Renee Bourbon-Parma

Prince Rene became the nineteenth child of twenty-four children of the last Duke of Parma, Robert I, and his second wife, Maria Antonia of Portugal , the youngest daughter of the ousted King Miguel I and Aelaida Leuvenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg . ^[1] Among his fathers and sisters were Zita - the spouse of the last Austrian emperor Charles I and Felice - the spouse of the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Charlotte . Born in Schwarzau am Steinfeld and was raised in Vienna. He was educated at Theresianum , graduated from the military academy and served as a cavalry officer in the imperial army.

On June 9, 1921, Prince Rene married the Danish Princess Margaret , daughter of Valdemar of Denmark and Maria of Orleans . By religion, the princess was Catholic, since the condition for her parents to marry was that the sons born in the marriage adopted the religion of the father (Lutheranism), and the daughter - the religion of the mother (Catholicism). My father was a granddaughter to King Christian IX . Four children were born in the marriage:

• Jacques (1922-1964) - was married to Countess Birgitte Alexander Maria af Holstein-Ledreborg (1922-2009), had three children;
• Anna (1923-2016) - the wife of the ousted king of Romania, Mihai I (1921-2017), had five daughters;
• Michelle (1926–2018 ^[2] ) - was married to Princess Yolanda de Broglie-Revel , had five children, the second is married to Princess Maria Pie of Savoy , no children;
• Andre (1928-2011) - was married to Marina Gekri, had three children.

Before the wedding, Rene took French citizenship. A few weeks after the birth of the first-born, the couple went to Paris to identify the newborn prince. The family was not too rich, however, the spouses with children lived in comfort. They lived mainly in the villa of Saint-Maurice. During the financial crisis of the 1920s and 1930s, the family significantly reduced their expenses.

After the declaration of World War II, Rene tried to join the French army. As a result, he went to Finland, where he volunteered for the army. ^{[3] The} sons of the prince fought in Europe and the Far East, and daughter Anna worked as a mechanic in Morocco. In 1939, the couple fled from the Nazis in Spain. From there they went to Portugal and finally to the USA. ^[4] In September 1944, at the invitation of his brother, Felice was present in Luxembourg when he was freed from the Nazis.

After the war ended, the couple settled in Denmark. In 1947, they were guests at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mautbetten in London, where they went with their daughter Anna. At the wedding, Princess Anna met her future husband, then King of Romania, Mihai I, the son of King Carol II and Helen of Greece and Denmark .

In 1953, Renee was arrested for driving while intoxicated, for which King Frederick IX forbade him to ride on Danish roads for a year. ^[5] Renee died July 30, 1962 in Copenhagen at 67 years of age. Two years later, his eldest son, Prince Jacques, died in a car accident. His wife Margaret lived to a very old age and died at the age of 97 in 1992.

• Finestone, Jeffrey. The Last Courts of Europe: A Royal Family Album 1860-1914. - London: JM Dent and Sons Ltd., 1981. - ISBN 0-517-41472-4 .

• Profile on Geneall.net (German)
• Thepeerage.com Profile