Prince Jaime Bernardo of Bourbon-Parma, Count of Bardi (born 13 October 1972) is the second son and third child of

Princess Irene of the Netherlands Princess Irene of the Netherlands (Irene Emma Elisabeth; born 5 August 1939) is the second child of Juliana of the Netherlands, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Prince Bernhard. In 1964, she converted to ...

and

Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma and Piacenza (8 April 1930 – 18 August 2010) was the head of the ducal House of Bourbon-Parma from 1977 until his death. Carlos Hugo was a Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain and sought to change the political dir ...

. He is a member of the

House of Bourbon-Parma The House of Bourbon-Parma () is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, whose members once ruled as King of Etruria and as Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Duke of Guastalla, Guastalla, and Duke of Lucca, Lucca. The House descended from the Fre ...

as well an extended member of the Dutch royal family. From 2014 to 2018 he was the Dutch ambassador to the Holy See. Until 2021 he was the Senior Advisor Private Sector Partnerships at UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. Currently he is the Climate Envoy of the Netherlands.

Early life

Jaime was born in

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

, Netherlands. He has a twin sister, Princess Margarita, who was born one minute earlier. Besides his twin sister, the prince has one elder brother, Carlos, Duke of Parma, and one younger sister, Princess Carolina. Prince Jaime was born six weeks

premature Premature may refer to: * ''Premature'' (2014 film), an American comedy film * ''Premature'' (2019 film), an American romantic drama film * '' PREMature'', a 2015 British television drama miniseries See also * Premature aging, of an organism * ...

ly and stayed with his sister in an incubator at the hospital. Jaime was baptised by Bernardus Johannes Cardinal Alfrink, with his grandfather

Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; 29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) was Prince consort of the Netherlands, Prince of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen J ...

and Princess Madeleine of Bourbon-Parma as his godparents. In 1981 his parents decided to divorce. Together with his mother and his siblings he moved to the Soestdijk Palace (

Baarn Baarn () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, near Hilversum in the province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The municipality of Baarn The municipality of Baarn consists of the following towns: Baarn, Eembrugge, Lage Vuursche. T ...

), then residence of his grandparents,

Queen Juliana Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Duke ...

and Prince Bernhard, where he lived for several years.

Education and career

Jaime studied

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in the United States. He subsequently obtained a M.A. degree in International Economics and Conflict Management at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. During this studies he performed an internship at the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

and the International Federation of the Red Cross. He now works for the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

of the Netherlands. His first role was as the first secretary of the Netherlands Embassy in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, before becoming a political advisor to the peace mission in Pol-e Khomri in the

Baghlan Province Baghlan ( Dari and ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan and located in northeastern Afghanistan. As of 2020, the province has a population of about 1,014,634. Its capital is Puli Khumri, but its name comes from the other major town in t ...

in the northern part of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Until the summer of 2007 the prince worked on secondment in the cabinet of the European Commissioner

Neelie Kroes Neelie Kroes (; born 19 July 1941) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson who served as European Commissioner from 22 November 2004 to 1 November 2014. Kroes studied Economics at ...

. He was back in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he had the position of Special Envoy for Natural Resources. On 7 February 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that he would be appointed as ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Holy See. Prince Jaime was, on 15 July 2014, sworn in as ambassador by

King Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

and he served till August 2018. Thereafter he was seconded to UNHCR, the United Nations Agency for Refugees, as Senior Advisor Private Sector Partnerships to work on the

energy transition An energy transition (or energy system transformation) is a major structural change to energy supply and consumption in an energy system. Currently, a transition to sustainable energy is underway to limit climate change. Most of the sustainab ...

in refugee settlements. In August 2021 he started as the Climate Envoy of the Netherlands.

Other activities

Jaime has also worked as an interviewer for the documentary series ''Africa, War is Business''. In the documentary he investigated and explained how a country that is very rich in raw materials can be dominated by poverty and conflict. In the series he visited

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

and its diamond fields,

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

to see how an export embargo on its

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

is carried out, and the

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, where he goes on a night patrol in the war-torn east of the country, an area rich in gold and

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

. In the documentary possible solutions are displayed from the perspective of the international community. The prince performs representative tasks for the Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma. He is regularly present at royal marriages, baptismal ceremonies, and funerals.

Personal life

On 12 August 2013, Jaime's engagement to Viktória Cservenyák was announced. Cservenyák (born 25 May 1982 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) is a Hungarian-born Dutch attorney and daughter of

Tibor Cservenyák Tibor Cservenyák (born 8 August 1948) is a Hungarian former water polo player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1976 Summer Olympics. Biography From the age of ten he played water polo for Szolnoki Dózsa, from 1973 for Újpe ...

and his former wife, Dorottya Klára Bartos. On 3 October 2013, they married in a civil wedding ceremony in

Wijk bij Duurstede Wijk bij Duurstede () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the central Netherlands. Population centres *Cothen *Langbroek *Wijk bij Duurstede Topography ''Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Wijk bij Du ...

. Their religious wedding took place on 5 October 2013, at the Church of Our Lady in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

. They have two daughters: Zita Clara (born on ), who was named after her paternal great-great aunt Empress Zita of Austria and her maternal great-grandmother Klára Killermann. On 9 November 2015, it was announced that the couple were expecting a second child; daughter Gloria Irene was born on . In a 2015 interview, Princess Viktória stated that the gender of her future child did not matter ("fortunately, we can not influence nature in the terms of gender"), after being told that there were no grandsons for the late Duke of Parma (in April 2016, Jaime's elder brother Carlos, Duke of Parma finally had a son, named Carlos Enrique).

Titles, styles and honours

;Titles *13 October 1972 – 2 September 1996: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma *2 September 1996 – present: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince Jaime, Count of Bardi **Officially in the Netherlands: 15 May 1996 – present: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme ;Honours ;Dynastic honours * Ducal Family of Parma: **Bailiff Knight of the Parmese Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George ** Chancellor Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Louis for Civil Merit ;Foreign honours *SMOM: Knight of the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

*Grand Cross in the

Order of Pope Pius IX The Order of Pope Pius IX (), also referred as the Pian Order (, ), is a papal order of knighthood originally founded by Pope Pius IV in 1560. It is the highest honor currently conferred by the Holy See (two higher honors, the Supreme Order of C ...

Notes

Already a ducal prince from birth, his father bestowed the

substantive title A substantive title, in the United Kingdom, is a title of nobility which is owned in its own right, as opposed to titles shared among cadets, borne as a courtesy title by a peer's relatives, or acquired through marriage. Current monarchies * ...

''Conte di Bardi'' (Count of Bardi) upon him on 2 September 1996. In 1996 he was incorporated into the

Dutch nobility The Dutch nobility is a small elite social class consisting of individuals or families recognised as nobility, noble, and with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The existence of nobility was established in the Con ...

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

, with the highest noble title ''Prins de Bourbon de Parme'' (Prince of Bourbon-Parma), and styled ''Zijne Koninklijke Hoogheid'' (''

His Royal Highness Royal Highness is a style (manner of address), style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Kings and their female Queen consort, consorts, as well as queens regnant, are usually styled ''Maje ...

''). His other titles hold no ground within the Dutch nobility. He does not belong to the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

or the limited Dutch royal house, but as a grandson of Queen Juliana and cousin of the present

, he is an official member of the more extended Dutch royal family. Postbus 51 – Website of the Dutch Government Information Service (''in Dutch'')

References

External links

Official website of the House of Bourbon-Parma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaime, Count of Bardi 1972 births Living people 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch diplomats 21st-century Roman Catholics Ambassadors of the Netherlands to the Holy See Brown University alumni Counts of Bardi Dutch conservationists Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch twins People from Nijmegen House of Bourbon-Parma Princes of Bourbon-Parma Princes of the Netherlands Italian nobility Spanish royalty Sustainability advocates