Prince Emmanuel of Orléans, Duke of Vendôme (Philippe Emmanuel Maximilien Marie Eudes; 18 January 1872 – 1 February 1931) was a French royal from the House of Orléans.

Early life

Emmanuel was born in Obermais, Meran on 18 January 1872. He was the second child and only son of Ferdinand Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Alençon and his wife Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria. His mother was the famed duchesse d'Alençon who died in a fire at a charity bazaar in Paris on 4 May 1897. His older sister, Louise d'Orléans, married Prince Alfons of Bavaria. His paternal grandparents were Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours (son of Queen Maria and King Louis Philippe, who was forced to abdicate after the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848) and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (a first cousin of Queen Victoria). His maternal grandparents were Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria.

Career

The Duke was a Major in the Austro-Hungarian Army, however, he was not allowed to serve in World War I due to an 1886 law barring all princes of the two former sovereign houses of France from being permitted serving their county in the army or navy or hold office in the French government. The Prince, undeterred, volunteered with the French Red Cross, was appointed a principal delegate on the Belgian front and served as a director of the Franco-Belgian Hospital in Calais. In 1926, he led an excavation party that unearthed the village of Roquebillière, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, where several Roman tombs were found containing rare jewels, vases and objets d'art.

Personal life

On 12 February 1896, he married Princess Henriette of Belgium (1870–1948) in Brussels. Henriette was a daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and the sister of King Albert I of Belgium. Together, they were known as the Sporting Duke and Duchess, and had four children: The couple had estates in Belgium, France and Switzerland until after World War I, when their fortune diminished rapidly and they were forced to sell some properties. Philippe died unexpectedly in 1931 from heart failure after catching a cold, in Cannes, France. He is buried in the Chapelle Royale de Saint Louis, in Dreux. His widow, Henriette Marie of Belgium died aged 77, on 28 March 1948, in Sierre, Valais, Switzerland.

Honours

Ancestry