Princess Maria di Grazia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

Not to be confused with Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Princess Maria di Grazia
Princess Imperial of Brazil
Born(1878-08-12)12 August 1878
Cannes, France[citation needed]
Died20 June 1973(1973-06-20) (aged 94)
Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France[citation needed]
Burial
Royal Chapel, Dreux, France
SpousePrince Luís of Orléans-Braganza
(m. 1908; died 1920)
IssuePrince Pedro Henrique
Prince Luiz Gastão
Princess Pia Maria, Countess of Nicolay
Names
Italian: Maria delle Grazie Pia Chiara Anna Teresa Isabella Luitgarda Apollonia Agata Cecilia Filomena Antonia Lucia Cristina Caterina di Borbone
HouseBourbon-Two Sicilies
Orléans-Braganza
FatherPrince Alfonso, Count of Caserta
MotherPrincess Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

Princess Maria di Grazia (Full Italian name: Maria delle Grazie Pia Chiara Anna Teresa Isabella Luitgarda Apollonia Agata Cecilia Filomena Antonia Lucia Cristina Caterina di Borbone [1]) (12 August 1878 – 20 June 1973) was a princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and princess of Orléans-Braganza through her marriage to Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza.

Family

Maria was the daughter of Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta and his wife Princess Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.[citation needed] She was usually called “Maria Pia”. Her father, the third son of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, became Head of the Royal House of the Two Sicilies with the death of his elder brother, King Francis II, in 1894. At the time of his birth, however, the Sicilian Royal Family was already exiled in France due to Italian Unification, which took place in 1861.

Marriage and issue

Maria married Prince Luiz Maria of Orléans-Braganza, son of Prince Gaston of Orléans, Count of Eu and his wife Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, on 4 November 1908 in Cannes, France.[citation needed] Maria and Luiz had three children:[citation needed]

∞ Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria (1914–2011) at Nymphenburg Palace on 19 August 1937. Pedro Henrique and Maria had twelve children.
∞ René, Count de Nicolay at Paris on 12 August 1933. Pia Maria and René had three sons.

Later life

Prince Luís died in 1920 leaving Maria a widow for the remainder of her life. In 1922, Maria accompanied the Brazilian Imperial Family to Brazil for the country's centennial celebrations of its independence. During the course of the trip, the Count of Eu died while recumbent upon her shoulder. Princess Maria preferred to live with her children in France, where they could have a better education. She died at her country house in Mandelieu and was later buried at the Orléans Mausoleum at Dreux, with her husband. She was short of her ninety-fifth birthday.

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Daniel Jones. "Naissance de Maria delle Grazie di Borbone". basesdocumentaires-cg06.fr. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2012.

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