Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg


Duchess Marie Thérèse of Württemberg known as Duchess of Montpensier, is a German-born aristocrat. A daughter of the claimant to the royal throne of Württemberg, abolished in 1918, she was the first wife of Prince Henri, Count of Clermont. Duchess Marie Thérèse is the mother of Prince Jean, Duke of Vendôme, head of the House of Orléans and Orléanist claimant to the French throne.

Family

Marie Thérèse was the fifth child and fourth daughter of Philipp Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg, and his second wife, Archduchess Rosa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. She was born at Altshausen Castle, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Marriage and issue

Marie Thérèse married Prince Henri, Count of Clermont, eldest son of Henri, Count of Paris, and his wife, Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza, on 5 July 1957 in Dreux, France. Three years later, her younger brother Carl, Duke of Württemberg, would marry Henri's younger sister, Princess Diane d'Orléans.
Marie Thérèse and Henri had five children:
  1. Princess Marie d'Orléans, married to Prince Gundakar of Liechtenstein.
  2. Prince François, Count of Clermont, severely disabled from toxoplasmosis.
  3. Princess Blanche d'Orléans, severely disabled from toxoplasmosis.
  4. Prince Jean, Count of Paris, married to Philomena de Tornos Steinhart
  5. Prince Eudes, Duke of Angoulême, married to Marie-Liesse de Rohan-Chabot.
Marie Thérèse and Henri were legally separated on 23 February 1977, divorced on 3 February 1984, and the marriage was canonically annulled in March 2009. Upon her divorce from Prince Henri in 1984, she was given the title Duchess of Montpensier by her former father-in-law, as head of the Orléans dynasty.

Titles and styles