Eurohistory

+ HRH Princess Maria Margarita of BourbonTwo Sicilies
Señora de Maldonado

(1934-2014)

Princess Maria Margarita of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, eldest daughter of Prince Gabriele and his second wife, the former Princess Cecilia Lubomirska, has passed away in Madrid on January 15.

The princess was born in Warsaw, where her parents resided after their wedding, celebrated in Cracow in 1932. Prince Gabriele became a widower in 1929 as his first wife, Princess Malgorzata Czartorisky, had died in Cannes six weeks after giving birth to the couple's only child, Prince Antonio.

After Maria Margarita's birth, Prince Gabriele and Princess Cecilia had two more children: Princess Marie Immaculata (b. 1937) and Prince Casimiro (b. 1938). The couple's eldest son, Giovanni, was born a year before Maria margarita's birth. A talented artist, Prince Giovanni died in Madrid in 2000. He never married and left no descendants.

Princess Maria Margarita eventually settled in Madrid. Her parents had left Poland to escape the devastation brought to the country by the Second World War and both were to die in Brazil, where they had rebuilt their life after the Iron Curtain kept them from returning to Poland. It was in Spain, at San Miguel de Jerez de la Frontera, in fact, that Maria Margarita married don Luis Gonzaga Maldonado y Gordon (b. 1932). The couple had three daughters: Margarita, Claudia and Cecilia. At the time of her death, Princess Maria Margarita had eight grandchildren.

She is survived by her husband don Luis, their three daughters and grandchildren.

 From left: Prince Antonio, Prince Giovanni, Princess Maria Margarita,
Princess Marie immacolata and Prince Casimiro.

From left: Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg, don Miguel de Sáez y Tellecea, Princess Marie
Immacolata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Prince Giovanni, Prince Antonio and Princess Maria Margarita of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and Don Luis Goinzaga Maldonado y Gordon.
(San Carlos, Ibiza, July 1970)