Jean Charles Lamoral of Ligne-La Trémoïlle explained

Prince Jean Charles Lamoral
Prince of Ligne
Succession:	Duke of Thouars
Reign:	27 October 1971 – 9 July 2005
Reign-Type:	Tenure
Predecessor:	Princess Charlotte
Successor:	Prince Charles-Antoine
Spouse:	Maria del Rosario de Lambertye-Gerbeviller (m. 1942)
Issue:	Princess Hedwige Marie Prince Charles-Antoine Lamoral Princess Nathalie Marie
Noble Family:	Ligne (agnatic) La Trémoïlle (cognatic)
Father:	Prince Henri-Florent de Ligne
Mother:	Princess Charlotte de La Trémoïlle, 13th Duchess of Thouars
Birth Date:	16 June 1911
Religion:	Roman Catholicism

Prince Jean Charles Lamoral de Ligne-La Trémoïlle (16 June 1911 – 9 July 2005), 14th Duke of Thouars, 13th Duke of La Trémoïlle, 16th Prince de Tarente, 20th Prince de Talmond and 20th Count of Laval,^[1] was a Franco-Belgian nobleman and the only child of the French Princess Charlotte de La Trémoïlle, 13th Duchess of Thouars, and her Belgian husband, Prince Henri-Florent de Ligne. Upon the death of his mother in 1971, he succeeded to all of her French noble titles.

Family background

Although a junior member of the House of Ligne, he founded a distinct cadet branch of that princely family – upon the death of his childless maternal uncle, Louis Jean Marie de La Trémoille, prince étranger, he legally appended his mother's surname (de La Trémoïlle) to his father's surname (de Ligne) in Belgium.^{[2] [3]}

Marriage and children

On 11 March 1942 in Paris, France, he married Maria del Rosario de Lambertye-Gerbeviller (14 October 1922 - 17 March 2023), daughter of Charles Edmond de Lambertye, Marquis de Gerbeviller.^[4]

They had three children, all of whom married into princely families:^[2]

• Hedwige Marie (born 1943), married in 1966 at Antoing, Belgium, to Prince Charles-Guillaume de Merode (born 1940); their children include:
  • Emmanuel de Merode
• Charles-Antoine Lamoral (born 1946), married firstly in 1971 to Lady Moira Forbes, daughter of the 9th Earl of Granard and his wife, Marie-Madeleine de Faucigny-Lucinge; after their divorce in 1975, he wed secondly at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on 23 January 1976 to Princess Alyette of Croÿ (born 1951), from whom he was divorced in 2002; he has issue by the second marriage:

• Edouard Lamoral Rodolphe (born in Paris in 1976), wed at Antoing Castle on 29 June 2009 to film actress (and god-daughter of Silvio Berlusconi) Isabella Orsini (born at Perugia on 2 December 1974).

• Althea Isabelle Sophie

• Athénaïs Allegra Isabella

• Antoine Tao Édouard Adrien

• Charles Lamoral Joseph Malcolm (born in Paris in 1980), wed at Antoing Castle on 20 November 2010 to Ran Li (born in Guangdong, China).^[5]

• Amadeo Joseph Gabriel
• Nathalie Marie (1948–1992), married in 1973 at Saint-Georges-sur-Loire, France, to Prince Alain de Polignac (born 1940).

His legal title and style in Belgium was: "His Highness Jean Charles de Ligne de La Trémoïlle, Prince de Ligne."

Notes and References

1. [Almanach de Gotha]
2. Book: Genealogishes Handbuch des Adels: Furstliche Hauser Band XIV . C.A. Starke Verlag . 1991 . Limburg an der Lahn, Germany . 495, 498–499 . 3-7980-0700-4.
3. [Hello! (magazine)|Hello!]
4. Web site: Meylan . Vincent . La princesse de Ligne-La Trémoille, artistocrate européenne et bientôt centenaire . Point de Vue . 5 October 2022.
5. Web site: L'info sur lavenir.net – L'actu 24h/24, 7 jours sur 7 - Page de redirection . Lavenir.net . 2014-04-21.