Britta,
Firstly, thank you very much for all these pictures of the Walewskis. May I ask how Florian Walewski died?
Secondly, I think you are right that the man next to Princess Alix is the late Antoine de Ligne. However I don't think he is in the #6222 picture. The man next to her more resembles the photo of Antoine from Corbis, I think. Thanks very much for answering that question. Do you have any idea who the two ladies are next to Alix?
I think it is interesting that the Princess Napoléon was given precedence over the Comte and Comtesse de Paris. Although I guess that was because Louis Napoleon was so closely related to Josephine-Charlotte. But if the late Henri d'Orléans (d.1999) had been alive and invited to the funeral, he wouldn't have attended if he knew he'd have to give precedence to a Bonaparte.
Also, according to a guestlist at the Royals Portal Forum (http://www.royals-portal.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=6538), Princess Laure and Prince Jérôme were also supposed to have been there.
Hello, I didn´t ask Nathalie about the death of her father, but on a napoleonic site of 2003 there was a mourning article on him and it was to read that he attended a napoleonic festival and was giving a speech and everything on one of the days, and all seemed Ok with him. On the next say his people were waiting for him and he didn´t appear. So when the hotel stuff was informed and was coming into the room, he was found dead- I had evidently suffered a heart attack or a stroke in the morning and nobody could help him anymore. He was only 68.
It´s strange, because his ancestor Alexandre suffered the same kind of death. I have recently bought a book in Alexander, son of Napoleon, (it´s in french and from 1943 and I have some problems to understand everything), and there is was written, that Alexander W. seemed still very healthy, when he arrived at Straßbourg in 1868. Suddenly he cried for his daughter: "Bring me a glass of water... I need a doctor!" He opened his waistcoat and his tie and break down in a chair. He was dead. The doctors examined him and found out that he had died of a cerebral hemorrage/ apoplexy.
I suppose it might have been similar with Florian. After 2003 his brother Alexandre took over the title of the current count Walewski and now fulfills the tasks....
About the picture of the funeral. No, the man on pic 6222 of course isn´t Antoine. I only said, if the man is the same as on that pic it cannot be him, but I don´t think that they are the same persons. It really could be Antoine. About the ladies I am very unsure. The faces are not to recognize very well, and all of them all dressed in a very similar way. I only have the thought that they might be the sisters- in -law of Prince Antoine. He was married to Alix of Luxemburg, daughter of Charlotte of Lux. and Felix of Bourbon -Parma. Alix also had at least two sisters, and the ladies on the pic do resemble a bit to Antoine´s wife (corbis picture, it´s his wife beside him), but I AM REALLY NOT SURE. They can be totally other people.
The precendence of the Princess Napoleon, who stands in the near of the Comte of Paris is really interesting. Yes, I also think that the father of the present count of Paris, who died in 1999, wouldn´t have appeared on a festival/ceremony together with a Bonaparte. I remember your interesting text, where we learned that expecially Prince Louis Napoleon and the late Comte Paris never went to the same festival, even when they did not openly offend each other. "Usually when both were invited only one came" said the text. It´s really interesting to see Princess Alix and the Comte of Paris behind her!
I wonder, how the relation of the Bonapartes and Orléans develops in future...
It´s interesting that Princess Laure and Princess Jerome were present there as well. I wished there was any picture, where they are to see. But on the whole page i didn´t find any. It´s also a bit strange, because I would have expected them in the near of the mother....What a pity! In the first marriage Laure was married to Niccolo di San Germano, who is a relative of the belgian royal family as well.
This might be one more reason for her presence?
