Today, Princess Olympia Napoléon celebrates her thirty-fifth birthday!
Born on 4 January 1988 at Munich, Countess Olympia Elene Marie of Arco-Zinneberg was the third daughter of Count Riprand of Arco-Zinneberg (1955-2021) and Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria (b.1954). Riprand and Maria Beatrix were married in 1980 and became the parents of six daughters: Anna Theresa (b.1981), Margherita (b.1983), Olympia (b.1988), Maximiliana (b.1990), Marie-Gabrielle (b.1992), and Giorgiana (b.1997). The family lived between Germany and the United States, where Olympia’s father Riprand had business interests.
Olympia graduated from Yale University in 2011 with a B.A. in Political Science. The countess went on to Columbia University in the City of New York, where she emerged in 2015 with a M.A. in Art History. Olympia played on the hockey teams of both Yale and Columbia. While at Yale, she was featured in a university publication wherein she elaborated on her educational experiences: “I am from Austria. I’ve also lived in Germany and Connecticut. I went to boarding school in the United Kingdom and took my gap year in Shanghai, China. Since coming to Yale, I did the Yale-Peking University program during my spring semester sophomore year. Next fall I will spend the semester in Paris.” It was during this Paris sejourn that the countess and the prince made one another’s acquaintance.
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| Countess Olympia of Arco-Zinneberg with her father Count Riprand |
In March 2019, it became publicly known that Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon, son of Prince Charles Napoléon and Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, had become engaged to Countess Olympia of Arco-Zinneberg, daughter of Count Riprand of Arco-Zinneberg and Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Autria. Jean-Christophe and Olympia have been in a relationship for some years. The prince had proposed to the countess in January 2019 in Switzerland. Jean-Christophe’s grandmother, the Dowager Princess Napoléon, resides in Switzerland at Prangins. Jean-Christophe and Olympia married on 19 October 2019 at the Cathedrale Saint-Louis des Invalides in Paris.
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| Princess Béatrice, Prince Jean-Christophe, Princess Alix, and Princess Olympia. |
Princess Olympia Napoléon gave birth to a son, Prince Louis Charles Riprand Victor Jérôme Marie Napoleon, on 7 December 2022 at Paris. Prince Louis is the first child for Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon and Princess Olympia. The arrival of Prince Louis secures the continuity of the Bonaparte dynasty for another generation.
