Prince Michel grew up in Paris, where his father worked for a propane gas tank manufacturer. In 1940, Prince Michel and his family fled the German invasion and left for New York City, where his mother worked in a hat shop. Michel was enrolled in a Jesuit school in Montreal. Three years later at age 17 he joined the U.S. Army with his father's permission and was appointed lieutenant. Serving in Operation Jedburgh, he was parachuted into Nazi-occupied France as part of a three-man sabotage team to operate deep behind German lines. After the liberation of France Prince Michel was deployed to Indochina in order to fight against the Viet Minh. Dropped on August 28, 1945, by parachute he was captured the same day by the Vietnamese resistance, who kept him for eleven months, during which his group of six captives attempted several escapes and were recaptured. They were led from camp to camp through the dense jungle, bound together with strips of bamboo. Each lived on a bowl of rice a day. Toward the end of the ordeal, the men were asked to sign statements saying that they had been well treated, which they refused. Four of them were killed before the two survivors finally made it back to France due to the French negotiating a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh at the Geneva Conference. Prince Michel was one of 3000 prisoners to survive of the 12,000 French prisoners taken by the Viet Minh. A chevalier of France's Legion of Honour, for his services during war, he was also awarded the British Military Cross and the Croix de guerre. Demobilized at the age of 20 the prince became a race car driver, participating in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1964 and 1966. Both times his car failed to finish. In 1964 he also raced in the Tour de France Automobile where he finished second. At the Monaco Grand Prix in 1967, he was a nearby spectator when the Lorenzo Bandiniaccident occurred: With the help of a marshal he managed to extract the driver from the burning wreck of his Ferrari. Prince Michel started civilian life at the age of 20, engaging in business over the following decades. He worked for a company that had created the Zodiac inflatable rubber boat, which enjoyed huge commercial success after the war. Later, he negotiated contracts for French companies with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, until he was deposed in the Islamic revolution of 1979. In later life he lived between his house in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France and his house in Palm Beach, Florida.
Marriage and children
Following a civil wedding in Paris on 23 May 1951, on 9 June 1951, the thirtieth anniversary of his parents' wedding, he married religiously at Chaillot, Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel, daughter of Prince Joseph de Broglie-Revel and his wife, Marguerite de La Cour de Balleroy. Although the couple separated legally on 26 June 1966 and reconciled 19 December 1983, the marriage ended in divorce in 1999. They had five children together:
Princess Inès of Bourbon-Parma. She had a daughter out of wedlock:
** Victoria Antonia Marie-Astrid Lydia de Bourbon de Parme
Princess Sybil of Bourbon-Parma, married in 1997 Craig Richards.
Princess Victoire of Bourbon-Parma, married on 26 February 1974 in Beaumont-le-Roger and divorced before 1988, Baron Ernst von Gecmen-Waldek before remarrying in 1993, with Carlos Ernesto Rodriguez. She had two children with Baron Ernst:
* Baroness Tatiana von Gecmen-Waldek, married Michael Berger-Sandhofer in September 1995 in Versailles.
* Baron Vincent Nicholas von Gecmen-Waldek
Prince Charles-Emmanuel of Bourbon-Parma, married on 25 May 1991, Constance de Ravinel, daughter of Yves, Baron de Ravinel and his wife, Alix de Castellane-Esperron. They have four children:
* Prince Amaury of Bourbon-Parma
* Princess Charlotte of Bourbon-Parma
* Princess Elizabeth of Bourbon-Parma
* Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parme. Her godparents are Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, and Comtesse Bernard de Castellane.
Prince Michel had a daughter out of wedlock with Laure Le Bourgeois :
