Princess Hélène | |||||
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Duchess of Aosta | |||||
Born |
York House, Twickenham |
13 June 1871||||
Died | 21 January 1951 Castellammare di Stabia, Italy |
(aged 79)||||
Burial | Basilica dell'Incoronata Madre del Buon Consiglio, Naples, Italy | ||||
Spouse |
Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta Colonel Otto Campini |
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Issue |
Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta |
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House | Orléans | ||||
Father | Prince Philippe, Count of Paris | ||||
Mother | Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Full name | |
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French: Hélène Louise Henriette d'Orléans |
Princess Hélène of Orléans (French: Princesse Hélène Louise Henriette d'Orléans; 13 June 1871 in York House, Twickenham – 21 January 1951 in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy) was a member of the deposed Orléans royal family of France and, by marriage to the head of a cadet branch of the Italian royal family, the Duchess of Aosta. Although her hand in marriage was sought for the heirs to the thrones of both the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire, religious differences prevented either alliance.
Hélène was the third of eight children born to Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain. Her father was a grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French, and had been heir-apparent to the throne from 1842 until the exile of the dynasty in 1848. Like her two elder siblings, she was born in exile at York House in Twickenham England, shortly before the law of banishment against the dynasty was repealed. Repatriating to France at the end of June 1871, the family took up residence in Paris at the Hotel Fould on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, as guests of their uncle, Henri, Duke of Aumale, whose wealth and properties in France had not been confiscated in 1852, unlike those of the other Orléans princes. On 21 December 1872 the National Assembly enacted a law of restitution, authorising restoration of approximately 40 million of the eighty million francs worth of property which had formerly belonged to the House of Orléans, although the actual re-acquisition of that wealth would take several years.