Princess Marie of Liechtenstein (née Princess Marie Isabelle Marguerite Anne Geneviève of Orléans; born on 3 January 1959) is the eldest daughter of Prince Henri, Count of Paris, Duke of France and his former wife Duchess Marie Thérèse of Württemberg. She is the wife of Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein, a great-grandson of Prince Alfred of Liechtenstein.
Contents
Youth
Her paternal grandfather, the Comte de Paris, head of the Orléanist House of France, received a letter of congratulations upon the princess's birth from General Charles de Gaulle. Baptised 17 days after her birth by Maurice, Cardinal Feltin, the Archbishop of Paris, in the chapel of the Archdiocese, her god-parents were two of her grandparents; Philipp Albrecht, Duke of Wurttemberg and Isabelle d'Orléans, Duchess of Guise.
Princess Marie's early childhood was spent in Paris where, from October 1959 to April 1962, her father worked at the Secretariat-General for National Defence and Security as a member of the French Foreign Legion. Transferred from there to a garrison in Germany, in the beginning of 1963 his family joined him at Bonifacio in Corsica where he took up a new assignment as military instructor.
Returning to civilian life in 1967, her brother, Prince Francois, Count of Clermont and his family briefly occupied the Blanche Neige pavilion on his father's Manoir du Coeur-Volant estate at Louveciennes in 1967, before renting an apartment of their own in the XVe arrondissement. For some months in that year Marie attended a private, parochial day school in Paris, before being sent to boarding school at Cours Dupanloup in Boulogne-sur-Seine in 1968 and Sacré-Coeur de Saint-Maur. In 1972 she boarded at a Dominican establishment in Fribourg during the family's residence in Corly while Clermont managed public relations for the Geneva office of a Swiss investment firm.
Upon receiving her bac, Marie enrolled at the Institut Catholique de Paris where she obtained a language interpretation degree in German and English after completing the Institut Supérieur d'Interprétariat et de Traduction curriculum. She also earned a professional degree through the Franco-German and Franco-English Chambers of Commerce, as well as a DEUG in German.
Career
As the eldest of five children, two of whom are intellectually disabled, much of Princess Marie's professional and volunteer work has been in behalf of children with special needs. In 1981 she spent several months serving needy children in Brazilian favelas through a Foi et Lumiere programme. Afterwards, she worked a year in Paris for a Catholic periodical. In 1984 Marie moved back to Geneva to organise the Enfants et Jeunes de la rue ("Street Kids") programme as part of the BICE, conducting outreach in various countries, including Colombia and Brazil.
Transferred by BICE back to Paris, the princess became head of the Commission on Special Medical-Pedagogical Services, which sponsors humanitarian conferences in Europe and the developing world.
Marriage
While on work assignment in Rio de Janeiro in September 1988, Marie attended a dinner hosted by Princess Isabel of Brazil (born 1944), where she met their mutual cousin Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein (grandson of Prince Alfred Roman of Liechtenstein). Fifth cousins as great-great-great grandchildren of Maximilian I of Bavaria, both also descend from France's "Citizen-King", Louis Philippe d'Orléans.
Marie and Gundakar encountered each other again in November 1988 at the wedding of two more mutual cousins, Duchess Mathilde of Wurttemberg and the Hereditary Count Erich von Waldburg-Zeil. More meetings in Europe followed. On 11 February 1989 the couple were received by Marie's paternal grandfather, Monseigneur the Count of Paris, at his Chantilly estate, after which the couple's betrothal was announced to the media (the fiancée's father had been informed of the engagement earlier that day by a hand-delivered letter written by Marie's mother, Marie Thérèse of Württemberg, Duchess of Montpensier.
The wedding date being set for 29 July 1989, the engagement initially triggered familial reconciliation. Although the Count of Clermont stated in a 12 May 1989 Point de Vue interview that it had been three years since he had seen Marie, he and his second wife, Michaela Cousino, had been welcomed for the first time to the home of his mother, the Countess of Paris, that day: Clermont further acknowledged to the press that, Marie having written to invite him to her wedding, he looked forward to conducting her to the altar, rumours to the contrary notwithstanding. At the engagement party held the next day at the Palais Pallavicini, the Vienna home of the fiancé's parents, photographs were taken, and would later be published, showing Clermont speaking cordially with his daughter, sons, former wife and future son-in-law.
However, it was on this occasion that Clermont learned that he would not be escorting Marie to her bridesgroom during the wedding. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Montpensier had sent out invitations to the wedding in her name alone, omitting not only mention of Marie's father, but also of the Count of Paris, the head of the dynasty who, until then, had largely sided with the Duchess de Montpensier in opposition to the dissolution of his son's first marriage. Moreover, the duchess had also rebuffed Monseigneur's offers to host the wedding at the Chapelle royale de Dreux or to commission the wedding gown from a major French haute couturier.
Children
The couple have five children together:
Princess Léopoldine Eléonore Thérèse Marie of Liechtenstein (b. 27 June 1990, Vienna), her godparents are Prince Eudes, Duke of Angoulême (maternal uncle) and Princess Eleonore of Liechtenstein (paternal aunt). She is the godmother of her first cousin Princess Antoinette of Orléans, eldest daughter of the Count and Countess of Paris. She is married to Bruno Walter Pedrosa João.
Princess Marie Immaculata Elisabeth Rose Aldegunde of Liechtenstein (b. 15 December 1991, Vienna), her godparents are Prince Jean, Duke of Vendôme (maternal uncle) and Princess Aldegunde of Liechtenstein). She is the godmother of her first cousin Princess Jacinthe of Orléans, youngest daughter of the Count and Countess of Paris.
Prince Johann Wenzel Karl Emmeran Bonifatius Maria of Liechtenstein (b. 17 March 1993, Vienna), his godparents are Princess Blanche of Orléans (maternal aunt) and Prince Emmeran of Liechtenstein (paternal uncle). He is the godfather of his first cousin Prince Joseph of Orléans, younger son of the Count and Countess of Paris. He married Countess Felicitas von Hartig (b. 10 April 1994) civilly on 30 April 2023 and religiously in Vienna on 10 June. They have a daughter, Josefine (b. 2024).
Princess Margarete Franciska Daria Wilhelmine Marie of Liechtenstein (b. 10 January 1995, Vienna), her godparents are Prince François, Count of Clermont (maternal uncle) and Princess Daria of Thurn und Taxis (father's cousin). She is the godmother of her first cousin Princess Louise-Marguerite of Orléans, middle daughter of the Count and Countess of Paris.
Prince Gabriel Karl Bonaventura Alfred Valerian Maria of Liechtenstein (b. 6 May 1998, Vienna), his godparents are Prince Alfred of Liechtenstein and Madame Gilles Lambotte, née Maria-Edla de Rambuteau.
Princess Marie Isabelle is the godmother of Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal and Princess Thérèse d'Orléans.
Honours
Titles
1959-1989: Her Royal Highness Princess Marie Isabelle d’Orléans
1989 - present: Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Liechtenstein, Countess of Rietberg
Honours
Portuguese Royal Family:
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Isabel (4 July 2004)