Philippe Junot (born 19 April 1940) is a French

venture capitalist Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

and

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

, who was the first husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco. He has business interests in Paris, Spain and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Background and family

Philippe Junot is the son of Michel Junot, Deputy

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Paris, former President of Maison de l'Europe, and Lydia Thykjær, the daughter of a Danish industrialist. His father worked as a politician for several years, including working with president John F Kennedy. Philippe is also a descendant of the Duke of Abrantes, General

Jean-Andoche Junot Jean-Andoche Junot, Duke of Abrantes (; 25 September 1771 – 29 July 1813) was a French military officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for leading the French invasion of Portugal in 1807. ...

who led Napoleon's troops into Portugal. The family name figures on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Education and career

Junot started his career in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(he was an early investor in the

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain founded on February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast of t ...

fast-food hamburger chain), and then formed a series of small start up companies in France, ranging from real estate to renewable energy. Junot is one of the founders of Access International Advisors Group (AIA Group), a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

platform. He was among the large number of investors to be duped by

Bernard Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

which collapsed in late 2008.

Marriages and children

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

, he married civilly on 28 June 1978, and religiously on 29 June, Princess Caroline, eldest daughter of

Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years. Rainier was born at the Prince's Pal ...

, and former

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

icon

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...

. The couple were divorced on 9 October 1980. He married Nina Wendelboe-Larsen in October 1987, and they have three children: Victoria,

Isabelle Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

and Alexis. They separated in 1997. In 2005 Philippe Junot had a daughter in Paris named Chloé Junot Wendel with Swedish model Helén Wendel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Junot, Philippe 1940 births Living people Businesspeople from Paris French venture capitalists French people of Danish descent