Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans

Marie Isabelle
Countess of Paris
Consort of the Head of the House of Orléans
Tenure	26 August 1850 – 8 September 1894
Predecessor	Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (as Queen of the French)
Successor	Maria Dorothea of Austria
Born	(1848-09-21)21 September 1848 San Telmo Palace, Seville, Spain
Died	23 April 1919(1919-04-23) (aged 70) Palacio de Orléans, Villamanrique de la Condesa, Spain
Spouse	Prince Philippe, Count of Paris ​ ​ (m. 1864; died 1894)​
Issue	Amélie, Queen of Portugal Philippe, Duke of Orléans Princess Hélène, Duchess of Aosta Princess Isabelle, Duchess of Guise Louise, Infanta Carlos of Spain Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Montpensier
Names French: Marie Isabelle Françoise d’Asis Antoinette Louise Ferdinande Christine Amélie Philippine Adélaïde Joséphine Hélène Henriette Caroline Justine Rufine Gasparine Melchiore Baltassare Mâté d’Orléans Spanish: María Isabel Francisca de Asís Antonia Luisa Fernanda Cristina Amelia Felipa Adelaida Josefa Elena Enriqueta Carolina Justina Rufina Gasparina Melchora Baltasara Matea
House	Orléans
Father	Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier
Mother	Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Marie Isabelle d’Orléans (María Isabel de Borbón; 21 September 1848 – 23 April 1919) was born an infanta of Spain and a Princess of Orléans and became the Countess of Paris by marriage.

Biography[]

She was born in Seville to Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Antoine was the youngest son of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Infanta Luisa was the daughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain and her grandfather's fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. All four of her grandparents and seven of her eight great-grandparents were members of the French Royal House of Bourbon.

Marriage and issue[]

On 30 May 1864 at St. Raphael's Church in Kingston upon Thames, England, when she was only fifteen, Isabelle married her cousin Philippe d'Orléans, claimant to the French throne as Philippe VII. They had eight children:

• Princess Amélie d'Orléans (1865–1951). She married Carlos I of Portugal in 1886.
• Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1869–1926). Married Archduchess Maria Dorothea of Austria daughter of Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria in 1896,
• Princess Hélène d'Orléans (1871–1951). She married Emmanuel Philibert, 2nd Duke of Aosta in 1895.
• Prince Charles d'Orléans (1875–1875).
• Princess Isabelle d'Orléans (1878–1961). She married Prince Jean, Duke of Guise in 1899.
• Prince Jacques d'Orléans (1880–1881).
• Princess Louise d'Orléans (1882–1958). She married Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain in 1907. Through her daughter Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, she was the great-grandmother of King Felipe VI of Spain.
• Ferdinand d'Orléans, Duke of Montpensier (1884–1924). He married Marie Isabelle Gonzales de Olañeta et Ibaretta, Marquesa de Valdeterrazo in 1921.

As the French royal family had been in exile since their grandfather King Louis Philippe abdicated in 1848, Marie Isabelle and her husband first lived at York House, Twickenham. In 1871 the family was allowed to return to France, where they lived in the Hôtel Matignon in Paris and in the Château d'Eu in Normandy.

The Countess of Paris was known for her rather masculine habits of smoking cigars and participating in field sports, especially shooting, yet could surprise people with her elegance on formal occasions.^[1]

In 1886, they were forced to leave France for a second time. In 1894, her husband died in exile at Stowe House in Buckinghamshire. Marie Isabelle lived in the Château de Randan in France, and died in 1919 at her palace in Villamanrique de la Condesa, near Seville.

Ancestry[]

References[]

• Généalogie des rois et des princes by Jean-Charles Volkmann Edit. Jean-Paul Gisserot (1998)
• "The Wandering Princess: Princess Hélène of France, Duchess of Aosta (1871-1951), by Edward Hanson. Fonthill, 2017.

External links[]

• Le château d'Eu musée Louis-Philippe The museum in the château d'Eu