A French-born aristocrat is suing France for €351m (£313m) in damages, claiming it tricked his family out of inheriting the throne of Monaco in a blatant power grab.
Louis de Causans alleges a “sleight of hand” by the French state more than a century ago effectively falsified the line of succession, robbing him and his relatives of the throne by installing another branch of the Grimaldi family in their place. This action allowed France to gain control over the tiny Mediterranean principality he said.
De Causans' lawyer, Jean-Marc Descoubes, has said that the enormous sum of money being demanded was in line with the losses sustained by the aristocrat's family.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The succession dispute dates to the reign of Louis II of Monaco, who had no heirs. De Causans says the throne should have passed to a second branch of the Grimaldi family, from which he descends.
At the time, this would have meant Monaco being ruled by Guillaume II de Wurtemberg-Urach, a German. “For France, on the brink of the first world war, the prospect was unthinkable” says The Guardian.
Under pressure from Paris, Louis II adopted Charlotte Louise, the daughter of his lover Marie-Juliette Louvet, a cabaret singer and current ruler Prince Albert’s great-grandmother.
“I want the truth to come out and this injustice perpetrated by France on my family to be put right” the aristocrat told Le Parisien newspaper, claiming the move had prevented him from receiving any of the principality’s revenue.
“In reality, my cousin Prince Albert acceded to the throne by a sleight of hand… France found a solution to get its hands on Monaco. Afterwards, they managed business on the Rock as they wished.”
“It's easy to see why De Causans is upset,” says Business Insider. Monaco's current ruler Albert II is worth $1 billion. However, he stressed that he does not blame the prince for his qualm but rather the French state.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
McCarthy blinksCartoons
-
Deion Sanders is changing college football
Talking Point He isn't just winning games at Colorado. He's transforming a once-staid sport.
-
Why is Canada's assassination allegation against India more destabilizing than it seems?
Today's Big Question Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's death has sent shockwaves across the world
-
Woman reunited with egg she signed in 1951
It Wasn't All Bad Good news stories from the past seven days
-
10 things you need to know today: September 16, 2023
Daily Briefing Ripple effects seen throughout auto industry as UAW strikes, Lee expected to bring flooding and storm winds to New England, and more
-
American rescued after 12 days in Turkish cave
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
-
What Mexico’s first female president might mean for the ‘femicide nation’
feature The Latin American country is grappling with misogynist crime amid a backdrop of progress for women in politics
-
Ukrainian military has ‘shown how the Russian army can be beaten’
Talking Point Recent Ukrainian frontline advances may offer hope for its counter-offensive
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
-
Protests in Syria: could they bring down the Assad regime?
Talking Point Threat to power grows amid poverty, inflation and ‘botched’ response to earthquake
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
