Princess Françoise of Orléans (1902–1953)

Names
	Françoise Isabelle Louise Marie d'Orléans

Princess Françoise
Princess Françoise
Princess Christopher of Greece and Denmark
Born	25 December 1902; Paris, France
Died	25 February 1953 (aged 50); Paris, France
Burial	Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece
Spouse	Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (m. 1929; died 1940)
Issue	Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
Names
Names
	Françoise Isabelle Louise Marie d'Orléans
House	Orléans
Father	Prince Jean, Duke of Guise
Mother	Princess Isabelle d'Orléans

Princess Françoise d'Orléans (Françoise Isabelle Louise Marie; 25 December 1902 – 25 February 1953) was born an Orléans Princess of France and became a Princess of Greece and Denmark by marriage.^[1] She was thus a member of the Greek royal family and a descendant of the "Citizen-King" Louis-Philippe.

Life

Françoise d'Orléans was born in Paris, the second daughter of Jean d'Orléans, duc de Guise (an Orléanist pretender to the throne of France under the name Jean III) and his wife, the French Princess Isabelle of Orléans. Françoise's brother, Prince Henri, Count of Paris, succeeded their father as the Orleanist pretender, under the name Henri VI.

In Palermo on 11 February 1929, she married Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (1888–1940).^[1] This was Christopher's second marriage - he was the youngest son of King George I of Greece (1845–1913) and his wife, Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia (1851–1926).^[1] Through his father, he was thus a grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark (1818–1906), nicknamed "the father-in-law of Europe" due to his six children all marrying into other royal families.

This royal marriage was unusual in that era, with a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic (he was Greek Orthodox, whilst she was Catholic).^[2] They had only one child, the writer Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark (1939-2024), whose marriage to the Greek artist Marina Karella (born 1940) did not conform to the laws of the royal house and thus deprived him of all right of succession to the Greek throne.^[1]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Françoise of Orléans (1902–1953)

8. Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans (= 12)

4. Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres

9. Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (= 13)

2. Prince Jean, Duke of Guise

10. François, Prince of Joinville

5. Princess Françoise of Orléans

11. Princess Francisca of Brazil

1. Princess Françoise of Orléans

12. Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans (= 8)

6. Prince Philippe, Count of Paris

13. Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (= 9)

3. Princess Isabelle of Orléans

14. Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier

7. Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans

15. Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XVII. "Griechenland". C.A. Starke Verlag, 2004, pp. 14-15, 19. (German) ISBN 978-3-7980-0833-5.
^ Michel de Grèce, Mémoires insolites, Pocket, Paris, 2004, p. 15.

Bibliography

Christopher of Greece, Memoirs of HRH Prince Christopher of Greece, The Right Book Club, London, 1938.
(in French) Michael of Greece and Henri of Orléans, comte de Paris, Mon album de famille, Perrin, 1996. ISBN 2-262-01237-7
(in French) Michael of Greece, Mémoires insolites, Xo, Paris, 2004 ISBN 2-84563-186-3
(in French) Isabelle, countess of Paris, Tout m'est bonheur, Éditions Robert Laffont, Coll. « Vécu », Paris, 1978. ISBN 2-221-00107-9
(in Spanish) Ricardo Mateos Sainz de Medrano, La Familia de la Reina Sofía, La Dinastía griega, la Casa de Hannover y los reales primos de Europa, La Esfera de los Libros, Madrid, 2004 ISBN 84-9734-195-3