The funeral has taken place of Baroness Elizabeth-Ann de Massy, who died aged 73 last Wednesday at the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco.

She was a first cousin of Prince Albert and godmother to Princess Stéphanie. The well-loved Baroness was born in Monaco on July 3 1947, the first child of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, elder sister of Prince Rainier III and international tennis champion Alexandre Noghès.

The Baroness inherited her father’s passion for the sport and became the long-serving president of the Monegasque Tennis Federation and the Monte Carlo Country Club. Like her mother, she was a leading advocate for animal welfare, taking top roles in the Society for the Protection of Animals and the Canine Society of Monaco.

Elizabeth-Ann is survived by two children. Jean-Léonard was born in 1974 from her first marriage to Baron Bernard Taubert-Natta, and Mélanie-Antoinette in 1985 with her second husband, the choreographer Nikolaï Costello.

PHOTO: The Princesses Stéphanie and Caroline, HSH Prince Albert and Princess Charlene, stand outside Monaco Cathedral with the Baroness’s two children REUTERS