Editing Albert I, Prince of Monaco (section)

==First marriage==
[[Image:Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton and Prince of Monaco Albert I.png|thumb|left|Prince Albert with his first wife shortly after their wedding]]
On 21 September 1869 at the [[Château de Marchais]] (which is still in the possession of the Grimaldi family today) in [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]], Prince Albert was married to [[Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton]] (1850–1922), of [[Lanarkshire]], [[Scotland]], a daughter of the [[William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton|11th Duke of Hamilton]] and his wife, [[Princess Marie Amelie of Baden]]. The couple met for the first time in August 1869 at a ball hosted by the Emperor and Empress of France; their marriage had been arranged by Albert's grandmother [[Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz|Caroline]].

Caroline had tried to make a match between Albert and [[Mary Adelaide of Cambridge|Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge]], the first cousin of [[Queen Victoria]], and sought the help of [[Napoleon III|Napoléon III (Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte)]] and his wife, [[Eugénie de Montijo|Empress Eugénie]]. The Emperor convinced Caroline that Queen Victoria would never allow a relative of hers to marry into a family who made a living out of gambling. He then suggested Mary, his third cousin once removed and sister of his good friend, the [[William Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton|12th Duke of Hamilton]], as a suitable alternative. Mary was a granddaughter of [[Charles, Grand Duke of Baden]] and related by blood to the French Imperial family through her maternal grandmother [[Stéphanie de Beauharnais]], [[Napoleon|Emperor Napoléon I]]'s adopted daughter and second cousin of Napoléon III's mother, [[Hortense de Beauharnais]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etoile.co.uk/Columns/RoyalScribe/050411.html |title=The Royal Scribe |publisher=www.etoile.co.uk |access-date=6 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717015850/http://www.etoile.co.uk/Columns/RoyalScribe/050411.html |archive-date=17 July 2009 }}</ref> The [[Duke of Hamilton|Hamiltons]] were well aware of the extent of Monaco's estate, which was no bigger than theirs, but were sufficiently impressed by its status as an independent principality. The couple married at [[Château de Marchais]] on 21 September 1869.

Within a year of their marriage, the couple's only child (Louis) was born, but Mary disliked Monaco and found the Mediterranean too hot. While Albert was away fighting in the Franco-Prussian war, she left Monaco permanently. The couple divorced and their marriage was annulled by the Church on 3 January 1880, although a special provision was made by the [[Holy See|Vatican]] to allow Louis to remain legitimate in the eyes of the Church. Civilly, the marriage was dissolved on 28 July 1880, by the Order of Prince Charles III. That same year, the former Princess of Monaco remarried in Florence, Italy, to a Hungarian nobleman, Prince [[Tassilo Festetics von Tolna]].