Line of succession to the Monegasque throne

The line of succession to the Monegasque throne is a list of people entitled to succeed to the throne of Monaco. The line of succession was most recently and notably modified by a constitutional change implemented by Princely Law 1.249 of 2 April 2002.

Eligibility

Under the constitution of Monaco, the crown passes according to male-preference cognatic primogeniture. Only persons descended from the reigning monarch and the reigning monarch's siblings and their descendants, whose parents have been married at some point with the monarch's approval, and who are Monegasque citizens are eligible. Children born as a result of adultery are permanently excluded. A person can be deprived of succession rights if he or she marries without the monarch's permission, along with descendants of the unapproved marriage, but can be restored into the line of succession if the marriage produces no issue and ends before the demise of the crown.

Should no one be eligible to succeed according to the succession laws, a council of regency takes power until the Crown Council elects a new monarch from among the more distant descendants of the House of Grimaldi.

Line of succession

• Prince Rainier III (1923–2005)
  • The Prince (Albert II; b. 1958)
    • Alexandre Coste (b. 2003)
  • (1) The Princess of Hanover (Princess Caroline; b. 1957)
    • (2) Andrea Casiraghi (b. 1984)
      • Sacha Casiraghi (b. 2013)
    • (3) Pierre Casiraghi (b. 1987)
    • (4) Charlotte Casiraghi (b. 1986)
    • (5) Princess Alexandra of Hanover (b. 1999)
  • (6) Princess Stéphanie (b. 1965)
    • (7) Louis Ducruet (b. 1992)
    • (8) Pauline Ducruet (b. 1994)
    • Camille Gottlieb (b. 1998)

Notes

• A person born to unmarried parents, such as Alexander Coste, Camille Gottlieb and Sacha Casiraghi, does not have any succession rights until legitimised by his or her parents' subsequent marriage. Louis Ducruet was legitimised by his mother's subsequent marriage to his father and it is likely that Sacha Casiraghi will be legitimised too by his father's marriage to his mother which will occur sometime in 2013. Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, however, is permanently excluded, being an adulterine child.

2002 changes

Until 2002, the crown of Monaco could only pass to the direct descendants, including adopted children, of the reigning prince. As a result, Princess Antoinette was not in the line of succession and that Princesses Caroline and Stéphanie would lose their places in line at the moment of Prince Albert's accession. This possibility had two implications of major concern for monarchists, namely that a) that the throne might fall vacant and Monaco might be annexed by France should Prince Albert inherit the crown and then die without fathering or adopting a legitimate heir or b) Prince Albert might adopt an unrelated person as his heir, thereby breaking the biological line of the House of Grimaldi. In 2002, changes were made to the Constitution of Monaco which eliminated that concern by excluding adopted children from the line of succession and providing that if Prince Albert II fails to father a child legitimate either at birth or by virtue of his subsequent marriage to the child's mother, the crown will automatically pass to one of his sisters or one of their children.

See also

• Constitution of Monaco
• List of rulers of Monaco
• List of heirs to the Monegasque throne
• Monaco Succession Crisis of 1918

External links

• Constitution de la Principauté including succession rules (in French)