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Princess Françoise of Orléans (1902–1953)

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This article is about the wife of Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark. For her grandmother and the duchess consort of Chartres, see Princess Françoise of Orléans (1844–1925).
Princess Françoise
Princess Christopher of Greece and Denmark
Born(1902-12-25)25 December 1902
Paris, France
Died25 February 1953(1953-02-25) (aged 50)
Paris, France
Burial
Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1929; died 1940)​
IssuePrince Michael of Greece and Denmark
Names
Françoise Isabelle Louise Marie d'Orléans
HouseOrléans
FatherPrince Jean, Duke of Guise
MotherPrincess Isabelle d'Orléans

Princess Françoise d'Orléans (Françoise Isabelle Louise Marie; 25 December 1902 – 25 February 1953) was born an Orléans Princess of France and became a Princess of Greece and Denmark by marriage.[1] She was thus a member of the Greek royal family and a descendant of the "Citizen-King" Louis-Philippe.

Life

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Jean d'Orléans, duc de Guise
Tomb of Prince Christopher (left) and Princess Françoise (right) - Tatoi Royal Cemetery

Françoise d'Orléans was born in Paris, the second daughter of Jean d'Orléans, duc de Guise (an Orléanist pretender to the throne of France under the name Jean III) and his wife, the French Princess Isabelle of Orléans. Françoise's brother, Prince Henri, Count of Paris, succeeded their father as the Orleanist pretender, under the name Henri VI.

In Palermo on 11 February 1929, she married Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (1888–1940).[1] This was Christopher's second marriage - he was the youngest son of King George I of Greece (1845–1913) and his wife, Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851–1926).[1] Through his father, he was thus a grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark (1818–1906), nicknamed "the father-in-law of Europe" due to his six children all marrying into other royal families.

This royal marriage was unusual in that era, with a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic (he was Greek Orthodox, whilst she was Catholic).[2] They had only one child, the writer Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark (1939-2024), whose marriage to the Greek artist Marina Karella (born 1940) did not conform to the laws of the royal house and thus deprived him of all right of succession to the Greek throne.[1] She is grandmother of Princess Alexandra of Greece, an artist, art collector, arts patron, and child life specialist. Her other grand-daughter is Princess Olga of Greece, who married Prince Aimone of Savoiy-Aosta, one of two claimants to be Head of the House of Savoy. Francoise died in Paris on 25 February 1953, aged 51. She is buried alongside her husband in Tatoi Royal Cemetery, Greece.

Ancestry

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XVII. "Griechenland". C.A. Starke Verlag, 2004, pp. 14-15, 19. (German) ISBN 978-3-7980-0833-5.
  2. ^ Michel de Grèce, Mémoires insolites, Pocket, Paris, 2004, p. 15.

Bibliography

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  • Christopher of Greece, Memoirs of HRH Prince Christopher of Greece, The Right Book Club, London, 1938.
  • (in French) Michael of Greece and Henri of Orléans, comte de Paris, Mon album de famille, Perrin, 1996. ISBN 2-262-01237-7
  • (in French) Michael of Greece, Mémoires insolites, Xo, Paris, 2004 ISBN 2-84563-186-3
  • (in French) Isabelle, countess of Paris, Tout m'est bonheur, Éditions Robert Laffont, Coll. « Vécu », Paris, 1978. ISBN 2-221-00107-9
  • (in Spanish) Ricardo Mateos Sainz de Medrano, La Familia de la Reina Sofía, La Dinastía griega, la Casa de Hannover y los reales primos de Europa, La Esfera de los Libros, Madrid, 2004 ISBN 84-9734-195-3
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