Prince Jaime, Count of Bardi

Prince Jaime
Count of Bardi

Prince Jaime at the World Economic Forum on India in 2012
Spouse Viktória Cservenyák (2013-present)
Issue Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma
House House of Bourbon-Parma
Father Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma
Mother Princess Irene of the Netherlands
Born 13 October 1972
Nijmegen, Netherlands
Parmese Ducal Family

Prince Jaime Bernardo of Bourbon-Parma, Count of Bardi (born 13 October 1972) is the second son and third child of Princess Irene of the Netherlands and late Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma. He is a member of the Royal and Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma, and also an extended member of the Dutch Royal Family. The prince is the heir presumptive to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Parma. Since 2014 he is the Dutch ambassador to the Holy See.

Early life

Prince Jaime was born in Nijmegen. He has a twin sister, Princess Margarita, who was born one minute earlier. Besides his twin sister, the prince has one elder brother, Carlos, Duke of Parma, and one younger sister, Princess Carolina. Prince Jaime was born six weeks prematurely and stayed with his sister in an incubator at the hospital. Jaime was baptised by Cardinal Bernardus Johannes Alfrink with Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands as his godfather.

In 1981 his parents decided to divorce. Together with his mother and his siblings he then moved to the Soestdijk Palace (Baarn), the then residence of the queen of the Netherlands. He lived at the palace for a number of years with his grandparents, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard, the Prince consort.

Education and career

Prince Jaime studied International relations at the Brown University in the United States. After finishing this study he subsequently obtained a M.A. degree in International Economics and Conflict Management at the Johns Hopkins University. During this study he performed an internship at the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Red Cross.

He now works for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. His first roles were as the prime secretary of the Netherlands Embassy in Baghdad, before becoming a political advisor to the peace mission in Pol-e Khomri in the Baghlan Province in the northern part of Afghanistan. Until the summer of 2007 the prince worked on secondment in the cabinet of the European Commissioner Neelie Kroes. He was back in The Hague at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he has the position of Special Envoy Natural Resources. On February 7, 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that he would be appointed as ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Holy See.[1] Prince Jaime was 15 July 2014 sworn in as ambassador by king Willem-Alexander. On 20 December 2014 he offered his credentials to pope Francis.[2]

Other activities

Prince Jaime has also worked as an interviewer for the documentary series Africa, War is Business. In the documentary he investigated and explained how a country that is very rich in raw materials, can be dominated by poverty and conflict. In the series he visited Sierra Leone and its diamond fields, Liberia to see how an export embargo on its hardwood is carried out, before finishing the series in the DR Congo where he goes on a night patrol in the war torn East of the country, an area rich in gold and cobalt. In the documentary possible solutions are displayed from the perspective of the international community.[3]

The prince regularly performs representative tasks for the royal house of the Netherlands and the Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma. He is regularly present as a representative at royal marriages, baptismal ceremonies, and funerals.

Personal life

On 12 August 2013, Prince Jaime's engagement to Viktória Cservenyák was announced. Cservenyák (born 25 May 1982 in Budapest) is a Hungarian-born Dutch attorney and daughter of Dr. Tibor Cservenyák and his former wife, Dorottya Klára Bartos.[4] On 3 October 2013, they married in a civil wedding ceremony in Wijk bij Duurstede, the Netherlands. Their religious wedding took place on 5 October 2013 at the Church of Our Lady in Apeldoorn.[5][6][7]

On 21 February 2014 at 12:40 at the Our Lady Hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Princess Viktória gave birth to their first child:

Titles, styles and honours

Styles of
Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma
Reference style His Royal Highness
Spoken style Your Royal Highness
Alternative style Sir
Titles
Honours
National honours
Foreign honours

Ancestry

References

Notes

Already a ducal prince from birth, his father bestowed the substantive title Conte di Bardi (Count of Bardi) upon him on 2 September 1996,.[1] In 1996 he was incorporated into the Dutch Nobility by Queen Beatrix, with the highest noble title Prins de Bourbon de Parme (Prince of Bourbon-Parma)[2] and styled Zijne Koninklijke Hoogheid (His Royal Highness). His other titles hold no ground within the Dutch nobility. He does not belong to the House of Orange-Nassau or the limited Dutch Royal House, but as a grandson of Queen Juliana and cousin of the present King Willem-Alexander, he is an official member of the more extended Dutch Royal Family.[3]

External links

Prince Jaime, Count of Bardi
Cadet branch of the House of Bourbon
Born: 13 October 1972
Titles in pretence
First in line Line of succession to the throne of Parma Succeeded by
Prince Sixtus Henry
Preceded by
The Duke of Parma		 Legitimist line of succession to the French throne
40th position
  1. ↑ Almanach de Gotha (182nd ed.). Almanach de Gotha. 1998. p. 55. ISBN 0-9532142-0-6.
  2. ↑ "The 14th list of nobility determined by royal decree on 9 June 2004 (Stb.307)" (PDF). Website of the High Council of Nobility in the Netherlands
  3. ↑ "Members of the Dutch Royal House and the royal family". Postbus 51 – Website of the Dutch Government Information Service (in Dutch)