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Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma

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Prince Jacques
Born(1922-06-09)9 June 1922
Longwy, France
Died5 November 1964(1964-11-05) (aged 42)
Near Roskilde, Denmark
Spouse
Countess Birgitte of Holstein-Ledreborg
(m. 1947)
IssuePrince Philippe
Princess Lorraine Charlotte
Prince Alain
Names
Jacques Marie Antoine Robert Valdemar Charles Felix Sixte Ansger
HouseBourbon-Parma
FatherPrince René of Bourbon-Parma
MotherPrincess Margrethe of Denmark

Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma (Jacques Marie Antoine Robert Valdemar Charles Felix Sixte Ansger; 9 June 1922 – 5 November 1964) was a French prince, pilot and racing car driver, from the House of Bourbon-Parma.

He was the brother of Queen Anne of Romania and a first cousin of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria and Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Life

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Jacques was born in Longwy, France, on 9 June 1922, his parent's first wedding anniversary. He was the eldest child of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margrethe of Denmark. His parents were residing in Luxembourg but crossed the border for his birth as they wanted their son to be a French citizen.[1] Paternally, he descended from Robert I, Duke of Parma; maternally, he descended from King Christian IX of Denmark. He was raised in Paris and attended the American School MacJannet in Saint-Cloud where his classmates included Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.[1]

After the fall of Paris, Jacques and his mother and siblings fled to Portugal via Spain. From there, the Danish Consulate in Paris secured him and his mother passage to New York on the SS Excalibur. They arrived in New York since September 1940, staying initially at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Jacques and his brother were sent to Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, a Jesuit school in Montreal. Here, he trained in the Canadian Officers' Training Corps.[1]

On 23 November 1942, Jacques enlisted in the Royal Norwegian Air Force. Though recent policy changes had been enacted to curb the number of foreign volunteers in the service, Jacques's application was accepted, likely because King Haakon VII of Norway was his mother's cousin.[1] He trained in Canada and the United Kingdom. He flew ambulance service in northern Norway, even after the war's end, before being discharged on 1 May 1946.[1][2]

On 9 June 1947, Jacques married Countess Birgitte of Holstein-Ledreborg (1922–2009), a descendant of Count Ludvig of Holstein-Ledreborg, sometime council president of Denmark.[3] They had three children:

  • Prince Philippe of Bourbon-Parma (born 22 January 1949)
  • Princess Lorraine Charlotte of Bourbon-Parma (born 27 July 1951)
  • Prince Alain Jean of Bourbon-Parma (born 15 May 1955)

After the war, he settled in Denmark. He worked for Danish Air Lines and Danish Air Taxa before retiring from flying in 1949 and working for the meat company Kristoffersen & Dehn. In the 1950s, he became interested in motor racing. He was protector of the Roskilde Ring and chairman of the Roskilde Motor and Rally Club.[4] He won the 1959 Danish Touring Car Championship in the 1001-1300 cm3 class.[4]

Jacques was killed on 5 November 1964 when he collided with a truck head-on near Roskilde.[1][4][5][6] He is buried in Lejre near Ledreborg, the ancestral seat of his wife's family.

Honours

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Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Prince Jacques de Bourbon-Parma (1922 - 1964)". Danish WW2 Pilots. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Prins Jacques ramt af Flyvemaskinepropel". Berlingske tidende (in Danish). 3 August 1948. p. 5.
  3. ^ "DANISH PRINCE MARRIES: Jacques of Bourbon Parma Weds Daughter of Count". The New York Times. 10 June 1947. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Jacques de Bourbon-Parme". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Prince Killed in Denmark As Car and Truck Collide". The New York Times. Copenhagen, Denmark. November 6, 1964. p. 26. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  6. ^ "Danish Prince is Killed", Tucson Daily Citizen, Copenhagen, 6 November 1964