OTD in 1957: The Marriage of Prince Henri d’Orléans & Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg

Henri & Marie-Thérèse.

The Royal Chapel of Dreux.

The invitation to the royal wedding.

The first photo of Henri: the prince is held by his mother, the Countess of Paris, while his older sister Princess Isabelle plants a kiss on his forehead.

The Duke of Guise holds his grandson during Prince Henri’s baptism. The Count of Paris and little Princess Isabelle look on.

A tender moment: the Duke of Guise and his grandson Prince Henri.

Prince Henri, aged 2 1/2.

Prince Henri, aged four.

Duchess Marie-Thérèse, aged four.

Duchess Marie-Thérèse, aged eight.

Marie-Thérèse and Henri show her engagement ring.

The newly-engaged couple walking through the halls of Altshausen.

Marie-Thérèse and Henri in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Princess Marie-Thérèse: “It is all the same a chance, that since the famous marriage of Marie od France with my ancestor the Duke of Württemberg, our family became Catholic. Thus, between us, no difference.“

Prince Henri: “That’s what I said to myself when, after meeting you in 1955 at that ball given in Munich by the Thurn and Taxis, I wanted to know more about you.

I noticed Marie-Thérèse the evening of that ball. I cannot say, however, what in her caught my attention. I don’t remember how she was dressed. She was wearing a light dress… I think. What I noticed right away were her eyes… her blue eyes. Very large, very soft perhaps, but at the same time… firm. I found this to be very pleasing.“

Mme Andrau: “So, Monseigneur, you invited this young girl in a light dress and with blue eyes to dance?“

Prince Henri: “Yes, but I only danced with her once that night. Everyone was asking for it. And since I knew very little about her… I contented myself with observing her from afar. But I had remembered it. I had spoken about it to Papa, who had told me that he held her family in high esteem. He himself considered Duchess Marie-Thérèse to be a serious and agreeable young woman.

Long after… three months it seems to me, I saw the Duchess Marie-Thérèse again at home. She had friends in France, she had come to Paris, she called. I guessed then that she didn’t mind seeing me again. She could have not phoned, right?

Duchess Marie-Thérèse then came to lunch at Louveciennes. We couldn’t talk much. The whole family was there. Then she came to Portugal in the summer. Unfortunately I was not there. I had work in Paris. Anyway, I hadn’t decided to rush things. I wasn’t sure what shape they would take. I thought: “We have to wait. We have to see…”

In September, we invited Marie-Thérèse to Louveciennes. There, we finally had the time to speak a little more freely. We had many common tastes that we discovered little by little. But she is much more savvy in music than I am. I liked this young woman more and more. However, I did not envisage marriage with her; just a friendship.

It was after he left that we started writing to each other. Then, in October, my parents and we were invited to ‘chez euz’, in Germany. Their welcome was very family-like. At the beginning, my brothers, my sisters, and I had a certain reservation vis-à-vis the young Württembergs. They were less exuberant than our family. It is only an appearance, with them, a little cold. But they are easily warmed up and they are charming.

So I stayed there, four or five days. I found Marie-Thérèse always very kind and affectionate. But I haven’t asked her anything yet. I wanted to know if our budding feelings were solid.

Despite this, on my return, I had to put up with the jokes of my brothers and my sisters; those of Michael of Greece too. Me, I was silent. I didn’t want to commit myself lightly, marriage is very important to me.

Finally, during the summer of 1956, when we were leaving for the mountains, Isabelle, Hélène, François and myself, Marie-Thérèse accompanied us to Chamonix. It was very nice. Then she went back home.

Me, after three days, I was seized with violent headaches. I had to abandon the caravan. It was too cold and I have a sensitive liver. But, naturally, my brothers and sisters didn’t want to believe my discomfort. ‘It’s not altitude sickness you have, they said, it’s heartsickness.’

In fact, I immediately went from Chamonix to Württemberg. And this time, I was determined to get married if Duchess Marie-Thérèse was too.“

The couple in the hôtel de ville de Dreux. With them are the Count and Countess of Paris, Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, King Umberto II of Italy, the Count of Barcelona, and King Pavlos of Greece (obscured).

Prince Henri signs the marriage registry.

Duchess Marie-Thérèse signs the marriage registry.

Prince Henri d’Orléans, Count of Clermont, and the Countess of Paris.

The Count of Paris and Duchess Rosa of Württemberg.

Duke Philipp of Württemberg and Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg.

King Umberto II of Italy, Queen Frederica of Greece, and King Simeon II of Bulgaria.

Marie-Thérèse places the wedding band on Henri’s hand.

There are dates in life that seem to bring together so many happy and important events that we like to choose them to add new ones.

5 July: the day of your birth, Monseigneur the Count of Paris, and also how happy that this was the day when you were able to return in complete freedom to the soil of a France so loved by you!

5 July: the anniversary of your baptism, Monseigneur the Count of Clermont, and now for many years no doubt – since, in one of the prayers at the altar, the priest will ask “that you may see your children’s children until the third and fourth generation” – July 5th will remain the anniversary of this union that you will shortly contract with the one whom you have chosen for her proven moral qualities, her perfect education, her gentle but strong character for the accomplishment of duty.

By your asking me to deliver to you a few words from His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris – in whom you find your first archbishop – who receives your request, you wanted to prove your affectionate gratitude for all that your adolescence, during these past years in Bordeaux, given from these strong friendships which surround you, trying to replace your family then distant from France, from these devoted teachers who instructed you, from these fellow pupils who remain attached to you, and from the one you call and who remains with so much affection: your abbot.

Be deeply convinced that by allowing your union God first wants you to be happy, because what can a father desire for his child if not happiness. Now, who is more of a Father than God?

But the Lord is also accustomed to making His own participate in His work; that is why you will not find this happiness ready-made. Under what conditions will you establish it? By thinking each one has to make the other happy. Besides, is not love above all about wanting the happiness of the other and being ready to sacrifice everything, even oneself if necessary, to achieve it?

If many couples are disappointed by marriage, it is not the fault of this institution willed by God, but, too often, because we seek more to profane love than to accept it with its joys, its requirements. Selfishness in the home may for a time bring satisfaction to one who no longer struggles, but, like the worm in the fruit, it destroys happiness, and sometimes with happiness, the home itself.

Besides, it will not be enough for you to be happy, even for each other, for both of you. If you must know this sweetness and this strength of love, it will be to allow those little beings whom the Lord will entrust to you, to find in your home this atmosphere of real joys so necessary for children to blossom and to prepare for the struggles of life.

If there are so many unhappy children in the world, it is because there are too many homes where we do not love each other as we should. You who know what a real family is, you will continue the example left by those who gave it to you.

Faithful to each other, you will be, because to carry out a common task, you always need undivided love.

Do I need to tell you that your marriage, not going unnoticed, as well as your existence, your home must, more than others, remain an example, because, to remind people of the greatness of the family, a real Christian home consists of more than a grand wedding.

To help you live this ideal, you will have the grace that the sacrament of marriage will bring you, that praying together will strengthen.

The presence at your side today of His Excellency the Bishop of Chartres guarantees that you will not be without the help of the Virgin, to whom he prays for you in her beautiful cathedral.

So, trusting in God as you both do, leaning on each other, go joyfully towards the life that disappoints only those who do not trust it. Even if it is rough at certain times, and it will be, your love will only come out stronger, because shared sorrows unite two hearts even more than joys.

You are well aware, Madame, of what the family means to many French people who has given you the eldest of their sons with all the responsibilities he carries, and you know with what joy and with what confidence they do so.

We who know and love the person who will become your traveling companion for good and bad days – because true love goes so far – we know that he will make you happy. We have, moreover, the same certainty with regard to you; you too will make him happy.

Does not a very old popular song from your country proclaim “No one has yet repented of having loved a young Swabian girl”, and we are firmly convinced that it is not the descendant of Princess Marie d’Orléans, Duchess of Württemberg, who could begin to disappoint the trust and affection of the one who gave her everything!

You can now say the “yes” that will link your two lives.

Silent, we listen to you, but, now more than ever, our souls pray with you and for you.

Amen.

The Count and Countess of Clermont cut the wedding cake.

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Princess Anne, Dowager Duchess of Aosta, and Archduke Gottfried of Austria-Tuscany.

King Umberto II of Italy and Queen Frederica of Greece. Behind them are King Pavlos of Greece and Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain.

Count Evrard von Limburg-Stirum and Princess Diane d’Orléans.

Princess Isabelle d’Orléans.