Princess Monica of Liechtenstein, Who Eloped In Brazil, Is 80!

Princess Monica.

Today, Princess Monica von und zu Liechtenstein celebrates her eightieth birthday!

Born on 8 April 1942 at Vienna, Princess Monica Maria Theresia Elisabeth of Liechtenstein was the only child of Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein (1911-2001) and his first wife Maria Elisabeth von Leutzendorff (1921-1944), who married in 1941. Princess Maria Elisabeth was killed during a bombing raid in Vienna. In the late 1970s, Prince Constantin remarried to Countess Ilona Esterházy von Galántha (1921-2019; widow of Count Miklós Cziráky von Czirák und Dénesfalva).

Prince Constantin and Princess Monica were guests at a party given in St. Moritz by Joan Crawford in 1955, which is noted in the pages of Joan's not-so-happy daughter Christina's book, Mommie Dearest. The following year, in 1956, when she was fourteen, Monica and Prince Francesco Borghese began a relationship. Her father was so disturbed by the romantic attachment of his daughter, owing to her youth, that he had Monica stay in a convent in Vienna for a year to "think it over." Needless to say, Monica and Francesco did not marry.

In 1959, Princess Monica represented her family at the inauguration of the new Brazilian capital, Brasília. During the festivities, she met her future husband, Andrzej Franciszek Spitzman Jordan (b.1933; also known as André Franz Jordan), a Polish expat who had become a businessman in Latin America. The couple swiftly fell in love. When Monica returned to Vaduz, she told her family of her feelings for André. Her father Constantin was not wholly opposed to his only child's desire to marry Mr. Jordan. However, her cousin Prince Franz Joseph II and his wife Princess Georgina did not think the union wise or "suitable," given Monica's status. In an attempt to win over her family, Monica cabled André and asked him to come to Liechtenstein, which he did in short order. His reception by the princely family was reportedly courteous but not terribly warm. Franz Joseph told Monica: "The young man is cultured and pleasant and I wish him well. But I'm dead set against your marrying a commoner as I've been before." Faced with the opposition of the sovereign prince, Monica decided to do a rather daring deed. The eighteen year-old decided to run away from home and elope. She and André agreed that he would return to Rio de Janeiro and prepare for their marriage. Several weeks later, Monica pretended that she was going to visit relatives in Paris. When she arrived in the French capital, she boarded a plane for Brazil that ended up being grounded in London due to poor weather conditions. It took her father Constantin almost two days to find out that his daughter was staying at a hotel in the British capital. He was able to reach Monica by phone, but she refused to return to Vaduz. The next day she flew to Brazil.

Monica and André on their wedding day.

On 25 November 1960 at Rio de Janeiro, Princess Monica of Liechtenstein and André Jordan were married. The couple had two sons, Gilberto Frederic Jordan (b.1961) and Constantino Pedro Jordan (b.1964), before divorcing in 1969. Prince Constantin flew to Rio for his first grandson Gilberto's christening. In February 1979, Princess Monica joined her father Prince Constantin and their cousin Princess Barbara with her husband Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia for a holiday in St. Moritz.