Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Helene & Serge of Yugoslavia

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Prince Serge of Yugoslavia has been married twice, first to Sophie de Toledo    Although Point de Vue called the marriage as a triumph of love,  Serge's first marriage to Sophie de Toledo didn't last very long.  The engagement party featured family members including Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria Pia and Belgian and Luxembourg cousins.

The Roman Catholic wedding took place on November 30, 1985, at Merlinge, Switzerland, in the presence of Serge's grandmother, Queen Marie José of Italy.  Wedding guests included Archduke Christian of Austria and his wife, Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg, Prince Vittorio Emanuele and Princess Marina of Italy, with their young son, Emanuele Filiberto.   The groom's immediate family including Prince Alexander and Princess Maria Pia, and Serge's twin, Princess Helene.  The civil marriage took place earlier, according to Serge's older brother, Prince Michel, who was then living in Palm Beach, working for Sotheby's selling real estate.  Prince Michel was interviewed by the Palm Beach Post during the Prince and Princess of Wales' visit.

The marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1986.

In the early years of Princess Helene's marriage to Thierry Gaubert, the couple was featured often in Point de Vue and Paris Match.  An apartment in Paris and a country home in Normandy.    Milena was born on July 8, 1988, at the American Hospital in Versailles.  Her godmother was her great-grandmother, Queen Marie José.

Natasia Marie-José Tania Vanessa Isabelle was born the Clinic Saint Isabelle in Neuilly on February 22, 1991. Princess Helene's second child's first name was a variation of Anastasia.  The other names were for Queen Marie-José, Princess Tania of Bourbon-Parma (Helene's cousin and close friend),  Vanessa (for Prince Serge's then-fiancee, photographer Vanessa von Zitzwitz) and Isabelle for the clinic where the birth took place.



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Prince Serge and Vanessa were engaged for several years but they never married.


Helene and Thierry's youngest child, Léopold Umberto Armand Michel was born at Neuilly on July 19, 1997.  The baptism took place at the family's home in Normandy.  Léopold's godparents were Tania de Bourbon and Nicolas Bazire, who is also involved in the Karachi cash scandal.   Prince Michel de Bourbon-Parma attended this baptism.  Prince Alexander did not.  Perhaps this had something to with the fact that one of the baby's four names is Michel, not Alexander.   Helene does not seem close to her brother, Prince Michael, so it is unlikely that the baby was named for him.

The former Thierry Goldenberg has been charged with various criminal offenses that are now wending his way through the French judicial system.

In 1998, Prince Serge was linked to an international cocaine dealer and was interviewed by police. But it appears that Prince, who was a part of Monaco's jet-set,  was cleared of the charges.   Today, Prince Serge lives in Italy with his second wife, Eleonora Rajneri.    They became engaged in 2003 and were married in a civil ceremony in Monte Carlo on September 18, 2004, in the presence of Prince Emanuele Filiberto and his wife, Clotilde Correau, and other members of the Italian royal family,  Prince Albert of Monaco was also a guest.  All three of Serge's siblings, Princes Dimitri and Michel and Princess Helene, were also present.

The ubiquitous family portrait included the bride and groom with the bride's parents and Princess Maria Pia and Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma.
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 Prince Alexander was not present at the wedding nor the reception.
 Prince Serge was the only member of his branch of the family to attend Crown Prince Alexander's 60th birthday in 2005 in Belgrade.

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