Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz

Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz
Princess consort of Monaco
Tenure	1841–1856
Spouse	Florestan I, Prince of Monaco
Issue	Charles III, Prince of Monaco Florestine, Duchess of Urach
House	House of Grimaldi (by marriage)
Father	Charles-Thomas Gilbert de Lametz
Mother	Marie-Françoise Le Gras de Vaubercey
Born	(1793-07-18)18 July 1793 Coulommiers
Died	25 November 1879(1879-11-25) (aged 86) Monaco

Marie Caroline Gibert de Lametz, (18 July 1793, Coulommiers – 25 November 1879, Monaco), was a French stage actress and later Princess Consort and regent de facto of Monaco, the spouse of Florestan I, Prince of Monaco.^[1] She was the daughter of Charles-Thomas Gibert (1765–18??) and his wife, Marie-Françoise Le Gras de Vaubercey (1766–1842),^[2] and the adopted stepdaughter of Antoine Rouyer de Lametz (1762–1836), Chevalier d'Empire and Knight of the Legion of Honour. She is the paternal granddaughter of Thomas Gibert and his wife, Françoise Moret, and the maternal granddaughter of François Louis Michel Le Gras de Vaubercey and his wife, Gabrielle Françoise des Courtils. Marie Caroline was originally a stage actress. The marriage of her parents ended in divorce.^[3]

Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz and Prince Florestan of Monaco married in Commercy on 27 November 1816 and had two children: Prince Charles, born in 1818 later Prince Charles III, and Princess Florestine, born in 1833.

Florestan ascended to the throne in Monaco in 1841, but her spouse was never prepared to assume the role of prince — he had been an actor in the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique — and the real power during his reign lay in the hands of his wife. For some time, Maria Caroline was able to alleviate the difficult economic situation stemming from Monaco's new position as a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia, rather than of France. The couple also attempted to meet local demands for greater democracy and offered two constitutions to the local population, but these were rejected, particularly by the people of Menton. The couple was not capable of handling the difficult situation, but Florestan in 1856.

Encouraged by the events of 1848, the towns of Menton and Roquebrune revolted soon after, and declared themselves independent. They had hoped to be annexed by Sardinia, but this did not occur, and the towns remained in a state of political limbo until they were finally ceded to France in 1861.

Ancestry

References

• The Peerage retrieved 26 February 2007