Predecessor Louise Hippolyte Name Jacques Prince | Successor Honore III | |
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Reign 29 December 1731 –
7 November 1733 Reign 20 February – 29 December 1731 Born 21 November 1689
Torigni-sur-Vire, Normandy, France ( 1689-11-21 ) Died 23 April 1751(1751-04-23) (aged 61)
Hotel Matignon, Paris, France Spouse Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco | ||
Jacques Goyon de Matignon (Jacques Francois Leonor; 21 November 1689 – 23 April 1751) was Count of Thorigny, Prince of Monaco as Jacques I and the fourth Duke of Valentinois from 1731 until 1733.
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Life and reign
Jacques came from an ancient Norman family. "Thorigny" is now called Torigni-sur-Vire, where the Mairie, or Town Hall, is the former family chateau. His uncle was Marshal Charles-Auguste de Goyon de Matignon.
He was son of Jacques Goyon de Matignon, jure uxoris Count of Thorigny, and Charlotte, Countess of Thorigny.
When Antonio I of Monaco and his wife Marie de Lorraine was looking for a wedding partner for his daughter and heir Louise Hippolyte of Monaco, the family proposed him as a candidate. The prospect of his own Principality was very attractive and his candidacy was supported by King Louis XIV of France, who wanted to consolidate the French influence in Monaco.
Jacques and Louise Hippolyte married on 20 October 1715 and had nine children. The wedding ceremony was the first official act that the five-year-old King Louis XV carried out during the Regency of the Duke of Orleans.
The marriage wasn't very happy. Jacques preferred to stay more in Versailles than in Monaco, where he had several mistresses.
After the death of Antonio I of Monaco, Louise Hippolyte traveled from Paris to Monaco on 4 April 1731 and received an enthusiast reception by the population. When Jacques joined her few times later, the reception was much colder.
At the end of 1731, Louise Hippolyte died of smallpox. Jacques I neglected the affairs of state and, under pressure from the population, had to leave the country in May 1732. He abdicated in favor of his son Honore the next year.
He spent the last years of his life in Versailles and Paris. It was at Versailles that Mademoiselle du Maine, a grand daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan was proposed as a wife for the widowed Prince; despite having a large dowry, (she was the daughter of the duc du Maine and his wife, the formidable Anne Louise Benedicte de Bourbon) the marriage never materialised and the Prince never married again.
His Paris residence was named after him Hotel Matignon and is today the official residence of the Prime Minister of France. Prior to his death, he was a frequent visitor to Versailles with his son.