Archduke Christian of Austria and Adelaide Drapé-Frisch were married this afternoon in a civil ceremony at the town hall in Nancy, France.
Archduke Christoph is the second son and third child of Archduke Christian of Austria and his wife, Princess Marie Astrid of Austria. In September, Christoph's older brother, Archduke Imre, married Kathleen Walker in Washington, D.C.
Mayor André Rossinot officiated at the civil ceremony, which took plate at 5 p.m., in the wedding hall in Nancy's town hall. The young couple were applauded by a crowd that had gathered outside the town hall. After the ceremony, the newly married couple appeared on the town hall's balcony and waved to the crowd. Archduke Christoph gave Adelaide a kiss on the cheek, which brought more cheers from the crowd.
The young couple, their families, and their guests are staying tonight at the Grand Hotel de la Reine on Place Stanislaus in Nancy.
Members of the bride and groom's family were present for the civil ceremony, including the Luxembourg Grand Ducal family. Grand Duke Henri is Christoph's godfather. Witnesses included members of the princely family of de Ligne and Baron and Baroness Bernard Guerrier Dumast.
The groom is a great-nephew of the late Archduke Otto of Austria who married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen in Nancy in 1951.
Archduke Christoph was educated at private schools in Switzerland, France and Belgium. For his primary education, he attended the Institutes of Notre-Dame du Lac and Florimont. His secondary education was spent in France at the Lycée Saint-Bonnet de Galaure and he finished his secondary education in Brussels, where he received his diploma.
He spent a year on sabbatical with Jeunesse Lumiere (Youth Light), a charismatic Roman Catholic Youth group, where he met Adelaide Drapé-Frisch.
He continued his education at Philanthropos, studying anthropology. He also worked in international relations, working with troubled youth, and as a nursing assistant in Fribourg, Switzerland.
Archduke Christoph currently works in finance in Geneva.
Adelaide's father, Philippe Drapé-Frisch, is a French diplomat. The eldest of five children, Adelaide and her siblings were educated at home until she turned ten, and the family moved to London.
After a four year assignment in London, Philippe and his family moved to Belgrade, Serbia.
Adelaide also attended Philanthropos, and then received a BS in Psychology in Paris. She speaks French, English, German and Serbo-Croatian.
The bride's gown has been designed by Diane Lelys, a Paris designer. Adelaide came to know the designer through mutual friends of her parents. The gown took eight months to make -- a "long and painstaking work of creation." Diane Lelys states that the wedding gown will reflect the bride, "a charming young woman, very delicate and sober."
The gown will feature "clean lines," and was made from duchesse satin. The gown will be complemented by a long train. The bride will wear the Habsburg veil and a tiara lent by the grand ducal family. Archduke Imre's wife, the former Kathleen Walker, also wore the Habsburg veil, but not a family tiara. Then again, most American brides do not wear diamond tiaras when they marry. Imre and Kathleen married in a historic, albeit very small, Roman Catholic church in the Chinatown area of Washington, D.C. I would have considered a tiara to be out of place for such a venue.
Before the civil ceremony took place, Archduke Christoph and Miss Drapé-Frisch, accompanied by their parents, paid their respects at the chapel of the Cordeliers in Nancy. The Dukes of Lorraine are buried in the crypt. It is a tradition that when a descendant of the Dukes of Lorraine marries in Nancy, the bride places a bouquet in the crypt.
Miss Drapé-Frisch, elegantly dressed in black, prayed and laid the flowers on a coffin. Archduke Christian made the same gesture.
"There was great joy and emotion for me as I entered the crypt, where so many of my ancestors now rest," said Archduke Christian in perfect French.
A rehearsal of the religious ceremony followed. The couple will be be married at the Basilica of St. Epvre tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. The ceremony will be open to the public.
http://www.estrepublicain.fr/actualite/2012/12/28/mariage-princier-a-nancy-un-bouquet-de-roses-a-la-chapelle-des-cordeliers
http://www.estrepublicain.fr/actualite/2012/12/28/la-robe-de-mariee-d-adelaide-drape-frisch-sera-signee-diane-lelys-utci
http://pluzz.francetv.fr/videos/jt_1213_lorraine_,74843412.html (you have to watch a few minutes before the bit about Christoph and Adelaide comes on.)
http://pluzz.francetv.fr/videos/jt_1920_lorraine_,74843416.html
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