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Princess Maria Francesca of Savoy
Former Italian princess From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Princess Maria Francesca of Savoy (Maria Francesca Anna Romana; 26 December 1914 – 4 December 2001)[1] was the youngest daughter of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Elena of Montenegro. In 1939, she married Prince Luigi of Bourbon-Parma. She was the sister of Umberto II of Italy and Tsaritsa Giovanna of Bulgaria.
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Born on 26 December 1914, Maria Francesca was born in Rome as the fifth and youngest child of her parents. She had three elder sisters, Yolanda, Giovanna, Mafalda, and a brother, Umberto.
On 23 January 1939, in the Pauline Chapel of the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Maria Francesca married Prince Luigi of Bourbon-Parma (1899–1967), a younger son of Robert I, Duke of Parma, and Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal.[2] Her husband was a brother of Zita, Empress of Austria,[2] the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary.
The couple moved to Cannes, where all four of their children were born.[3] Maria was interned with her husband and two sons by the Nazis during World War II.[3] In 1945 the Anglo-Americans freed them and they returned to Italy. After the war, they lived in Italy for a while, then returned to France.[3] She took up permanent residence in Mandelieu, near Cannes, after her husband's death in 1967.[2]
They had four children:[2]
- Prince Guy of Bourbon-Parma (7 August 1940, Cannes – 10 March 1991, Paris); married Brigitte Peu-Duvallon on 11 November 1964, divorced on 17 September 1981, with issue.
- Prince Rémy of Bourbon-Parma (born 14 July 1942, Cannes); married firstly Laurence Dufresne d'Arganchy 10 February 1973, divorced 1983, with issue.[2] He married secondly Elisabeth Tardif on 5 July 2003.
- Princess Chantal of Bourbon-Parma (born 24 November 1946, Cannes); married firstly Panayotis Skinas on 1 July 1977, divorced in 1987, with issue. She married secondly Francois-Henri Georges on 24 September 1988.
- Prince Jean of Bourbon-Parma (born 15 October 1961, Cannes); married Virginia Roatta on 26 March 1988, with issue.[3] Jean is the youngest grandchild of Robert I, Duke of Parma.
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Honours
House of Savoy: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus[4]
Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Dame Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, 3rd First Class[4]
Austrian Imperial and Royal Family: Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross, 2nd Class[4]
Ancestry
References
External links
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