Mary Victoria Hamilton

Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton¹ (Hamilton Palace, December 11, 1850 – Budapest, May 14, 1922) was the Lanarkshire-born, Scottish-German-French great-grandmother of Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the fashion designer Egon von Fürstenberg, and the socialite and actress Ira von Fürstenberg. She was the daughter of William Alexander Anthony Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton and of his wife, Princess Marie Amelie Elizabeth Caroline of Baden. Through her maternal grandmother, she was a third cousin of Emperor Napoléon III of the French. She was a first cousin of Queen Carola of Saxony, Queen Stephanie of Portugal, King Carol I of Romania, and Countess Marie of Flanders (mother of King Albert I of the Belgians).

Marriages

Her first marriage, on 21 September 1869, was to Prince Albert, only child and heir of Charles III, Prince of Monaco. Mary Victoria bore Prince Albert a single son, Louis who would take the throne of Monaco upon his father's death. Their marriage was annuled by the Church on 3 January 1880 (although civilly it was dissolved only on 28 July 1880 by the Order of Prince Charles III).

Her second marriage, on 2 June 1880, was to Count Tassilo Festetics von Tolna. It is through this marriage that the Fürstenbergs are descended.

Ancestry

Notes

¹ Her name is often mistakenly given as Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton: in fact it was her brother, not her father, who adopted the surname "Douglas-Hamilton" in place of "Hamilton".