The soi-disant Prince Andre de Guise

Last year, "the Editor" of the Baronage Press posted fascinating
material here in relation to a gentleman who purports to be The Prince
of Guise, including a pedigree (which remains online at
the princely "title".

This claims the following ascent for the gentleman in question:

Claude I, Duke of Guise, d 1550
Rene, Marquis d'Elbeuf, d 1566
Charles, Duke d'Elbeuf, d 1605
Charles II, Duke d'Elbeuf, d 1657
Francois-Louis, Count d'Harcourt, d 1694
Henri, legitimised 1698
Francois, d 1773
Marie-Jeanne, Princess de Guise, d 1785
Joseph, Prince de Guise, d 1829
Charles-Louis, Prince de Guise, d 1860
Claude, Prince de Guise, d 1889
Guillaume, Prince de Guise, d 1912
Marie-Jeanne, Princess de Guise, d 1962
Edwyna, Princess de Guise d 1983
Prince Andre de Guise

mjcar...

I know have full particulars of Andrew Hunter's ancestry, which show
his claims to be a total fantasy. His mother, 'Edwyna', was the
daughter of George Cossey (whom Andrew Hunter amusingly calls "Prince
George de Guise Roussel") by his wife Maria Jane (sic) Roussel
(1884-1960), a dairy-farmer of New Zealand.

Maria Jane appears to have been rather a fantasist, and it is
presumably her fantasies that her grandson has adopted. Furthermore,
any titles or headship to houses etc through her are a nullity, as she
was the seventh of eight children born to Pierre (sic) Roussel (ff
1915) by his wife Esther Elizabeth Viel. Pierre Roussel was born in
Brittany, son of Sarin Roussel, a tailor, and with his wife and two
eldest sons emigrated to New Zealand in 1873. In addition to Maria
Jane, Pierre and Esther had five sons in all; their heir of line
appears to have been their grandson, Sirin Milton Roussel (born 1895),
while other male-line descendants are still living in New Zealand.
They have no known royal or noble ancestry.

Additionally, "The Prince" has his own website, in relation to his own

pierre_aronax...

<=2E..>

A voir son site, le prince de Guise para=EEt =EAtre marchand de tapis.

mjcar...

C'est vrai - but not just rugs, you can also become a Lord or Prince,
if you donate to his Order (strictly for charitable purposes, of course
- only a "bank wire fee" will be deducted).

And if you do really good work for them, you may be able to secure
appointment to the Assembly of Moldovan Nobility (sic).

Radu Bogdan...

Such thing _does not exist_, neither in the Rep. of Moldavia, nor in
the Roumanian Moldova.

(It's all on his website; I couldn't make it up)

thomasarbuthnott...

While I don't have much time for modern orders of chivalry unless (a)
they are genuinely charitable and (b) they don't take themselves too
seriously, having found that this order doesn't claim on its website to
be "an order of chivalry" and that its head is described as its
President, not "Knight Grand Master" or somesuch, I'm not so sure that
its members take their "titles" seriously. They are probably a bunch
of charitably-minded Christians who bond with a sense of fun.

Artificer...

The famous arms in question, (azure floretty, two barbels addorsed or),
belonged to Louis, Duke and Cardinal of Bar, of the House of Bar, who
founded the original
Compagnie du L=E9vrier Blanc as a benevolent order of chivalry on March
31, 1416 with a goal of protecting his land from outsiders. The
original Charter can still be seen in the Archives Nationales in Paris,
with most of the seals of the 47 founding members still intact.

This information can be found on the Order of the White Greyhound

I've worked in some of the former Soviet Union countries, although not
Moldova, and I think that anything that can be done to help the people
there ought to be done, and if that's what these guys are doing I have
no problems. (That doesn't mean I'm going to join, but I wouldn't stop
others.)

"The Editor" kindly informed us in September of last year that "The
Prince" was educated at Winchester - indeed so, and he was a
contemporary of a cousin of mine there. The registers show him with
the surname of Hunter, but according to the Old Boys records he appears
to have transformed himself subsequently into "Prince Andrew (sic) John
Xavier de Guise". His register entry states he was born 9 November
1932, son of Geoffrey Scott Hunter (also an old Wykhamist, in turn son
of Wilfrid Clare Hunter, CBE) by his wife Edwyna (married 29.8.1931).
GS Hunter's OB entry says she was the daughter of "G. de Guise
Roussell, of Auckland, New Zealand", but the OB entry for "The Prince"
calls her the daughter of "Prince George de Guise Roussel (sic) of
Auckland".

This presents a curious addition to the unusual claims made for the
gentleman, in that not only is his alleged princely title heritable
through female and illegitimate lines, but it is transmissable by jure
uxoris - or how else would the husband of "Princess Marie-Jeanne de
Guise" himself be "Prince George de Guise"? (Alternatively, of course,
"The Prince" may simply have had difficulty in remembering the ancestry
whereby his claims were made.)

How rum.