Princess Monica of Liechtenstein, Who Eloped In Brazil, Is 80!

Princess Monica.

Today, Princess Monica von und zu Liechtenstein celebrates her eightieth birthday!

Born on 8 April 1942 at Vienna, Princess Monica Maria Theresia Elisabeth of Liechtenstein was the only child of Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein (1911-2001) and his first wife Maria Elisabeth von Leutzendorff (1921-1944), who married in 1941. Princess Maria Elisabeth was killed during a bombing raid in Vienna. In the late 1970s, Prince Constantin remarried to Countess Ilona Esterházy von Galántha (1921-2019; widow of Count Miklós Cziráky von Czirák und Dénesfalva).

Prince Constantin and Princess Monica were guests at a party given in St. Moritz by Joan Crawford in 1955, which is noted in the pages of Joan's not-so-happy daughter Christina's book, Mommie Dearest. The following year, in 1956, when she was fourteen, Monica and Prince Francesco Borghese began a relationship. Her father was so disturbed by the romantic attachment of his daughter, owing to her youth, that he had Monica stay in a convent in Vienna for a year to "think it over." Needless to say, Monica and Francesco did not marry.

In 1959, Princess Monica represented her family at the inauguration of the new Brazilian capital, Brasília. During the festivities, she met her future husband, Andrzej Franciszek Spitzman Jordan (b.1933; also known as André Franz Jordan), a Polish expat who had become a businessman in Latin America. The couple swiftly fell in love. When Monica returned to Vaduz, she told her family of her feelings for André. Her father Constantin was not wholly opposed to his only child's desire to marry Mr. Jordan. However, her cousin Prince Franz Joseph II and his wife Princess Georgina did not think the union wise or "suitable," given Monica's status. In an attempt to win over her family, Monica cabled André and asked him to come to Liechtenstein, which he did in short order. His reception by the princely family was reportedly courteous but not terribly warm. Franz Joseph told Monica: "The young man is cultured and pleasant and I wish him well. But I'm dead set against your marrying a commoner as I've been before." Faced with the opposition of the sovereign prince, Monica decided to do a rather daring deed. The eighteen year-old decided to run away from home and elope. She and André agreed that he would return to Rio de Janeiro and prepare for their marriage. Several weeks later, Monica pretended that she was going to visit relatives in Paris. When she arrived in the French capital, she boarded a plane for Brazil that ended up being grounded in London due to poor weather conditions. It took her father Constantin almost two days to find out that his daughter was staying at a hotel in the British capital. He was able to reach Monica by phone, but she refused to return to Vaduz. The next day she flew to Brazil. 

Monica and André on their wedding day.

On 25 November 1960 at Rio de Janeiro, Princess Monica of Liechtenstein and André Jordan were married. The couple had two sons, Gilberto Frederic Jordan (b.1961) and Constantino Pedro Jordan (b.1964), before divorcing in 1969. Prince Constantin flew to Rio for his first grandson Gilberto's christening. In February 1979, Princess Monica joined her father Prince Constantin and their cousin Princess Barbara with her husband Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia for a holiday in St. Moritz. 

Prince Constantin and his daughter Princess Monica, 1958.

Our best wishes to the Princess on her birthday!

Countess Margherita of Arco-Zinneberg Weds Charles Green, Brother of the Duchess of Roxburghe

 

On Saturday, 19 March, Countess Margherita of Arco-Zinneberg married Charles Green in Bavaria.

Countess Margherita Ginevra Maria of Arco-Zinneberg (b.1983) is the third daughter of Count Riprand of Arco-Zinneberg (1955-2021) and Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria-Este (b.1954). Margherita has five sisters: Countess Anna Theresa (b.1981; married Colin McKenzie), Countess Olympia (b.1988; married Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon), Countess Maximiliana (b.1990), Countess Marie-Gabrielle (b.1992), and Countess Giorgiana (b.1997). Margherita is the paternal granddaughter of Count Ulrich Philipp of Arco-Zinneberg (1917-1980) and Countess Maria Theresia von Preysing-Lichtenegg-Moos (1922-2003). Margherita is the maternal granddaughter of Archduke Robert of Austria-Este (1915-1996) and Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta (1930-2022).

Charles Douglas Green (b.1981) is the son of the late Ian Green and Helena Marian Hunt (b.1946; married 1st in 1967 to Richard H. Cooper; married 2nd in 1976 to Michael C. Martin; married 4th in 1986 to The Hon John Fermor-Hesketh). Charles has several siblings from his father and mother's previous marriages. His half-sister, Annabel Green, is the current Duchess of Roxburghe. Charles Green is the maternal grandson of Robert John Cochrane Hunt (1903-1992) and Helena Wilson (1908-2000).

Our best wishes to the newlyweds!

the passing of dowager countess of

The Passing of the Dowager Countess of Paris (1938-2022)

 

Henri and Micaëla

HRH Princess Micaëla d'Orléans, Dowager Countess of Paris, died on Sunday, 13 March, in the French capital. She was eighty-three years-old.

The Dowager Countess of Paris was born doña Micaëla Ana María Cousiño y Quiñones de León on 30 April 1938 at Vichy, France. Her parents were Luis Maximiliano Cousiño y Sébire (1895-1970) and his wife doña Antonia Quiñones de Léon y Bañuelos (1895-1982), 4th Marquesa of San Carlos and Grandee of Spain; the couple had married at Paris on 9 June 1922. The Marquesa of San Carlos and her husband were divorced in the late 1940s after having had seven children. Nearly fifteen years separated their first child, don Juan Luis (1923-2017), from their last, doña Micaëla (b.1938).

doña Antonia Quiñones de Léon y Bañuelos, IV marquesa de San Carlos, in 1929

Doña Micaëla Cousiño y Quiñones de León married firstly in a civil ceremony on 12 June 1961 at Saint-Cloud to Jean Marie Maurice Bœuf (b.1934). The couple had one son, Alexis Francis-Bœuf (b.1964). The marriage of Micaëla and Jean ended in divorce in 1966.

Alexis Francis-Bœf with his stepfather and mother, the Count and Countess of Paris, in 2017

Micaëla began her career on the radio in France. Her first husband Jean Bœuf was an employee of Télévision Française. Later, Micaëla worked for an advertising group both in Madrid and in Paris. From 1978 until May 1981, she was responsible for the communications of the minister and the senior directors at the cabinet of minister Raymond Barre.

 

The Count of Clermont and the Princess of Joinville

On 21 January 1973, Micaëla Cousiño met Prince Henri d'Orléans, Count of Clermont, the eldest son of the Count and Countess of Paris. Henri had been married since 1957 to Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg and they had five children; however, the couple's union had deteriorated over time. When Henri and Micaëla encountered one another, it was love at first sight. Their devotion to one another was to stand the test of adversity and time. 

 

Henri and Micaëla

 

In 1984, the Count of Clermont and his wife Marie-Thérèse, who was granted the title Duchess of Montpensier by her father-in-law, were civilly divorced. Prince Henri d'Orléans and doña Micaëla Cousiño y Quiñones de León contracted a civil marriage at Bordeaux on 31 October 1984; this action greatly displeased the groom's father, who sought to disinherit his son for a number of years. However, the Count of Paris and the Count of Clermont were reconciled in 1991; at this time, the Count of Paris granted his daughter-in-law Micaëla the title Princess of Joinville.  

 

The civil marriage of Prince Henri d'Orléans and doña Micaëla Cousiño in 1984

 

Point de Vue covers the reconciliation of father and son in 1991

 

In 1999, the Count of Paris died and was succeeded by his eldest son Henri as Head of House France. Henri assumed the title Count of Paris; however, Micaëla chose to remain titled as Princess of Joinville from 1999 until 2003, when her mother-in-law passed away. The "new" Count of Paris and his first wife the Duchess of Montpensier received a religious annulment in 2008 from the Vatican. In light of this, Henri and Micaëla, the Count and Countess of Paris, were joined in a Roman Catholic ceremony on 26 September 2009 at Biarritz.

 

The Count and Countess of Paris after their religious wedding in 2009
Photograph (c) Alamy

 

The Count and Countess of Paris with Empress Farah of Iran

After thirty-four years of marriage to his second wife, the Count of Paris died on 21 January 2019 in Paris. His death came exactly forty-six years after he crossed paths with the woman who was to be his partner for the rest of his life. The Countess of Paris was unable to attend the funeral of her husband due to poor health.

 

The Dowager Countess of Paris

The 85th Birthday of Duchess Sophie of Württemberg!

Duchess Sophie of Württemberg at the wedding of Duchess Sophie of Württemberg and Maximilien d'Andigné, 2018. 
Photo (c) Getty Images / David Nivière.

Today, Duchess Sophie of Württemberg celebrates her eighty-fifth birthday!

The engagement of Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg and Nadejda of Bulgaria is announced in January 1924.

Newlyweds: Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg and Princess Nadejda of Bulgaria

Born on 16 February 1937 at Stuttgart, Duchess Sophie Eudoxie Louise Josepha Margarethe Theresia vom Kinde Jesu Konrada Donata of Württemberg was the second daughter and fifth child of Duke Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg (1895-1954) and his wife Princess Nadejda of Bulgaria (1899-1958), who married in 1924. Sophie had four older siblings: Duke Ferdinand Eugen (1925-2020), Duchess Margarethe (1928-2017; married François Luce de Chevigny), Duke Eugen Eberhard (b.1930; married Archduchess Alexandra of Austria-Tuscany), and Duke Alexander (b.1933). Sophie's paternal grandparents were Duke Albrecht of Württemberg (1865-1939) and Archduchess Margarete Sophie of Austria (1870-1902). The duchess's maternal grandparents were King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (1861-1948) and Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma (1870-1899).

Lindach Castle.

Until the outbreak of World War II, Duke Albrecht Eugen and Duchess Nadejda of Württemberg lived with their children at a property in Silesia. After 1945 and the loss of this property to the Polish government under Soviet control, the family relocated to Schloß Lindach, near Schwäbisch Gmünd. Duchess Sophie, the couple's youngest child, spend her youth at Schloß Lindach. She attended a convent school in Wald run by nuns. In 1954, Sophie lost her father when Albrecht Eugen was killed in an automobile accident. In 1957, Sophie studied at the School of Household Arts in Stuttgart. The following year, in 1958, a day before her twenty-first birthday, Sophie was orphaned when her mother Nadeja died on 15 February, aged only fifty-nine. After the death of her mother, Sophie went to live with her brother Alexander in Munich. In 1961, the duchess went to Paris in order to study French. For six months, she took courses at the Alliance Française. Sophie then joined the fashion firm Heim Jeunes Filles as a sales assistant and designer, then, in 1967, she went to work for Maison Balmain.

Duchess Sophie during her religious wedding wearing the Chaumet Diamond Fringe Tiara, which formerly belonged to Queen Eleonore of Bulgaria.

Duchess Sophie, Antonio Manuel Rôxo de Ramos-Bandeira, Duke Ferdinand, Duchess Margarethe, Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria, Duchess Alexandra and Duke Eugen Eberhard. 

Duchess Sophie at her wedding ball.

In February 1969, Duchess Sophie of Württemberg married Portuguese diplomat Antonio Manuel Rôxo de Ramos-Bandeira (1937-1987), the son of Dr. Antonio de Ramos-Bandeira and Alice de Souza-Rôxo. In addition to members of the Württemberg royal family, the wedding was attended by 120 guests, including Archduke Hubert and Archduchess Rosemary of Austria-Tuscany, Margravine Valerie of Baden, Prince Ludwig and Princess Marianne of Baden, Princess Eudoxie of Bulgaria, Fürst Friedrich and Fürstin Margarethe of Hohenzollern, Hereditary Prince Alois-Konstantin zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Duke Friedrich August and Duchess Marie Cecile of Oldenburg, Duke Roberto of Parma, Fürst Franz Joseph of Thurn und Taxis, and Fürst Georg of Waldburg zu Zeil und Trauchburg. A most unhappy chapter for the duchess, Sophie and Antonio's union ended in divorce in 1974 and was religiously annulled in 1976. The couple did not have children.

Sophie during her time with Nina Ricci, 1988.

Princess Masha Magaloff and Duchess Sophie of Württemberg - two of Nina Ricci's leaders, 1993.
Photo (c) T. Umeda.

Beginning in 1982, Duchess Sophie of Württemberg became an executive with Nina Ricci, a position that she held for several decades. She directed the fashion house's haute couture department. She worked side-by-side with Princess Masha Magaloff (née Asanschevski-Asancheyev), the wife of Russian aristocrat Prince Michael Magaloff. In the early 1990s, the duchess and the princess were in Hawaii for a Ricci show. While there, they gave a very amusing and insightful interview to The Honolulu Advertiser about the goings on in the world of a fashion insider. Sophie started: "You go to the office, you have a meeting with your director, maybe shouting for an hour, and right after work you go to a cocktail party and you have to be chic. So you have a lovely suit and you change it with a little scarf, another necklace, earrings a little more sparkly. A gray suit is very nice, then you change the blouse for the evening. Pink perhaps." Masha added: "Pink is always magic to a lady. I have a fatal love for pink." Sophie then went on to muse about the arduous consultations that involve working with a bride choosing a haute couture gown, which she noted usually took days: "The bride has one idea. Mama has another. Grandmama has another..." Masha interjected: "[And] Auntie has another." "Then the bride starts crying," Sophie summarised. Sophie continued: "Black can be super chic, but on some women it can be too cruel. Navy is gentler." The duchess mentioned that Princess Barbara of Yugoslavia was an ideal client: "She'll see a dress and say, 'That's the one.' Others try the whole collection and say, 'Now I cannot decide...it was too much.'"

Duchess Sophie in 2000.
Photo (c) Seeger-Presse.

Duchess Sophie and her brother Duke Alexander at the 70th birthday celebrations of their first cousin Duke Carl of Württemberg, 2006.
Photo (c) Seeger-Presse / Sandra Zellner.

Duchess Sophie and her brother Duke Ferdinand at the wedding of Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 2009.
Photo (c) Seeger-Presse / Albert Nieboer.

A favourite amongst her relations, Sophie of Württemberg is often to be seen at royal weddings and funerals. The duchess lives in Paris.

Duchess Sophie in 1997.
Photo (c) Seeger-Presse.

Our best wishes to Duchess Sophie on her birthday!

Princess Marie Astrid of Liechtenstein Becomes Mrs Ralph Worthington V

Today, 25 September, Princess Marie-Astrid of Liechtenstein and Ralph "Rafe" Worthington V married at the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta in Orbetello, Italy. The bride is the daughter of Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein and Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg. The groom is the son of Mr Ralph Worthington IV and Ms Lucinda Earle Morrisey.

Our best wishes to the newlyweds!

Ancestry of Ralph "Rafe" Worthington V

1.Ralph "Rafe" Worthington V (b.1 April 1985)

Parents

2.Ralph Worthington IV (b.30 January 1946)

m.1 September 1984 (div.)

3.Lucinda Earle Morrisey (b.11 September 1952)

Grandparents

4.Ralph Worthington III (15 April 1916-12 May 1997)

m.December 1943

5.Margaret Carleton Talmadge (17 June 1921-15 October 2012)

6.John Lyon Morrisey (3 September 1922-25 December 1990)

m.3 November 1946

7.Frances Earle Gensler (24 February 1924-14 September 2011)

Great-Grandparents

8.Ralph Worthington (4 December 1841-11 December 1925)

m.

9.Ethel Burdette (16 January 1882-2 October 1951)

10.Joseph Boyce Talmadge (22 April 1890-2 May 1946)

m.24 June 1920

11.Margaret Morrison Carleton (4 January 1894-13 January 1977)

12.William George Morrisey Jr. (21 September 1891-3 April 1953)

m.18 August 1917

13.Mildred Lyon (18 Aug 1899-17 September 1971)

14.Stanley Bertrand Gensler (11 November 1899-16 February 1971)

m.4 May 1923 (div. 1937); remarried on 26 June 1945

15.Florence Earle Johnson (8 December 1892-22 July 1975)

Great-Grandparents

16.George Worthington (21 September 1813-9 November 1871)

m.15 November 1840

17.Maria Cushman Blackmar (14 September 1817-17 November 1902)

18.William Alexander Burdette (3 July 1859-10 July 1944)

m.

19.Mary Lou Anthony (12 March 1860-11 June 1927)

20.William Clinton Talmadge (24 January 1855-24 June 1929)

m.

21.Leona Boyce (2 May 1860-19 February 1939)

22.Charles Henry Carleton (18 September 1859-23 June 1937)

m.

23.Janet Louise Morrison (13 July 1866-27 April 1925)

24.William George Morrisey (22 February 1865-7 December 1932)

m.

25.Minnie Moloughney (30 August 1873-1956)

26.Joseph Lyon

m.

27.Elizabeth Backafane

28.John Gensler (Jul 1853-24 April 1912)

m.24 June 1881

29.Edna Ryder (September 1862-24 December 1945)

30.Edward Hine Johnson (29 June 1854-23 September 1924)

m.

31.Frances Van Leer Earle (18 October 1858-28 February 1946)