- Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma
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Michel of Bourbon-Parma Spouse Princess Yolande of Broglie-Revel & Princess Maria Pia of Savoy Issue Inés (1952-1981)
Erik (1953)
Sybil (1954)
Victoire(1957-2001)
Charles-Emmanuel(1961)Father Prince René of Bourbon-Parma Mother Princess Margaret of Denmark Born 3 April 1926 Religion Roman Catholicism Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma (Prince Michel Marie Xavier Waldemar Georg Robert Karl Eymar og Bourbon-Parma,) (4 March 1926, Paris – 18 September 1992, is a prince of Bourbon-Parma, is a former soldier, a racing car driver and a French businessman.
Michel de Bourbon-Parma, is the son of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (1894–1962) and his wife Princess Margaret of Denmark (1895–1992). By his father, he is the grand-son of Duke Robert I of Parma (1848–1907) while via his mother he is the great-grand-son of King Christian IX of Denmark (1818–1906). Prince Michel is also the younger brother of Queen Anne of Romania (1923). On June 9, 1951, he married in Paris, Princess Yolande of Broglie-Revel (1928), daughter of Prince Joseph de Broglie-Revel (1892–1963) and his wife Margaret Cour-Balleroy (1901). From this marriage, which ended in divorce in 1966, he had 5 children:
- Inès (1952–1981), princesse de Bourbon-Parma. She had an illegitimate daughter;
- Marie Melodie Princess of Bourbon-Parma (b. Geneve, 1977)
- Eric (1953), prince of Bourbon-Parma, married in 1980 countess Lydia of Holstein-Ledreborg (1955), divorced in 1999. They have 5 children;
- Antonia Monica Charlotte Marie Princess of Bourbon-Parma (b. Roskilde, 10 June 1981)
- Marie Gabrielle Yolande Camilla Philippine Princess of Bourbon-Parma (b. France, 23 December 1982)
- Alexia Thérèse Sybille Erica Marie Princess of Bourbon-Parma (b. Palm Beach, 07 March 1985)
- Michel Knud John Joseph Marie Prince of Bourbon-Parma (b. Roskilde, 12 February 1989)
- Henri Luitpold Antoine Victor Marie Joseph Prince of Bourbon-Parma (b. Roskilde, 14 October 1991)
- Sybil (1954), princess of Bourbon-Parma, married in 1997 Craig Richards. They have no children.
- Victoire (1957–2001), princess of Bourbon-Parma, who married in 1974 Baron Ernst of Gecmen-Waldek (1943) before remarrying in 1993, with Carlos Ernesto Rodriguez. She had 2 children with Baron Ernst;
- Tatiana Baronnes of Gecmen-Waldeck (b. Paris, 1974)
- Nicolas Baron of Gecmen-Waldeck (b. Paris, 30 August 1981)
- Charles-Emmanuel (1961), prince of Bourbon-Parma, who married in 1991 Constance de Ravinel (1971). They have 4 childre ;
- Amaury Prince of Bourbon-Parme (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, 30 October 1991)
- Charlotte Princess of Bourbon-Parme (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, 18 July 1993)
- Elizabeth Princess of Bourbon-Parme (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, 12 June 1996)
- Zita Princess Bourbon-Parme (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, 1 April 1999)
When divorced, Prince Michael had a relationship with Laure Le Bourgois (1950) with whom he has an illegitimate daughter:
- Amelie of Bourbon-Parma (1977) Princess of Bourbon-Parma, who married in 2003 Igor Bogdanoff (1949).
In 2003, Prince Michael remarried in Manalapan, Florida, to Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (1934), daughter of King Umberto II of Italy (1904–1983) and Princess Marie-José of Belgium (1906–2001). They have no children.
Biography
In 1940, Prince Michel fled Europe with his family and found refuge in the United States. Three years later at age 17 he joined the U.S. Army with his fathers permission and was appointed lieutenant. Integrated with the operation Jedburgh he was parachuted into Nazi-occupied Germany, where he plied all the tricks of the trade as a saboteur.
After the Liberation of France Prince Michel was deployed to Indochina in order to fight against Viet Minh. Dropped on August 28, 1945 by parachute he was captured the same day by the Vietnamese resistance, who kepped him in captivity for 11. The next 11 months were torture as the group of 6 tried several escapes, only to be recaptured. They were led from camp to camp through the dense jungle, bound together with strips of bamboo. They lived on a bowl of rice a day. Toward the end of the ordeal, the men were asked to sign statements saying that they had been well treated which they refused. Four of them were killed before the two survivors finally made it back to France due to the french negotiating a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh at the Geneva Conference. Prince Michel was one of only 3000 survived prisoners out of the 12,000 French prisoners taken by the Viet Minh.
Demobilized at the age of 20 the prince became an involved race car driver and in particular in the Le Mans 24 Hours which he raced in 1964 and 1966. Both times his car never finished. In 1964 he also raced in the Tour de France where he finished 2nd. At the formula ona Monaco Grand Prix in 1967, he was watching the race next to the terrible accident of Lorenzo Bandini. With the help of a marshal he managed to extract the driver from the burning wreck of his Ferrari.
Prince MIchel started a new civilian life at the tender age of 20. He spent decades in business, working for a company that had created the Zodiac inflatable rubber boat, which enjoyed huge commercial success after the war. Later, he went on to negotiate contracts for French companies with the Shah of Iran until he was deposed in the Islamic revolution of 1979. Today he lives between his house in Neuilly sur Seine, France and his house in Palm Beach, Florida.
External links
- (English) [# i112275 http://www.thepeerage.com/p11228.htm Genealogical Data]onThe Peerage
- Royal House of Denmark and Royal House of Iceland
- Ducal House of Parma
Bibliography
- (French) Michel de Bourbon, En parachute, Presses de la Cité, 1949 ASIN B0000DPIAZ
- (Danish) Michel de Bourbon, Faldskaermsjaeger : Fra den franske maquis til Indo-Kinas jungle, Hasselbalch, 1949
- (French) Michel de Bourbon, Trafiquant sur commande, Plon, 1978 ASIN B003BQ6K4A
- (French) Michel de Bourbon-Parme et Jean-Louis Tremblay, Un prince dans la tourmente, Nimrod, 2010
- Inès (1952–1981), princesse de Bourbon-Parma. She had an illegitimate daughter;
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