirche.de/> [Accessed 6 January 2022].

Honoré II, Prince of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer

© Unofficial Royalty 2022

From 1331 – 1612, the rulers of Monaco were styled Lord of Monaco. Honoré II was the first Prince of Monaco. Born in Monaco on December 24, 1597, Honoré II, Prince of Monaco was the only son and the second of the three children of Hercule, Lord of Monaco (1562 – 1604) and Maria Landi (? – 1599), a member of a noble family from Piacenza, now in northern Italy. Honoré II’s paternal grandparents were Honoré I, Lord of Monaco (1522 – 1581) and Isabella Grimaldi (? – 1583). His maternal grandparents were Italian noble Claudio Landi, 3rd Prince of Val di Taro (? – 1589) and Juana Fernández de Córdoba y Milá de Aragón, a descendant of the Royal House of Aragon through her mother.

Honoré had two sisters:

Jeanne Marie Grimaldi (1596 – 1620), married Gian Giacomo Teodoro Trivulzio, Conte di Melzo, Principe di Musocco, had two children

Marie Claudia Grimaldi (1599 – 1668), a Carmelite nun

Honoré lost both his parents in childhood. When he was two years old, his mother died on January 19, 1599, due to childbirth complications after the birth of her third child. On November 29, 1604, Honoré’s father Hercule, Lord of Monaco was stabbed to death while walking through the streets of Monaco at night. His body was dumped into the sea by the murderer(s) and was later found washed up on the shore. The cause of his murder remains unclear. A month short of his seventh birthday, Honoré succeeded his father as Lord of Monaco. For their protection, Honoré and his two sisters were hidden until their maternal uncle Feredico Landi, 4th Prince of Val di Taro (? – 1630), arrived to rule as regent, a position he held until 1616. Feredico Landi was a loyal ally of Spain and he allowed the occupation of Monaco by Spanish troops in 1605.

In 1612, Honoré II started using the title of Prince, becoming the first Prince of Monaco. Monaco was recognized as a sovereign