Prince’s Palace

• I encourage you to come over and look at the statue you passed walking up – we ignored this fella Francois Grimaldi, or Francesco Grimaldi – the father of Monaco and the first Grimaldi ruler here in this country. The Grimaldis are the ruling family and have ruling here since 1297 up to the present day, so almost a dynasty of Grimaldi, an incredibly long time. The dates read 1297-1997 – this is not the life expectancy in Monaco, this is to celebrate 700 years of Grimaldi rule, and this is when the statue was put up in honour of the royal family. Albert II is also Albert Grimaldi – if you look up at the flagpole on the palace, if the flag is flying, this means that Albert is inside the building right now – keep an eye out on the windows, you might see his bald head running around inside there if you’re lucky … or unlucky, depending on what you think of him.

• If you are feeling a little hot, I advise you to move into the shade for this next section, just over by the trees – just before you move over, note the information on the stature – the name Francois Grimaldi and the dates 1297-1997 and the world Malizia written between them, as well as the clothes that Francesco is wearing – I am going to explain all of this in a minute.

• You may be able to tell that the name Grimaldi is not very French or very Monegasque – the Grimaldi family originally came from Genoa, a city now within Italy, before they began ruling Monaco in 1297.

• We are going to go back another century to the late 1100s – this was a point at which there were no concrete nations in Europe yet, or at least not as we know them now – France, Italy, Germany, Spain etc were not singular nations, but a collection of provinces, kingdoms, principalities and regions spread across the European mainland, like a patchwork of small areas that had not yet been brought together in a unitary state. Within this area, Genoa was particularly powerful – it is now part of Italy, across the mountains, but it used to be an independent Republic with colonies and trading routes all over the world, so a large, wealthy territory. The noble families that ruled Genoa were therefore very significant – politically, socially and culturally, and the Grimaldis was one of these families. Eventually, around the beginning of the 1200s, there was a civil war, in which the families fought to take control of the republic. The Grimaldis lost and were cast out to Monaco, which was a small farmland, so they could rest here without being persecuted. However, there was already another family ruling here, called the Gibellines, another family from Genoa which was larger and more powerful than the Grimaldis. They built this castle in 1191 and had been here for some time, while the Grimaldis settled peacefully around the country. However, after some time, Francesco Grimaldi wanted to restore honour to the family name and take over Monaco. Having walked up Le Rocher de Monaco, the Cliff of Monaco, you could see what it’s like to tackle it in the 21st century – imagine the 13th century; very hard. It was known to be one of the most impregnable castles around the area, due to its geographical location on top of this cliff – if they didn’t want you coming in, you wouldn’t get in. So Francesco devised a plan to smuggle a whole army of soldiers up the gateway – every man dressed up as a monk, which is why Grimaldi was wearing a cloak and hood in the statue. Francesco led the army up the hill and pretended to go to the Royal Cathedral but in fact turned in the other direction and went to the Palais Princier, where he killed the Gibellines and took control of Monaco – this is how the Grimaldis came to start ruling in Monaco.

Apparently for any Star Wars fans, this story inspired the Jedi costume – the idea of soldiers dressing up as monks. We have a bit of an Obi Wan Kenobi figure here back in 13th century Monaco

• From 1297 the Grimaldis have been ruling here, but it has been difficult. Monaco is a fertile country and other nations wanted to invade it and take it for themselves, which means that there was a lot of conflict in the area. Looking at the royal palace, if it looks like some parts have just been added on, it is because yes, they have just been added on. This palace is totally unique to any other palace or structure around the world – it’s a really interesting visual representation of how Grimaldi rule has changed and evolved over the centuries, solidified in architectural form – it effectively tells the history of how the Grimaldis and Monaco as a whole has developed since the 13th century. You can also purchase tickets to go inside from the ticket office on the other side of the courtyard just behind you for 8 euros I believe – the inside functions as an art gallery and museum, while the far side where the shutters are down over the windows is the royal residence – where Albert II lives and his sisters, wife and legitimate children have special residence whenever they are staying in Monaco.

• Through all this conflict, the way the Grimaldis have maintained control is by forming alliances, most significantly with the Kingdom of Sardinia which was based on the island of Sardinia which is in the Mediterranean Sea – it used to be a major European power, not so much anymore. Sardinia agreed to recognise Monaco as an independent country but would act to protect it if any other nation tried to invade – they were the initial protectorate of Monaco. In 1860, Sardinia gave Monaco to France, so France is now the protectorate of Monaco – that is their official relationship. If anyone can see the men wearing white uniforms and holding guns, patrolling the castle at the moment – this is the royal guard, called the carabiniers – they have a Changing of the Guard ceremony called La releve de la garde every day at 11:55 which you can look up on YouTube if you are interested – they are all French, as are the police, judges and military in Monaco; it is the French duty to guard and protect Monaco, but not to control it. France has no political power or influence within Monaco at all – Monaco creates its own laws, judicial system, form of government, seat of senate without any input from France whatsoever. This history is also why Monaco is a principality instead of a kingdom – when it was allied with Sardinia, it was deemed inappropriate to have more than one king and queen working within one enlarged territory, so instead we had the King and Queen of Sardinia and on a lower level ,the Prince and Princess of Monaco, and quite simply, this form of rule has stuck around until today.

• On the statue, it also said the word Malizia – for anyone that speaks Italian, you will know the word Malizia means malicious, or nasty – in the same way we have Albert the Great or Edward the Conqueror, we also have Francesco il malizia – Franceso the nasty, because he turned very bloodthirsty in the last few years of his life. He killed a lot of people – a lot of his opponents, a lot of his own Monegasque people, a lot of his own subjects, and eventually his own wife. Before his wife was executed, she cursed the Grimaldi family name and said that “No marriage will ever be happy here in Monaco” – so there you go, this is where our Grimaldi curse comes from; a woman scorned back in the 13th century. The whole Grimaldi family has been plagued with deaths, betrayals and unhappiness, all the way up to modern day – as already mentioned, Albert and Charlene are now stuck in this unhappy marriage. We also have the case of Grace Kelly

• For anyone unfamiliar with Grace Kelly, she was a very beautiful American actress from the 50s, very talented, she won an Oscar and a Golden Globe and featured in a number of Hitchcock films like Rear Window. She was very much a modern fairytale story – she was a Hollywood starlet who became the Princess of Monaco after she met Rainier III at the Cannes Film Festival in the 50s, and the couple was married in 1956 in a happy relationship. Grace Kelly was bit of a Princess Diana of the times – the Monegasque people loved her, she did a lot of outreach work independent of the royal family, and similarly to Diana, she also had a tragic accident on the mountains between Monaco and France, the ones that you can see across the balcony in the background. She was driving a car on the dirt path with her daughter, Princess Stephanie, in the passengers seat, when Grace had a stroke and the car fell off the cliff. Stephanie survived the accident but Grace unfortunately passed away from her injuries – it is an unusual accident with a lot of speculation as to what really happened. Unusual for a member of the royal family to be driving around with no chauffeur or bodyguard, unusual to have a stroke out of nowhere, unusual again that the daughter survived the car falling off the cliffs but Grace died – the only logical solution is a 13th century family curse, so there we go. Grace is now buried in the Royal Cathedal of Monaco which is through the Old Town, but first I am going to advise you to walk round to the side and over the glorious balcony with the sensation view across Monaco.