Aurelia Spinola (1620-1670), was a Genoese noblewoman, Princess of Monaco by her marriage to Prince Ercole, Marquis de Beaux, whom she survived after his accidental death in the use of a firearm.
She was heir to part of the great inheritance of her paternal uncle Giovanni Stefano Doria and brother of Brigida Spinola, painted by Peter Paul Rubens in 1606.
During her parents' trip to Naples to manage their Molfetta estate, Aurelia spent time at the convent of San Silvestro in Pisa where lived one of her maternal aunts, Sister Maria Serafina.
[2] When Ercole Grimaldi, Marquis des Baux, son of Prince Honoré II of Monaco and Ippolita Trivulzio, asks for her hand, Luca and Pellina readily accepted, preferring a good marriage to a life in a convent for their daughter.
In 1640, Honoré secretly appealed to Cardinal Richelieu to suppress the Spanish garrison based in Monaco since the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1524, while tilting the balance of the Principality's alliances towards France.
She received letters of condolence and affection from the French court, notably from the regent Anne of Austria, who reigned in the name of her son the future Louis XIV who was only 13 years old.
At the end, her freedom was the subject of a contract, Honoré offered to pay 10,000 crowns per year so that Aurelia would remain a widow and continue to take care of her children at his court.
The same year, Honoré II ostracized Aurelia, removing her from Monaco and stripping her of her titles, accusing her of high treason against the loyalty owed to the Court of France.
A year later, Honoré II died, which allowed Aurélia to get closer to her son Louis, well introduced to the Court of France thanks to his marriage to Charlotte de Gramont.
In 1664, after moving to Genoa to the palace on Via Garibaldi, Aurelia found herself faced with another obstacle : a dispute against his sister for the sharing of movable and immovable property from his parents' inheritance.
Veronica physically prevented Aurelia, upon her return from Paris, from entering the Palazzo di Strada Nuova and forced her to initiate a costly trial.
Even in the last days of her life, her character was put to the test and, resisting the insistence of Cardinal Girolamo Grimaldi-Cavalleroni who wanted to force her to modify her will in favor of her only son Louis, today head of the Grimaldi family of Monaco.
[9]In the archives of the Palace of Monaco and the official histories, little mention is made of Aurelia Spinola, whom the national press of Monaco-Matin still in the context of a political crisis in the Principality presents as a Spanish "spy" in 2024.