Louisette Lévy-Soussan Azzoaglio: 19 years in service to Princess Grace
Now 88, Louisette began working with Princess Grace in 1964 when she was pregnant with Princess Stéphanie - © Camille Dufosse
At the age of 88, the founder of the CREM agreed to look back over her atypical career, from her beginnings at the CHPG to her years at the Prince’s Palace, as well as her involvement in the voluntary sector.
Louisette welcomed us into an elegant lounge at the CREM (Club des Résidents Etrangers de Monaco – Monaco Foreign Residents’ Club), dressed as smartly as ever, this time with a fuchsia-coloured jacket. “I’ve always liked fashion. My group of friends and I often swap clothes (laughs), so what you see me wearing doesn’t necessarily belong to me! But it’s true that I love clothes.”
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This is where she spends most of her time, on the premises of the club she set up 13 years ago, in 2010. “I had the idea of creating the CREM when I was very young, when I started travelling and living in Paris, then Sweden, and then England. As a foreigner, I thought about all the foreigners in Monaco and wondered how they managed to make friends. I took the plunge after the Princess died,” the charming 80-something recalls, as she strokes her cute dog, Joy.
Unwavering perseverance
But finding affordable premises in Monaco is no easy task. “Off I went on a quest, and I looked for four years. When I told Prince Albert about my project, he was able to help me along with the Barclay brothers. They own the ‘Le Mirabeau’ residence and have let us use the space rent-free, we just pay for the utilities.”
For the interior design and decoration, Louisette called in decorator Lady Tina Green. “I asked her to draw me a little sketch, just to get an idea. All I knew was that I wanted a cosy, English style. She came back to me with some ideas and she also enabled me to have the furniture made at cost price, which was the substantial sum of 500,000 euros all the same. We found five donors who each gave us 100,000 euros to fund it.” This is how the CREM, which now boasts 500 members, came about.
While the organisation plays an important role in Louisette’s life, it is not the only one she is involved with. She set up the Women’s Lions Club in Monaco, and Stardivari, a non-profit to help young violinists, which no longer exists. She is also president of Action Innocence Monaco, a charity that helps protect children from the dangers of the internet, and was recently appointed to the new board of directors of the Monaco SPA animal shelter. In fact it was through the shelter that she adopted her beloved Joy four months ago. “I don’t have much free time,” says Louisette with a smile. “When I’m not working, I’m usually with my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
The opportunity of a lifetime
Her family has always been a rock for her, as has the Princely Family, her second family, with whom she has shared a large part of her life. Her parents, originally from Italy, worked at the Palace during the reign of Prince Louis II. “My father was a butler and my mother was a linen keeper,” says Louisette, who wasn’t predestined to work in the fairytale setting.
“Initially, I wanted to go to an interpreters’ school in Geneva, but my parents didn’t have the financial means to pay for those studies,” she says. She therefore decided to travel in order to learn foreign languages. She speaks Spanish, English and Italian. And to the question , “Do you feel Italian?” the answer is an emphatic “Yes. And the older I get, the more Italian I feel,” she adds. “I often go back to Italy, to my grandparents’ house in the country. I go there at the weekend or during the holidays, about once a month.”
I fainted the first time I saw blood
When Louisette returned, she attended the Faculty of Letters in Nice for a while, “but I wasn’t very hard-working,” she says with a laugh. And how did she come to join the CHPG? “I had a male friend who was studying medicine, so I took an interest in nursing. I joined the hospital as a trainee. It was easier to get in back then. Actually I fainted the first time I saw blood.”
And it was at the hospital that a first job opportunity at the Palace came up. “Someone came looking for me and asked if I wanted to work for the protocol service at the Palace… I wasn’t really interested, but I went for a trial period, then I ended up going back to the hospital. Shortly afterwards, I was asked whether I wanted to work for the press secretary, who was called Émile Cornet. I accepted and we had to create a press office when Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace’s first child was born: Princess Caroline.”
Princess Grace’s secretary is leaving, and the Princess is looking for a new one
When the Princess was born, young Louisette headed back to the hospital. As the saying goes “things always come in threes,” Louisette went back for a third and final time to work at the Palace, this time for the Prince’s Chief of Staff. “I worked with him for a few years, until an American arrived, Mr. Dale, who told me, “Princess Grace’s secretary is leaving, and the Princess is looking for a new one. You’ll be replacing her until she can find an English secretary.” It was temporary, even though I spoke English.”
“The Princess changed my life”
Louisette was very excited, and even more so when, after a month, Princess Grace decided to keep her on for what would be 19 years, until her death in fact. “It was an interesting period of learning and personal contact. Princess Grace embodied life, intelligence, intellectual and artistic curiosity. You don’t often meet a personal like that in a lifetime… The Princess changed my life. I admired her so much, she was an extraordinary person. The Prince is nicknamed the Builder Prince, but the Princess built her own empire too.”
Louisette was one of the first to witness the reputation that the former actress had acquired in Hollywood and that continued to grow in Monaco. “In the mail she received, there were all kinds of requests for photographs, information, correspondence, and letters from people who asked her for favours and those who admired her. She had a lot of fans. She would receive lots of letters for every birthday. She had a great deal of media exposure, and her wedding ceremony was the first Princely wedding to be filmed and broadcast.”
When the Princess suffered the accident that took her life, Louisette was on holiday in the Netherlands. She remembers seeing the news on television. “I called the Palace straight away and came home immediately. Unfortunately, it was already too late. You know, she wanted to be remembered as an ordinary person, but I thought she was immortal. She was so kind to me.” The emotion can still be felt today.
Louisette also remembers the favour the Princess did for her during the five years she lived in Paris with her: “When I lost my husband, tragically, the Princess and I were in the capital. I didn’t know where I was at, and the Princess agreed to let me go to work in London for a few months. She re-hired me when I came back. Not every boss would do that. I am still grateful today for the life she gave me.”
After her years with the Princess, Louisette worked for the then Hereditary Prince Albert. “When the Princess died, I stayed at the Palace to store and archive all of her documents, and then I was tasked with creating the secretariat for the future Prince, who was studying in New York. I worked there up until he came to the throne.”
Louisette Lévy-Soussan Azzoaglio married three times and had two sons – © Philippe Fitte
The Sovereign still allows Louisette to work at the Palace today, with an office for her charitable activities. “I have a lot of affection for the whole Princely family. I saw the children being born. These were relationships of esteem and affection that I will never forget. Combining work and all of that is the dream of a lifetime,” says the hyperactive lady who admits to attending fewer Monegasque events as she gets older.
“These days in the evening it’s music, a book, and bedtime.” Because Louisette does “adore” classical music, “I have Radio Classique on all day.” She took piano lessons when she was small and continued as an adult with the great Nadia Boulanger, who she visited, when she was in Paris, in her apartment, which became legendary thanks to the great artists she entertained there.
When Louisette tells her story, she always gets the same reaction: “People tell me ‘you’ve been so lucky!’ It’s like if you say you live in Monaco, it arouses a great deal of curiosity and fascination, and rightly so, because Monaco is a little paradise. I feel at home here, wherever I go.”