| de Laborde de Monpezat | |
|---|---|
| Bourgeois family | |
 | |
| Country |  France Denmark |
| Earlier spellings | Laborde, Laborde de Monpezat, de Laborde-Monpezat |
| Place of origin |  Béarn |
| Founded | 1648 (1648)[1] or 1655 (1655)[2] |
| Founder | Jean Laborde |
| Current head | Frederik X[a] |
| Seat | Le Cayrou[3] |
| Historic seat | Monpezat |
| Titles | |
| Connected families | Danish royal family |
Thede Laborde de Monpezat family[5][6] (French pronunciation:[mɔ̃.pə.za]) is an old Frenchbourgeois family whose members have included businessmen, politicians, diplomats. The family has also been associated with theDanish royal family through the marriage ofHenri de Laborde de Monpezat andQueen Margrethe II.
The Labordes are an oldbourgeois family originating from the region ofBéarn in southwesternFrance. They took the name of Laborde de Monpezat following the marriage of Jean Laborde, a localphysician, to Catherine d'Arricau, heiress of theMonpezatestate, on 16 August 1648.[7]
By a decree of thethird cabinet of Napoleon III, the Laborde de Monpezat family legally changed their surname from Laborde de Monpezat to de Laborde-Monpezat in on 14 July 1860, and to de Laborde de Monpezat in on 19 May 1861.[8] Under this of the name, the family suppliedMayor Aristide de Laborde de Monpezat to the town ofPau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in 1875.
Part of the family moved toHanoi inTonkin,French Indochina between the 1930s and the 1950s for business, but returned to France due to the unrest caused by theViệt Minh in theFirst Indochina War.[9][10]
The de Laborde de Monpezat family became associated with theDanish royal family through the marriage ofHenri de Laborde de Monpezat, a Frenchdiplomat stationed inLondon, andPrincess Margrethe of Denmark,heir to the throne ofDenmark and a student at theLondon School of Economics, in 1967. Margrethe and Henrik had two children,King Frederik X andPrince Joachim, and eight grandchildren.
While members of the family havecustomarily butimproperly used the title of Count, French historians and most recent reference authors, specialists of theFrench nobility, do not consider the family part ofFrench nobility.[11][12]
In May 1655, Jean Laborde receivedletters patent by kingLouis XIV which elevated three houses and farms which the family owned in Monpezat and Beaufranc as "noble lands".[13][11] However, reception into theEstates of Béarn was required to be recognized as noble in Béarn, so much so that on 11 July 1672, the Estates of Béarn condemned a person who called himself noble before his reception.[14] The family's petition was rejected by the Estates twice, in 1703 and in 1707.[11] Not all feudal or noble lands allowed to be admitted into the Estates of Béarn as nobility. Only the baronies, the lordships withmiddle and low justice and "domenjadures" had this right.[15] There is no official record which stipulates that in the letters of 1655 the "nobles lands" of the Laborde family were erected as any of these.
Since late in the nineteenth century, some members of the de Laborde de Monpezat family bear thecourtesy title of "count", which was traditionally assumed only by genuine untitled nobles.[16] Neither the nobility of the family nor this French title of count are acknowledged as historically and legally valid by theEncyclopédie de la fausse noblesse et de la noblesse d'apparence (English:Encyclopedia of False and Seeming Nobility) (Pierre-Marie Dioudonnat, Paris, 1976–1979), nor didRégis Valette include the family in hisCatalogue de la noblesse française (English:Catalog of French Nobility) (2002). Charondas describes in his bookA quel titre (volume 37, 1970) the de Laborde de Monpezat as "false nobles, low folk in the 17th century, not received in the Estates of Béarn due to 'alleged nobility,' and as having never had nobility in their family."
In 1974 the Danish royal family, under the reign of Queen Margrethe II, purchased theChâteau de Cayx inCahors, France as a tribute to her husband's French heritage. The estate was restored by the royal family, and has been become awinery.[17][18] The castle was central to aperiod of temporary separation between the royal couple.
On 30 April 2008, the Danish title ofCount of Monpezat was conferred by Queen Margrethe II on both of her sons as a way to cherish the French heritage of Prince Henrik. The title was made hereditary for their descendants in themale-line, for both males and females.[19] There was no official publication of the grant in the government gazette, but only a press release by the royal house. The title is now borne by all members of Danish royal family in addition to their princely titles.[20]
Furthermore,Prince Joachim and his descendants bear acoat of arms differenced from those of Denmark's royal shield of arms with Prince Joachim's arms featuring aninescutcheonimpaled between the arms of the House of Oldenburg and the Monpezat family, the arms crowned with a coronet of a prince of Denmark. Prince Joachim's children,Count Nikolai,Count Felix,Count Henrik, andCountess Athena bear the titles of Count or Countess of Monpezat, with the style ofExcellency.
Finally, while there had been some speculation on whether a change of the name of the royal family would have taken place with the proclamation ofKing Frederik X, no such change has taken place. TheRoyal House has not issued any proclamation or statement indicating the name that the royal dynasty has changed,[21] and experts have listed the Danish royal family asGlücksburg or its parent houseOldenburg.[22][23]
The de Laborde de Monpezat family is a French family, and is still mainly based in the country.[24] However, a notable part of the family lives in Denmark, descending from the union of Margrethe II and Henrik.
The Danish royal family is officially part of theHouse of Glücksburg, but isagnatically part of the de Laborde de Monpezat family.[22]
Queen Margrethe II (b.1940) ∞Prince Henrik (1934–2018)King Frederik X (b.1968)∞Queen Mary (b.1972)
(1)Crown Prince Christian, Count of Monpezat (b. 2005)
(2)Princess Isabella, Countess of Monpezat (b. 2007)(3)Prince Vincent, Count of Monpezat (b. 2011)(4)Princess Josephine, Countess of Monpezat (b. 2011)(5)Prince Joachim, Count of Monpezat (b. 1969)
(6)Count Nikolai of Monpezat (b. 1999)(7)Count Felix of Monpezat (b. 2002)(8)Count Henrik of Monpezat (b. 2009)(9)Countess Athena of Monpezat (b. 2012)