Louise d'Aumont

Louise d'Aumont, duchesse d'Aumont, duchesse Mazarin et de La Meilleraye, (Louise Félicité Victoire; 22 October 1759, in Paris – 13 December 1826, in Paris) was a French Duchess and a Princess of Monaco by marriage to Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco.

Louise d'Aumont
Hereditary Princess of Monaco
Born(1759-10-22)22 October 1759
Hôtel d'Aumont, Paris
Died13 December 1826(1826-12-13) (aged 67)
Paris
Burial
Saint Nicholas Cathedral
Spouse
    Honoré, Hereditary Prince of Monaco
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1777; div. 1798)​
      René François Tirnand-d'Arcis
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1801; div. 1803)​
      Issue
      Full name
      Louise Félicité Victoire d'Aumont
      HouseAumont
      FatherLouis Marie Guy d'Aumont
      MotherLouise Jeanne de Durfort

      Life

      She was the only child and daughter of Louis Marie Guy d'Aumont, Duke of Aumont (1732–1799), and Louise Jeanne de Durfort, duchesse Mazarin et de La Meilleraye (Paris, 1 September 1735 - Paris, 17 March 1781). Louise d'Aumont was a direct descendant of Hortense Mancini, the mistress of King Charles II of England, who was one of the two heiresses of her uncle, King Louis XIV's chief minister Cardinal Mazarin.

      She married Honoré, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, on 15 July 1777 in Paris. The couple had two children, Prince Honoré V and Prince Florestan I. The marriage was arranged in order to give Monaco access to her great fortune.[1] However, her and her family's assets where tied up in lawsuits, and Louise caused further debts to Monaco by her gambling debts and expensive wardrobe.[2] The marriage between Louise and Honoré was unhappy, and they soon separated.[3]

      In March 1793, Monaco was annexed to Revolutionary France, and the members of the former ruling dynasty became French citizens. In parallel, her brother-in-law, Prince Joseph of Monaco spend most of his time abroad to negotiate foreign loans, which him a suspect of contra-revolutionary activities and thus made the whole family suspected of being traitors.[4] Joseph's wife Marie Thérèse de Choiseul was arrested in the absence of her spouse, as was his father, his brother and his sister-in-law, Louise. Louise and her children where rescued from prison by her family doctor, Desormeaux, who forged a release order from prison and hid them until the fall of Robespierre.[5]

      On 28 March 1794, Louise gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Amélie Céleste Erodore d'Aumont (died 1820). The father of the child is believed to have been Antoine de Montazet, arch bishop of Lyon.[6] The marriage of Honoré IV and Louise ended in divorce in 1798, giving Louise sole access of her fortune. Louise married secondly René François Tirnand-d'Arcis on 6 February 1801, and divorced him in 1803.

      Louise removed her eldest son from her will because he had an illegitimate child, and willed her entire fortune to her younger son, Florestan.[7] Through their descent from Louise and her mother, the princely family of Monaco now lays claim to the wealth and estates bequeathed by Cardinal Mazarin, including the Duchy of Rethel, and the Principality of Château-Porcien.

      Ancestry

      References
      1. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
      2. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
      3. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
      4. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
      5. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
      6. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
      7. Anne Edwards, The Grimaldis of Monaco, 1992
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