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{{Infobox royalty
| name = Princess Isabelle
| title = [[w:Count of Paris|Countess of Paris]]
| image = Condessa de Paris.png
| succession = [[w:House of Orléans|Consort of the Head of the House of Orléans]]
| reign = 25 August 1940 – 19 June 1999
| reign-type = Tenure
| predecessor = [[w:Princess Isabelle of Orléans (1878–1961)|Isabelle of Orléans]]
| successor = [[w:Micaela, Countess of Paris|Micaëla Cousiño Quiñones de León]]
| spouse =[[w:Henri, Count of Paris (1908–1999)|Prince Henri, Count of Paris]]
| issue = Princess Isabelle, Countess of Schönborn-Buchheim<br>[[w:Henri, Count of Paris (born 1933)|Prince Henri, Count of Paris]]<br>Princess Hélène, Countess of Limburg-Stirum<br>Prince François, Duke of Orléans<br>[[w:Princess Anne, Duchess of Calabria|Princess Anne, Dowager Duchess of Calabria]]<br>[[w:Diane, Duchess of Württemberg|Diane, Duchess of Württemberg]]<br>[[w:Prince Michel, Count of Évreux|Prince Michel, Count of Évreux]]<br>[[w:Prince Jacques, Duke of Orléans|Prince Jacques, Duke of Orléans]]<br>[[w:Princess Claude of Orléans|Princess Claude]]<br>Princess Chantal, Baroness of Sambucy de Sorgue<br>[[w:Prince Thibaut, Count of La Marche|Prince Thibaut, Count of La Marche]]
| house = [[House of Orléans-Braganza|Orléans-Braganza]]
| father = [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará]]
| mother = [[w:Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz|Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz]]
| date of birth = 13 August 1911
| place of birth = [[w:Eu, Sein-Maritime|Eu, Seine-Maritime]], [[w:French Third Republic|France]]
| date of death = 5 July 2003 (aged 91)
| place of death = [[w:Paris|Paris]], France
| burial_place = [[w:Chapelle royale de Dreux|Chapelle royale de Dreux]]
| full name = Isabel Maria Amélia Luiza Vitória Thereza Joanna Michaela Gabriela Raphaela Gonzaga de Orléans e Bragança
| religion = [[w:Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholicism]]
}}
'''Princess Isabelle of Brazil, Countess of Paris''' ([[w:Eu, Seine-Maritime|Eu]], 13 August 1911 – Paris, 5 July 2003) was a [[Prince of Brazil (Brazil)|Princess of Brazil]], a member of the Petrópolis branch of the [[House of Orléans-Braganza]] and the the consort of the Orleanist pretender to the French throne, [[Prince Henri, Count of Paris (1908–1999)|Prince Henri, Count of Paris]]. She was the second child and oldest daughter of [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará]], the firstborn son of [[Isabel of Brazil|Isabel, Regent of Brazil]]. She worked as a model for major international brands such as [[w:Vogue|Vogue]] and was an historical author.

A worldly-renowned royal for her charisma, aesthetics and position as the most popular ''de jure'' Queen of France since the dethronement of the [[w:House of Orléans|House of Orléans]] in 1848, she was close friend to several reigning personalities such as Empress [[w:Farah Diba|Farah Pahlavi of Persia]], [[w:Queen Paola of Belgium|Queen Paola of Belgium]], Prince [[w:Albert II of Monaco|Albert II of Monaco]], [[w:Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg|Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg]], as well as to King [[Simeon II of Bulgaria]]. Through her siblings she was also aunt of King [[w:Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos I of Spain]] and to [[Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza]], the pretender to the Portuguese throne. 

For her distinguished role as consort to the main pretender to the French throne, her popularity and due to the fact that the restoration of the Orleanist French monarchy became somewhat plausible by the 1960s as a result between the proximity of her husband to President General [[w:Charles De Gaulle|Charles De Gaulle]], she was frequently described as "the best Queen France never had".

==Biography==
===Early years and background===
The eldest daughter of ''[[w:Don (honorific)|Dom]]'' [[Pedro III of Brazil|Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza]] (1875–1940), attending by the title of [[Prince of Grão-Pará]], and of his wife, [[w:Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz|Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz]] (1875–1951), Isabelle was born in a pavilion of the [[w:Château d'Eu|Château d'Eu]] in [[w:Normandy|Normandy]].<ref name="enache">Enache, Nicolas. ''La Descendance de Marie-Thérèse de Habsburg''. ICC, Paris, 1996. p. 71. French.</ref> She was christened as namesake of her paternal grandmother, the Princess Regent [[Isabel of Brazil]], elder daughter and heiress of the deposed [[w:Pedro II of Brazil|Emperor Pedro II of Brazil]] and the only living royal ruler of the [[w:Empire of Brazil|Brazilian Empire]]. 

Upon the death of the Emperor in exile in 1891, Dom Pedro de Alcântara became [[Prince Imperial of Brazil]] and his mother the titular [[w:Emperor of Brazil|Empress of Brazil]] to the royalists and loyalists. In 1893 there were several newspapers worldwide reporting that he had been acclaimed Emperor [[Pedro III of Brazil]] by admiral [[w:Custódio José de Melo|Custódio de Melo]], leader of the [[w:Revolta da Armada|Navy Revolt]]. In 1908 he married a [[w:Bohemian nobility|Bohemian noblewoman]] in the presence of his parents, although his mother supposedly withheld [[w:Dynasty#Dynasts|dynastic]] approval as head of the imperial family in exile. Therefore, Dom Pedro renounced the succession rights of himself and his future descendants to the abolished Brazilian throne<ref name="pdm148">de Montjouvent, Philippe. ''Le Comte de Paris et sa Descendance''. Editions du Chaney, 1998, Charenton, France. pp. 148–152. French.</ref> in a legally questionable act. 

After the deaths of her maternal grandparents, Isabelle's parents moved from the ''Pavillon des Ministres'' on the castle grounds into the main building of the ''Château d'Eu'', spending winter months in a town house in [[w:Boulogne-sur-Seine|Boulogne-sur-Seine]]. In 1924, her father's cousin, Prince [[w:Adam Karol Czartoryski|Adam Czartoryski]], placed at the family's disposal apartments in the palatial ''[[w:Hotel Lambert|Hotel Lambert]]'' on the [[w:Île Saint-Louis|Île Saint-Louis]], where Isabelle and her siblings undertook studies.<ref name="pdm49">de Montjouvent, Philippe. ''Le Comte de Paris et sa Descendance''. Editions du Chaney, 1998, Charenton, France. pp. 49–59. French.</ref> The family traveled extensively, however. Much of Isabelle's early youth was spent on visits to her maternal relatives, at their large estate at [[w:Chotěboř|Chotěboř]], [[w:Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]], at [[w:Attersee (town)|Attersee]] in [[w:Austria-Hungary|Austria]], and at [[w:Goluchow|Goluchow]] in [[w:Poland|Poland]]. With her father, Isabelle visited Naples, Constantinople, Rhodes, Smyrna, Lebanon, Syria, Cairo, Palestine and Jerusalem.<ref name="pdm49"/>

===Life in Brazil===
In 1920 Brazil lifted the law of banishment against its former dynasty and invited them to bring home the remains of Pedro II, although Isabelle's grandfather the Count d'Eu died at sea during the voyage. But after annual visits over the next decade, her parents decided to [[w:repatriation|re-patriate]] their family to [[w:Petropolis|Petrópolis]] permanently, where Isabelle attended day school at Notre-Dame-de-Sion while the family took up residence at the old Imperial [[w:Grão Pará Palace|Palace of the Grão-Pará]].<ref name="pdm49"/> Until then, Isabelle was privately educated by a series of governesses and tutors. 

Following her marriage to the Count of Paris (as seen below), the couple firstly settled at the Palace of Grão-Pará in Petrópolis, as her husband's family, the [[House of Orléans|House of Orléans]], had been banished from French soil in 1886. One of their children, Princess [[w:Diane, Duchess of Württemberg|Diane, Duchess of Württemberg]] was born there. Following a time the family spent in Brazil, the moved to [[w:Morocco|Morocco]] and later [[w:Belgium|Belgium]], until the abolition of the anti-orleanist law in 1950, allowing the Counts of Paris to finally moved to [[w:France|France]].

===Marriage and issue===
Isabelle was related to both parents of her future husband, and first met the young Prince Henri d'Orleans in 1920 at the home of the [[w:Princess Françoise of Orléans (1844–1925)|Duchess of Chartres]]. In the summer of 1923 he was a guest at her parents' home at the ''Chateau d'Eu'', at which time Isabelle, aged 12, resolved that she would one day marry him. But he took no apparent notice of her at the wedding of his sister [[w:Princess Anne of Orléans|Anne]] to the [[w:Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta|Duke of Aosta]] at Naples in 1927. During a visit to his parents home, the ''Manoir d'Anjou'', in Brussels over Easter in 1928, Prince Henri d'Orleans began to show interest in Isabelle, and still more at a family reunion in July 1929.<ref name="pdm49"/> 

Henri proposed to Isabelle on 10 August 1930 while taking part in a hunt at Count Dobržensky's Chotěboř home. The couple kept their engagement a secret until a family gathering at Attersee later that summer, but were obliged by the Duke of Guise to wait until Henri finished his studies at [[w:Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)|Louvain University]] before the betrothal was officially announced 28 December 1930.<ref name="pdm49"/> 

On 8 April 1931, at the Cathedral of [[w:Palermo|Palermo]], Sicily, Isabelle married her third cousin [[w:Henri, Count of Paris (1908–1999)|Henri, count of Paris]] (1908–1999).<ref name=nyt1>{{Citation 
  | last = 
  | first = 
  | title = Countess Has Daughter
  | pages = 
  | newspaper = The New York Times
  | location = Brussels
  | date = 5 December 1938
| url =
  | accessdate = <!-----3 August 2010----->}}</ref><ref name=nyt3>{{Citation 
  | last = Cortesi
  | first = Arnaldo
  | title = Royal Cousins Wed in Palermo Today
  | pages = 
  | newspaper = The New York Times
  | location = Rome
  | date = 8 April 1931
| url =
  | accessdate = <!-----3 August 2010----->}}</ref><ref name=nyt4/> Isabelle was 19, while Henri was 21.<ref name=nyt1/> The wedding was held in Sicily, since the law of banishment against the heirs of France's former dynasties had not yet been abrogated.<ref name=nyt3/> The two families selected Palermo because Isabelle's family possessed a palace there, which had been the location of three earlier royal weddings.<ref name=nyt3/>

The wedding gave rise to several royalist demonstrations, and the road leading to the cathedral was lined with hundreds of visitors from France who viewed Henri as the rightful heir to the French throne.<ref name=nyt4>{{Citation 
  | last = Cortesi
  | first = Arnaldo
  | title = Legitimists Cheer at Royal Wedding
  | pages = 
  | newspaper = The New York Times
  | location = Palermo
  | date = 9 April 1931
| url =
  | accessdate = <!-----3 August 2010----->}}</ref> He was greeted with such cries as "Vive le roi, Vive le France" along with other monarchist cries and songs.<ref name=nyt4/> These supporters were joined by members of the bride and groom's families, along with representatives of other royal dynasties.<ref name=nyt4/>

He became pretender to the throne of France from 1940 onwards.

They had eleven children:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- bgcolor="#cccccc"
!width="18%"|Name!! width="14%"|Birth!! width="14%"|Death!! width="62%"|Notes
|-
|Princess Isabelle Marie Laure Victoire || 8 April 1932||   || married Friedrich Karl, Count of [[w:House of Schönborn#Counts of Schönborn-Buchheim|Schönborn-Buchheim]]; has issue.
|-
| Prince [[w:Henri, Count of Paris (born 1933)|Henri Philippe Pierre Marie]] ||  14 June 1933||  || married [[w:Duchess Marie Thérèse of Württemberg|Duchess Marie Thérèse of Württemberg]]; has issue.
|-
|  Princess Hélène Astrid Léopoldine Marie<ref name=nyt2>{{Citation 
  | last = 
  | first = 
  | title = Princess Is Christened
  | pages = 
  | newspaper = The New York Times
  | location = Brussels
  | date = 16 October 1934
| url =
  | accessdate = <!-----3 August 2010----->}}</ref> || 17 September 1934<ref name=nyt2/>|| || married Count Evrard de [[w:House of Limburg-Stirum|Limburg-Stirum]]; has issue.
|-
| Prince François Gaston Michel Marie, Duke of Orléans || 15 August 1935 || 11 October 1960 || Died fighting for France in Algeria.
|-
| Princess [[w:Princess Anne, Duchess of Calabria|Anne Marguerite Brigitte Marie]] || 4 December 1938<ref name=nyt1/> ||  || married [[w:Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria|Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria]]; has issue.
|-
| Princess [[w:Diane, Duchess of Württemberg|Diane Françoise Maria da Gloria]] ||  24 March 1940||  || married [[w:Carl, Duke of Württemberg|Carl, Duke of Württemberg]]; has issue.
|-
| Prince [[w:Prince Michel, Count of Évreux|Michel Joseph Benoît Marie]] || 25 June 1941 ||  || married Béatrice Pasquier de Franclieu; has issue.
|-
| Prince [[w:Prince Jacques, Duke of Orléans|Jacques Jean Yaroslaw Marie]], Duke of Orléans || 25 June 1941 ||  || married Gersende de Sabran-Pontevès; has issue.
|-
|[[w:Princess Claude of Orléans|Princess Claude Marie Agnès Catherine]] || 11 December 1943 ||  || married [[w:Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (b. 1943)|Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta]]; has issue.
|-
| Princess Jeanne de ''Chantal'' Alice Clothilde Marie || 9 January 1946 ||  || married Baron François Xavier de Sambucy de Sorgue; has issue.
|-
| Prince [[w:Prince Thibaut, Count of La Marche|Thibaut Louis Denis Humbert]] || 20 January 1948 || 23 March 1983 || married Marion Mercedes Gordon-Orr; has issue.
|-
|}

Princess Isabelle, called ''Madame'', and her husband used the French Royal [[w:coat of arms|coat of arms]]. She survived her late husband by four years.

==Titles, styles and honors==
{{Infobox manner of address
| image      = <center>[[Image:Royal Monogram of Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza.svg|60px]]</center>
| royal name = <center>Princess Isabelle of Brazil</center>
| dipstyle   = [[w:Imperial Royal Highness|Her Imperial and Royal Highness]]
| offstyle   = Your Imperial and Royal Highness
| altstyle   = Ma'am
| colour      = #FFFFFF
| background  = #07A983
}}
===Titles and styles===
According to the Petrópolis branch claim, presumably based on its legal legitimacy, her titles were:
*'''13 August 1911 – 19 February 1913:''' ''Her Imperial and Royal Highness'' The Princess of Grão-Pará
*'''19 February 1913 – 8 April 1931:''' ''Her Imperial and Royal Highness'' Princess Isabelle of Brazil
*'''8 April 1931 – 19 June 1999:''' ''Her Imperial and Royal Highness'' The Countess of Paris
*'''19 June 1999 – 5 July 2003:''' ''Her Imperial and Royal Highness'' The Dowager Countess of Paris

=== Honours ===
*[[File:Flag of Austria-Hungary (1869-1918).svg|22px]] [[w:House of Habsburg|Austrian Imperial Family]]: Dame of the [[w:Order of the Starry Cross|Order of the Starry Cross]]<ref>[http://www.royalark.net/Brazil/brazil4.htm Royal Ark]</ref>

==Ancestry==
{{collapse top}}
{{Ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza'''
|2= 2. [[Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará|Prince Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza]]
|3= 3. [[Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz|Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz]]
|4= 4. [[Gaston, Count of Eu|Prince Gaston, Count of Eu]]
|5= 5. [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil]]
|6= 6. Count Johann Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz
|7= 7. Countess Elisabeth Kottulinsky von Kottulin
|8= 8. [[Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|10= 10. [[Pedro II of Brazil]]
|11= 11. [[Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies|Princess Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies]]
|12= 12. Count Johann Nepomuk Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz
|13= 13. Baroness Maria Friederike Wanczura von Rzehnicz
|14= 14. Count Josef Johann Franz Kottulinsky von Kottulin
|15= 15. Countess Adelheid von Attems-Heiligenkreuz
|16= 16. [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe I of France]]
|17= 17. [[Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily|Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily]]
|18= 18. [[Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|19= 19. [[Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág|Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág]]
|20= 20. [[Pedro I of Brazil|Pedro I of Brazil and IV of Portugal]]
|21= 21. [[Maria Leopoldina of Austria|Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria]]
|22= 22. [[Francis I of the Two Sicilies]]
|23= 23. [[María Isabella of Spain|Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain]]
|24= 24. Baron Johann Wenzel Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz
|25= 25. Baroness Maria Anna Pergler von Perglas
|26= 26. Baron Joseph Joachim Wanczura von Rzehnicz
|27= 27. Baroness Friederike La Motte von Frintropp
|28= 28. Count Josef Johann Kottulinsky von Kuttulin
|29= 29. Countess Maria Josepha Katzianer zu Katzenstein
|30= 30. Count Franz Anton von Attems-Heiligenkreuz
|31= 31. Countess Ernestine Khuen von Bélas
}}
{{collapse bottom}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Brazilian princesses}}
{{w:Princesses of Orléans by marriage}}

[[Category:Royalty of Brazil]]