Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy

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**Monegasque Princely Family**

HSH The Sovereign Prince HRH The Princess of Hanover HSH Princess Stéphanie HSH Princess Antoinette

Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy (born Antoinette Louise Alberte Suzanne Grimaldi) (born 28 December 1920) is a member of the princely family of Monaco and the elder sister of the late Prince Rainier III. Her parents were Count Pierre de Polignac and Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois.

Marriages

1) Three children were born to Princess Antoinette and her lover Alexandre-Athenase Noghès, a Monegasque-born International tennis champion:
* 1) Elisabeth-Anne (born 1947)
* 2) Christian Louis, (born 1949)
* 3) Christine Alix (1951–1989)

The parents subsequently married in Genoa on December 4, 1951 and divorced in 1954. The children were named Grimaldi at birth but by an ordinance of November 15,1951 their names were changed to de Massy.

2) Her second husband, Jean-Charles Rey, a writer, was married to her from 1961 to 1973.

3) Her third husband was John Gilpin, a renowned British ballet dancer, whom she married on July 28, 1983. He died suddenly six weeks later.

Having divorced Noghès, she and her lover Jean-Charles Rey hatched a plan that would ultimately depose her brother Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and declare herself regent on the basis of having a son who would one day inherit the throne. She circulated rumours that Rainier's fiancee, actress Gisèle Pascal, was infertile which led to the breakup of the relationship. Rainier's marriage to Grace Kelly in 1956 and the arrival of his heirs, Princess Caroline in 1957 and Prince Albert in 1958, effectively scuppered Antoinette's plans.

She was removed from the palace by Grace and maintained a somewhat distant relationship with the Princely Family for many years.

Princess Antoinette is known to be somewhat eccentric, even having been described as "completely mad" by her servants and, having been banished from Monaco in the late Fifties, she lives down the coast from Monaco at Èze with a large collection of dogs and cats.

Princess Antoinette and her descendants lost their place in the line of succession to the Monegasque Throne, which they acquired in 2002 with the reform of the succession rules, with the death of Rainier III.

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