Henri and Isabelle had several other meetings prior to their engagement. One took place in Chotebor, Bohemia, the home of one of her Dobrzensky uncles, in the summer of 1930. On August 10, 1930, Prince Henri of France asked his cousin Princess Isabelle d1Orléans-Braganca for her hand in marriage. For a few days the couple kept their agreement from the family. Then when the family was headed to spend a vacation in Attersee, Austria, Henri and Isabelle made their engagement known to their delighted family.
However, this happy announcement caused some political problems for the family. Living in Belgium, the Duke of Guise wanted to host the marriage of his son and heir at their countryside residence, the Manoir d'Anjou. French authorities were aghast at the possibility of having a major royalist demonstration taking place just across the republic's border with the kingdom of Belgium. To avoid any such gathering from turning into a political embarrassment France asked Belgium to notify the Duke of Guise that his son's wedding could not take place in Belgium. Once told of this sad news, the Duke of Guise, not wanting to cause any problems in Belgium decided to host the wedding at his Sicilian residence, the Palais d'Orléans, which had been given to Prince Louis Philippe d'Orléans and his wife Princess Marie-Amélie of Bourbon-Two Sicilies when they married in 1809.
In the meantime French royalists flocked to the Hôtel Lambert on March 14 and 15, 1931, to pay their respects to Princess Isabelle. The Count of Paris, as Prince Henri was known since 1929 when his father granted him this title, was kept from attending by the law of exile. Some sixty thousand people went through the Hôtel Lambert during those two days.
The wedding of the Count of Paris and Princess Isabelle took place at the Church of Santa Rosalia, Palermo, on April 8, 1931. A large number royal guests attended the wedding from France, Portugal. Spain, Italy, Greece and Denmark. Several thousand French citizens also traveled to Palermo to witness the glorious event.
Princess Isabelle, of whom King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria had once said, was "the most beautiful princess alive," looked resplendent in her wedding gown, which was designed by the renowned couture house of Worth in Paris. She wore a magnificent diadem designed for the occasion with diamonds from the jewel collection of the late Duchess of Guise. The couple's sponsors were Infante Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and the Duke of Puglie for the Count of Paris; Prince Pedro-Henrique of Brazil and Prince Adam Czartoryski for Princess Isabelle. After the ceremony the wedding procession returned to the Palais d'Orléans in Palermo, with the crowd cheering wildly as the many royal guests left the church. Chants of "Long Live the King," "Long live the Dauphin and Dauphine," deafened those in attendance. At the Palais d'Orléans twelve hundred guests sat down for lunch on that day. After the luncheon the newlyweds alighted on the balcony and greeted the cheering crowds. The Count and Countess of Paris were a magical image of happiness and hope. The Countess once told the author of this study that "my wedding and honeymoon are the most beautiful images I have of my long life."
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