Princess of Monaco
(1828-1864)

Born in Brussels on 28 September 1828, Antoinette de Mérode was the daughter of Count Werner de Mérode and his wife, Countess Victoire de Spangen d’Uyternesse.

On her eighteenth birthday on 28 September 1846 in Brussels, she married Charles, the only son of Florestan I of Monaco and heir to the Monegasque principality. It was a double wedding with her older sister Louise marrying Carlo Emanuele dal Pozzo, 5th Prince della Cisterna, an Italian nobleman from Sardinia.

On 13 November 1848, she gave birth in Paris to a son, later Albert I, Prince of Monaco.

In 1856 Prince Charles succeeded his father and became Charles III, Prince of Monaco. Antoinette became the Princess Consort of Monaco. Thanks to his wife’s generous dowry, Charles was able to finance the embellishment of Monte Carlo and the foundation of its famous casino, thus attracting generations of wealthy tourists to the principality. Antoinette acquired for herself the Château de Marchais, which is still the property of the Grimaldi family today.

She died on 10 February 1864 in Paris, aged only 35, and was interred in Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco.