Princess Margaret of Denmark (Margrethe Françoise Louise Marie Helene; 17 September 1895 – 18 September 1992) was a Danish princess by birth and a princess of

Bourbon-Parma The House of Bourbon-Parma ( it, Casa di Borbone di Parma) is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, whose members once ruled as King of Etruria and as Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Guastalla, and Lucca. The House descended from the French C ...

as the wife of

Prince René of Bourbon-Parma Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (17 October 1894 – 30 July 1962) was the seventh surviving son of Robert I, Duke of Parma, and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. In 1921, he married Princess Margaret of Denmark. They had four chil ...

. She was the youngest grandchild of

Christian IX of Denmark Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein- ...

and Queen Louise.

Biography

Early life

Princess Margaret was born on 17 September 1895, in

Bernstorff Palace Bernstorff Palace ( da, Bernstorff Slot) in Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark, was built in the middle of the 18th century for Foreign Minister Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff. It remained in the possession of the Bernstorff family until 1 ...

north of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

. She was the fifth child and only daughter of

Prince Valdemar of Denmark Prince Valdemar of Denmark (27 October 1858 – 14 January 1939) was a member of the Danish royal family. He was the third son and youngest child of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. He had a lifelong naval career. Early l ...

, and his wife Princess Marie of Orléans. Her father was a younger son of King Christian IX of Denmark and

Louise of Hesse-Kassel da, Louise Wilhelmine Frederikke Caroline Auguste Julie , succession = Queen consort of Denmark , image = Louise of Hesse-Kassel.jpg , reign = 15 November 1863 – 29 September 1898 , spouse = , issue = , house = ...

, and her mother was the eldest daughter of

Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres (Robert Philippe Louis Eugène Ferdinand; 9 November 1840 – 5 December 1910), was the son of Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and thus grandson of King Louis-Philippe of France. He fought for the Uni ...

and Princess Françoise of Orléans. Her parents' marriage was said to be a political match. Her parents had agreed beforehand that all their sons would be raised Lutheran, their father's creed, and all their daughters Roman Catholic, their mother's faith. She was therefore the first Danish princess since the Reformation raised a Roman Catholic. She was named for her mother's sister Princess Marguerite d'Orléans. Her mother died in 1909.

Marriage

She married a Catholic prince, her mother's relative,

( Schwarzau, 17 October 1894 – Hellerup,

, 30 July 1962) on 9 June 1921 at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in

. His father was

Robert I, Duke of Parma Robert I (Italian: ''Roberto Carlo Luigi Maria''; 9 July 1848 – 16 November 1907) was the last sovereign Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1854 until 1859, when the duchy was annexed to Sardinia-Piedmont during the ''Risorgimento''. He was a m ...

. His mother was the Duke's second wife Princess Maria Antonia, daughter of the exiled King Miguel I of Portugal. René was the brother of

Empress Zita of Austria Zita of Bourbon-Parma (''Zita Maria delle Grazie Adelgonda Micaela Raffaela Gabriella Giuseppina Antonia Luisa Agnese''; 9 May 1892 – 14 March 1989) was the wife of Charles, the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. As such, she was the last Empres ...

and of Felix, the consort of

Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Charlotte (Charlotte Adelgonde Elisabeth Marie Wilhelmine; 23 January 1896 – 9 July 1985) reigned as Grand Duchess of Luxembourg from 14 January 1919 until her abdication on 12 November 1964. She acceded to the throne on 14 January 1919 fol ...

. René and Margrethe had four children: * Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma (9 June 1922 – 5 November 1964; traffic accident outside

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

) married Countess Birgitte Holstein-Ledreborg on 9 June 1947. They had three children and two grandsons. * Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma (18 September 1923 – 1 August 2016) she married King

Michael I of Romania Michael I ( ro, Mihai I ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. Shortly after Michael's ...

on 10 June 1948. They had five daughters. * Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma (4 March 1926 – 7 July 2018) he married Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel on 9 June 1951 and they had five children and twelve grandchildren. They divorced in 1966. He remarried Princess Maria Pia of Savoy on 17 May 2003. * Prince André of Bourbon-Parma (6 March 1928 – 22 October 2011) he married Marina Gacry on 2 May 1960. They had three children and six grandchildren.

Later life

The family was poor compared to other royalty. They chiefly resided in France, where all of their children were born.Beéche, p. 93 In 1939 the family fled from the Nazis and escaped to Spain. From there they went to Portugal and then to the United States. There, in New York, Margrethe made a living making hats while her husband worked at a gas company and her daughter as a shop assistant. They returned to Paris after the war. In June 1951, Margaret was travelling in a car her husband was driving when they ran over a 22-year-old man, Jaja Sorensen, who died soon after being taken to hospital.See http://hemeroteca.lavanguardia.es of 19 June 1951 She died one day after her 97th birthday, on the 69th birthday of her daughter Anne. She was the last surviving child of Prince Valdemar and the longest lived and last surviving grandchild of Christian IX.

Ancestors

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret of Denmark 1895 births 1992 deaths Danish princesses House of Glücksburg (Denmark) Princesses of Bourbon-Parma Burials at Roskilde Cathedral Danish Roman Catholics