Duke of Valentinois (French: Duc de Valentinois ) is one of the many hereditary titles of the Prince of Monaco. The duchy for which it pertains no longer exists, but was part of France.

The title has been created atleast three times.

It was first created in 1498, for the Borgia family. It subsequently expired before 1548.

Next next two or three times it was created, it was for Monaco.

Monaco

King Louis XIII of France first created it, by letters patent signed in May 1642 and registered on 18 July 1642, as a conglomeration of several estates in the French province of Dauphiné which he had previously given to the Prince.

The first person to hold the title was Honoré II, reigning Prince at the time of its creation; on his death it passed to his son Louis I , and thence to Louis's son Antoine . However, since the title's inheritance was restricted to male heirs, and because Antoine had only daughters and no sons, it was due to pass his brother, François-Honoré Grimaldi , but became extinct on 22 July 1715 when François-Honoré forfeited his right to succeed Antoine.

On 20 October 1715, Antoine's eldest daughter and heiress Louise-Hippolyte married Jacques-François de Goyon-Matignon , who had signed a contract on 5 September 1715 by which he was obligated to take the surname Grimaldi. Louis XV thereupon recreated the title of Valentinois by letters patent, signed in December 1715 and registered on 2 September 1716, for Jacques, who was to succeed his father-in-law Antoine as Prince Jacques I; like the previous creation, its inheritance was restricted to male heirs.

After Jacques's abdication in 1733, the title passed uninterrupted for several generations from Prince to Prince: from Jacques to Honoré III , Honoré IV, Honoré V, Florestan I, Charles III, Albert I. Albert bestowed the title of Duchess of Valentinois upon his adopted grand-daughter Charlotte, thenceforth known as Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois, on 20 May 1919. On 20 March 1920, shortly after Charlotte's marriage to Pierre de Polignac, he, like Jacques-François de Goyon-Matignon, took the title of Duke of Valentinois, having already changed his surname to Grimaldi.

Louis II, who succeeded Albert in 1922, never held the title of Valentinois himself. Though his father had granted the title of Valentinois to Charlotte, its right to succession remained with Louis and his descendants; consequently, on his death without a male heir in 1949, it became extinct in French law. However, his successor, Rainier III, still claimed it, possibly in the belief, as suggested by François Velde, that it was "implicitly recreated for Charlotte by the French Republic in 1919 when her adoption was approved".

With the death of Prince Rainier on 6 April 2005, the title passed to his son, now Albert II of Monaco.

List of Dukes of Valentinois from Monaco

• Honore II (1642- )
• Louis I
• Antoine ( -1715)
• Francois-Honore (1715)

• Jacques (1716-1733)
• Honore III (1733- )
• Honore IV
• Honore V
• Florestan I
• Charles III
• Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1889-1919)
• Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois¹ 1919 - 1977
• Rainier III, Prince of Monaco¹ (15-11-1977) - (06-4-2005)
• Albert II, Prince of Monaco¹ (06-4-2005) - current

¹—The title may have expired and may not be current by French law

Other resources

See also

• List of French dukedoms