The 75th Birthday of Princess Chantal d’Orléans, Artist and Aunt of the Count of Paris

Princess Jeanne Chantal Alice Clothilde Marie d’Orléans was born at Pamplona, Spain, on 9 January 1946. Chantal was the tenth child and sixth daughter of Prince Henri d’Orléans (1909-1999), Count of Paris, and his wife Princess Isabelle (1911-2003; née Orléans-Bragança). Chantal was baptized on 21 January 1946 at Saint Nicholas Church in Pamplona, Spain. Five years later she began school in Lisbon, later continuing her studies at “La Providence”, a private school near Eu. In the meantime her father was completing the restoration of the Cœur Volant, the vast residence in Louveciennes that he had purchased upon returning to France after the abolition of the law of exile. Later on, and once settled at Louveciennes Chantal was instructed by private tutors, followed by attendance at a private school on rue Saint-Dominique in Paris. She finished her secondary studies at a boarding-school in Gouvieux in the Oise region of France. In 1965 Princess Chantal acted as godmother to her nephew Prince Jean, the second of her brother the late Count of Paris. In the meantime, Chantal and her younger brother Thibaut lived in an apartment in Neuilly at the end of the 1960s and while they attended school in Paris. She possessed a talent for painting and the plastic arts, which led to her attending the Estienne School in Paris, a renowned art center in the French capital.

Princess Chantal on her wedding day with her parents, the Count and Countess of Paris.

Princess Chantal became engaged to François-Xavier de Sambucy de Sorgue (b.1943), a member of a noble family originally from Bologna, Italy. The Sambucy de Sorgues established themselves in Rouergue in the XIV century. The family also had contact with the Orléans as François-Xavier’s great-uncle, Father Gaston de Sambucy de Sorgue, was the priest who officiated over the burial ceremony, in the Royal Chapel at St Louis de Dreux, for the Duchess d’Orléans, King Louis-Philippe’s mother. Anyhow, François-Xavier and Chantal were married at the Royal Chapel at Dreux on 28 July 1972. She wore a splendid wedding gown designed by renowned couturier Balmain, as well as a diadem by Mellerio, a gift from her in-laws. The couple have three children: Axel (b.1976), Alexandre (b.1978), and Kildine (b.1979). 

Princess Chantal d’Orléans.

François-Xavier de Sambucy de Morgue and Princess Chantal.