Louis II (Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi; 12 July 1870 – 9 May 1949) was Prince of Monaco from 26 June 1922 to 9 May 1949.
Early years
Born in Baden-Baden, Germany, Louis II was the only child of Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1848–1922), and Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton (1850–1922). His mother was a daughter of William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and Princess Marie Amelie of Baden.
Louis was born within a year of his parents' marriage, but his mother, a strong-willed 19-year-old, disliked Monaco and was unhappy with her husband. She left the country permanently shortly after the birth, and the couple's marriage was annulled in 1880. Louis was raised in Germany by his mother and stepfather, Count (later Prince) Tassilo Festetics von Tolna, along with his eldest half-sister Maria-Mathilde (later grandmother of Princess Ira von Fürstenberg); he did not see his father until age 11 when he was obliged to return to Monaco to be trained for his future princely duties.
Louis' father, Prince Albert I, was a dominating personality who had made Monaco a centre of cultural activity and whose intellectual achievements were recognized around the world. Unhappy to be living with his cold and distant father, Louis went to France as soon as he was old enough to enrol in Saint-Cyr, the French national military college. Four years later, after graduating, he was attached to the French Foreign Legion and then served with a regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique (African Light Horse) in Algeria.
Before being stationed in Algeria, he met Marie Juliette Louvet (1867–1930), a cabaret singer, on a short official visit to Paris. Juliette was already the mother of two children, Georges and Marguerite, by her former husband, French "girlie" photographer Achille Delmaet. Reportedly, Prince Louis fell deeply in love but, because of her ignominious station in life, his father would not permit the marriage. It has been asserted that Louis ignored his father and married Juliette in 1897: there is, however, no evidence for this allegation. They had an out-of-wedlock daughter, Charlotte Louise Juliette, born on 30 September 1898 in Constantine, Algeria. There is no mention of Louvet in the authorized biography of her grandson, Prince Rainier III, who is Monegasque by nationality but whose ancestors include people of French, Mexican, Italian, German, Scottish, and English nationality.
Louis served in the French Army for four years from 1895 to 1899, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He was awarded the médaille coloniale (Colonial Medal) and the Cross of the Legion of Honor. At the conclusion of his military service, he returned to Monaco, leaving behind his mistress and daughter. At the outbreak of World War I, he re-enlisted in the French Army as a volunteer, serving as a staff officer under General Franchet d’Espèrey. Louis was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor and eventually became a brigadier general.
Solution to succession aspects in 1911–18
A political crisis loomed for the Prince because without any other heir, the throne of Monaco would pass to his first cousin Wilhelm, the 2nd Duke of Urach, a German nobleman who was a son of Prince Albert's aunt, Princess Florestine of Monaco. To ensure this did not happen, in 1911 a law was passed recognizing his out-of-wedlock daughter, Charlotte, as Louis's acknowledged heir, and making her part of the princely family. This law was later held to be invalid, and thus another law was passed in 1918 modifying the statutes to allow the adoption of an heir with succession rights. Charlotte was formally adopted by Louis in 1919 and became Charlotte Louise Juliette Grimaldi, Princess of Monaco and Duchess of Valentinois.
Wilhelm, 2nd Duke of Urach, thus placed further back in the line of succession to the throne of Monaco, was chosen as King of Lithuania for a few months in 1918, being known as Mindaugas II. It is a moot point whether he could be the sovereign of two European countries simultaneously, had he in fact succeeded to the throne of Monaco, but he had several sons. He renounced his claim to the principality in 1924, passing it to other French cousins that were also descended from the Grimaldi family, the counts of Chabrillan.