The Palais Princier de Monaco announced this morning that H.S.H. Princess Antoinette of Monaco has died peacefully at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre. She was 90 years old.
Per the French paper, Paris Match:
Born in 1920, Her Serene Highness Princess Antoinette of Monaco, Baroness de Massy was the daughter of Princess Charlotte of Monaco and his Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco, Duke of Valentino. During the hours troubles experienced in Monaco during the Second World War, Antony fell in love with a German officer of the army of occupation. It is his grandfather, Prince Louis II, who put a veto on the union. Rainier’s eldest sister, she was his “first lady” when he ascended the throne in 1949, until his marriage to Grace Kelly.
She had three children, Elizabeth Anne, born in 1947, Louis Christian, born in 1949 and Christine Alix, born in 1951 and died in 1989. All three were born outside marriage, and would father the lawyer and tennis champion Alexander Noghès, Monegasque nationals, whom she married in 1951. Divorced in 1954, Antoinette second wife, Jean-Charles Rey, Monaco notary in 1961. She divorced again in 1973 and married ten years later with the British dancer John Gilpin. It will turn off a heart attack, September 5, 1983, six weeks after the wedding.
Resident of Eze-sur-Mer, France, Antoinette was eighth in order of accession to the throne. ‘She was very involved in animal rights, she chaired, including the Humane Society of Monaco’, said the Palace in a statement.
H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco has ordered that all flags in Monaco are now to be flown at half mast.
May you rest in peace, Princess Antoinette.
***UPDATES!
It was announced late this afternoon in Monaco that the late H.S.H. Princess Antoinette of Monaco funeral services will be held on March 24, 2011, at the Cathedral in Monaco. Per the French newspaper, Nice-Matin:
Following the death of Princess Antoinette last night, the Principality of Monaco and particularly the Government of Monaco and the Royal Household will observe a mourning period of fifteen days will run until April 1. The remains of Princess Antoinette of Monaco has been transferred to the Palace Chapel on Friday which is collected in the late afternoon the royal family and members of the Royal Household.
A final tribute will be made to Princess Antoinette of the population. This, Saturday, March 19, only the staff of Prince’s Palace will visit the chapel.
On Sunday, March 20, a Mass will be celebrated in the presence of the Princely family and close at 8:30. The chapel will be open to Monaco and then to residents on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, from 9h to 19h, and Wednesdays from 9 to 14. The condolence books will be open from Sunday, March 20 in the Courtyard.
On Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 10am, the funeral will be held at the Cathedral. Interment will follow in the Chapel of Peace, in strict privacy.
Source: Paris Match, Nice-Matin, and Washington Post
For many in Monaco it has been an incredible sad four days with the recent passing of the beloved Princess Antoinette of Monaco this past March 17, 2011.
The Royal Correspondent 