Royal Profile: Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma
Prince Michel Marie Xavier Waldemar Georg Robert Karl Eymar of Bourbon-Parma was born 4 March 1926 as the son of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma & Princess Margaret of Denmark {Source}. He had two brothers, a sister, a brother-in-law, several sisters-in-law, and many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews {Source}:
Prince Michel grew up with his siblings in Paris, while his father worked for a propane tank manufacturer. When he was 14 years old, he fled France for the United States, then to Canada{Source}.
He was educated in France, and Canada{Source}. He joined the US Army at 17, and was appointed lieutenant {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. The young deposed Prince took part in Operation Jedburgh, he was parachuted into Nazi-occupied France as part of a three-man sabotage team (with Maj. Tommy Macpherson and Sgt O. A. Brown) to operate deep behind German lines{Source}.
After France's liberation, Prince Michel was deployed to Indochina (modern day south east Asia), in order to take part in the battles against the Viet Minh {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. He was dropped by parachute and captured by the Vietnamese resistance on 28 August 1945 {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. He and six others were held captive for eleven months, and made several attempted escapes only to be re-captured {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. Only two of the captives returned to France after the French government negotiated a ceasefire agreement at the Geneva Conference, four of his fellow prisoners were killed {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}.
Prince Michel was awarded serveral medals after the end of the war. He was awarded the rank of chevalier to France's Legion of Honour, the Crox de guerre and the British Military Cross {Source: Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p. 418. (French).}.
After the war was over and he left the military, he decied to attempt to become a racecar driver. He participated in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours and participated again in 1966 where his car failed to finish the race both times {Source}. Prince Michel participated in the 1964 Tour de France Automobile, having much better results-he finished second! He was also helpful to his fellow drivers. During the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, he was a spectator to the Lorenzo Bandini accident, and with the help of a marshal, he mangaged to extract the driver from the wreckage.
At the ripe "old age" of twenty, the young prince began several business ventures. He worked for a company that was responsible for the creation of the Zodiac inflatable rubber boat, which was a commercial success after the end of the war. He was a French company contract negotiator with Mohammad Renza Pahlavia, Shah of Iran. He was deposed in the Islamic revolution in 1979.
He lived his later years dividing time between a home in France and the United States. During his later years, at the request of his youngest child, Charles, he complied all of his life's adventures into a book, Un Prince Dans La Tourmente (A Prince in Torment) in 2010{Source}.
Prince Michel married Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel in 1951, and their marriage lasted 15 years, five children, and 12 grandchildren{Source}:
Prince Michel died on 7 July 2018, of unknown causes. A funeral service took place on Friday, 13 July 2018, with full military and French national honors at Les Invalides in Paris{Source}.
- Queen Anne of Romania (1923-2016)
- King Mihai I of Romania (1921-2017)
- Margareta, Custodian of the Crown (1949)
- Prince Radu of Romania (1997)
- Princess Elena (1950)
- Dr. Robin Medforth-Mills (1942-2002,m. 1983-1991, div)
- Mr. Nicholas de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (1985)
- Alina-Maria Binder de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (m. 2017)
- Miss Elisabeta Karina de Roumanie Medforth-Mills (1989)
- Alexander Philips Nixon McAteer (m. 1998)
- Mrs. Irina Walker (1953)
- John Kreuger (m 1983, div 2003)
- Michael Torsten de Roumanie Kreuger (1985)
- Tara Littlefeld (m. 2011)
- Kohen de Roumanie Kreuger (2012)
- Angelica Margaretta Bianca de Roumanie Kreuger Knight (1986)
- Richard Robert Knight (m 2009)
- Courtney Bianca Knight (2007)
- Diana Knight (2011)
- John Westley Walker (m 2003)
- Princess Sophie of Romania (1957)
- Alain Michel Biarneix (m.1998-2002, div)
- Princess Maria of Romania (1964)
- Kazimierz Wieslaw Mystkowsk (m 1995, div 2003)
- Prince Jacques Maria of Bourbon-Parma (1922-1964)
- Birgitte von Holstein-Ledreborg, Countess of Holstein-Ledreborg (m. 1947)
- Prince Philippe of Bourbon-Parma (1949)
- Annette Smith (1955, m. 1977)
- Prince Jacques Carl Christian Marie of Bourbon-Parma 1986)
- Prince Joseph Axel Alain Erik Marie of Bourbon-Parma (1989)
- Princess Lorraine Charlotte of Bourbon-Parma (1951)
- Prince Alain Jean of Bourbon-Parma (1955)
- Inge-Birgitte Vedel Andersen (m. 2001)
- Prince André of Bourbon-Parma (1928-2011)
- Marina Gacry (m. 1960)
- Princess Tania Sophie of Bourbon-Parma (1961)
- Gilbert Jacques Marcel Bécaud (m. 1988)
- Marguerite Bécaud (1993)
- Héléna Bécaud (1998)
- Dagmar Bécaud (2004)
- Princess Astrid of Bourbon-Parma (1964)
- Prince Axel of Bourbon-Parma (1967)
- Raphael de Montagnon (m. 1996)
- Prince Côme of Bourbon-Parma (1997)
- Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma ( 2000)
- Princess Cure of Bourbon-Parma (2004)
Prince Michel grew up with his siblings in Paris, while his father worked for a propane tank manufacturer. When he was 14 years old, he fled France for the United States, then to Canada{Source}.
He was educated in France, and Canada{Source}. He joined the US Army at 17, and was appointed lieutenant {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. The young deposed Prince took part in Operation Jedburgh, he was parachuted into Nazi-occupied France as part of a three-man sabotage team (with Maj. Tommy Macpherson and Sgt O. A. Brown) to operate deep behind German lines{Source}.
After France's liberation, Prince Michel was deployed to Indochina (modern day south east Asia), in order to take part in the battles against the Viet Minh {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. He was dropped by parachute and captured by the Vietnamese resistance on 28 August 1945 {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. He and six others were held captive for eleven months, and made several attempted escapes only to be re-captured {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}. Only two of the captives returned to France after the French government negotiated a ceasefire agreement at the Geneva Conference, four of his fellow prisoners were killed {Source: de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 594-595. (French)}.
Prince Michel was awarded serveral medals after the end of the war. He was awarded the rank of chevalier to France's Legion of Honour, the Crox de guerre and the British Military Cross {Source: Enache, Nicolas. La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg. ICC, Paris, 1996. p. 418. (French).}.
After the war was over and he left the military, he decied to attempt to become a racecar driver. He participated in the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours and participated again in 1966 where his car failed to finish the race both times {Source}. Prince Michel participated in the 1964 Tour de France Automobile, having much better results-he finished second! He was also helpful to his fellow drivers. During the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, he was a spectator to the Lorenzo Bandini accident, and with the help of a marshal, he mangaged to extract the driver from the wreckage.
At the ripe "old age" of twenty, the young prince began several business ventures. He worked for a company that was responsible for the creation of the Zodiac inflatable rubber boat, which was a commercial success after the end of the war. He was a French company contract negotiator with Mohammad Renza Pahlavia, Shah of Iran. He was deposed in the Islamic revolution in 1979.
He lived his later years dividing time between a home in France and the United States. During his later years, at the request of his youngest child, Charles, he complied all of his life's adventures into a book, Un Prince Dans La Tourmente (A Prince in Torment) in 2010{Source}.
Prince Michel married Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel in 1951, and their marriage lasted 15 years, five children, and 12 grandchildren{Source}:
- Princess Inès Marie Josephe Marguerite Yolande Tatiana of Bourbon-Parma (1952-1981)
- Marie Mélodie de Bourbon (1977, grandfather adopted in 1982)
- Prince Erik Marie Joseph René Michael Pierre of Bourbon-Parma ( 1953)
- Countess Lydia af Holstein-Ledreborg (1955, m. 1980)
- Princess Antonia Monique Charlotte Marie of Bourbon-Parma (1981)
- Princess Marie Gabrielle Yolande Camilla Philippine of Bourbon-Parma (1982)
- Princess Alexia Thérèse Sybille Eric Charles Marie of Bourbon-Parma (1985)
- Prince Michel Knud John Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parma (1989)
- Prince Henri Luitpold Antoine Victor Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parma (1991)
- Princess Sybil Marie Josephine Anne Victorie of Bourbon-Parma (1954)
- Craig Richards (m. 1997)
- Princess Victoire Maria Pia Josephe Philippe Isaure of Bourbon-Parma (1957-2001)
- Baron Ernst von Gecmen-Waldek (1943, m. 1977-div 1988)
- Baroness Tatiana von Gecmen-Waldek (1974)
- Michael Berger-Sandhofer (m. 1995)
- Baron Vincent Nicholas von Gecmen-Waldek (1981)
- Carlos Ernesto Rodriguez (m. 1993)
- Prince Charles-Emmanuel Marie Joseph Jacques Hely of Bourbon-Parma (1961)
- Constance de Ravinel (1971, m. 1991)
- Prince Amaury Yves Michel Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parma (1991)
- Princess Charlotte Alexe Yolande Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parma (1993)
- Princess Elizabeth Flore Angélique Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parma (1996)
- Princess Zita Angélique Inès Marie Joseph of Bourbon-Parme (1999)
On 13 March 1977, he became a father again, from a relationship with 27 year old Laure Le Bourgeois. He legally adopted his daughter shortly after her 20th birthday in 1997 so she could legally use his surname{Source: Willis, Daniel. The Descendants of King George I of Great Britain. Clearfield, Baltimore, 2002. pp. 422-425.}
- Amélie Le Bourgeois de Bourbon de Parme (1977)
- Igor Bogdanoff (1949, m. 2009)
- Alexandre Bogdanoff (2011)
- Constantin Bogdanoff (2014)
Prince Michel married Princess Maria Pia of Savoy in 2003. Through her, he has the following stepchildren, stepchildren-in-law, and stepgrandchildren
- Prince Dimitri Umberto Anton Peter Maria of Yugoslavia (1958)
- Prince Michael Nicolas Paul George Maria of Yugoslavia (1958)
- Prince Sergius Wladimir Emanuel Marie of Yugoslavia (1963)
- Sophia de Toledo (m. 1985-1986, div)
- Eleonora Rajneri (m. 2004-2017?)
- Christiane Galeotti (2017-present?)
- Umberto Emmanuel Dimitri Karageorgevitch (2018)
- Princess Helene Olga Lydia Tamara Maria of Yugoslavia (1963)
- Thierry Alexandre Gaubert (m. 1987-1997/8?)
- Milena Maria Pia Angelique Armaule Gaubert (1988)
- Nastasia Marie José Tania Vanessa Isabelle Gaubert (1991)
- Leopold Umberto Armand Michel Gaubert (1997)
- Stanislas Fougeron (m. post 1997)
Prince Michel died on 7 July 2018, of unknown causes. A funeral service took place on Friday, 13 July 2018, with full military and French national honors at Les Invalides in Paris{Source}.
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