Isabelle of Orleans (1878-1961)

Isabelle Marie Laure Mercedes Ferdinande of Orleans , “ duchess of Own way ”, was born on May 7th, 1878, with the Château of Have, in Normandy, and died on January 21st, 1961 with Larache, with the Morocco. For the orleanists, it is queen of the French of 1926 with his death.

Family

Isabelle 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 his wife and German cousin Marie-Isabelle of Orleans - Montpensier (1848-1919), infante of Spain.

October 30th, 1899, the princess marries, with Twickenham, in England, her first cousin the prince Jean of Orleans (1874-1940), “duke of Own way” and claiming future orleanist with the throne of France under the name of “Jean III”. From this happy union are born four children:

Isabelle of Orleans (1900-1983) which marries, in first weddings, the count Bruno d' Harcourt (1899-1930) then the prince Pierre Murat (1900-1948). From where four children;

Francoise of Orleans (1902-1953) which Marie with the prince Christophe of Greece (1889-1940), wire of the king Georges Ier of Greece. They are the parents of the prince Michel of Greece;

Anne of Orleans (1906-1986) which links with his/her first cousin the prince Amédée of Savoy-Aoste, duke of Aoste, and viceroy of Ethiopia. From where two girls;

Henri of Orleans (1908-1999), “count de Paris” and applicant orleanist with the throne of France under the name of “Henri VI”, who marries his cousin Isabelle of Orleans and Bragance. From where eleven children.

Biography

The princess “Miou”, such as its family calls it, spends the first years of her life to Normandy, at the sides of her parents, the count and the countess of Paris. But, in 1886, whereas it is old only of hardly five years, a Loi of exile concerning the family members having reigned on France is installation by the government of the IIIème République. The Isabelle young person leaves then the Château of Have to go with his parents and his brothers and sisters to Stowe House, the the United Kingdom, and Villamanrique-with-the-Condesa, in Spain. Thereafter, the princess can however occasionally give the feet to France since the law of exile touches mainly the chiefs of the Houses of France and their direct heirs, and that the women are excluded from these roles by the Salic law.

Young girl, Isabelle of Orleans is educated in a sélect medium in which the culture, and particularly the history, play a central role. However, it acquires, like the majority of her parents Orleans, a very bad orthography, that to which testifies its correspondence today…

While growing, the princess becomes a very pretty young woman, which, added to the quality of chief of House of his father, enables him to have very many sighing. Among those, most notable is certainly the future Albert Ier of Belgium (1875-1934), but this last must unfortunately give up at its court in front of the opposition of his/her uncle the king Léopold II which fears the reactions of Paris vis-a-vis a marriage with the girl of an exiled applicant.

It is finally one of the first cousins of Isabelle, the prince Jean of Orleans (1874-1940), which she marries, in 1899. With this occasion, the princess and her husband receive from her brother, the applicant orleanist “Philippe VIII”, “count de Paris”, the title of “duke” and “duchess of Own way”.

During several years, the couple shares then its existence between Paris and its grounds of the Nouvion-in-Thiérache. But, like good number of their parents, the “Own way” are bored in Europe. This is why, one year after having given rise to his/her last child, in 1909, the couple leaves to Morocco and settles there finally - under the name of Orliac - as of the following year. The prince and the princess acquire then, in the area of Larache, a residence, “the palate of the duchess of Own way” (today the “Riad hotel”), and a vast domain on the grounds of which they practice a modern agriculture.

In 1912, when Morocco becomes a Franco-Spanish protectorate, the residence of Larache passes under Spanish mode while the fields of Maarif pass under French control. Fortunately for the “Own way”, the law of exile does not apply to Morocco!

During the First World War, the duke of Own way returns to France to play the part of deputy of the Croix-Rouge close to the face but his wife and their children remain in Morocco, where they continue to carry out the life of the blédard…

It is only after the death of the brother of the duchess of Own way and the rise in her husband to the rank of chief of the House of Orleans, in 1926, that the prince and the princess set out again food in Europe. The couple settles then with the Manoir of Anjou, in Belgium, where it directs the movement French monarchist, with the assistance of Charles Maurras and of the French Action. And while the new applicant discusses policy with the French militants who regularly come to visit him on his grounds, the duchess of Own way deals with charitable organizations, and becomes in particular godmother of summer camps for poor children.

When the Second world war bursts, the duke and the duchess of Own way regain their Moroccan grounds but the applicant does not support the French defeat of 1940 and dies little of time after the beginning of the German occupation… Surrounded by his son, the new “count de Paris”, of his daughter-in-law and several grandchildren, the “duchess dowager of Own way” does not lose however courage. It maintains its functions caritative while visiting regularly disinherited and by managing it in particular “Put del Niño”, an institution dedicated to the help of the poor children whom it itself founded.

The princess dies out finally in Larache in 1961. In fact, thanks to the good relationships of Orleans with the royal family of Morocco and with the affection of which enjoys the duchess of Own way near the inhabitants of Larache, the princess and her family did not have to leave Morocco after her independence.

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