A PRESENTATION DRESS SWORD
| Estimate: |
£2,000 - £3,000
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Bidding ended. Lot is unsold.
with straight flared blade in blue and gilt with scroll motif decoration, gilt metal cross guard, mother of pearl reeded grip, white and leather gilt metal scabbard with later fitted velum case with silver plaque inscription "Presented by the inhabitants of Stow near Buckingham, to his Royal Highness, the Prince of Orleans, on his marriage on November 5th 1896"
Provenance: His Royal Highness Prince Emmanuel of Orleans, The Duke of Vendome, was a Major in the Austro-Hungarian Army. However he was not allowed to serve in World War I due to an 1886 Law barring all Princes of the two former Sovereign Houses of France from being permitted to serve their country in either the Army or Navy, or hold office in the French Government.
The Prince undeterred, volunteered with the French Red Cross, was appointed a Principal Delegate on the Belgian Front and served as a Director of the Franco-Belgian Hospital in Calais. In 1926 he led an excavation party that unearthed a village of Roquebilliere in the Alpes-Maritimes Department where several Roman tombs were found containing rare jewels, vases and objets d'art.
He married Princess Henrietta of Belgium in Brussels. Henrietta was the daughter of Prince Phillipe, Count of Flanders and Princess Maria of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Together they were known as the Sporting Duke and Duchess and had four children. Prince Emmanuel was born in 1872 and died in 1931.
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