Princess Claude d’Orléans

Princess Claude of Orléans (Claude Marie Agnès Catherine; born 11 December 1943) is a French princess of the House of Orléans. She is the former wife of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, a disputed head of the House of Savoy.

Biography

Family Claude was born on 11 December 1943 in Larache, Morocco as the ninth child and fifth daughter of Henri, Count of Paris, Orléanist claimant to the French throne, and Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza.

Marriage and issue On 22 July 1964 in Sintra, Princess Claude married her second cousin, Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta. He was the only son of Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, second cousin once removed of Italy's last king, Umberto II. Aimone was briefly made nominal head of an Italian puppet state during World War II as King Tomislav II of Croatia. Claude was the third Orleanist princess to hold the title Duchess of Aosta by marriage.

At the time of their wedding, Amedeo was a student at the Morosini Naval College in Venice, which his father had also attended. They announced their engagement on 4 October 1963. The couple married in São Pedro de Penaferrim, a parish church twelve miles from Lisbon. A Savoy family council having met at King Umberto's residence in exile at Cimiez, France, in the summer of 1963, another was held in London secretly at the king's hospital bedside to discuss the prospect of the king's only son Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, choosing to marry a commoner, Marina Doria, which had become the subject of much media speculation. Countess Viola Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga (b. Rome, 31 May 1991) who is married to Charlie Siem. Countess Vera Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga (b. Samedan, 18 August 1993) who is married to Count Briano Martinoni Caleppio. Countess Mafalda Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga (b. Conegliano Veneto, 27 December 1997) Countess Maddalena Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga (b. Conegliano Veneto, 24 April 2000) Count Leonardo Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga (b. Conegliano Veneto, 5 October 2001) Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta (b. Florence, 13 October 1967); married in a civil ceremony on 16 September 2008, Princess Olga of Greece (b. Athens, 17 November 1971). The religious marriage took place on 27 September at Patmos, Greece, and they have three children: Prince Umberto of Savoy-Aosta (b. Paris, 7 March 2009) Prince Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta (b. Paris, 24 May 2011) Princess Isabella of Savoy-Aosta (b. Paris, 14 December 2012) Princess Mafalda of Savoy-Aosta (b. 20 September 1969); married, firstly, Don Alessandro Ruffo di Calabria-Santapau dei principi di Palazzolo (nephew of Queen Paola of Belgium), divorced without issue. Mafalda married, secondly, Nobile Francesco Ferrante Carlo Napoleone, 10th Baron Lombardo di San Chirico and they have three children: Nob. Anna Lombardo di San Chirico (b. Milan, 11 April 2002) Nob. Carlo Lombardo di San Chirico (b. Milan, 28 January 2003) Nob. Elena Lombardo di San Chirico (b. Milan, 10 March 2004)

Divorce Amedeo and Claude officially separated 20 July 1976, obtained a civil divorce 26 April 1982, and received an ecclesiastical annulment from the Roman Rota on 8 January 1987.

Activities During her second marriage, Claude lived in the United States (Colebrook, Connecticut, Charleston, West Virginia and New York), in The Bahamas, and returned to Europe (Alsace and the Principality of Andorra). Beginning in 1992 their restaurant in Brussels, "Brook's Bar", became a popular gathering place for European Parliament officials, but closed in 1995. During her third marriage, she lived largely in Italy.

Professionally, she has managed public relations for the Italian couture studio, Liolà, and her efforts in macrophotography have been displayed in several exhibits.

Ancestors