Monaco Is a Mediterranean Principality Formed in the Middle Ages

From the piracy of the Grimaldi in the Middle Ages to the high-stakes gambling tables of today, Monaco is renowned for its ties to science, religion and royalty.

The idea that the Principality of Monaco is at war seems absurd, akin to Tuvalu becoming the most visited country in the world or North Korea winning the "Most Transparent Democracy" contest. Nevertheless, in 1963, a conflict of sorts erupted on the fringes of the Cote d'Azur when France, which surrounds this 2.5 square kilometer sovereign state on three sides, demanded that its Lilliputian neighbor accept French taxation.

The hostilities never turned physical. Not a single yacht in the harbor was sunk, and the jackets of the croupiers in the casinos of Monte Carlo were not burdened with additional military uniforms.

The decision was typically statesmanlike and mutually beneficial, as J. Keith Nolan and Gordon S. Blair explained in an issue of The Business Lawyer a year after the events in question.

"In May 1963," they wrote. "The crisis was resolved by a new tax treaty between the two countries. Although Monaco emerged from the dispute with its independence and some of its previous tax advantages intact, the treaty provided for the introduction of an income tax for the first time in the country's history, raising doubts about the continued use of the principality as a location for international business."

These doubts proved unfounded. Business and pleasure, with the added royalty of the Middle Ages, have long been the triple pillars of Monaco's existence.

The history of Monaco began in 1297 when Francois, a member of the exiled Grimaldi family from Genoa, seized the fortress of the Genoese rulers of the area. As Kendall W. Stiles explains in a chapter from his 2018 book Trust and Hedging in International Relations, the Grimaldis proved from the beginning that they were adept at negotiating with much larger powers to avoid having their territory absorbed.

"From the beginning, the Grimaldi princes made agreements with various local sovereigns as well as with France and Spain," Stiles writes. "Thereby securing for themselves the protection and recognition of their sovereign rights, at least internal sovereignty.... The 1542 treaty with Spain would have turned the principality into a fiefdom, but the Grimaldis insisted on language that at least verbally affirmed their sovereignty. A Spanish military detachment was stationed in the territory, and the Grimaldi's self-proclaimed title as 'prince' was officially recognized."

The Grimaldis even managed to survive the French Revolution, although the uprising resulted in the French removing the royal family from power for two decades. But after the defeat of Napoleon, the principality returned to the family in 1814. Monaco became a protectorate of Sardinia in 1815 and regained independence in 1861.

But what were the daily habits of princes who had to rule a territory so small that one could walk from one end of it to the other in less than an hour?

Albert I, who ruled Monaco from 1889 until his death in 1922, devoted his free time to oceanography, research and science. He was no mere amateur dilettante, founding the Oceanographic Institute in Paris (now renamed the Ocean House) and the still existing, world-famous Monaco Oceanographic Museum.

In an obituary published in The Geographical Journal, Hugh Robert Mill wrote that "perhaps the most striking of his inventions was the deep-sea trap, a kind of glorified lobster trap, by which he lured into his nets many deep-sea fish that had hitherto always escaped the trawl. Another outstanding achievement was his discovery of the giant cuttlefish, on which the sperm whale feeds." The discovery of the giant cuttlefish alone seems like enough of an accomplishment to build an oceanographic career.

It was the marital choice of Albert's great-grandson, Renier III, that transformed Monaco from a sunny backwater to a place favored by top stars and paparazzi. Grace Kelly, one of the world's biggest movie stars thanks to her roles in "The Country Girl" and "High Society", became Princess Grace in 1958, leaving her Hollywood career behind when she married the prince. That wedding ushered in an era when a movie-star princess, the Monte Carlo casino and the fledgling Grand Prix conspired to make Monaco a place of glamor and some excess.

In an obituary column for Film Comment, Richard Corliss claimed that Kelly "conquered Hollywood because she acted as if she didn't particularly need what it had to offer. However you describe her character, shy, reserved, or brash, she seemed the epitome of timeless elegance; in this way she proved herself the equal of all the male stars (James Stewart, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant)".

In her recent book "An Intimate Look at Broadway, Hollywood and the Age of Glamour," actress Nancy Olsen Livingston opined on the personal hardships the former silver screen heroine may have endured in her longest-running starring role as wife Rainier III.

"I don't think she imagined what it would be like to live in isolation and loneliness in this little geographical corner called Monaco, surrounded by borders that are not easy to cross, especially when you're a princess," Olsen writes. "The culture in which Kelly married fully accepted and approved of the prince's many affairs, which were rumored and took place even in the palace...I don't know what else she could have lived for in this prison-like environment."

Today, Monaco is marketed as one of the most ostentatious and dazzling Mediterranean destinations, a place where people arrive by yacht or helicopter and those with enough money can stroll along the harbor promenades to the sound of popping champagne corks.

However, beneath this gloss, there is still something of an older, more reserved and perhaps less tolerant Europe lurking. As Charles Mercier writes in his book Christianity in Western and Northern Europe, Monaco has an ecclesiastical commitment to the Roman Catholic Church that is unique on the continent.

Monaco is "the only country on the European mainland that has granted Catholicism the status of 'state religion,'" he explains. "In addition to the funding of Catholicism by the state and the participation of the Archbishop of Monaco in official ceremonies...the Catholic authorities consult with public authorities on matters with a moral and religious dimension." Thus, abortion remains partially prohibited in the Principality.

For the 38,000 citizens and many tourists visiting the second largest country in the world, Mammon (wealth, worldly goods) may seem to be the ruling credo. But a closer look reveals an austerity that harks back to an era long before motorsports and movie stars.