Maria Caterina Brignole
| Maria Caterina Brignole | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Princess consort of Monaco | |||||
| Tenure | 1757–1770 | ||||
| Born |
7 October 1737 Palazzo Rosso, Genoa |
||||
| Died | 18 March 1813 (aged 75) Wimbledon, England (Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom) |
||||
| Burial | 5 April 1813 St Aloysius Church, Somers Town, London |
||||
| Spouse |
Honoré III, Prince of Monaco Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé |
||||
| Issue |
Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco Prince Joseph of Monaco |
||||
|
|||||
| Father | Giuseppe Brignole | ||||
| Mother | Maria Anna Balbi | ||||
| Full name | |
|---|---|
| Maria Caterina Brignole Sale |
Maria Caterina Brignole (or Marie-Christine de Brignole; 7 October 1737 – 18 March 1813) was the daughter of a Genovese nobleman. On 5 June 1757 she married Honoré III, Prince of Monaco.
Her husband died in 1795, and in 1798 she married Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, a French prince du sang.
Maria Caterina was the daughter of Giuseppe Maria Brignole Sale, 7th Marchese di Groppoli, of a family whose members had occupied the position of doge in the Republic of Genoa, and Maria Anna Balbi, daughter of a doge of Genoa. As her father was the Genovese ambassador to France, Maria Caterina and her mother frequented the salons of Paris and the royal court of Versailles. Her biographer, Philippe Paul, comte de Ségur, called Maria Caterina "the most beautiful woman in France".
Maria Caterina fell in love with the Prince de Condé, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, In 1755, however, her mother proposed a marriage between Maria Caterina and her own former lover, Honoré III of Monaco.
The family wanted to raise its status and forestall a marriage for Honoré arranged by the French court and designed to further French influence in Monaco. Honoré had declined many marriage proposals but was willing to marry Maria Caterina because of her beauty and dowry and soon seduced her. Her father, however, disagreed because of the bad reputation of Prince Honoré as well as the prospect of the prince inheriting his fortune. He relented only after intervention by Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, giving his consent in 1757.
Maria Caterina came to Monaco by boat accompanied by a suite of the Genovese nobility. When they arrived, however, Prince Honoré did not come aboard the ship to welcome his bride. When they asked him to do so, he replied that his status as a monarch demanded that she come to him instead. The Genovese entourage answered that Maria Caterina was a member of a ruling family of the Republic of Genoa and refused to do so. The ship was therefore stranded offshore for several days, until the predicament was resolved by the couple meeting halfway on a bridge between the boat and the shore.
...
Wikipedia