| Michel of Bourbon-Parma | |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Princess Yolande of Broglie-Revel & Princess Maria Pia of Savoy |
| Issue | |
| Inés (1952-1981) Erik (1953) Sybil (1954) Victoire(1957-2001) Charles-Emmanuel(1961) |
|
| Father | Prince René of Bourbon-Parma |
| Mother | Princess Margaret of Denmark |
| Born | 3 April 1926 |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
His Royal Highness (in French Son Altesse Royale) Monseigneur Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma (Prince Michel Marie Xavier Waldemar Georg Robert Karl Eymar of Bourbon-Parma,) (4 March 1926, Paris – 18 September 1992, is a prince of Bourbon-Parma, well known as a former soldier, a racing car driver and a French businessman.
HRH Michel de Bourbon-Parma, is the son of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (1894–1962) and his wife Princess Margaret of Denmark (1895–1992). By his father, he is the grand-son of Robert I, Duke of Parma (1848–1907) while via his mother he is the great-grand-son of King Christian IX of Denmark (1818–1906). Prince Michel is also the younger brother of Queen Anne of Romania (1923). On June 9, 1951, he married in Paris, Princess Yolande of Broglie-Revel (1928), daughter of Prince Joseph de Broglie-Revel (1892–1963) and his wife Margaret Cour-Balleroy (1901). From this marriage, which ended in divorce in 1966, he had 5 children:
When divorced, Prince Michael had a relationship with Laure Le Bourgois (1950) with whom he has an illegitimate daughter:
In 2003, Prince Michael remarried in Manalapan, Florida, to Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (1934), daughter of King Umberto II of Italy (1904–1983) and Princess Marie-José of Belgium (1906–2001). They have no children.
In 1940, Prince Michel fled Europe with his family and found refuge in the United States. Three years later at age 17 he joined the U.S. Army with his fathers permission and was appointed lieutenant. Integrated with the operation Jedburgh he was part of a group of three (with Maj. Tommy Macpherson and Sgt O. A. Brown) parachute dropped into Nazi-occupied France, where he plied all the tricks of the trade as a saboteur.
After the Liberation of France Prince Michel was deployed to Indochina in order to fight against Viet Minh. Dropped on August 28, 1945 by parachute he was captured the same day by the Vietnamese resistance, who kepped him in captivity for 11. The next 11 months were torture as the group of 6 tried several escapes, only to be recaptured. They were led from camp to camp through the dense jungle, bound together with strips of bamboo. They lived on a bowl of rice a day. Toward the end of the ordeal, the men were asked to sign statements saying that they had been well treated which they refused. Four of them were killed before the two survivors finally made it back to France due to the french negotiating a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh at the Geneva Conference. Prince Michel was one of only 3000 survived prisoners out of the 12,000 French prisoners taken by the Viet Minh.
Demobilized at the age of 20 the prince became an involved race car driver and in particular in the Le Mans 24 Hours which he raced in 1964 and 1966. Both times his car never finished. In 1964 he also raced in the Tour de France where he finished 2nd. At the formula ona Monaco Grand Prix in 1967, he was watching the race next to the terrible accident of Lorenzo Bandini. With the help of a marshal he managed to extract the driver from the burning wreck of his Ferrari.
Prince MIchel started a new civilian life at the tender age of 20. He spent decades in business, working for a company that had created the Zodiac inflatable rubber boat, which enjoyed huge commercial success after the war. Later, he went on to negotiate contracts for French companies with the Shah of Iran until he was deposed in the Islamic revolution of 1979. Today he lives between his house in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France and his house in Palm Beach, Florida.