Helene of Orleans

Helene Louise Francoise Henriette of Orleans , French princess by her birth and duchess of Aoste by its marriage, was born the June 13rd 1871, in York House, Twickenham, in England, and died the January 21st 1951 with Castellammare di Stabia, in Italy, close to Naples.

Family

Helene of Orleans is the girl of Philippe of Orleans (1838-1894), “count de Paris” and applicant orleanist with the throne of France under the name of " Philippe VII" , and of Marie-Isabelle of Orleans - Montpensier (1848-1919), infante of Spain.

June 25th, 1895, the princess marries, with the Kingston-on-the-Thames, the prince Emmanuel-Philibert, prince d' Italie and second duke of Aoste (Genoa, January 13rd, 1869 - Turin, July 4th, 1931).

From this marriage are born two boys:

Amédée II of Savoy-Aoste (1898-1942), third duke of Aoste and viceroy of Ethiopia, which marries his/her cousin the princess Anne of Orleans (1906-1986), girl of the applicant French orleanist “Jean III” of Orleans, duke of Own way.

Aymon of Savoy-Aoste (1900-1948), duke of Spolète then fourth duke of Aoste with died of his/her brother. Proclaimed king of the state marionette of Croatia on May 18th, 1941, under the name of Tomislav II of Croatia, it can reign and abdicates on July 31st, 1943 without to have never put the foot in its new country. July 1st, 1939, he marries the princess Irene of Greece (1904-1974), girl of the king Constantin Ier of Greece.

Become widowed, the Helene princess marries in second weddings, in October 1936, the colonel Otto Campini, with Capodimonte.

Biography

Young girl, the princess twice misses marrying the heir to a European throne. In 1890, the duke of Clarence and Avondale, Albert Victor of the United Kingdom (1864-1892), grandson of Victoria Ière and wire of the future Edouard VII, seeks, the first, to marry it. But the prince is Anglican and the father of Helene, the count of Paris, interdict to his daughter to abjure Catholicism, which makes the marriage impossible.

Some time later, it is with the turn of the tsar Alexandre III of Russia to be interested in the princess, but for her son, the tsarevitch Nicolas (future Nicolas II). There still, the attempt is a failure because the prince is in love with Alix de Hesse, and refuses to hear of strategic alliance with a French princess. Finally, Helene of Orleans Marie to the second duke of Aoste. Admittedly, the prince does not have to reign but it represents nevertheless a good party… Like several of his/her brothers and cousins, the Helene princess with the voyageuse heart. Besides during its life, it carries out several voyages of hunting or studies in Africa and the Far East. At the time of one of its stays in Africa, it crosses Georges-Marie Haardt thus, with the head of the black Croisière.

Of its voyages, it brings back a very personal religion… It chooses its chaplains for their speed to say the mass and, with each first crescent of the moon, it achieves mysterious gestures in front of the statue of an Egyptian black agate cat!

During the Inter-war period, the princess becomes one of the burning defenders of the Fascisme and its sons receive Mussolini of important functions in the Empire. But its conversion with Italian nationalism shocks his/her Orleans parents, who end up breaking any contact with it.

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