HRH Princess Margarete of Bourbon-Parma turns 100 years old today.

Princess Margarete von Thurn und Taxis was born on 8 November 1909 at the Chateau de Beloeil, in Belgium, the family seat of the Princes of Ligne; her parents were Prince Alexander Karl von Thurn und Taxis (1881-1937) and his first wife Princess Marie, née Princess of Ligne (1885-1971), herself the daughter of Prince Louis de Ligne and Princess Elisabeth, née de la Rochefoucauld.

Princess Margarete - courtesy of roglo.eu

Margarete was the last of three children, and the only daughter; her eldest brother Raimondo married in 1949 Princess Evgenia of Greece (the daughter of Prince Giorgios and Princess Marie, née Bonaparte, and granddaughter of King Giorgios I).

Margarete’s parents divorced when she was 10; her father remarried in 1932 to Helena Holbrook-Walker; in 1923 Prince Alexander Karl was naturalized as Italian citizen, taking the title of Principe della Torre e Tasso (the Italian translation of their German surname) and was created Duke of Castel Duino, in Friuli, that still is the family seat of the descendants of Prince Raimondo and Princess Evgenia.

Princess Margarete married in Paris on 29 April 1931 His Royal Highness Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma (1905-1958), the 24^th and youngest son of the late Duke Roberto of Parma (1848-1907) and his second wife Duchess Maria Antonia, née Infanta of Portugal (1862-1959). Among Prince Gaetano’s half-siblings were three titular Dukes of Parma (Enrico, Giuseppe and Elias), and Princess Maria Luisa of Bulgaria (the first wife of King Ferdinand I), while among his siblings were Duke Xavier of Parma (Head of the Carlism, and father of the present Duke Carlos Hugo), Empress Zita of Austria and Prince Felix of Luxembourg. Read more…

MAfan Italian Royals Biography, Birthday, Bourbon-Parma, Princess Margarete

On Monday, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands attended a meeting of the ‘club of Rome’ in Amsterdam. Former president of the USSR, Michael Gorbatsjov, also attended the meeting, as he is a honorairy member of the club.

Click on image to see picture at PPE

The club of Rome is an association that was founded in the late 60-ties by European scientists who were worried about the state of the world. During the Global Assembly, a two day conference of the club that was held in the music building near the IJ river (Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ) was the last in a series of seven meetings that had to prepare the climate summit in Copenhagen, later this year. The theme of the conference was climate, energy and economic recuperation.

After the conference the queen took her time to talk with former president Gorbatsjov, as can be seen in this clip from the local television station AT5. Apart from the scientists and politicians, the conference was also attended by prince Carlos of Bourbon-Parma, a nephew of Queen Beatrix. The prince recently announced his engagement to Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel.

Click here to go to the website of the club of Rome. And click here for the current events thread of Queen Beatrix.

Marengo Dutch Royals, Italian Royals Bourbon-Parma, Environment, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Carlos, Queen Beatrix, USSR

  Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Parma, the eldest son of the Duke of Parma and Princess Irene of The Netherlands, will get married. The family announced today that the prince will marry Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel next year.

Click on image to see picture at PPE

Prince Carlos Javier Bernardo of Bourbon-Parma, Prince of Piacenza, was born in Nijmegen on 27 January 1970. He studied Economy, History and Political Sciences at the Wesleyan University in Connecticut and Demographics and Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.  At the moment he is the director of a foundation for Innovation and Sustainability.

His fiancée, Annemarie Cecilia Gualthérie van Weezel, was born in The Hague on 18 December 1977.  She has an older brother and a younger sister. Annemarie went to secundairy school in Strasbourg (France) and studied Law at the University of Utrecht. After this she studied Radio- and Television journalism at the University of Groningen. At the moment she works for the NOS (the public channel) as a parlamentary journalist in The Hague and Brussels. 

Annemarie is the daughter of Hans Gualthérie van Weezel and Ank de Visser. Her father was a member of parliament for the Christian Democratic party. Later he was a member of the European Council in Strasborug, after which he became the Dutch ambassador in Luxembourg.  Annemarie’s paternal grandfather is Jan Hans Gualthérie van Weezel, who was the head of the police in The Hague. During the second World War he was a member of the Dutch resistance and the commander of the resistance in Velzen. He was married to Constance Eveline Crommelin, whose family belongs to the Dutch patriciate with links to the nobility.

A link to Annemarie’s anscestors can be found here. Read more about the engagement in this thread.

Marengo Dutch Royals, Italian Royals Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel, Bourbon-Parma, Engagement, Prince Carlos

Click to see the picture at royaltyguide.nl

 Her Royal Highness Princess Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Parma died yesterday in Wien, aged 84. She was born in Wien on 7 June 1925, the eighth and youngest daughter of Prince Elias of Bourbon-Parma and his wife Maria Anna, née Archduchess of Austria. Her paternal grandparents were Roberto I, the last Duke of Parma, and his first wife Maria Pia, a daughter of King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies; her maternal grandparents were Archduke Friedrich of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, and his wife Isabelle, born Princess of Croy.

Like most of her siblings, Princess Maria Cristina never married; only her sister Alice married to her second cousin Infante Carlos of Spain, claimant to the Two Sicilian Throne. Of the remaining siblings, a brother, Carlo, died aged 7 in 1912; another brother, Roberto, became the titular Duke of Parma at the death of their Father in 1959, until his own death in 1974, while the youngest brother Francesco died unmarried in 1939; one of her sister, Giovanna, was killed in a shooting accident in 1949, while the other two sisters died unmarried.

Princess Maria Cristina suffered in these last years of poor health; her rests will probably be buried in the crypt of her Family in Monichkirchen, in Austria, near to her parents and most of her siblings.

More information can be found in this thread.

MAfan Italian Royals Bourbon-Parma, Death, Princess Maria Cristina