Louis II (Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi; 12 July 1870 – 9 May 1949) was Prince of Monaco from 26 June 1922 to 9 May 1949.

Early years

Born in Baden-Baden, Louis II was the only child of Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1848–1922), and Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton (1850–1922). His mother was a daughter of William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and Princess Marie Amelie of Baden.

Louis was born within a year of his parents' marriage, but his mother, a strong-willed 19-year-old, disliked Monaco and was unhappy with her husband. She left the country permanently shortly after the birth, and the couple's marriage was annulled in 1880. Louis was raised in Germany by his mother and stepfather, Count (later Prince) Tassilo Festetics von Tolna, along with his eldest half-sister Maria-Mathilde (later grandmother of Princess Ira von Fürstenberg); he did not see his father until age 11 when he was obliged to return to Monaco to be trained for his future princely duties.

Louis's father, Prince Albert I, was a dominating personality who had made Monaco a centre of cultural activity and whose intellectual achievements were recognized around the world. Unhappy to be living with his cold and distant father, Louis went to France as soon as he was old enough to enroll in Saint-Cyr, the French national military college. Four years later, after graduating, he was attached to the French Foreign Legion and then served with a regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique (African Light Horse) in Algeria.

Before being stationed in Algeria, he met Marie Juliette Louvet (1867–1930), a cabaret singer, on a short official visit to Paris. They had an out-of-wedlock daughter, Charlotte Louise Juliette, born on 30 September 1898 in Constantine, Algeria. It is a moot point whether he could be the sovereign of two European countries simultaneously, had he in fact succeeded to the throne of Monaco, but he had several sons. He renounced his claim to the principality in 1924, passing it to other French cousins that were also descended from the Grimaldi family, the counts of Chabrillan.

On 17 July 1918, largely because of the von Urach potential claim, France and Monaco signed a brief but far-reaching treaty requiring prior French approval of all future Monégasque princes. Article 2 specified: "Measures concerning the international relations of the Principality shall always be the subject of prior consultations between the Government of the Principality and the French Government. The same shall apply to measures concerning directly or indirectly the exercise of a regency or succession to the throne, which shall, whether by marriage or adoption or otherwise, pass only to a person who is of French or Monégasque nationality and is approved by the French Government." Under Article 3, Prince Albert agreed "...for himself and his successors the commitment assumed towards the French Government not to alienate the Principality, in whole or in part, in favour of any Power other than France."

Reign

thumb|right|Portrait by [[Philip de László, 1928]]

On 26 June 1922, Prince Albert I died in Paris. Louis Grimaldi ascended to the throne as Louis II, Prince of Monaco. While his reign never achieved the grandeur of his father, Louis II left an indelible imprint on the principality. In 1924 the Monaco Football Club was formed and in 1929, the first Grand Prix of Monaco automobile race was held, won by William Grover-Williams, driving a Bugatti painted in what would become the famous British racing green color. He collected artefacts belonging to Napoleon I which are now assembled and displayed in the Napoleon Museum attached to the Prince's Palace in Monte Carlo.

Particularly in the earlier years of Louis's reign, he acquired the reputation for administrative probity: he obtained the departure of Camille Blanc who had long managed Monte Carlo Casino yet who faced increasing questions regarding his administration of the casino's affairs.

In 1931 revolutionaries planned to depose Louis II and replace him with Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois, his son-in-law. This was provoked by agitation from the administrator of the Monte Carlo Casino, René Léon, and planned to also dismantle the influence of the casino over the principality. The date was set for 15 April of that year but never materialised for unknown reasons.

In 1931, the prestige of Monaco's cultural life received a boost when René Blum was hired to form the Ballet de l'Opéra à Monte-Carlo. Just before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, a modern large football stadium was built where the Universiade were staged at the newly named "Stade Prince Louis II".

While Louis's sympathies were strongly pro-French, he supported the Vichy France government of his old army colleague, Marshal Pétain. Nonetheless, his principality was beset with domestic conflict partly as a result of Louis's indecisiveness, Among them was René Blum, founder of the Opera, who was murdered in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Absent from Monaco during most of the final years of his reign, he and his wife lived at Marchais, their family estate in northern France.

  • Medal of the Order of the Francisque
  • Badge of the Brigadier General
  • Badge of the French Foreign Legion
  • : Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order of Karl-Friedrich
  • : Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 23 March 1929
  • Italy:
  • :
  • Knight with Collar of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
  • Italian Republic: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
  • : Knight of the Order of Pius IX
  • : 298th Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry
  • : Grand Cross of the Order of San Marino, 30 March 1935
  • :
  • Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star, 1906
  • Knight of the Order of the Seraphim, 9 April 1923
  • : Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown, 1889

Ancestry

Notes

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