by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Born on July 18, 1793, in Coulommiers, France, Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, wife of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, was the only child of Marie Francoise Henriette le Gras de Vaubercy (1766 – 1845) and the second of her three husbands Charles-Thomas Gibert (1765 – ?) who was a lawyer. Marie Francoise’s first husband Augustin Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy had died in 1789. She then married Charles-Thomas Gibert and the couple divorced in 1797.

Maria Caroline had an elder half-brother from her mother’s first marriage to Augustin Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy:

• Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy (1788 – 1851), married Amélie d’Aumont, had two sons

After divorcing Maria Caroline’s father, Marie Francoise married her third husband Antoine Rouyer de Lametz (1762 – 1836), Chevalier d’Empire and Knight of the Legion of Honor. The marriage did not produce any children but Antoine Rouyer de Lametz officially adopted his wife’s daughter Maria Caroline and she added “de Lametz” to her name.

In 1814, Marie Caroline’s half-brother Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy married Amélie d’Aumont at the Château de Lametz (link in French), the home of his mother’s third husband Antoine Rouyer de Lametz. Amélie d’Aumont was the illegitimate daughter of Louise d’Aumont, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye in her own right. Louise d’Aumont had also been Hereditary Princess of Monaco as the wife of the future Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco but the couple had divorced in 1798 before Honoré IV became Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

Prince Florestan of Monaco, Louise d’Aumont’s younger son with Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco, attended his half-sister’s wedding celebrations and met Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, the half-sister of the groom. Florestan spent the summer of 1815 at the Château de Lametz and the couple decided to marry. Because Florestan’s family did not approve of the marriage, the wedding, on November 27, 1816, was quiet and modest.

Florestan and Maria Caroline had two children:

• Charles III, Prince of Monaco (1818 – 1889), married Antoinette de Mérode, had one son Albert I, Prince of Monaco
• Princess Florestine of Monaco (1833 – 1897), married Wilhelm of Württemberg, 1st Duke of Urach, had two children

Florestan and Maria Carolina lived in France. In 1641, during the reign of Honoré II, Monaco had become 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. In January 1793, during the French Revolution, Honoré III, Prince of Monaco was officially declared deposed and the Principality of Monaco was annexed by France.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration which saw Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the beheaded King Louis XVI, become King of France, Florestan’s uncle Joseph petitioned King Louis XVIII to restore the Principality of Monaco to the Grimaldi family. Florestan’s father Honoré IV finally became Sovereign Prince of Monaco in 1814. The independence of Monaco lasted for only one year. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, an international diplomatic conference that reconstituted the European political order after the downfall of  Napoleon I, declared that Monaco would be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Florestan’s mother Louise, d’Aumont was Louise was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye, the mistress of King Charles II of England, and one of the two heirs of her uncle Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the First Minister of King Louis XIV of France. Louise was the heir of Hortense Mancini’s titles and the Mazarin family wealth. When Florestan’s mother Louise died in 1826, she left her entire fortune to her younger son Florestan because her elder son Honoré V had an illegitimate child. Maria Caroline was a skillful businesswoman. She handled the finances of the family, and successfully managed the fortune Florestan inherited from his mother.

Because Florestan’s brother Honoré V, Prince of Monaco had never married, Florestan was the heir to the throne of Monaco. After a reign of twenty-two years, Honoré V, Prince of Monaco died on October 2, 1841, in Paris, France, aged 63, and was succeeded by his brother Florestan.

Florestan had lived in France his entire life and had never been to Monaco. He was ill-prepared to assume the role of Sovereign Prince. During his reign, the real power lay in the hands of his wife Maria Caroline. She took over the finances of Monaco just as she had done with the family finances. Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

By 1842, Maria Carolina’s son Charles was disturbed by his mother’s takeover of Monaco. He realized that his father was content with the situation and would not intervene. Charles wrote a stern letter to his mother criticizing her actions and threatening to request the Kingdom of Sardinia (Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia) to force his father Florestan to abdicate in his favor. Maria Caroline replied with a scathing letter. Charles did make a request to Sardinia that was squelched by his mother. Maria Carolina and her son Charles came to an understanding. For the rest of Florestan’s reign, Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

After a reign of nearly fifteen years, Florestan, Prince of Monaco died, aged 70, on June 20, 1856, in Paris, France. He was succeeded by his 38-year-old son Charles III, Prince of Monaco. At the time of Florestan’s death, Monaco was a weakened country with little prospect of financial security. However, Charles III had been well prepared by his mother Maria Caroline to reign as the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. He had the benefit of his mother’s advice for most of his reign as she was alive for twenty-three years of his thirty-three-year long reign.

During Charles III’s early reign, the towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which made up 95% of Monaco’s territory, were formally ceded to France, which resulted in France’s formal recognition of Monaco’s independence. However, rebellions in these towns had exhausted Monaco’s military resources for decades.

It should not be surprising that to solve Monaco’s financial issues, the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco and developing Monaco into a seaside resort was Maria Caroline’s idea. She recalled visiting Hesse-Homburg, a small sovereign landgraviate in central Germany that was prosperous because of a gambling casino. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, named after Charles III as Carlo is the Italian for Charles (Monte-Carlo = Mount Charles in English), opened in 1865, nine years after the death of Florestan, and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Fearing that the citizens of Monaco would squander their money on gambling, Maria Carolina had the idea to ban all citizens of Monaco from gambling at the casino. That rule is still in effect.

At the time of the building of the casino, Monaco’s population was approximately 1,000. Within three years, thousands of people from England and other European countries had built homes in Monaco. Maria Caroline remained an advisor to her son for the rest of her life. Her assistance was especially needed after her son Charles III began to go blind and his wife Antoinette de Mérode died from cancer in 1864 at the age of 35.

Maria Caroline survived her husband Florestan, Prince of Monaco by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 86, on November 25, 1879, in Monaco. She was interred at the new larger church that was still under construction, the Cathedral of Monaco, that her son Charles III was building to replace the Church of Saint Nicholas.

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Works Cited

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