The princes of Monaco: allies and heirs of the kings of Mallorca
We review the links between both places in the Mediterranean, when an exhibition dedicated to Palma focuses on the relations with that territory
PalmaTwo members of the family of the princes of Monaco were allies of James III in his frustrated attempt to recover lost Mallorca. And another became lord of Carlat, an enclave that had been part of the ‘kingdom in the middle of the sea’. A few Grimaldis, for that is their lineage, have visited the island until recent times. Let's review the links between these two corners of the Mediterranean; Monaco and Mallorca, taking as a motif that the Club de Mar in Palma hosts, until August 6, an exhibition on the connections between that territory and the Spanish monarchy.
The Grimaldis are of Genoese origin, a republic that had a close, and not always harmonious, relationship with the kingdom of Mallorca. The Genoese were active merchants and, often, also pirates: as Lluís Tudela observes, when the first activity slackened, they resorted to the second. Towards the 14th century, the most numerous colony in Palma was that of the Genoese, only behind the Catalans.
As a good patronymic, Grimaldi comes from a remote ancestor, a certain Grimaldo. Lanfranco, his son, is said to have dedicated himself to piracy. Another member of the family, Francesco, nicknamed Malizia, conquered the rocky fortress of Monaco in 1297 at the head of a group of attackers disguised as Franciscan friars. For this reason, the coat of arms of Monaco is flanked by two Franciscans armed with swords, a truly disconcerting image. As Francesco had no children, he was succeeded as lord of Monaco by his cousin Rainier, a name, this one, that seems destined to bring fortune to the family.
Monaco played a relevant role in the desperate attempts of James III of Mallorca to recover his kingdom, which, as is well known, had been taken from him by his brother-in-law Peter the Ceremonious, King of Aragon – hence, probably, the bad reputation of poor brother-in-laws to this day. And yet relations had not always been good: in 1338, according to Tudela, a Genoese fleet had set sail from that port towards the Islands with not very good intentions, although in the end the matter was settled amicably.
Galleys made in Monaco for James III
Now, the scenario was different. In 1343, James III had lost his possessions, except for a few territories in what is now France, and he desperately needed allies. The former monarch entrusted Carlo Grimaldi – lord of Monaco and also a pirate – with the command of a fleet sent to reconquer the Balearic Islands. However, Grimaldi was able to verify in person, by touring its coasts, that, contrary to what James thought, the islanders had no intention of revolting for their former sovereign. He concluded that this undertaking was unfeasible, and he backed down, with the corresponding bewilderment among the expectant Jacobites.
Jaume III also supported the cause of Luciano Grimaldi, Carlo's brother and also a pirate. Already in the summer of 1343 he participated in attacks against the Catalan coasts, supposedly at the behest of Queen Sancha of Naples, aunt of the former Mallorcan king, whom he would have supported. Jaume entrusted him with the command of his galleys in new approaches to the coasts of Roussillon and the Archipelago, in 1346, in coordination with his brother Carlo.
No matter how much they were lords of the Monegasque rock, the Grimaldis were still Genoese and the duck of this republic, Simó Boccanegra – yes, the one from Verdi's opera – had to do his best to avoid incurring the wrath of the Catalans. It wasn't just a diplomatic matter, but, much more importantly, a matter of money: if the Grimaldis acted with the approval of the Genoese state, then the latter had to pay the corresponding compensation – horror! – for their misdeeds.
James III still believed, mistakenly, that the islanders would side with him, and he organized an armada to carry out the reconquest. Monaco served as one of his bases of operations: some galleys under his command moved from that port to Marseille, and fifteen of the vessels he intended to use would have been built in Monaco. It was also one of the places where Peter the Ceremonial had planned to plant spies there to learn about his brother-in-law's plans.
James III also wanted to win back Carlo Grimaldi as a valuable ally for his project. According to Alfonso de Ceballos, in exchange for his help, the lord of Monaco would receive the title of Count of Bunyola and the lordships of the valley of Sóller and Alcúdia, with the rank of baron. It seems that Bunyola would also have been promised by the ex-king to his bastard brother Pagà and Aitó de Grimalt. It matters little, because it all ended as everyone knows: with the defeat and death of the ex-sovereign at the battle of Llucmajor, in 1349. If it had gone well, perhaps today the princes of Monaco would add to their numerous titles those corresponding to three Majorcan towns.
Where had the dispossessed Majorcan sovereign obtained the money needed to mount that failed expedition? Very simple: by selling the few territories that still remained to him. That same year, 1349, he handed over to the King of France the Carladès, a remote possession in Auvergne, far from his Pyrenean domains, which came from the inheritance of a great-great-grandmother of James I and over which the authority of the distant Majorcan monarchs must have been little more than symbolic.
The enigmatic letters of Albert I
The Carladès continued under the dominion of the French monarchy, until three centuries later, in 1643, Louis XIII – the sovereign who appears in The Three Musketeers– ceded it to Honorat II, the first Grimaldi titled Prince of Monaco. It was presumably part of the honors received for abandoning the protectorate of the Hispanic monarchy, in force until then, and moving to the French sphere, under which it has continued until our times. The title of Countess of Carladès is currently held by Gabriela Grimaldi, daughter of Prince Albert II, eleven years old.
There was likely not much more connection between this small state and the Balearic Islands until the visit of Prince Albert I in 1909. He was passionate about marine studies and wanted to personally experience the oceanographic laboratory that scientist Odón de Buen had inaugurated the previous year in Portopí, with whom he formed a good friendship. He felt, noted La Época, “delighted with the beauty of the island” and visited “the famous caves”.
Albert I returned to Mallorca at least once. According to De Buen, it was during one of those stays that he entrusted him with an enigmatic correspondence, “which greatly intrigued the palace staff accompanying the prince on his travels”. They were addressed to his granddaughter Charlotte, with whom serious disagreements had arisen between Albert and his son and heir, Louis, her father.
What was that delicate matter that the seafaring prince was dealing with in his correspondence? Nothing less than the succession of the Principality: if the Grimaldis were left without heirs, this small state would be incorporated into France. So Charlotte, who was the illegitimate daughter of Louis and a cabaret artist, was legitimized and recognized as Duchess of Valentinois, the title of the Monegasque heirs. She was the mother of Rainier III and godmother of the current prince, Albert II.
Albert I's granddaughter personally visited Carladès, that peripheral territory that had previously belonged to the Kings of Mallorca, and her son, Rainier III, used the pseudonym Louis Carladès when he participated in the Tour de France Automobile. In 2014, the current prince, Albert II, visited it and was photographed sitting on a bench, holding in his hands an old black and white photograph of his godmother's stay.
Rainier III and his glamorous wife, the American actress Grace Kelly, chose Mallorca – a classic for this type of trip – as the first stop on their honeymoon, in April 1956: “Having chosen Mallorca as the first point of our trip already says a lot about my sympathies for the island,” declared the prince, according to Última Hora. Perhaps it was nostalgia for his ancestors' incursions into the island's waters?
Rainier and Grace returned to Mallorca in 1960 and again in 1961, when they attended the inauguration of the Son Vida hotel, which they shared with another couple who were the target of the gossip press, then formed by Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas. An improvised musical performance became famous, with Onassis and Callas performing Greek songs and the Prince of Monaco on percussion.
From that presence of Grace Kelly in Mallorca in the sixties, an indelible trace remained in Mallorca: the name of the popular Quely biscuits from Inca, a true sign of identity of island food, which comes from the pronunciation of her lineage: Kelly. Another link between these two corners of the Mediterranean, which began almost seven centuries ago with two pirate brothers and a territory far from what is now France.
In 1964, Rainier III and Grace of Monaco returned to Mallorca with their two eldest children, Caroline and Albert, then seven and six years old, respectively. Much later, in March 2000, the heir of the Grimaldis was in the stands of Son Moix stadium in Palma to see his team, Monaco, lose 4-1 to Mallorca in the Europa League round of 16. In October 2021, now as the sovereign of that small country, he was the star guest at the inauguration of the Mallorca Country Club, a sports center in Santa Ponça. In statements to Diario de Mallorca, he highlighted that he retained childhood memories set on the island.The rest of the Grimaldis have also been seen periodically on Mallorca. According to Matías Vallés, the first photographs of Caroline of Monaco with Ernest of Hanover, her third husband, were obtained by reporters in Palma, and her younger sister, Stephanie, was seen “sporadically” in the port of Andratx. Caroline’s two previous husbands, Philippe Junot and Stefano Casiraghi, also visited the island. Pierre Casiraghi, Caroline’s son, attended the 2017 Copa del Rey sailing regatta held in the Bay of Palma, along with his wife, Beatrice Borromeo, and their son Stefano. It is recorded that Pierre has visited the island on at least three occasions. It must be the irresistible attraction that the old kingdom still awakens in these descendants of Genoese pirates.
Information prepared from texts by Lluís Tudela Villalonga, Gabriel Ensenyat Pujol, Guillem Morro, Gabriel Llompart, Alfonso de Ceballos, Matías Vallés, Antoni Janer Torrens and Antonio Calvo Roy, in addition to the memoirs of Odón de Buen.