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| Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies |
Today, Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies celebrates her seventieth birthday.
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| The wedding of Prince Ferdinando of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Chantal de Chevron-Villette |
On 16 June 1950, Princess Béatrice Marie Caroline Louise Françoise of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was born at Saint-Raphaël, Var, France. The princess was the first child of Prince Ferdinando of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro (1926-2008), and Princess Chantal of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1925-2004; née de Chevron-Villette), who wed in 1949. Béatrice was joined by two younger siblings: Princess Anne (b.1957) and Prince Carlo (b.1963).
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| Princess Béatrice photographed in 1977 at the wedding of her sister Anne |
During the mid-1970s, Béatrice met the heir of the Bonaparte legacy, Prince Charles Napoléon (b.19 October 1950). The Bourbon princess and the Bonaparte prince fell in love and decided to marry. Charles and Béatrice ruffled the feathers of their respective parents, the Prince and Princess Napoléon as well as the Duke and Duchess of Castro, by contracting a civil marriage on 18 December 1978 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The only guests at the wedding were the couple’s parents and their witnesses. The couple declined to hold a Roman Catholic ceremony; however, a benediction was held in the strictest intimacy. A reception celebrating the Bonaparte/Bourbon nuptials was hosted by the bride’s sister, Princess Anne, then Madame Jacques Chochin. Charles worked for an international bank. Béatrice quit her position in a political secretariat and began a career with an airline company. Aside from their reported mutual passion for politics, the couple also were firm in desiring privacy for themselves and their children. No photographs of Béatrice and Charles together were ever released to the media.
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| Prince Charles Napoléon in 1985 |
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| Left to right: Princess Alix Napoléon, the Baron Gourgaud, and Princess Béatrice Napoléon in 1986 |
Béatrice and Charles had two children: Princess Caroline Marie Constance Napoléon (b.Paris 24 October 1980) and Prince Jean-Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Napoléon (b.Saint-Raphaël, Var 11 July 1986). After ten years of marriage, Princess Béatrice and her husband were divorced on 2 May 1989. Béatrice never remarried.
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| Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies with Prince Rémy and Prince Charles-Emmanuel of Bourbon-Parma in 1996 |
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| Left to right: Cristina Crociani, Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon, Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and Princess Caroline Napoléon at the 1998 wedding of Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Camilla Crociani |
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| Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and her daughter Princess Caroline Napoléon in 2000 |
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| Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 2000 |
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| Princess Béatrice and her daughter Princess Caroline in 2001 |
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| Princess Béatrice in 2001 |
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| Princess Vin-Thuÿ (Empress Tây Phuong of Vietnam; née Monique Baudot) and Princess Béatrice in 2002 |
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| Princess Béatrice on her birthday in 2002 |
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| Prince Charles-Philippe d’Orléans and Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 2002 |
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| Left to right: Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (née Savoy), Princess Anne of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Princess Constance of Bourbon-Parma, Princess Marina of Bourbon-Parma, and Princess Barbara of Yugoslavia (née Liechtenstein) in 2004 |
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| Left to right: Princess Caroline, Prince Jean-Christophe, and their mother Princess Beatrice |
Princess Béatrice remained very close to her former parents-in-law, the Prince and Princess Napoléon. Béatrice devoted her activities to being a mother to her two children and engaging in various historical and charitable causes. After the death of the Countess of Paris in 2003, Princess Béatrice succeeded Madame as the President of the Prix Hugues-Capet. The prize was created in 1994 by Jacques-Henri Auclair, the President of Unité Capétienne Association. In 2006, Béatrice co-wrote Votre Mariage Royale with Cyrille Boulay.
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| Caroline and Eric |
On 27 June 2009 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, Princess Caroline Napoléon civilly married Eric Querenet-Onfroy de Breville (b.28 June 1971), son of François Querenet-Onfroy de Breville and Christiane de Vaugelas. The couple celebrated their religious wedding on 19 September 2009 at the Basilica Pontificia Santa Maria dell’Assunta in Castellabate nel Cilento, Salerno. Caroline and Eric have two children: Elvire (b.8 August 2010) and Augustin (b.12 February 2013).
On 17 October 2019 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon civilly married Countess Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (b.1988), daughter of Count Riprand von und zu Arco-Zinneberg and Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria-Este. The couple celebrated their religious wedding on 19 October 2019 at the Cathedral of Saint-Louis des Invalides in Paris.
Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies lives in France.
We wish the Princess many happy returns of the day!
