A Century Since the Birth of Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma

A young Prince Jacques.
Photo (c) Getty Images / Keystone-France.

Prince Jacques and his sister Princess Anne.
Photo (c) Getty Images / Keystone-France.

The family of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma: René, Jacques, André,
Margrethe, Michel, and Anne.
©Eurohistory

Born on 9 June 1922 at Longwy, France, Prince Jacques Maria Antoine Robert Waldemar Charles Felix Sixte Ansgar of Bourbon-Parma was the first child of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margrethe of Denmark, who had wed in 1921. Jacques was joined by three younger siblings: Princess Anne (1923-2016; married King Michael of Romania), Prince Michel (1926-2018), and Prince André (1928-2011).

 

The marriage of Prince René and Princess Margrethe, 1921.

The paternal grandparents of Prince Jacques were Duke Roberto of Parma and Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. The maternal grandparents of Prince Jacques were Prince Valdemar of Denmark (1858-1939) and his wife Princess Marie d'Orléans.

Princess Birgitte and Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma on their wedding day.
Photo (c) Getty Images / Keystone-France.

On 9 June 1947 at Ledreborg, Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma married Countess Birgitte af Holstein-Ledreborg (1922-2009), the daughter of Count Josef af Holstein-Ledreborg and Countess Christina Hamilton. Their engagement had been announced in January 1947. Jacques joined the Norwegian Air Force in Canada during World War II. During that same conflict, Birgitte participated in the Danish resistance movement against the Nazi occupation of her country; she and her sister Marie were jailed by the Gestapo for six weeks in Copenhagen when their involvement was discovered. Jacques went on to become a pilot for Danish Airlines. Jacques and Birgitte had three children: Prince Philipp (b.1949), Princess Lorraine (b.1951), and Prince Alain (b.1955).  

Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma died in a motor vehicle accident near Roskilde on 5 November 1964. He was forty-two years-old.