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Clara Ward, Princesse de Caraman-Chimay

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Clara Ward
A French albumen photograph of Clara Ward from about 1905
Born	June 17 1873(1873-06-17) Detroit, Michigan
Died	December 9 1916 (aged 43) Padua, Italy
Nationality	American

This article is about the 19th century American who became a Belgian princess and a stage performer, not the Clara Ward who was a 20th century American gospel artist.

Clara Ward (1873 – 1916) was an American woman who married a prince from Belgium.

1 Biography
2 External links
3 References

Biography

The story of Clara Ward, who commonly used one or another version of the title "Princesse de Caraman-Chimay", is poorly known today, but for some years in the early 1890s she was the toast of the United States. During the late 1890s and the Edwardian years she spent much time in both the society and gossip columns of two continents. She was widely known, envied and admired, desired, loathed and reviled.

Early life

Ward was born on June 17, 1873, in Detroit, Michigan^[1], the daughter of a wealthy man, often stated to be a millionaire, sometimes called "Captain" Ward. The reverse of an Edwardian period photograph of the princess has a manuscript identification of her father as roi du cochon or "hog king", and he was perhaps a major dealer in pork or livestock.

First marriage

She came to the public's attention in 1889 or early 1890 when it was announced that the distinguished Belgian visitor to the United States, Marie Joseph Anatole Pierre Alphonse de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay, had proposed marriage to the very young, very attractive daughter of a very wealthy family. The Chateau of Chimay then, as now, was in the county of Hainaut, Belgium, on the French border. The holder of the title "Prince" did so rightfully, and possessed a long and proper noble pedigree. The title was of the type of the old French monarchy, in which "Prince" is a rank, rather than a method showing the degree of relationship to the crown. The wife of that sort of prince becomes a "Princess", and so Clara became, entirely legitimately, a European princess. That her husband-to-be was more than twice her age, quite poor, and even, perhaps, not very handsome, seems to have been of minor consequence. They were married on May 19, 1890, in Paris.^[1]

A German chromolithograph of Clara Ward on an English post card from about 1905

Ward was now properly called "Princesse de Caraman-Chimay", but usually went by "Clara, Princess of Chimay". Americans were ecstatic about their new princess. (The first American princess had been Catherine Willis Gray, great grand-niece of George Washington, who married Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, Prince Achille Murat of the Kingdom of Naples.) Two children shortly followed the marriage:

Marie Elisabeth Catharine Anatole de Riquet, Comtesse de Caraman-Chimay (1891)
Marie Joseph Anatole Pierre Alphonse de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay (1894)

There is evidence that she and the Prince favored the more prestigious Parisian restaurants with their patronage. Specifically, the great chef Escoffier named both Oeufs à la Chimay and Poularde Chimay after Princess Clara.

Second marriage

Some time after the birth of their second child, probably in 1896, the Prince and Princess Chimay were dining in Paris, at what may be expected to have been a suitably elegant establishment. Present at the restaurant, in some capacity, was an exceptionally handsome Hungarian, Rigó Jancsi. (Being Hungarian, "Rigó" was the gentleman's family name and "Jancsi" his given name.) Most accounts credit Mr. Rigó with being a Gypsy musician or violinist, although he is sometimes listed as a chef. Since a moderately well-known chocolate pastry is named "Rigó Jancsi" after him, perhaps one should give credence to the probability that the man was a chef rather than a musician. In any case, all accounts agree that Ward and Rigó were mutually smitten.

Clara Ward and her second husband, Rigó Jancsi, from a photograph on a German post card from about 1905

It is difficult to find a precise time line for the development of the romance between Rigó and Ward, but it happened rapidly. The Prince and Princess Caraman-Chimay were divorced on January 19, 1897^[1], and this event was probably occasioned by Ward and Rigó becoming lovers, perhaps with some attendant public knowledge. The new couple are believed to have traveled to Hungary, in a cloud of publicity. They were married in 1904, probably in Hungary. Some accounts indicate that they soon moved to Egypt, where Clara taught the love of her life the intricacies of reading and writing. Not too surprisingly, Clara Ward, still usually called the Princess Chimay, soon found her resources dwindling. The never-very-full Chimay coffers were certainly closed to her, and her American family cannot be expected to have been very supportive of their "Princess's" new lifestyle, but Ms. Ward was resourceful. Her main talents were being beautiful by the standards of the time, and being famous. She combined the two by posing on various stages, including at least the Folies Bergère and probably the Moulin Rouge, while wearing skin-tight costumes. She called her art-form her poses plastiques. Her level of fame, and presumably notoriety, grew. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec made a scarce lithograph of her and Rigó in 1897, "Idylle Princière". She was often photographed, and featured on many post cards during the Edwardian period, sometimes in a pose plastique and sometimes in more or less conventional dress.

Third marriage

Perhaps the income from this odd occupation was sufficient for the couple to live reasonably well. The idyll was not to last. They were divorced fairly soon after their 1904 marriage, either shortly before or after Ward met her next true love, one Peppino Ricciardo, sometimes stated to have been Spanish, but who was most likely Italian. He is believed to have been a waiter whom she met on a train. They were soon married, but Peppino Ricciardo probably did not last long.

Fourth marriage

The timing is vague, but Ward's next true love, and her last husband, is thought to have been a station manager of the little Italian railroad that helped visitors tour Mount Vesuvius, a Signore Cassalota.

Death

Ward is believed to have still been married to her fourth husband when she died in Padua, Italy, on December 9, 1916. It was not until some three years after Ward's death that her first husband, Prince Marie Joseph Anatole Pierre Alphonse de Riquet of Chimay and Caraman, finally remarried - to a young lady who had only been a few months old when he and Clara originally married.