Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton, Hereditary Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton, Hereditary Princess of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Besides having an American mother, Prince Albert II of Monaco has a Scottish great-grandmother on his father’s side.  Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton was born on December 11, 1850, at Hamilton Palace in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.  Her father was William Alexander Anthony Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton.  The Duke of Hamilton is the Premier Peer of Scotland and head of both the House of Hamilton and the House of Douglas.  Her mother was Princess Marie Amelie of Baden.  Through her mother, Lady Mary Victoria was a third cousin of Emperor Napoléon III of France and first cousin of Queen Carola of Saxony, Queen Stephanie of Portugal, King Carol I of Romania, and Countess Marie of Flanders (mother of King Albert I of the Belgians).

Lady Mary Victoria had two elder brothers:

Mary Victoria and Albert shortly after their wedding; Credit – Wikipedia

Lady Mary Victoria and the future Prince Albert I of Monaco first met in August 1869 at a ball in Paris given by Emperor Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie.   Emperor Napoléon III suggested a match between Prince Albert and Lady Mary Victoria to Albert’s grandmother Caroline, the wife of Prince Florestan I of Monaco.  Lady Mary Victoria’s family was old, noble, and wealthy, and connected to several European royal families through Lady Mary Victoria’s mother.  Although Monaco was no larger in area than the lands held by the Duke of Hamilton, the Hamiltons were impressed by Monaco’s status as an independent country.  The couple was married on September 21, 1869, a month after their first meeting, at the Château de Marchais in Champagne, France, still owned by the Princely Family of Monaco.

Having been more or less forced into marriage, Mary Victoria and Albert were less than compatible.   Albert thought that his new wife was empty-headed and although Mary Victoria thought her husband handsome, she did not particularly like him.  Additionally, Mary Victoria did not like Monaco and the Mediterranean, so unlike her native Scotland.  19-year-old, pregnant Mary Victoria left Monaco with her mother and headed to her mother’s family home in the Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Germany.   It was in Baden that Mary Victoria gave birth to the future Prince Louis II of Monaco on July 12, 1870.

Mary Victoria and Albert never reconciled.  Their marriage was annulled by the Roman Catholic Church in 1880 and civilly dissolved the same year by Prince Charles III of Monaco.  Their son Prince Louis was raised in Baden by his maternal grandmother and did not see his father until he was 11 years old, when he returned to Monaco to be trained for his future royal duties.  He succeeded his father as Prince Louis II in 1922 and is the grandfather of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and the great-grandfather of Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Mary Victoria’s second husband Count Tassilo Festetics de Tolna; Credit – Wikipedia

Mary Victoria married a second time in 1880 to Count Tassilo Festetics de Tolna, a Hungarian noble. The couple had four children.  Through this marriage, Mary Victoria is the great-grandmother of fashion designer Prince Egon von Fürstenberg, socialite and actress Princess Ira von Fürstenberg, and the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Karel Schwarzenberg.

  • Countess Mária Matild Georgina Festetics de Tolna (1881 – 1953, married Prince Karl Emil von Fürstenberg
  • Prince György Tasziló József Festetics de Tolna (1882 – 1941), married Countess Marie Franziska von Haugwitz.
  • Countess Alexandra Olga Eugénia Festetics de Tolna (1884 – 1963), married  (1) Prince Karl von Windisch-Grätz  (2) Prince Erwin zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst
  • Countess Karola Friderika Mária Festetics de Tolna (1888 – 1951), married Baron Oskar Gautsch von Frankenthurn

Mary Victoria’s second marriage was a happy one and lasted over 40 years.  During that time, she busied herself with the enlargement and improvement of her husband’s ancestral home, Festetics Palace, and its gardens, in Keszthely, Hungary.  In 1911, Count Tasziló Festetics de Tolna was made a Prince with the style Serene Highness by Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Mary Victoria died on May 14, 1922, at the age of 71 in Budapest, Hungary, and was buried with her second husband in the family mausoleum on the grounds of the Festetics Palace.

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