Louis II, Prince of Monaco
On 26 June 1922, Prince Albert I died in Paris. Louis Grimaldi ascended to the throne as Louis II, Prince of Monaco. While his reign never achieved the grandeur of his father, Louis II left an indelible imprint on the tiny principality. In 1924 the Monaco Football Club was formed and in 1929, the first Grand Prix of Monaco automobile race was held, won by Charles Grover (aka "Williams") driving a Bugatti painted in what would become the famous British racing green color. He collected artefacts belonging to Napoleon I which are now assembled and displayed in the Napoleon Museum attached to the Royal Palace in Monte Carlo.
House of Grimaldi
By convention, sovereign European houses are reckoned in the male line. Therefore, since 1731, it has been determined genealogically that it was in fact the French noble that ruled as Princes of Monaco until 1949. However, one of the terms of James de Goyon de Matignon becoming Prince of Monaco "jure uxoris" was that he adopt the name and arms of Grimaldi so that the house would be preserved on the throne, and the right of succession was through his wife Louise-Hippolyte Grimaldi, who abdicated in her husband's favour. Similarly, when Charlotte Louvet was legitimised in 1911 and made successor to Monaco, her husband, Count Pierre de Polignac, adopted, as a condition of the marriage, the name and arms of Grimaldi. In this way the "Grimaldi" name and arms were continued. There is a branch of the Grimaldi family in England who believe they have more right to the throne as they are descended from an all-male line from Alessandro Maria Grimaldi, an exile from Genoa, himself a direct descendant of Otto Canella, the father of Grimaldo Canella, who started the patronymic "Grimaldi."