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Prince Charles of Luxembourg (1927–1977)

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Prince Charles of Luxembourg
Charles in 1964
Born(1927-08-07)7 August 1927
Berg Castle, Luxembourg
Died26 July 1977(1977-07-26) (aged 49)
Pistoia, Italy
Burial
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Spouse
(m. 1967)
IssuePrincess Charlotte
Prince Robert
HouseNassau-Weilburg (official)
Bourbon-Parma (agnatic)
FatherPrince Felix of Bourbon-Parma
MotherCharlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

Prince Charles of Luxembourg, Prince of Bourbon-Parma and Nassau (Charles Frédéric Louis Guillaume Marie; 7 August 1927 – 26 July 1977), was a younger son of Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma.[1]

Education

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He grew up at his mother's court in Luxembourg, until the German invasion on 10 May 1940 during World War II. The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg left the country to find refuge in Portugal, after receiving transit visas from the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, in June 1940. They arrived at Vilar Formoso on 23 June 1940. After travelling through Coimbra and Lisbon, the family first stayed in Cascais, in Casa de Santa Maria, owned by Manuel Espírito Santo, who was then the honorary consul for Luxembourg in Portugal. By July they had moved to Monte Estoril, staying at the Chalet Posser de Andrade. On 10 July 1940, Prince Charles, together with his father Prince Félix, his siblings, Heir Prince Jean, Princess Elisabeth, Princess Marie Adelaide, princess Marie Gabriele and Princess Alix, the nanny Justine Reinard and the chauffeur Eugène Niclou, along with his wife Joséphine, boarded the S.S. Trenton headed for New York City.[2][3]

The family eventually left the United States and moved to Canada, in exile in Montreal,[4] where Prince Charles completed secondary school in Canada in the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal and the Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier in Quebec City.[5] After World War II he undertook studies in Louvain, then at the Royal Military Academy at Aldershot.[1]

Career

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After university, he returned to Luxembourg, where he worked to address national economic and social issues.[1]

He inherited from his father Villa Pianore, an estate held by the Bourbon-Parma family in Italy[1] (a large property located between Pietrasanta and Viareggio).

Marriage and family

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He married at St. Edward's, in Sutton Park, Guildford, Surrey, on 1 March 1967 Joan Douglas Dillon, daughter of U.S. Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon and wife Phyllis Chess Ellsworth.[1] As an unprecedented marriage between a prince of Luxembourg's reigning family and a commoner, Charles's brother, Grand Duke Jean, issued a decree to authorize the union as dynastic on 16 February 1967.[6][1]

Children and descendants

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Prince Charles and his wife Joan Dillon had two children, who are also princes of Luxembourg, Bourbon-Parma and Nassau:[6]

Death

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Charles died of a heart attack in 1977 at the Villa Reale d'Imbarcati.

Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery. Paris. 2002. pp. 666-668, 667-678 (French) ISBN 2-9507974-3-1
  2. ^ A fuga da família grã-ducal”, by Margarida de Magalhães Ramalho (2019).
  3. ^ Exiles Memorial Center.
  4. ^ Bernier Arcand, Philippe (2010). "L'exil québécois du gouvernement du Luxembourg" (PDF). Histoire Québec. 15 (3): 19–26 – via Erudit.
  5. ^ Bernier Arcand, Philippe, « Les Bourbon-Parme dans les institutions d’enseignement du Québec », Histoire Québec, 202, p. 24-28 (lire en ligne [archive])
  6. ^ a b c Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XVIII. "Luxembourg". C.A. Starke Verlag, 2007, pp. 79-80, 83-84, 449-450. (German). ISBN 978-3-7980-0841-0.
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