Princess Eleanor, daughter of Prince Charles de Rohan, is engaged to Victor Parr. The future bride is an English actress who is descended from the Dukes of Brittany, the Kings of France and the illustrious Rohan family.
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Actress Eleanor de Rohan is engaged
Prince Charles and Princess Sarah Louise of Rohan have announced the engagement of their daughter, Eleanor, to Victor Parr, son of Craig Parr and Penelope Stephen. This will be the second wedding organized by Charles and Sarah Louise de Rohan. Their eldest daughter, Princess Georgia, married in 2023. Charles and Sarah Louise have three children: Georgia (1993), Eleanor (1995) and Louis Albert (2001).
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It was in December 2024, during a trip to New York that Victor proposed to his princess. The engagement was made public this week. Prince Charles is the first cousin of Prince Raoul, 16th Prince of Guéméné, 16th Duke of Montbazon, Duke of Bouillon, Duke of Rochefort, among other titles given to the head of this branch of the Rohan family. Prince Raoul is the father of two daughters and his heir is his brother Geoffrey, himself father of a son, Rembert (1986). Prince Charles appears in 3rd position in the succession to the title of Prince of Guéméné after Rembert, then comes his son Louis-Albert.
Princess Eleanor is a comedian and actress. Hamlet, Le Roi Lear or even MacbethPrincess Eleanor took to the stage to perform great classics. In 2018, she starred alongside Judi Dench in the film All is Truea biopic dedicated to William Shakespeare, directed by Kenneth Brannagh, who also played the title role. Eleanor also starred in Artemis Fall and in 2022 she has a role in the remake of Death on the Niledirected again by Kenneth Brannagh.
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-New marriage planned in Rohan’s family
The Rohan family descends from the family of the lords of Porhoët, whose head of family was Viscount of Rennes. At the beginning of the 12th century, Alain, one of the sons of Eudon I of Porhoët, built a fortress on a rocky site, which he named Château de Rohan (Rohan comes from the Breton Roc’h an, “the little rock” ). Alain will become the 1st Viscount of Rohan. The viscounts of Rohan held high offices, including that of governor of Brittany. In 1603, his descendant, Henri II, 20th Viscount of Rohan, was a friend of King Henri IV of France, who elevated him to the rank of duke. The 1st Duke of Rohan will have no son and the titles will be transmitted to his son-in-law, Henri de Chabot, husband of his daughter Marguerite. The Rohan-Chabot lineage survives today and the head of the family, Josselin, is the 14th and current Duke of Rohan.
The Duke of Rohan therefore descends from the Rohan in the cognatic line, through the transmission of the name of Rohan in the feminine line. Over the centuries, the Rohan family has divided into many branches. Today, only the Rohan-Rochefort branch remains, which is itself a branch of the Rohan-Guéméné branch. Princess Eleanor is a descendant of this branch of Rochefort.
In 1377, the 11th Viscount of Rohan purchased the stronghold of Guéméné, thus taking the title of Lord of Guéméné. The 11th Viscount died in 1396 and his eldest son, Alain VIII succeeded him as 12th Viscount of Rohan. However, once widowed, the 11th Earl married Joan of Navarre, daughter of King Philip III of Navarre and descendant of the kings of France. By this second marriage, the 11th count had another son, Charles, to whom he transmitted the secondary title of lord of Guéméné, which would become a new branch of the Rohan family. In 1570, Lord Louis de Guéméné, captain of a military company, also Baron de Montbazon, saw his fief elevated to the rank of principality by King Charles IX. He is the 1st prince of Guéméné. This branch will also obtain the title of Duke of Montbazon. Since the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the head of the family has also had the title of Duke of Bouillon.
In 1728, the youngest son of the 5th Prince of Guéméné and 5th Duke of Montbazon, received the title of Prince of Rochefort and became the founder of the Rochefort branch within the Guéméné branch. When the 10th Prince of Guéméné died without an heir in 1846, it was a cousin, a descendant of the Rochefort branch who inherited his titles and it is today the only surviving branch. This branch had settled in Austria in the 19th century and the members of the family obtained the princely title in 1808 from Emperor Francis I, upon their Austrian naturalization. The head of the family is also a hereditary member of the Austrian House of Lords.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been a designer-editor and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media. A specialist in royal family news, Nicolas founded the site Histoires royales of which he is the editor-in-chief. [email protected]
