Albert I, Prince of Monaco
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| Albert I | |||||
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Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco | |||||
| Spouse |
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| Issue | Louis II, Prince of Monaco | ||||
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| House | Grimaldi | ||||
| Father | Charles III, Prince of Monaco | ||||
| Mother | Antoinette de Mérode | ||||
Albert I (Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi; 13 November 1848 – 26 June 1922) was
Early life
Born on 13 November 1848 in
As a young man, Prince Albert served in the
First marriage
On 21 September 1869 at the
Caroline had tried to make a match between Albert and
Within a year of their marriage, the couple's only child (Louis) was born, but Mary disliked Monaco and found the Mediterranean too hot. While Albert was away fighting in the Franco-Prussian war, she left Monaco permanently. The couple divorced and their marriage was annulled by the Church on 3 January 1880, although a special provision was made by the
Accession and second marriage
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On 10 September 1889, Albert ascended the throne of Monaco on the death of his father. That same year in
Despite the initial success of the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Alice, in 1902, they separated legally, without issue, though did not divorce. According to
Later life
In March 1910, there were
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Despite his military service, or perhaps because of it, the Prince became a pacifist, establishing the International Institute of Peace in Monaco as a place to develop a peaceful settlement for conflict through arbitration. In the tension-filled times leading up to
When war came, Prince Albert could not avoid becoming involved. In one incident, he even wrote personally to the Kaiser in an effort to ameliorate the consequences of Gen. Karl von Bülow's wrath. Without the Prince's intervention, the French villages of Sissonne and Marchais would have been destroyed.[3] In the "Great War to End All Wars", Monaco declared its neutrality, but in fact, provided the Allied forces with hospitals, convalescent centers, and soldiers, including Prince Albert's only son, Louis.
Albert died on 26 June 1922 in Paris, France, and was succeeded by his son, Louis II.
Oceanography, paleontology, geography
Prince Albert I of Monaco devoted much of his life to the study of the sea and oceans,, with research facilities in Paris.
He owned four, increasingly impressive research yachts, Hirondelle, Princesse Alice, Princesse Alice II and Hirondelle II.[7] Accompanied by some of the world's leading marine scientists, he travelled the length and breadth of the Mediterranean,[8] making numerous oceanographic studies, maps and charts. In 1896, on an oceanographic survey of the Azores, he discovered the Princess Alice Bank.
From an early age, Prince Albert I of Monaco evidenced a strong fascination for the
The first cruise in the summer of 1898 was an
On the second expedition, in 1899, the focus was on the hydrography and topography of Raudfjorden, on the north-western tip of Spitsbergen, of which a map was published. His efforts are acknowledged by the later naming of Albert I Land, which comprises the part of Spitsbergen west of Raudfjorden.
The third trip, in 1906, meteorology was added to the range of observations and surveys were pursued. The Prince also provided support for two other expeditions, that of the Scotsman, William Bruce, to Prins Karls Forland, and that of the Norwegian, Gunnar Isachsen, to northwestern Spitsbergen. His funding of the latter lead to regular Norwegian scientific expeditions on Svalbard, and in 1928 the foundation of the Norwegian Polar Institute.
The Prince's fourth expedition in 1907, was aimed at completing the results from the previous summer. Prince Albert also lent his support, either financially, or through gifts or loans of oceanographic instruments, to numerous Arctic and Antarctic explorers. The same year, he provided funds and support for the foundation of the Friends of the French National Museum of Natural History Society.[9] In 1909 he joined the Société de Géographie and the British Academy. In 1910 the Prince was the main founder of the Institute of Human Paleontology (Institut de paléontologie humaine) in Paris,[10] close to the Jardin des plantes which is the seat of the French National Museum of Natural History. Finally, he showed a keen interest in environmental protection, especially in Svalbard. This is demonstrated by his responses to a questionnaire that Hugo Conwentz, a German botanist sent him in 1912.
In 1918, the US
Philately
Albert I constituted a collection of postage stamps. The collection was later continued by Louis II and finally became part of the postal museum Rainier III that created in 1950.
Numismatics
Albert I was featured on a €2 commemorative coin issued by the Principality of Monaco in 2022.[11]
Honours
- Decorations[12]
Order of St. Charles[citation needed]
Austria-Hungary: Decoration of Honour for Arts and Sciences, 1912[13]
Baden: Grand Cross of the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order
Knight of St. Hubert, 1900[14]
Empire of Brazil: Grand Cross of the Order of the Rose, 21 August 1888[15]
France:
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour[16]
- Commemoration Medal of the 1870–1871 War[citation needed]
Kingdom of Italy: Knight of the Annunciation, with Collar, 25 April 1910[17]
Persia: Order of the Lion and the Sun, 1st Class, 14 January 1915[18]
Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Black Eagle, with Collar[3]- Sweden-Norway:
- Grand Cross of St. Olav, with Collar, 30 March 1875[19]
- Knight of the Seraphim, with Collar, 17 June 1894[20]
United States:
- Medal of Alexander Agassiz, 1918[21]
- Medal of Cullum Geography, 1921[22]
Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1880[23]
Spain:
- Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, 27 January 1878[24]
- Grand Cross of Naval Merit, with White Decoration, 1886[25]
Notes
- ^ "The house of Grimaldi: Prince Albert I: Explorer, scientist, reformer and pacifist". HelloMonaco. 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
- ^ "The Royal Scribe". www.etoile.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Prince of Monaco Rebukes Kaiser" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 November 1914.
- ^ Antony Adler, “Legitimizing Marine Field Science: Albert Ist of Monaco,” Understanding Field Science Institutions, ed. by Patience Schell, Christer Nordlund, Karl Grandin, and Helena Ekerholm (Science History Publications / Watson Publishing International, 2017).157 - 191.
- ^ "Consul from Monaco". Reading Eagle. 20 January 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ "The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco". Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ "Monaco Yachts". Yachts MonacoEye. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ "Career of a Navigator". Oceanographic Museum. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ Yves Laissus, "Cent ans d'histoire", 1907-2007 - Les Amis du Muséum, centennial special, September 2007, supplement to the quarterly publication Les Amis du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, n° 230, June 2007, ISSN 1161-9104 (in French).
- ^ Arnaud Hurel, 2015. "La création de l'Institut de paléontologie humaine en 1910. Une étape de la recomposition de la science de l'Homme", in Christine Laurière (dir.), 1913, la recomposition de la science de l'Homme, Lahic / DPRPS-Direction des patrimoines, coll. "Les Carnets de Bérose", 7. (in French)
- ^ "2022 €2 commemorative coin from MONACO". 4 June 2022.
- ^ Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha (1922) p. 67
- ^ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1916, pp. 32
- ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1906), "Königliche Orden" p. 8
- ^ Journal de Monaco 21 August 1888. Retrieved 13 December 2022
- ^ "Prince Albert I of Monaco". www.institut-ocean.org.
- ^ Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 58.
- ^ Journal de Monaco 19 January 1915. Retrieved 13 December 2022
- ^ Norges Statskalender (in Norwegian), 1890, p. 594, retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org
- ^ Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1905, p. 440, retrieved 2019-02-20 – via runeberg.org
- ^ National Academy of Sciences
- ^ American Geographical Society
- ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 28
- ^ "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III". Guía Oficial de España. 1887. p. 156. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ "Caballeros Grandes Cruces de la Orden del Mérito Naval". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). 1908. p. 541. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
