Isabelle d’Orleans et Bragance, 91; Countess of Paris Led French Royals

The Countess of Paris, Isabelle d’Orleans et Bragance -- great-granddaughter of the last emperor of Brazil and widow of Henri, the Count of Paris, whom most royalists wanted crowned King Henri VI of France -- has died. She was 91.

The countess died July 5 in Paris of unspecified causes.

Her death could renew a struggle for influence within the royal family and set off bickering over how to divide her wealth. For many years, the countess was a commanding figure in French society and was able to hold the family tightly together.

“Smiling and reserved, attentive to everybody, blessed with energy that did not diminish with age, she represented the royal family with grace and a discreet authority,” an association of French royalists, La Nouvelle Action, said.

She was born Princess Isabel (the spelling was changed later to Isabelle) Marie Amelie Louise Victoire Therese Jeanne of Orleans and Bragance on Aug. 13, 1911, at the home of her paternal grandparents in France. At the time of her birth, the Brazilian royal family was living in exile; they returned in 1922.

Once called by King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria “the most beautiful princess alive,” she met her future husband, a cousin, when she was 8 and at age 11 promised to marry him. He was the great-grandson of Louis-Phillippe, the last king of France, who abdicated in 1848 and left two disputed lines of succession.

Henri, named head of the Royal House of France in 1940, was banned from living in or visiting that country under an exile law in effect from 1886 to 1950. So the lavish wedding and reception for 1,200 took place in Palermo, Italy, on April 8, 1931, with guests representing the royal houses of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Denmark and France.

The couple, who had five sons and six daughters between 1932 and 1948, lived in Brazil, Morocco, Spain and Portugal before they were allowed to move to Paris in 1950.

Although they had lived apart since about 1975, the countess caused a stir among royal-watchers in 1986 when she filed for separation from her husband after 55 years of marriage. Insiders said the countess sought financial security and was concerned that her husband was squandering the family fortune.

At the time, a statement issued in the count’s name said he “sincerely deplored the attitude of his wife.” He said her decisions were “in formal contradiction with the tradition of the House of France.”

At his death in 1999, he willed her any remaining worldly goods.

She had published two volumes of memoirs, a photographic study of her life and several biographies of her ancestors, including “Moi,” about Marie Antoinette, which was written in the first person.

The countess, who was buried next to her husband in Dreux, east of Paris, is survived by nine children and more than 100 direct descendants.