Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton

Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton, also known as Mary Victoria Hamilton[1] (11 December 1850  14 May 1922), was a Scottish noblewoman who was the great-grandmother of Prince Rainier III of Monaco, Prince Karl Johannes von Schwarzenberg and Princess Ira von Fürstenberg.

Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton
Hereditary Princess of Monaco
BornLady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton
(1850-12-11)11 December 1850
Hamilton Palace, Scotland
Died14 May 1922(1922-05-14) (aged 71)
Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Burial
Festetics Mausoleum
Spouse
(m. 1869; annulled 1880)

(m. 1880)
IssueLouis II, Prince of Monaco
Countess Mária Matild Festetics de Tolna
Prince György Tasziló Festetics de Tolna
Countess Alexandra Olga Festetics de Tolna
Countess Karola Friderika Festetics de Tolna
HouseDouglas
FatherThe 11th Duke of Hamilton
MotherPrincess Marie Amelie of Baden

Life

She was the daughter of William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and of his wife, Princess Marie Amelie of Baden.

Hereditary Princess of Monaco

Her first marriage, on 21 September 1869 at Château de Marchais, was to Prince Albert, only child and heir apparent of Charles III, Prince of Monaco. The marriage was arranged upon the wish of the Monegasque princely house, as it had long been an ambition of his mother and grandmother to marry him to a member of the British royal house.[2] While Queen Victoria refused a match between Albert and one of her closer family members, Lady Mary was suggested as a suitable replacement.[3]

They had a single son, Louis, who would take the throne of Monaco upon his father's death. Their marriage was annulled by the Church on 3 January 1880, although civilly it was dissolved only on 28 July 1880, by the Order of Prince Charles III.

Life in Hungary

Her second marriage, on 2 June 1880, was to Prince Tassilo Festetics de Tolna (Tassilo, Fürst Festetics von Tolna in German). The couple had four children.

During her 40-year marriage to Graf, and later Prince Festetics von Tolna, Lady Mary oversaw enlargement and improvement of the Festetics' main seat, Festetics Palace, and its gardens, in Keszthely, western Hungary.

On numerous occasions, she and her husband would entertain her brother the Duke of Hamilton, and his great friend, the Prince of Wales. There are still portraits extant in the Palace of numerous members of her family, including one of her father in full Highland dress. Outside the palace, on either side of the main entrance there are the Armorial bearings of both the Lady Mary and her husband.

Further, the Helikon Library at the Palace contains many works that were brought to Keszthely by Lady Mary from her father and brother's collections at Hamilton Palace.

The Palace grounds, on the shores of Lake Balaton, contains a Mausoleum to the Festetics and is the final resting place of Lady Mary and her husband.

See also

Festetics family

References

  1. "Person Page 10128". Thepeerage.com. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  2. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
  3. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
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