Jacques I, Prince of Monaco

Jacques I
Jacques I of Monaco Portrait by Nicolas de Largillière
Prince of Monaco
Reign	29 December 1731 – 7 November 1733
Predecessor	Louise Hippolyte
Successor	Honoré III
Spouse	Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco
Issue Detail	Charlotte, Abbess of Convent of the Visitation Honoré III, Prince of Monaco
Full name Jacques François Léonor Goyon de Matignon Grimaldi
Father	Jacques Goyon de Matignon
Mother	Charlotte Goyon de Matignon
Born	(1689-11-21)21 November 1689 Torigni-sur-Vire, Normandy, France
Died	23 April 1751(1751-04-23) (aged 61) Hôtel Matignon, Paris, France

Jacques Goÿon de Matignon (Jacques François Léonor; 21 November 1689 – 23 April 1751) was Count of Thorigny, Prince of Monaco as Jacques I and the fourth Duke of Valentinois from 1731 until 1733.

Life and reign

Jacques came from an ancient Norman family. "Thorigny" is now called Torigni-sur-Vire, where the Mairie, or Town Hall, is the former family chateau. His uncle was Marshal Charles-Auguste de Goÿon de Matignon.

He was son of Jacques Goÿon de Matignon, jure uxoris Count of Thorigny, and Charlotte, Countess of Thorigny.

When Antonio I of Monaco and his wife Marie de Lorraine was looking for a wedding partner for his daughter and heir Louise Hippolyte of Monaco, the family proposed him as a candidate. The prospect of his own Principality was very attractive and his candidacy was supported by King Louis XIV of France, who wanted to consolidate the French influence in Monaco.

Jacques and Louise Hippolyte married on 20 October 1715 and had nine children. The wedding ceremony was the first official act that the five-year-old King Louis XV carried out during the Regency of the Duke of Orléans.

The marriage wasn't very happy. Jacques preferred to stay more in Versailles than in Monaco, where he had several mistresses.

After the death of Antonio I of Monaco, Louise Hippolyte traveled from Paris to Monaco on 4 April 1731 and received an enthusiast reception by the population. When Jacques joined her few times later, the reception was much colder.

At the end of 1731, Louise Hippolyte died of smallpox. Jacques I neglected the affairs of state and, under pressure from the population, had to leave the country in May 1732. He abdicated in favor of his son Honoré the next year.

He spent the last years of his life in Versailles and Paris. It was at Versailles that Mademoiselle du Maine, a grand daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan was proposed as a wife for the widowed Prince; despite having a large dowry, (she was the daughter of the duc du Maine and his wife, the formidable Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon) the marriage never materialised and the Prince never married again.

His Paris residence was named after him Hôtel Matignon and is today the official residence of the Prime Minister of France. Prior to his death, he was a frequent visitor to Versailles with his son.

Issue

• Antoine Charles Marie (16 December 1717 – 4 February 1718), Marquis des Baux and Count of Matignon.
• Charlotte Thérèse Nathalie (19 March 1719 – 1790), nun at the Convent of Visitation at Paris.
• Honoré III Camille Léonor (10 November 1720 – 21 March 1795), successor of his father.
• Charles Marie Auguste (1 January 1722 – 24 August 1749), Count of Carladés and Matignon.
• Jacques (9 June 1723 – June 1723).
• Louise Françoise (15 July 1724 – 15 September 1729), Mademoiselle des Baux.
• François Charles (4 February 1726 – 9 December 1743), Count of Thorigny.
• Charles Maurice (14 May 1727 – 18 January 1798), Count of Valentinois; married on 10 November 1749 to Marie Christine Chrétienne de Rouvrois; no issue.
• Marie Françoise Thérése (20 July 1728 – 20 June 1743), Mademoiselle d'Estouteville.

Ancestry