Henri, Comte de Paris and Princesse de Joinville, religious wedding 26 September 2009

[vincent]

I guess most of you know it, but there is a second wedding arriving in the orléans family, the religious wedding of the comte de Paris, father of prince jean, duc de Vendôme.
It will take place on the 26th of september in Biarritz, and will be rather a big event. the religious witness for the comte de Paris will be HRH princess maria da gloria d'Orléans Bragance, duchesse de Segorbe, ex wife of prince alexander of yougoslavia. She is a firts cousin of king juan Carlos and the comte de Paris. His wife witness, will be the duchess de Magenta.
The wedding is finally taking place because after 35 years of waiting, the pope has finally annuled, the comte de Paris's first wedding to princess marie thérèse de Wurtemberg; I have seen the official documents which are quite impressive and it states that allthough the wedding is annuled, the children are legitimate, and it also gives the comte de Paris the right to remarry.
The wedding will be followed by a diner à the château d'Arcangues in Biarritz.

[Marengo]

Some info from our blog:

Wedding Details Of the Marriage of the Count and Countess of Paris

A day before the religious wedding of the count and countess of Paris, French royalty blog ‘noblesse & royauté’ reveals some details about the wedding. It was already known that the wedding would be celebrated Arcangues, but the blog has some new information.

The mass will be celebrated by father Dominique Dye, chapelain of the order of Malta, and by abbé Jean-Marie Mouhica. During the mass music from Bach will be heard, but also Bask hymns. The bride will wear a creation by Catherine Vanier, the dress will have several colours. After the mass the wedding party will go to the castle of Arcangues, where a dinner will be served.

The count of Paris is the Orleanist pretender to the French throne. He married in 1957 Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg. The couple divorced in 1984, and in October of the same year he married Micaëla Anna María Cousiño y Quiñones de León in a civil ceremony. The Catholic church recently annuled the wedding between Henri and Marie-Thérèse, after which the count of Paris was able to announce his religious wedding.

For a link to Noblesse & Royauté, click here.

[Ella Kay]

First gallery of pictures is up at BelgaPicture. A very unconvential wedding dress (for a very unconventional royal wedding, really!).

ETA: I'm also blogging about the wedding here at Royal Romance.

[iceflower]

The dress is indeed unconvential, but a white one would
have been a surprise as well

Yesterday there was a pre-wedding dinner held at the
"Villa Albarritz" in Bidard (near Biarritz), France, Sept.
25, 2009:

The Comte and the Princess

Prince Charles-Philippe and Princess Diana of Orleans

...with Princess Beatrice of Orleans

The Duke and the Duchess of Uzes

[Al_bina]

Countess of Paris' dress leaves much to be desired. Hopefully the couple finally found peace of mind they were searching for.
Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans, Duc d'Anjou, wore a military uniform, didn't he? What about Duke and Duchess of Vendome? Did they attend the ceremony?

[Ella Kay]

I don't think the Vendomes were expected to attend.

[Al_bina]

Thanks for the information!
It is not surprising, but strange. I thought Duke of Vendome would attend for the sake of appearances.

[maria-olivia]

No appearances to-day !
No Count of Paris's children nor his brothers and sisters assisted the wedding.
Only Charles-Philippe his wife and his mother because the Count of Paris gave him the title of Duc d' Anjou and Great Master of the St Lazare's Oder ( the white to small uniform he is wearing).

[V.F.H.78]

Was the duke of Chartres present at the wedding?

[MAfan]

Isn't he dressed in the very same way he was dressed at the religious wedding of his son Jean last may???

[rominet09]

I can't believe so little family people attended !
I suppose it is due to loyalty towards the Duchess of Montpensier !

[rchainho]

royalpress hq

http://img16.imagevenue.com/img.php?..._122_169lo.jpg
http://img151.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_112lo.jpg
http://img31.imagevenue.com/img.php?...9_122_83lo.jpg
http://img180.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_714lo.jpg
http://img232.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_491lo.jpg
http://img151.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_159lo.jpg
http://img9.imagevenue.com/img.php?i..._122_494lo.jpg
http://img158.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_570lo.jpg

[Princess Alix]

Originally Posted by rchainho

royalpress hq
http://img31.imagevenue.com/img.php?...9_122_83lo.jpg

Who is the woman with the grey dress, grey bag and the black shoes?

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Princess Alix

Who is the woman with the grey dress, grey bag and the black shoes?

Princess Lea of Belgium.

[lumutqueen]

PPE Agency

It looks like a wonderful wedding. It's nice to see Princess Lea.
Why was there such a lack of attendance?

[MAfan]

Despite of her age, Princess Lea still looks very well...and Princess Diana looks wonderful too...
I've been surprised too for the lack of attendence...but it seems to me that this is a sort of familiar vice...the past year, at the wedding of Prince Aimone of Savoy, son of Princess Claude of Orleans, and Princess Olga of Greece, whose father is a first cousin of the Orleans, nobody of the Orleans Family attended the wedding (except the mother of the groom)...

[sgl]

The location looks very beautiful. I agree with the other posters about the bride's dress. It is definitely not what I would have expected. I was thinking that she would wear a simple suit in a soft color. The dress is okay, but I really don't care for the purple net veil over her face.

The bride and groom look very happy, though, and I hope that they enjoyed the celebrations.

[claypoint2]

Originally Posted by Princess Alix

Who is the woman with the grey dress, grey bag and the black shoes?

Originally Posted by Stefan

Princess Lea of Belgium.

At the risk of being a stickler for detail, her title is Princess Alexandre of Belgium, and she does not have the right to use the title Princess Léa of Belgium. According to the "arrêté Royal" or Royal Decree of 2 December 1991, a woman who marries a Belgian prince is no longer a Belgian princess in her own right -- the way it had been from 1831 until 1991 -- unless there is an additional royal decree creating her a Belgian princess.

Royal Titles in Belgium - Titres Royaux en Belgique

There was no additional decree in this case. Princess Alexandre of Belgium, née Léa Wolman, was twice divorced before she married the prince. Prince Alexandre didn't seek the consent of the sovereign before marrying her, as he apparently feared the disapproval of his half-brother King Baudoin, who was a strict & fervent Catholic, and also of his mother. As you will see below, it is reported that Prince Alexandre hid the fact of his marriage for a few years.

Princess Léa of Belgium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All that aside, Princess Alexandre is certainly a very elegant and beautiful woman. I hope that their marriage is a happy one... just like the Comte de Paris and his wife, who are clearly devoted to each other!

[maria-olivia]

An article of Stephane Bern in le Figaro says that the Count de Paris's children and particulary Jean Duc de vendôme asked the whole family not to come at his father wedding.
Claypoint , Princess Léa is our Princess Pushy..She is everywhere except when members of the High Court (Queen Astrid's heirs) are present .

[claypoint2]

Ah... I didn't know that, Maria-Olivia! Thank you for the information. It's funny -- I almost referenced Princess Michael of Kent when I was discussing Princess Alexandre's title. It seems that these two ladies have a few things in common!