Monaco's First American Princess (ENCORE)

As we continue our visit to the Riviera in the Belle Epoque, The Gilded Gentleman revisits the little-known story of an American-born European princess. 

Many people think that Grace Kelly became the first American princess of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier in 1956. The truth however is that decades before in the glittering years of the Belle Epoque, another American-born woman married a Monegasque prince and claimed that honor.  

Alice Heine was born in New Orleans to a French father and a mother with European as well as Southern roots. Moving to Europe with her family when she was a child, she married a French duke at a young age. His untimely death left her a widow, but she caught the eye of Prince Albert I of Monaco who despite his family's objections married her in 1889 making her his princess. 

The story of Alice's life as Princess of Monaco is a fascinating one which includes many famous names of the era such as the Prince of Wales the future King Edward VII.  

Among other efforts to modernize the principality, Alice devoted much of her time to raising the cultural prestige of Monaco and Monte Carlo. Her marriage faltered due to infidelity on both sides and following a dramatic incident discussed in the show, Alice abruptly left Monaco in 1901 never to return.