Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (born Princess Maria Pia of Savoy; 24 September 1934) is the eldest daughter of

Umberto II of Italy en, Albert Nicholas Thomas John Maria of Savoy , house = Savoy , father = Victor Emmanuel III of Italy , mother = Princess Elena of Montenegro , birth_date = , birth_place = Racconigi, Piedmont, Kingdom of Italy , ...

and

Marie-José of Belgium Marie-José of Belgium (Marie-José Charlotte Sophie Amélie Henriette Gabrielle; 4 August 1906 – 27 January 2001) was the last List of Italian queens, Queen of Italy. Her 34-day tenure as queen consort earned her the nickname "the May Queen" ...

. She is the older sister of

Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy (Maria Gabriella Giuseppa Aldegonda Adelaide Ludovica Felicita Gennara; born 24 February 1940) is the middle daughter of Italy's last king, Umberto II, and Marie José of Belgium, the "May Queen". She is a his ...

Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples , house = Savoy , spouse = , issue = Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice , father = Umberto II of Italy , mother = Princess Marie-José of Belgium , birth_date = , birth_place = Naples, Kingdo ...

, and Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy.

Biography

Umberto, Maria Josè and their daughter Maria Pia

Maria Pia Elena Elisabetta Margherita Milena Mafalda Ludovica Tecla Gennara di Savoia was the first-born child of the Prince and Princess of Piedmont, born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, Italy in 1934. Her parents, married since 1930, were unhappy together, as her mother confessed in an interview many years later (''On n'a jamais été heureux'', "We were never happy"), and separated after the Italian monarchy was abolished by

plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...

on 2 June 1946. Exiled, the family gathered briefly in Portugal, and she and her three younger siblings soon went with their mother to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

while their father remained in the

Portuguese Riviera The Portuguese Riviera ( Portuguese: ''Riviera Portuguesa'') is a term used in the tourist industry for the affluent coastal region to the west of Lisbon, Portugal, centered on the coastal municipalities of Cascais (including Estoril), Oeiras ...

. She lives in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

, near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, and

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intrac ...

Marriages and issue

Alexander of Yugoslavia and Maria Pia 1958b

On the royal cruise of the yacht, ''Agamemnon'', hosted by Queen Frederica of Greece on 22 August 1954, she met and later married Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia (1924–2016), son of

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pavle Karađorđević, Павле Карађорђевић, English transliteration: ''Paul Karageorgevich''; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was prince regent o ...

and

Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark ( el, Όλγα; 11 June 1903 – 16 October 1997) was a Greek princess who became princess of Yugoslavia as the wife of Prince Paul, Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Princess Olga was a daughter of Princ ...

. The two were married on 12 February 1955 at

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourist destination. Its marin ...

in Portugal, where Maria Pia's father was living in exile. Not long after their wedding, Maria Pia gave birth to the couple's set of fraternal twin sons. Another set of twins was born to Maria Pia during the marriage five years later, this time a girl and boy: * Prince Dimitri Umberto Anton Peter Maria of Yugoslavia (born 18 June 1958) * Prince Michael Nicolas Paul George Maria of Yugoslavia (born 18 June 1958) * Prince Sergius "Serge" Wladimir Emanuel Maria of Yugoslavia (born 12 March 1963); married Sophia de Toledo on 6 November 1985. They divorced in 1986. He was remarried to Eleonora Rajneri on 18 September 2004. He has a child with Christiane Galeotti: ** Umberto Emmanuel Dimitri Karađorđević (born 3 February 2018 in Monaco) * Princess Helene Olga Lydia Tamara Maria of Yugoslavia (born 12 March 1963); married Thierry Gaubert on 12 January 1988.A 2006 image of Princess Helene of Yugoslavia
. Life.com. Retrieved on 27 July 2015. The couple divorced and she remarried to Stanislas Fougeron on 12 March 2018. ** Milena Maria Pia Angelique Armaule Gaubert (born 1988) ** Nastasia Marie José Tania Vanessa Isabelle Gaubert (born 1991) ** Leopold Umberto Armand Michel Gaubert (born 1997) The couple were divorced in 1967. In 2003, Maria Pia was married to Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma (1926–2018), son 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 ...

and

Princess Margaret of Denmark 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 as the wife of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma. She was the youngest g ...

, whose marriage with Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel had been annulled and with whom he has five

dynastic A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

children, also being the father of a child born out of wedlock in 1977, Amélie de Bourbon de Parme (wed in 2009 to

Igor Bogdanoff Igor Youriévitch Bogdanoff (; 29 August 1949 – 3 January 2022) and Grégoire "Grichka" Youriévitch Bogdanoff (; 29 August 1949 – 28 December 2021) were French twin television presenters, producers, and essayists who, from the 1970s on, pr ...

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on '' L'Intransigeant ...

. Françoise de Labarre
Mariage estraterrestre
13 October 2009. French. Retrieved 2 August 2016. Through him she was a sister-in-law of

Queen Anne of Romania Princess Anne Antoinette Françoise Charlotte Zita Marguerite of Bourbon-Parma (18 September 1923 – 1 August 2016) was the wife of King Michael I of Romania. Michael abdicated the throne in 1947, and he and Anne married the next year. Nonethel ...

. Maria Pia's ex-husband, Prince Alexander was also remarried, to Princess Barbara of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

, a cousin of that principality's monarch, and they had one son, Prince Dušan Paul.

Select bibliography

References

External links

Royalty visits the Hoover Institution Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Pia Of Bourbon-Parma, Princess 1934 births Living people Italian princesses Princesses of Bourbon-Parma Princesses of Savoy Recipients of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Knights of Malta Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Italian exiles Daughters of kings