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Monaco

14 September 2020

Prince Honoré III 300th Birth Anniversary

Technical Specifications:

Design and line-engraving: Sophie BEAUJARD
Printing process: 4 colours steel-engraving
Size of the pair: 60 x 40,85 mm horizontal
Quantity of issue: 40 000 pairs
Sheet of 4 pairs of stamps with illuminations

This year, Monaco is celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of Prince Honoré III (1720–1795). With an educated and contemporary outlook, and receptive to Enlightenment thinking, Honoré III reigned for 60 years (1733–1793), the longest reign of all Monegasque sovereigns. He distinguished himself through a brilliant military career in the armies of Louis XV, and was promoted to general officer class in the French army, with the rank of maréchal de camp. An important French aristocrat (he inherited the title Duke of Valentinois from his father, Jacques de Goyon-Matignon), Prince Honoré III showed a great sense of humanity, which helped him to escape the guillotine during the Terror of the French Revolution, having been stripped of the Principality of Monaco, Menton and Roquebrune by the National Convention.