Alice Heine
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Alice Heine (February 10, 1858 – December 22, 1925), styled HSH the Princess of Monaco and the Duchess of Richelieu, was the American-born second wife of Prince Albert I of Monaco, a great-grandfather of Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Marcel Proust used her as a model for the princesse de Luxembourg in In Search of Lost Time.
She was born Marie Alice Heine at 900 Rue Royale, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Her German Jewish father, Michel Heine, was a scion of a prominent Berlin and Paris banking family and a nephew of poet Heinrich Heine. He had emigrated from Germany to Paris in 1840, moved to New Orleans in 1843, and become a successful financier and real-estate developer. Her mother was Amelie Miltenberger, an architect's daughter, whose family had built three interconnected Miltenberger mansions on rue Royale.
The American Civil War sent the family back to France, where the teenage Alice's youth and beauty, and her family's wealth, made a great impression in Parisian society. A & M Heine, her father's firm, helped finance Napoleon’s war with Prussia.
After converting from Judaism to Catholicism, Alice married her first husband, Marie Odet Armand Chapelle, Marquis of Jumilhac, 7th Duke of Richelieu, on February 27, 1875. Their only son, Armand, became the 8th and last Duke of Richelieu on the death of his father on June 28, 1880.
Alice's second marriage, to His Serene Highness Prince Albert I of Monaco, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, occurred on October 30, 1889. The prince, whose first wife had been a daughter of a Scottish duke, was an oceanographer and during his long journeys at sea, Alice took great interest in the Monegasque opera season.
She brought a strong business acumen, showing an understanding far beyond her years. Having helped put her husband's principality on a sound financial footing, she would devote her energies to making Monaco one of Europe's great cultural centers with its Opera, theater, and the ballet under the direction of the famed Russian impresario, Serge Diaghilev. Her relationship with composer Isidore de Lara resulted in Prince Albert striking her in view of an audience at the Salle Garnier.
The Prince and Princess of Monaco separated judicially on May 30, 1902 (Monaco) and June 3, 1902 (France), but remained married. Upon the prince's death 20 years later, Alice became HSH the Dowager Princess of Monaco. She did not remarry.
Titles from birth to death
- Miss Marie Alice Heine (1857–1874)
- Her Grace The Marquise of Jumilhac (1874–1879)
- Her Grace The Duchess of Richelieu and of Fronsac, Marquise of Jumilhac (1879–1880)
- Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Richelieu and of Fronsac, Dowager Marquise of Jumilhac (1880–1889)
- Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco (1889–1922)
- Her Serene Highness Princess Alice of Monaco, Dowager Princess of Monaco (1922–1925)
Entire titles
- Her Serene Highness Princess Alice, The Princess of Monaco, Duchess of Richelieu, Fronsac, Valentinois, Mazarin, Mayenne and Estouteville, Princess of Château-Porcien, Marquise of Jumilhac, Baux-de-Provence, Guiscard and Chilly, Countess of Carladès, Thorigny, Longjumeau, Ferrette, Belfort, Thann and Rosemont, Baronness of Buis, Saint-Lô, la Luthumière, Hambye, Massy, le Calvinet and Altkirch, Lady of Saint-Rémy, Matignon and Issenheim.
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