| Principatu de Munegu e Comtat de Nizza/Principality of Nice and County of Nice | |
|---|---|
|
Population |
1,000,000 |
|
Capital |
Monaco-ville |
|
Head of State |
His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco and Urach, Count of Wurttemberg and Nice (1949-1969), His Serene Highness, Prince Patrizio of Monaco (from 1969) |
|
Ruling Party |
National Fascist Party of Monaco and Nice |
|
Head of Government |
Ezio Garibaldi (1949-1969), Italo Gariboldi (1969-1970), Mario Gariboldi (from 1970) |
History[]
Nice and Monaco were both regarded as part of 'Italia Irredenta' ('Unredeemed Italy'), and were occupied by Italy during the war, with the permission of the French government in Vichy.
Nice had been part of France, while Monaco was a French protectorate under Prince Louis II, a long-standing ally of Marshall Philippe Petain. Rather than outright annexation, it was decided to bundle the two territories together under the Prince of Monaco, who would then exchange French for Italian protection. French ceased to be an official language, replaced by Monegasque and Italian, and a local branch of the Italian Fascist Party became the sole legal political body.
Though Prince Louis was regarded as fairly pliant by the Italians, his family were treated with suspicion. It was decided the throne should revert to the line of his father's first cousin, Prince Wilhelm of Urach, Count of Wurttemberg and (briefly) King of Lithuania.
It was decided to hand the throne to Wilhelm's son Albrecht von Urach (as Alberto or Albert II), as a reward for his invaluable contribution to the Axis war effort. It had been Albrecht's secret mission to meet with Hiroshi Oshima in Germany and then with Yosuke Matsuoka in Japan in May-June 1941 (undertaken simultaneously with Rudolf Hesse's secret mission to Great Britain) that had persuaded the Japanese to attack the Soviet Union, rather than the USA, the preferred target of the powerful Japanese navy. This involved the breaking of a Soviet-Japanese non-aggression treaty signed only months before.
Albrect's daughter, Princess Marie-Gabrielle (known as Mariga), married Desmond Guinness, the son of Diana Mitford, wife of the British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley in 1954. In 1956 Princess Mariga gave birth to a son, Prince Patrick (also known as Patrice or Patrizio), nominated by Albrecht as his heir. After leaving office in 1967, Oswald Mosley came to live in Monaco with his stepson's family and to write his autobiography.