His wife Princess Hélène was the 5th great-granddaughter of
Philippe d'Orléans. Courted by
Prince Albert Victor, the match was supported by her mother, his parents
King Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra, and his grandmother
Queen Victoria. However, Hélène was Catholic: if they married, Albert Victor would have to forfeit his claim to the throne, pursuant to the Act of Settlement; his willingness to do just that was opposed by Victoria's Prime Minister
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil. Hélène offered to convert to Anglicanism so that he could keep his place in the line of succession, but her father would not consent to it, a decision supported by
Leo XIII, to whom Hélène had beseeched for a dispensation.