Charles-Maurice of Monaco, Count of Valentinois
Count of Valentinois
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Charles-Maurice of Monaco (Monégasque: Carlu-Mauriçi de Mu̍negu;[1] 14 May 1727 – 18 January 1798), sometimes referred to as Charles-Maurice Goyon de Matignon or Charles-Maurice Grimaldi, was a Monégasque prince, he was the third surviving child and youngest son of Prince Jacques I and Princess Louise Hippolyte.
May 14, 1727
Paris, France
Maury, Switzerland
- Grimaldi (maternally, official)
- Goyon (agnatically)
| Charles-Maurice of Monaco | |||||
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| Count of Valentinois | |||||
The Family of the Duke of Valentinois, Pierre Gobert. Charles-Maurice is seen playing with a monkey. | |||||
| Born | Charles-Maurice Grimaldi May 14, 1727 Paris, France | ||||
| Died | January 18, 1798 (aged 70) Maury, Switzerland | ||||
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| Father | Jacques I, Prince of Monaco | ||||
| Mother | Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco | ||||
Early life and marriage
Charles-Maurice was born on May 14, 1727, to Jacques I and Louise Hippolyte of Monaco, his mother was the second female sovereign of Monaco.[1]
Marriage
On December 10, 1749, in the chapel of the Hôtel Saint-Simon in Paris (with the approval of King Louis XV dated November 1, 1749), he married Marie-Christine de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (1728–1774), daughter of Jacques-Louis de Rouvroy (1698–1746), Duke of Saint-Simon by gift inter vivos, known as the "Duke of Ruffec," and his wife Catherine-Charlotte-Thérèse de Gramont (1707–1755). Marie-Christine was the granddaughter of the renowned memoirist Louis de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (1675–1755), Duke of Saint-Simon. As his wife was a Grandee of Spain of the first class, Charles-Maurice became a Grandee of Spain of the first class jure uxoris.[2]
No children were born from this marriage, which ended in separation in 1766.
Military career
Charles-Maurice of Monaco never took his vows in the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, which he left following the deaths of two of his elder brothers.[3]
Appointed guidon of the Gendarmerie in 1745, at the age of 18, he participated a few months later in the Battle of Fontenoy, during which he was wounded (May 11). Voltaire wrote a poem "likely to inflame hearts and send the handsome lords of the court to immortality"[4] in which he evokes the wounding of the Count of Valentinois in these terms: "Monaco loses its blood, and love sighs for it."[5] Promoted to ensign in the gendarmerie of Brittany on March 8, 1746, he became a sub-lieutenant in the same company in March 1747. On February 10, 1759, he was promoted to brigadier of cavalry, Lieutenant-General in the government of Normandy, and governor of Granville, Saint-Lô, Cherbourg, and the Chausey Islands.[6]
Although he is presented in a 1777 work as a Knight of the Golden Fleece,[7] Charles-Maurice de Monaco is not found in the available lists. Confusion with his status as a Grandee of Spain by right of marriage is possible.