Isabelle, Comtesse de Paris
|
|
Princess Isabel of Brazil (or of Orléans and Bragança, for those who deny the validity of the renunciation of her father to his rights of imperial prince of Brazil in 1908), duchess of Orléans, of Valois, of Chartres, of Nemours and of Montpensier, dauphine of Auvergne, princess of Joinville, etc., titular Countess of Paris. She was born on August 13, 1911 and died on July 5, 2003.
She was the eldest daughter of Prince Pedro of Brazil (1875-1940) and of his wife the Countess Elizabeth Dobrzensky of Dobrzenicz (1875-1951), and therefore the eldest sister of the present head of the imperial family of Brazil.
Her paternal grandparents were Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston, comte d'Eu (1842 - 1922) and Princess Isabella of Brazil. Louis was the eldest son of Louis Charles Philippe Raphael, duc de Nemours and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Saxony. Isabella was the eldest daughter of Pedro II of Brazil and Princess Teresa of the Two Sicilies.
In 1931 she married her cousin Henri, Comte de Paris(1908-1999), Pretender to the throne of France since 1940. They had eleven children, including his successor Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France.
Though she and her husband separated in 1986, and her husband obtained a divorce and married his mistress, Isabelle was considered for almost sixty years (1940 - 1999) as the First Lady of France by the Orleanists, who did not recognize his non-Catholic marriage. Princess Isabel, called Madame, and her husband used the French Royal coat of arms. She survived her former husband by four years.