Michel de Bourbon-Parma

Michel de Bourbon-Parma 2012

Michel de Bourbon-Parma 1948

Michel Marie Xavier Waldemar Georg Robert Karl Eymar de Bourbon-Parma , Prince de Bourbon-Parma (born March 4, 1926 in Paris - †  July 7, 2018 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ), was a French businessman, veteran of the Second World War and Automobile racer .

family

Michel de Bourbon-Parma was born in 1926 to René de Bourbon-Parma and Margaretha of Denmark . His older sister was Anna of Bourbon-Parma (1923-2016). His paternal grandfather was Robert I. Karl Ludwig Maria of Parma , the last Duke of Parma , Piacenza and Guastalla . His mother was the daughter of the Danish admiral Waldemar of Denmark , a son of King Christian IX. This made her a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg .

In 1951 he married Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel , from the Broglie family . The couple had five children, three daughters and two sons, and divorced in 1999. Another daughter was born out of wedlock in 1977 .

In 2003 he married Maria Pia of Savoy , daughter of Umberto II , the last king of Italy , and his wife Marie José of Belgium . His second wife was married to Alexander of Yugoslavia for the first time .

Emigration and World War II

Michel de Bourbon-Parma grew up in Paris. His father was employed in a company that manufactured tank systems for propane gas when the Second World War broke out in 1939. After the invasion of the German Wehrmacht in France in 1940, the family fled to New York . He himself came with his brother to a boarding school run by Jesuits in Montreal . Before long, an incident occurred when he struck down a Jesuit who was chastising his brother. When the boarding line then denied them the Christmas holidays, the brothers left the facility without permission and took a Greyhound - remote bus to New York. Neither did they return to Montreal.

After a year as an employee in an import-export company, he joined the United States Army in 1943 at the age of 17 with his father's permission . With the rank of lieutenant he took part in the secret Operation Jedburgh and acted as a saboteur behind the German lines in France. He was subordinate to the British Colonel Tommy Macpherson . The third man in the group was radio operator Sergeant Arthur Brown.

After the liberation of France by the Allies , he was transferred to Indochina in August 1945 to fight against the rising Việt Minh . On the first day of his mission, he was captured along with five other Frenchmen. He spent eleven months in captivity. Several attempts to escape failed, and four of his comrades were killed while in camp. In 1946 he was released. He received various awards for his services in the war, including the Order of Merit of the Legion of Honor , the Military Cross and the Croix de guerre .

Civil life

After his military service, he worked for Zodiac Marine & Pool , a French company that manufactures rigid inflatable boats for many decades .

Career in motorsport

In the 1960s, Michel de Bourbon-Parma competed in car races as a men's driver for a number of years . He celebrated his first success in the Targa Florio in 1964 , where he and Claude Bourillot on one of the Scuderia Filipinetti reported Ferrari 250 GTO overall tenth. He competed twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , but retired in both events. In 1964 he and Robert Bouharde drove a René Bonnet Aérodjet and could not finish the race due to a gearbox failure. In 1966 he was Giampiero Biscaldi's partner in this 24-hour race . The duo drove a Ferrari 275 GTB that Ed Hugus had reported. This time a clutch failure stopped the ambitions.

His greatest success was second place in the Tour de France for automobiles in 1964 ; he was there partner of Jean Guichet in the factory Ferrari 250 GTO.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1964	Société Automobiles René Bonnet	René Bonnet Aérodjet	Robert Bouharde	failure	Gearbox damage
1966	Ed Hugus	Ferrari 275 GTB	Giampiero Biscaldi	failure	Clutch damage

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
1964	Scuderia Filipinetti Automobiles René Bonnet Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250 GTO René Bonnet Aérodjet	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
					10						DNF								2
1965	Scuderia Filipinetti	Ferrari 250 GTO	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
									DNF
1966	Ed Hugus	Ferrari 275 GTB	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
									DNF

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissedre: 24 hours of mans . 1923-1992. 2 volumes. Édition d'Art JB Barthelemy, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Michel de Bourbon-Parma  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Michel de Bourbon-Parme (F) - All Results. In: Racing Sports Cars. (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michel di Borbone, Principe di Parma on thepeerage.com , accessed on September 11, 2016.
2. ↑ John Nelander: French-born prince and part-time Palm Beacher Michel de Bourbon-Parme recalls adventures. In: The Shiny Sheet. March 29, 2011, accessed July 9, 2018 . 
3. ^ Robert Hall: Allied 'bandits' behind enemy lines. In: BBC . June 5, 2009, accessed July 9, 2018 (English, Michel de Bourbon-Parma and Operation Jedburgh). 
4. ^ Targa Florio 1964. In: Racing Sports Cars. April 26, 1964, accessed July 9, 2018 . 
5. ^ Tour de France 1964. In: Racing Sports Cars. April 26, 1964, accessed July 9, 2018 .