Princess Michaela, Dowager Countess of Paris, has died at the age of 83 after an exciting career that took her through the worlds of advertising, government and medical research.
The Princess, born Micaela Ana María Cucinho y Quiñones de Leon in Vichy in central France in 1938, in a family of Chilean-Spanish nobles, died Sunday.
She was the second wife of Henri d’Orléans, Count of Paris and pretender to the late French throne, who died three years ago on January 21, 2019, 45 years after they met.
They first noticed each other in a restaurant in 1974. The princess was then a divorced mother of one child, but Henri quickly succumbed to the charm of “a delightful young blonde with green eyes.”
He divorced his first wife, a German princess, and remarried Mikaela without his father’s consent, which meant he was stripped of his title and disinherited. Instead, he was called Count Mortain, a non-dynastic style, but he refused to accept a post that addressed him that way.
Eventually, the strained relationship was healed and in 1991 Henri was reinstated as his father’s heir. He was given back the title of Comte de Clermont and Michaela was named Princess Joinville.
In a statement posted online on Monday, Prince Jean d’Orléans, Count of Paris, said: “Her Royal Highness Princess Michaela, whom my father remarried, died this Sunday, 13 March 2022. I assure her son Alexis Francis-Boeuf. and his family, my sincere condolences.
Princess Michaela (pictured left, 2019), Dowager Countess of Paris, has died at the age of 83 after an exciting career that took her through the worlds of advertising, government and medical research. Pictured right during her religious wedding in 2009 to Henri d’Orléans.
The Dowager Countess was the second wife of Henri d’Orléans (pictured together in 1984), Count of Paris and pretender to the defunct French throne, who died three years ago on 21 January 2019, 45 years after they met.
Michaela was born to Luis Maximiliano Cucinho y Cebire, heir to one of the richest families in Chile dating back to the 18th century, and Antonia Quiñones de León y Bañuelos, 4th Marchioness of San Carlos and Grandee of Spain.
But the Dowager Countess didn’t shy away from work despite her background, starting her media career at French Radio and then taking a job at a press agency for an advertising group based in Paris and Madrid.
The French magazine Point de Vue called her an “art publisher”.
In 1961, Michaela married Jean-Robert Boeuf, with whom she had a child named Alexis.
She eventually turned to politics in the late 1970s, overseeing communications for French government minister Raymond Barré, who served as prime minister under President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
The couple, pictured in October 2018, first spotted each other in a restaurant in 1974. The princess was then a divorced mother of one child, but Henri quickly succumbed to the charm of “a delightful young blonde with green eyes.”
He divorced his first wife, a German princess, and remarried Mikaela (pictured together in 2014) without his father’s consent, meaning he was stripped of his title and disinherited.
In 1982 she worked for the Cancer Research Association and in 1984 she married Henri d’Orléans.
Recalling his first meeting with his second wife in 2003, Henri told Paris Match: “For me, it was love at first sight.
“The one who will become a real soldier next to me seems completely disoriented, agitated, makes me repeat my name several times. I invited her to dinner the next day.
“Finally we went dancing and woke up together. Our meeting took place on January 21st. Date of death of Louis XVI,” read his confession, translated from French into English.
Eventually, the strained relationship was healed and in 1991 Henri was reinstated as his father’s heir. His title of Comte de Clermont was returned and Michaela (pictured above in 2010) was named Princess Joinville.
Michaela has played an active role in the family, appearing with her husband (pictured together in 2013) at engagements and attending events alone to represent the family.
He divorced his first wife, born Duchess Marie-Therese of Württemberg, and Michaela and her husband lived in an apartment in Paris until 1999, when, after the death of his father, Henri became head of the House of Orléans.
Long Live the Revolution: France and the Monarchy
France overthrew its monarchy in the Revolution of 1789, briefly restoring it after the fall of Napoleon. The last French king, Louis Philippe, was deposed in 1848.
In 1792, the French Legislative Assembly voted to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic.
The decision came a year after King Louis XVI reluctantly approved a new constitution that stripped him of most of his power.
Louis ascended the French throne in 1774. From the beginning, he struggled to cope with his country’s financial difficulties. The French Revolution reached its first climax in 1789, exacerbated by food shortages.
In August 1792, King Louis and his Queen Marie Antoinette were imprisoned, and in September of that year the monarchy was abolished.
In January 1793, Louis was tried for treason and sentenced to death. He was beheaded and Marie Antoinette was also guillotined nine months later.
The Second French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, led to the overthrow of King Charles X, the French Bourbon monarch. This led to the elevation of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who was deposed 18 years later in 1848.
Source: history.ru
Michaela has played an active role in the family, appearing with her husband at engagements and attending events alone to represent the family.
In 2009, the Vatican annulled Henri’s first marriage, meaning he could finally have a religious ceremony with Micaela after initially only holding public office.
The couple religiously tied the knot on September 26, 2009 in Arcang in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques.
Henri died in 2019. The Dowager Countess has mostly kept to herself since her husband’s death.
Speaking to Point de Vue after his death, Michaela admitted: “It’s not good, but sometimes I still blame him for not taking me with him. For not being there. I relied on him a lot.”
“I had a feeling that I fell, I didn’t see anything anymore, I didn’t understand anything anymore,” she added.
Henry was a descendant of Louis Philippe I, the last king who ruled France from 1830 to 1848.
He was also a descendant of the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV, and had the French royalists had their way, Henri of Orleans would have been called Henry VII.
Henri’s son, Jean d’Orléans, inherited his father’s title upon his death and is the head of the House of Orléans, which is a branch of the House of Bourbon, whose kings first ruled France in the 16th century.
In addition to Louis XIV’s family ties, the male line of his family is also descended from the “citizen king” of France, Louis Philippe d’Orléans (Louis Philippe I), who ruled from 1830 to 1848.
The French royalists (also known as the Unionists) recognize the 53-year-old Jean as the rightful claimant to the throne.
According to Tatler, on March 22 at the Paris church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerroy will be Mass A-Dieu in memory of the life of the Dowager Countess.
The three main contenders for the late French throne
Jean d’Orleans
Jean d’Orléans at the Palace of Versailles
Born in May 1965, Jean, Duke of Vendôme is head of the House of Orléans, an offshoot of the House of Bourbon, whose kings first ruled France in the 16th century.
He married Austrian aristocrat Philomena de Tornos Steinhart in Paris in 2009, the couple have five children.
In addition to Louis XIV’s family ties, the male line of his family is also descended from the “citizen king” of France, Louis Philippe d’Orléans (Louis Philippe I), who ruled from 1830 to 1848.
French Royalists (also known as Unionists) recognize the 55-year-old Jean as a legitimate claimant to the throne.
Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
Louis Alphonse de Bourbon (pictured in 2018) is known to his followers as Louis XX
Henri d’Orléans fought for his rights with the Bourbons, who are based in Spain and led by Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou.
Louis is known to his followers as Louis XX (if he is ever crowned) and is the oldest living male descendant of Louis XIV.
Although the French monarchy came to a sad end at the hands of revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre and later Napoleon, the Legitimists, a pro-royal faction in France, remain committed to restoring the Bourbon line to the throne.
Louis Alphonse inherited the claim through Louis XIV’s grandson, Philip V of Spain.
The Madrid-born banker is the great-grandson of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco through his mother, Maria del Carmen Martínez-Bordiu y Franco, and a direct descendant of Queen Victoria.
According to the Legitimists, the Duke is also entitled to the French courtesy title of Prince of the Blood following his decision to take French citizenship.
Jean-Christophe Napoleon
Also known as Prince Napoleon, Jean-Christophe (above) is the great-great-great-great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon I and a Bonapartist impostor.
Jean-Christophe, also known as Prince Napoleon, is the great-great-great-great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon I and a Bonapartist impostor.
Jean is a descendant of Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Jérôme, as well as Emperor Napoleon III, the last monarch before the Third Republic duly ended the monarchy in France.
Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804 and waged war on other European powers, conquering most of the continent.
He was eventually defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and imprisoned on the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Jean Christophe, a banker who studied at Harvard, is considered by some monarchists to be the head of the former imperial house of France.
Through his mother, he is a descendant of King Louis XV of France, and through his great-grandmother, Princess Clementine of Belgium, he is a descendant of Louis Philippe I.