Archduchess Maria Immaculata of Austria-Tuscany (1933-2022)

Count Reinhart and Archduchess Immaculata at the wedding of their youngest son in 2000.  Photo (c) Seeger-Press.

Archduchess Maria Immaculata of Austria-Tuscany, Countess von und zu Hoensbroech died on 2 April 2022 at Engelskirchen, Germany. She was eighty-eight years-old. Maria Immaculata was buried at Schloß Kellenberg on 9 April.

The wedding of Archduke Theodor Salvator and Countess Maria Theresa, 1926.

Born on 7 December 1933 at Schloß Wallsee, Archduchess Maria Immakulata (Immaculata) Mathilde Elisabeth Gabriele Walburga Huberta of Austria-Tuscany was the third child and second daughter of Archduke Theodor Salvator (1899-1978) and Countess Maria Theresa von Waldburg zu Zeil und Trauchburg (1901-1967), who wed in 1926. Schloß Wallsee had been inherited by Archduke Theodor Salvator from his mother Archduchess Marie Valerie, the daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. 

Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany, Princess Theresa of Bavaria, Countess Maria Immaculata von und zu Hoensbroech, and Archduke Karl Salvator.

Maria Immaculata had three siblings: Archduke Franz Salvator (1927-2012; married twice), Archduchess Theresa (b.1931; married Prince Rasso of Bavaria), and Archduke Karl Salvator (b.1936; married Edith Wenzl Baroness von Sternbach).

Maria Immaculata and Reinhart with their seven children.

On 14 May 1959 at Koslar, Archduchess Maria Immaculata of Austria-Tuscany civilly married Count Reinhart von und zu Hoensbroech (1926-2005), the fourth child and second son of Count Lothar von und zu Hoensbroech (1889-1951) and Baroness Helene de Loë (1896-1933). Maria Immaculata and Reinhart celebrated their religious marriage on 9 June 1959 at Schloß Wallsee. The couple went on to have seven children: Countess Alexandra (b.1960), Count Branco (b.1961; married Baroness Assunta von Lüninck), Countess Consuelo (b.1962; married Count Alexandre d'Hemricourt de Grünne), Countess Donata (b.1963; married Count Friedrich-August von Plettenberg), Countess Elena (b.1965; married Baron Georg von Holzhausen, one of the sons of Archduchess Maria Magdalena of Austria-Tuscany, a second cousin of Archduchess Maria Immaculata), Count Florian (b.1969; married Princess Desiree of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), and Countess Gloria (b.1974). 

Kellenberg.

The couple raised their family at Schloß Kellenberg, the ancestral home of Count Reinhart. For many decades, Reinhart oversaw the castle and its estate; he was an accomplished forester. In April 1992, a fire almost completely destroyed the main part of the castle. Schloß Kellenberg was sold by the family in 2009. Together, Reinhart and Maria Immaculata enjoyed vacationing to locales which were not overwhelmed by tourists. In 2004, Archduchess Maria Immaculata attended the wedding of the Prince of Asturias (now King Felipe VI of Spain).

Archduchess Maria Immaculata and Count Reinhart at the wedding of Hereditary Prince Carl Christian von Wrede and Countess Katalin Bethlen de Bethlen, 2003. Photo (c) Seeger-Press / Minka Reddig.

Maria Immaculata was widowed on 8 June 2005 when her husband Reinhart died at the age of seventy-eight. The couple had been married forty-five years, and would have celebrated their forty-sixth anniversary the day after Count Reinhart passed away following a short illness. Now, Maria Immaculata has rejoined her husband.

Maria Immaculata with Pastor Stefan Bäuerle at Schloß Kellenberg, 2009. Photo (c) Jagodzinska.

May Maria Immaculata Rest in Peace.

Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este, Princess of Savoy-Aosta (1930-2022)

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Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este,

née Princess of Savoy-Aosta

(7 April 1930-10 January 2022)

 

Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta on the eve of her marriage.

Today, HI&RH Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este, Princess of Savoy-Aosta, died at the age of ninety-one years-old. The archduchess died in Basel, Switzerland; this being the town where she and her husband had lived in their later years. 

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Princess Anne of France, Princess of Savoy, Duchess of Apulia, expects her first child.
Snippet (c) Chicago Tribune of 9 March 1930.

On 7 April 1930, Princess Margherita Isabella Maria Vittoria Emanuella Elena Gennara of Savoy was born at Capodimonte. The princess was the first child of Prince Amedeo of Savoy (1898-1942), at the time Duke of Apulia and later Duke of Aosta, and Princess Anne d'Orléans (1906-1986), who married in 1927. Present at Margherita's birth were her maternal grandmother Princess Isabelle d'Orléans, Duchess of Guise, and her great-aunt Queen Amélie of Portugal. The infant Margherita was baptised at the Royal Palace of Capodimonte (Reggia di Capodimonte) on 28 May 1930; King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy was her godfather, her paternal grandmother Princess Hélène, Duchess of Aosta, served as Margherita's godmother. Several years later, Margherita was joined by sister Princess Maria Cristina in 1933.

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In March 1942, Margherita's father Amedeo died from tuberculosis at the age of forty-three. As a commander in the Italian army, the Duke of Aosta had become a prisoner-of-war when he was captured by the British armed forces on the African front. Anne d'Orléans was thus left a widow, who had to care for her two young daughters during the slow but imminent fall of the Kingdom of Italy. 

 

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The engagement between Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta and Archduke Robert of Austria-Este (1915-1996) was announced in October 1953. The couple met in November 1952 at the wedding of Robert's brother, Archduke Felix, to Princess and Duchess Anna-Eugénie of Arenberg. Marchese Falcone Lucifero, the Head of the Royal Household of King Umberto II, issued the following communiqué to the press: "King Umberto was happy to give his consent, and expressed his fervent good wishes for the engaged couple." Robert was one of the children of Emperor Karl of Austria and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Robert and Margherita contracted a civil marriage on 28 December 1953 at Bourg-en-Bresse, France. 

 

Archduke Robert and Princess Margherita during their religious wedding.

 

On the following day, 29 December, Robert and Margherita's religious union took place at Brou, France. Standing six feet tall and wearing a diamond tiara, Margherita proved to be an imposing presence. The bridegroom was himself six feet three inches tall: they formed an impressive couple. Monsignor Marella, the Papal Nuncio to Paris, presided over the imperial and royal wedding. King Umberto II of Italy and Prince Filiberto of Savoy-Genoa, Duke of Pistoia, were the witnesses for Princess Margherita; Archduke Rudolph of Austria and Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma were the witnesses for Archduke Robert. Following their marriage, Archduke Robert and Archduchess Margherita departed Paris for a honeymoon in New York and Palm Beach.

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Archduke Robert and Archduchess Margherita settled in Paris. Robert worked in the banking industry. The couple had five children: Archduchess Maria Beatrix (b.1954), Archduke Lorenz (b.1955), Archduke Gerhard (b.1957), Archduke Martin (b.1959), and Archduchess Isabella (b.1963).

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Archduchess Margherita and Archduke Robert of Austria-Este in the 1990s.
Photograph (c) Presse-Foto-Seeger.

Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este with her daughter Archduchess Isabella in November 1997.
Photograph (c) Presse-Foto-Seeger.

Four of Margherita and Robert's sons and daughters married into royal and aristocratic circles. In 1980, Archduchess Maria Beatrix wed Count Riprand von Arco-Zinneberg. In 1984, Archduke Lorenz married Princess Astrid of Belgium. In 1997, Archduchess Isabelle wed Count Andrea Czarnocki-Lucheschi. In 2004, Archduke Martin married Princess Katharina zu Isenburg. Only one son, Archduke Gerhard, contracted an "unequal" union; this took place in 2015 when Gerhard wed Iris Jandrasits. Archduke Robert and Archduchess Margherita of Austria had nineteen grandchildren.

Archduke Robert and Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este

 

On 7 February 1996, Archduke Robert passed away at Basel, Switzerland, one day shy of his eighty-first birthday. He was buried at Kloster Muri in the Swiss countryside. His widow Margherita survived him by over twenty-five years.

 

May Margherita Rest In Peace.