de Laborde de Monpezat family

de Laborde de Monpezat
Bourgeois family
Country France
Denmark
Earlier spellingsLaborde, Laborde de Monpezat, de Laborde-Monpezat
Place of origin Béarn
Founded1648 (1648)[1] or 1655 (1655)[2]
FounderJean Laborde
Current headFrederik X[a]
SeatLe Cayrou[3]
Historic seatMonpezat
Titles
List
Connected familiesDanish royal family

The de Laborde de Monpezat family[5][6] (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃.pə.za]) is an old French bourgeois family whose members have included businessmen, politicians, diplomats. The family has also been associated with the Danish royal family through the marriage of Henri de Laborde de Monpezat and Queen Margrethe II.

History

The Labordes are an old bourgeois family originating from the region of Béarn in southwestern France. They took the name of Laborde de Monpezat following the marriage of Jean Laborde, a local physician, to Catherine d'Arricau, heiress of the Monpezat estate, on 16 August 1648.[7]

By a decree of the third 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 supplied Mayor Aristide de Laborde de Monpezat to the town of Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in 1875.

Part of the family moved to Hanoi in Tonkin, French Indochina between the 1930s and the 1950s for business, but returned to France due to the unrest casued by the Việt Minh in the First Indochina War.[9][10]

The de Laborde de Monpezat family became associated with the Danish royal family through the marriage of Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, a French diplomat stationed in London, and Princess Margrethe of Denmark, heir to the throne of Denmark and a student at the London School of Economics, in 1967. Margrethe and Henrik had two children, King Frederik X and Prince Joachim, and eight grandchildren.

French title of "count" controversy

While members of the family have customarily but improperly used the title of Count, French historians and most recent reference authors, specialists of the French nobility, do not consider the family part of French nobility.[11][12]

In May 1655, Jean Laborde received letters patent which elevated three houses and farms which the family owned in Monpezat and Beaufranc as "noble lands".[13][11] However, reception into the Estates 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 with middle 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 the courtesy 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 the Encyclopédie de la fausse noblesse et de la noblesse d'apparence (English: Encyclopedia of False and Seeming Nobility) (Pierre-Marie Dioudonnat, Paris, 1976–1979), nor did Régis Valette include the family in his Catalogue de la noblesse française (English: Catalog of French Nobility) (2002). Charondas describes in his book A 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."

Legacy

In 1974 the Danish royal family, under the reign of Queen Margrethe II, purchased the Château de Cayx in Cahors, France as a tribute to her husband's French heritage. The estate was restored by the royal family, and has been become a winery.[17][18] The castle was central to a period of temporary separation between the royal couple.

On 30 April 2008, the Danish title of Count 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 the male-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 a coat of arms differenced from those of Denmark's royal shield of arms with Prince Joachim's arms featuring an inescutcheon impaled 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, and Countess Athena bear the titles of Count or Countess of Monpezat, with the style of Excellency.

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 of King Frederik X, no such change has taken place. The Royal 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 as Glücksburg or its parent house Oldenburg.[22][23]

Members

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.

Heads of the Family[b]

  1. Jean Laborde, ca. 1620 - ?
  2. Paul Laborde de Monpezat, 1672 - ?
  3. Louis Laborde de Monpezat, 1711–1761
  4. Antoine Laborde de Monpezat, 1743–1787
  5. Jean de Laborde de Monpezat, 1786–1863[c]
  6. Aristide de Laborde de Monpezat, 1830–1888
  7. Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, 1868–1929
  8. André de Laborde de Monpezat, 1907–1998
  9. Prince Henrik of Denmark (né Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat) (1934–2018)
  10. Frederik X (b.1968)[a]

Danish royal family

Main articles: Danish royal family and Monarchy of Denmark

The Danish royal family is officially part of the House of Glücksburg, but is agnatically part of the de Laborde de Monpezat family.[22]

Bibliography

  • Pierre-Marie Dioudonnat, Encyclopédie de la fausse noblesse et de la noblesse d'apparence, 4 vol., Sedopols, Paris, (1976-1997).
  • Régis Valette, Catalogue de la noblesse française (2002)
  • Valynseele, Joseph (1975). Les Laborde de Monpezat et leurs alliances. Paris: Chez l'Auteur.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Officially a member of the House of Glücksburg
  2. ^ Determined as heirs of the body
  3. ^ The Laborde de Monpezat family requested to legally change their surname from Laborde de Monpezat to de Laborde-Monpezat in 1860, and to de Laborde de Monpezat in 1861.

References

  1. ^ Valynseele 1975
  2. ^ Chevé, Joëlle (1998). FeniXX (ed.). La Noblesse du Périgord: Au pays des 1.000 châteaux (in French). Perrin (réédition numérique FeniXX). ISBN 9782262059743.
  3. ^ "Château de Cayx". www.kongehuset.dk. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  4. ^ Joseph Valynseele, Les Laborde de Monpezat et leurs alliances, Paris, chez l'Auteur, 1975, p. 53.
  5. ^ Dioudonnat, Pierre-Marie. "Généalogie de Histoire de la famille de LABORDE de MONPEZAT". Geneanet (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-28.
  6. ^ Péronnet, Michel (1976). "L'histoire d'une famille : les Laborde de Montpezat : Valynseele (Josepp), Les Laborde de Montpezat et leurs alliances. Paris, 1975". Annales du Midi. 88 (129): 477–478.
  7. ^ "L'Intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux 1967 p 81". 1967.
  8. ^ Joseph Valynseele, Les Laborde de Monpezat et leurs alliances, Paris, chez l'Auteur, 1975, French
  9. ^ Elkjær, Kenneth (18 June 2014). "Prince Henrik Reveals His Bloody Past: We shot and human lives were lost". BT.dk (in Danish). Berlingske Media A/S. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  10. ^ Danish Royal Family (28 October 2011). "HRH Prince Henrik". kongehuset.dk (in Danish). Danish Royal Family. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Dioudonnat, Pierre-Marie, Encyclopédie de la fausse noblesse et de la noblesse d'apparence, Paris, Sedopols, 1976–79 (2 vols), French, p.208
  12. ^ F. de Saint-Simon, Dictionnaire de la noblesse française, 1975, p. 60.
  13. ^ Joseph Valynseele, Les Laborde de Monpezat et leurs alliances, Paris, chez l'Auteur, 1975, p. 29.
  14. ^ Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, Institut et musée Voltaire, 1978, p. 262.
  15. ^ Bulletin de la Société héraldique et généalogique de France, 1885, p. 695 : "Tous les biens féodaux ou nobles ne sont point décorés de l’entrée aux Etats, il n’y a que les baronnies (…); les seigneuries qui ont la justice moyenne et basse (…) et les domenjadures (note : on entendait par domenjadure, une seigneurie donnant droit d’entrée aux Etats) qui avaient ce droit d’entrée par les anciennes constitutions de la province".
  16. ^ Joseph Valynseele, Les Laborde de Monpezat et leurs alliances, Paris, chez l'Auteur, 1975, p. 53.
  17. ^ "Château de Cayx -". www.chateau-de-cayx.com. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  18. ^ "Château de Cayx". www.kongehuset.dk. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  19. ^ "Monpezat til Frederik og Joachim". Berlingske Tidende. 30 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  20. ^ "The Royal Family". www.kongehuset.dk. Retrieved 2025-11-28.
  21. ^ "The Danish Monarchy". Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
  22. ^ a b "den glücksborgske linje - Kongeslægt siden 1863". Lex (in Danish). 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2025-11-28.
  23. ^ "Burke's Peerage". burkespeerage.com. Retrieved 2025-11-28.
  24. ^ "Family tree of Charles Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpézat". Geneanet. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
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