Prince Joseph of Monaco


Prince Joseph of Monaco was a Monagasque prince and brother of Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco. He served as regent of Monaco on behalf of his brother in 1814-1815.

Biography

He was the second son of Honoré III, Prince of Monaco and his Genovese wife Maria Caterina Brignole-Sale. He married Françoise de Choiseul, a niece of Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, on 6 April 1782. The marriage produced three children, only one of whom left descendants.
During the French Revolution, he was often absent on foreign travels in order to secure loans for his father. During the Terror of Robespierre, these foreign trips placed him under suspicion for counterrevolutionary activity. He did in fact support the royalist uprising in Vendée. This caused him to be declared a traitor in his absence, and resulted in the arrest of his wife, father, brother and sister-in-law in Paris. He lived in exile in Great Britain, and returned to France in 1795. When his brother became Prince of Monaco in 1814, but was unable to manage the affairs of state because of his health condition, Joseph was appointed regent. He was replaced as regent of Monaco in 1815.
Prince Joseph's wife was executed in July 1794. He was remarried to Frances Rainford, by whom he had no children.

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