2026 Queen Yolande, portrayed by Sandy Rosenthal, Maid of Honor (Joan of Arc), portrayed by Rory Davis, and King Charles VII, portrayed by Greg Lambousey
The Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc selects three community leaders each year to portray three featured characters in our parade: a young Maid Joan, a King Charles VII, and a Queen Yolande.
2026 Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc Royalty:
Maid of Honor (Joan of Arc): Rory Davis, Lycée Français International de la Louisiane
Queen Yolande of Aragon: Sandy Rosenthal, of Levees.org, activist and author of Words Whispered in Water
King Charles VII: Greg Lambousy, New Orleans Jazz Museum
MAID OF HONOR:
The young Maid of Orleans will be portrayed by RORY DAVIS, a senior at Lycée Français Internationale de la Louisiane in New Orleans. Rory’s identity is rooted in community service, a love of academics, vocal performance, and her immense respect for cultural heritage. Fluent in French and English, Rory has earned a full tuition Posse Scholarship to Providence College in Rhode Island, where she plans to immerse herself in the liberal arts, history and French studies. Rory was recognized as a 2025 Leader of the Year at Lycée Français. She is also a Juliette Girl Scout, a French tutor, a camp counselor, and captain and student coach for the archery team (a 100 Years War sport!)
“Courage was, in so many ways, at the heart of Joan. Courage to have faith in God, her nation, and herself, and courage to have conviction in all that she did,” Rory said in her acceptance speech. “Once she found it in herself, she was able to become a leader who shared it with others. She helped the dauphin find courage to stand up as a king; she motivated other soldiers and comrades in arms to find their own courage and fight.
And since, she has given me courage to believe that I too am a leader like her, who may not have a fancy title or be the most powerful, but who can still make a difference in the lives of those around her and for those in the future.” (Read her full speech and bio here)
Look for our young “Maid of Orleans”, Jeanne d’Arc, on a tall white live horse in the parade. Midway through the parade, she will receive her sword after a blessing at St. Mary’s Church at the Old Ursuline Convent. The sword she receives was a gift to the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc from the city of Orléans, France, whose 500-year parade tradition was a model for our selection of a young Joan. Finalists receive an interview in French and English by the Cultural Attaché/ Chargée de Mission Culturelle of the Consulate General of France in New Orleans. The annual contest is open to all young women in the Greater New Orleans area ages 16-19 who have demonstrated outstanding community leadership and have French language experience and skills. The young women portraying the French “Jeanne” and our “Joan” participate in a cultural exchange, thanks to a travel scholarship from the New Orleans Rotary Foundation. (More about the program) Note that this year the sword blessing ceremony has been moved to St. Mary’s from its usual location at the Cathedral due to both street and Cathedral construction (more about this year’s route).
Past Maids of Honor include: Life Sacco (2025), Marley Marsalis (2024), Emmeline Meyer (2023), Ava Wilkes (2022), Zoe Kanga (2020), Alyssa Fortier (2019), Martha Pinney (2018), Héloïse Trumel (2017), Margaux Schexnider (2016), Emma Martello (2015), Clara Bajeux (2014), Gretchen Neuenhaus (2013), Aggie Bell (2012), and Blair Davis (2010).
QUEEN YOLANDE OF ARAGON:
Queen Yolande, the mother-in-law of King Charles and supporter of Joan, will be portrayed by activist SANDY ROSENTHAL.
After Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures in New Orleans, Sandy Rosenthal founded the nonprofit Levees.org with 25,000 supporters nationwide. Her book––Words Whispered in Water––is about how she exposed the culprit in the catastrophe––the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers––and how the agency spent millions covering up its mistakes. Rosenthal is an advocate for the 62% of the American population living by levees. Sandy hosts a weekly podcast called “Beat the Big Guys,” where she coaches her national audience on how to take on the big guys in their own communities. Rosenthal plays tennis five days a week, practices yoga, teaches her dog silly tricks and spends time every month with her two grandchildren in San Francisco.
Queen Yolande will be riding in a royal “horse-drawn” pedicab, dressed in a cloak composed of the coat of arms and heraldic colors of the historical Queen Yolande. Past queens are: Megan Holt (2025), Hannah Kreiger Benson (2024), Beth Arroyo Utterback (2023), Ti Martin (2022), Margarita Bergen (2020), Liz Williams (2019), Kristin Gisleson Palmer (2018), Camille Whitworth (2017), Sandra Dartus (2016), Simone Bruni (2015), Mary Beth Romig (2014), Betsie Gambel (2013).
KING CHARLES VII:King Charles VII will be portrayed by GREG LAMBOUSY, director of the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
Greg Lambousy is the director of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. He is a dedicated arts management executive with a flair for blending the cultural and the creative to achieve international recognition and institutional growth. Lambousy’s career is highlighted by innovative leadership in museum operations, strategic development, and community engagement, where his efforts have significantly elevated the city’s cultural profile on a global stage, including stages in Paris and Orléans, France. He believes in the transformative power of arts and culture to connect people, tell powerful stories, and build communities. At the New Orleans Jazz Museum, he and his staff have created more than a museum; through their work a vibrant cultural community center has emerged that reflects and enhances the soul of New Orleans.
Prior to the Jazz Museum, Lambousy was Director of Curatorial Services for the National World War II Museum. He began his career at the New Orleans Museum of Art and later moved to the Louisiana State Museum (LSM). During his twenty-year tenure at the LSM, Lambousy managed the institution’s collections of more than 500,000 artifacts and other historical items, directed improvements to collections storage, developed conservation and digitization projects across collections and within the Louisiana Historical Center archives. In addition, Lambousy developed the operational plan for the Jazz Museum Performing Arts Center and expanded music holdings by collecting a wide variety of artifacts related to jazz and other genres.
Lambousy has worked closely with the French Consulate over the years, reinvigorating and developing further initiatives in France and New Orleans.
In the parade as King Charles VII, Greg Lambousy will also be in a royal “horse-drawn” pedicab, and he will wear a robe inspired by one of many paintings of the King’s coronation at Reims Cathedral, at which Joan of Arc was present. At the king cake ceremony stop in the parade, the king will be ceremoniously crowned by the young Joan Maid of Honor. The two will then cut the first king cake of the season, representing Joan of Arc’s birthday cake as well as Carnival season tradition. Joan Past kings include: Scott Tilton (2025), Louis Michot (2024), Joseph Dunn (2023), Joseph Mistrot (2022), Simon Hardeveld (2020), Alexandre Vialou (2019), Pierre-Loic Denichou (2018), Jean-Luc Albin (2017), Eric Belin (2016), Patrick van Hoorebeek (2015), Jacques Soulas (2014), René Bajeux (2013), Damien Regnard (2012), Lilian Cadet (2011) and David Villarubia (2010).