Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza (Isabelle Marie Amélie Louise Victoire Thérèse Jeanne; 13 August 1911 – 5 July 2003) was the consort of the Orléanist pretender to the French throne, Henri, Count of Paris, and the daughter of Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, pretender to the throne of the Empire of Brazil.
Early life
Isabelle as an infant in her mother's arms, circa 1911
In 1891, Dom Pedro de Alcântara became Prince Imperial of Brazil to royalists when his mother became claimant to the throne upon the death of the emperor in exile. In 1908, he renounced his succession rights, and those of his descendants, to marry Bohemian noblewoman Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky of Dobrzenicz. Though his mother withheld dynastic consent, his parents attended his wedding.[2] However, with the agreement of the Duke of Orléans, Head of the House of Orléans to which he belonged paternally, he and his descendants retained the right to use the title Prince/ss of Orléans-Braganza.[2]
In 1920, Brazil lifted the law of banishment against its former dynasty and invited them to bring home the remains of Pedro II, although Isabelle's grandfather, the Count of Eu, died at sea during the voyage. But after annual visits over the next decade, her parents decided to repatriate their family to Petropolis permanently, where Isabelle attended day school at Notre-Dame-de-Sion while the family took up residence at the old imperial Grão Pará Palace.[3] Until then, Isabelle was privately educated by governesses and tutors.
Marriage
Isabelle first met her third cousin, Prince Henri of Orléans, heir to the Head of the House of Orléans, in 1920 at the home of the Duchess of Chartres, Henri's grandmother who was also a cousin of both of Isabelle's grandparents. In the summer of 1923, Henri was a guest at the Chateau d'Eu, at which time Isabelle, aged 12, resolved that she would one day marry him. However, he took no apparent notice of her at the wedding of his sister, Anne, to the Duke of Aosta at Naples in 1927. During a visit to his parents' home, the Manoir d'Anjou in Brussels, over Easter 1928, Henri began to show interest in Isabelle, and still more at a family reunion in July 1929.[3]
Henri proposed to Isabelle on 10 August 1930 while taking part in a hunt at Count Dobržensky's Chotěboř home. The couple kept their engagement a secret until a family gathering at Attersee later that summer, but were obliged by the Duke of Guise to wait until Henri finished his studies at Louvain University before the betrothal was officially announced 28 December 1930.[3]
On 8 April 1931, Isabelle and Henri were married at Palermo Cathedral; she was 19, and he was 22.[4][5][6] The wedding was held in Sicily, since the law of banishment against the heirs of France's former dynasties had not yet been abrogated.[5] The two families selected Palermo because Henri's family owned a palace there, which had been the location of three earlier weddings.[5] The wedding gave rise to several royalist demonstrations, and the road leading to the cathedral was lined with hundreds of visitors from France who viewed Henri as the rightful heir to the French throne.[6] He was greeted with such cries as "Vive le roi, Vive la France" along with other monarchist cries and songs.[6] These supporters were joined by 1,200 guests including members of the bride and groom's families, along with representatives of other royal dynasties.[6]
Later life
Isabelle at a book signing, 1998
Henri became pretender to the throne of France upon the death of his father, the Duke of Guise, in 1940. In 1947, Henri and Isabel's family took up residence at the Quinta do Anjinho, an estate in Sintra, on the Portuguese Riviera.[7] In 1950, the law of banishment was repealed and the family moved to Paris.
Isabelle, called Madame, and her husband used the French Royal coat of arms. She survived her late husband by four years.
14. Count Josef Kottulinsky of Kottulin and Krzizkowitz
7. Countess Elisabeth Kottulinsky of Kottulin and Krzizkowitz
15. Countess Adelheid of Attems-Heiligenkreuz
Selected publications
Isabelle, comtesse de Paris (1978). Tout m'est bonheur. Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont. ISBN2221001079.
Isabelle, comtesse de Paris (1993). Moi, Marie-Antoinette. Paris: R. Laffont. ISBN2221074858.
Isabelle, comtesse de Paris (1998). La reine Marie-Amélie grand-mère de l'Europe. Paris: Perrin. ISBN2262014515.
References
^Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Thérèse de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p. 71. French. ISBN2-908003-04-X.
^ abde Montjouvent, Philippe. Le Comte de Paris et sa Descendance. Editions du Chaney, 1998, Charenton, France. pp. 148–152. French. ISBN2-913211-00-3.
^ abcdede Montjouvent, Philippe. Le Comte de Paris et sa Descendance. Editions du Chaney, 1998, Charenton, France. pp. 49–59. French. ISBN2-913211-00-3.
^ abcCortesi, Arnaldo (8 April 1931), "Royal Cousins Wed in Palermo Today", The New York Times, Rome
^ abcdCortesi, Arnaldo (9 April 1931), "Legitimists Cheer at Royal Wedding", The New York Times, Palermo
^Valynseele, Joseph[in French] (1967). Les Prétendants aux Trônes d'Europe (in French). France: Saintard de la Rochelle. pp. 179, 186–187, 198, 201, 204, 207–209, 212.
^ ab"Princess Is Christened", The New York Times, Brussels, 16 October 1934
Further reading
Laot, Françoise (1992). La comtesse de Paris. Paris: Plon. ISBN2259024890.
