Prince Michel, Count of Évreux’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Prince Michel of Orléans, fils de France, Count of Évreux (Michel Joseph Benoît Marie; born 25 June 1941, Rabat, Morocco) is a member of the House of Orléans which reigned over France between 1830 and 1848, a cadet branch of the royal House of Bourbon. He is a younger son of Henri, Count of Paris, the Orleanist claimant to the French throne from 1940 to 1999, and of the author, Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza.

Background

Prince Michel was born in Morocco and raised in exile as one of the eleven children of the Comte de Paris. His family re-patriated to France in 1950 after the law of banishment against former French dynasties was repealed.

Prince Michel earned a university degree studying mathematics, chemistry, and physics,

Family

He was dating Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark when he met Béatrice Marie Pasquier de Franclieu, whom he married on 18 November 1967 in Casablanca, Morocco, without his father’s consent.

The bride was born Béatrice Marie Guillemine Huguette in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 24 October 1941, a daughter of Bruno Pasquier de Franclieu of a noble family, and his wife, Jacqueline Térisse.

The marriage was not regarded as dynastic, and Prince Michel’s wife and children were not initially given traditional Orléanist royal titles. On 10 December 1976, Béatrice was allowed by her father-in-law to share ad personam her husband’s style, viz., “Her Royal Highness Princess Michel of Orléans, comtesse d’Evreux”. Subsequent to the accession as head of the House of Orléans and pretender by his brother Prince Henri, Count of Paris, Duke of France in 1999, his wife and children were recognized as fully dynastic members of the royal house with commensurate styles and titles.

The family lived in Morocco, Germany, and England. Their children attained adulthood in Spain. According to the prince’s wife, her work as a fashion consultant for Women’s Wear Daily and Dior, combined with her husband’s lack of a career, imposed strains upon the marriage. Michel and Beatrice were separated in 1994 and he left their home, although there were then no plans to terminate the marriage. The Court of Appeal of Paris pronounced finally an order for divorce on 28 November 2012. They had four children:

• Princess Clotilde Jacqueline Charlotte Marie d’Orléans (born 28 December 1968), married in 1993 to Edouard Crépy (b. 19 January 1969) at the home of Prince Pedro of Orléans-Braganza in Villamanrique de la Condesa. They have children.
• Princess Adélaïde Jeanne Marie d’Orléans (born 11 September 1971), a goddaughter of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, married in 2002 to Pierre-Louis Étienne Marcel Éric Dailly (b. 28 May 1968). They have children.
• Prince Charles Philippe, Duke of Anjou (b. 3 March 1973), married in 2008 to Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo, 11th Duchess of Cadaval at the Cathedral of Evora in Portugal:
  • Princess Isabelle of Orléans (b. 22 February 2012), a goddaughter of King Felipe VI of Spain.
• Prince François Charles Frédéric Bruno Marie d’Orléans, Count of Dreux (b. 10 February 1982), married 27 July 2014 in the Basilica of St. Jacob in Straubing, Germany to Theresa von Einsiedel. Born 17 January 1984 in Munich, she is the fourth of seven children of Curt-Hildebrand von Einsiedel (born 1944, member of the cadet knightly branch of a comital family known in Meissen since 1299) by his wife, née Princess Amelie von Urach (born 1949, member of a morganatic ducal branch of the former royal House of Wurttemberg, and daughter of Prince Eberhard von Urach by his wife, Princess Iniga of Thurn and Taxis).
  • Prince Philippe of Orléans (b. 5 May 2017)
  • Princess Marie Amélie of Orléans (b. 8 February 2019)

On 29 April 2017, in Paris, Évreux entered a civil marriage with Bárbara de Posch-Pastor (b. 2 May 1952, Madrid, Spain), daughter of Erich Edler von Posch-Pastor (grandson of Austrian diplomat Ludwig von Pastor, Baron von Campersfelden) and his wife, Doña Silvia Rodríguez de Rivas y Díaz de Erazo (ex-wife of Boson de Talleyrand, Duke of Valençay). As head of the Orleanist House of France, the Count of Paris has recognized his brother’s second marriage as dynastic and Barbara as Her Royal Highness the “Countess of Evreux”, while affirming that his former sister-in-law is now “Princess Béatrice d’Orléans” and retains the style of Royal Highness.

Ancestors