Monaco

1940 · Best.-Nr. 152545 — 1940. Rare photograph of Princess Antoinette of Monaco in court dress wearing a tiara and a sash with orders. Quarto black and white photograph mounted on card stock dated April 1954. Boldly inscribed in French by Princess Antoinette across the lower portion of the margin. Translated it reads “To Monsieur and Madame Palmaro with my very friendly remembrance Antoinette de Monaco." With the photographer’s credit in pencil to the lower right. In near fine condition with light toning to the card stock. The piece measures 10 inches by 12.75 inches. Princess Antoinette of Monaco Baroness of Massy was the elder sister of Prince Rainier III and a member of the princely family of Monaco for nine decades. Born in Paris in 1920 to Princess Charlotte Duchess of Valentinois and Count Pierre de Polignac and a granddaughter of the reigning Prince Louis II she grew up between Paris and the Monegasque court and was a familiar figure in the social life of the principality. The present portrait was inscribed in March of 1940 in the last months before the war reached the Riviera and Monaco found itself first under Italian and then under German occupation. In later life Princess Antoinette was known above all for her devotion to animals keeping a large household of dogs and cats at her home along the coast and lending her name to the cause of animal welfare in Monaco. She was the aunt of Prince Albert II Princess Caroline and Princess Stéphanie and died in 2011 at the age of ninety at the Princess Grace Hospital Centre. unknown