Princess Marie-Françoise Antoinette Jeanne Madeleine of Bourbon-Parma ( French: ''Marie-Françoise de Bourbon-Parme''; born 19 August 1928) is a French humanitarian and philanthropist. A princess of the

House 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 Fren ...

by birth and the

House of Lobkowicz The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is a Czech noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The family also belong to the G ...

by marriage, her wedding in 1960 was the first Bourbon wedding to take place at Notre-Dame de Paris since the wedding of

Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duke of Berry (24 January 1778 – 14 February 1820) was the third child and younger son of Charles X, King of France, (whom he predeceased) by his wife Maria Theresa of Savoy. In June 1832, two years after the overthro ...

Princess Caroline of Naples and Sicily french: Marie Caroline Ferdinande Louise , house = Bourbon-Two Sicilies , father = Francis I of the Two Sicilies , mother = Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , signature = Italian signature of Maria Carolina ...

in 1816 during the Bourbon Restoration. After escaping the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

with the assistance of

Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...

, Marie-Françoise helped settle refugees in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

who fled the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. In the 1980s, while her husband, Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz, was serving as the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

's ambassador to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, she was involved in the construction and development of twelve medical and social centers owned by the Order. Princess Marie-Françoise founded the Malte Liban Association, a Catholic organization that raises money for medical clinics serving the poor in Lebanon, in 1987. She served as a delegate of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

from 1990 to 1995.

Early life and family

Marie-Françoise was born on 19 August 1928 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

. She is the daughter of Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, and

Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset (23 March 1898 – 1 September 1984) was the titular Duchess of Parma and Piacenza (from 1974) and was also Carlist Queen of Spain (from 1952) as the consort of Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, the Carlist pretender ...

. Her father was the titular Duke of Parma, the

Carlist Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty – one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855) – ...

pretender to the

Spanish throne , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

, and the head of the

. Her mother, as the daughter of Georges de Bourbon-Busset, Count de Lignières, was a member of the non-dynastic

Bourbon-Busset The Bourbon-Busset family is a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, being thus agnatic descendants of the Capetian dynasty. Historically, they have been regarded as non-dynastic since decisions rendered by Louis XI of France. Possibly, howe ...

line of the House of Bourbon. She is a direct descendant of

Saint Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...

and

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

. She is a sister of Prince Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma, Princess Marie Thérèse, Princess Cécile Marie, Princess Marie des Neiges, and Prince Sixtus Henry, Duke of Aranjuez. During the

German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

, her father was arrested by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

and later deported to the Dachau concentration camp. After his detainment, she fled to Austria with assistance from

during the exodus of Hungarians during the

. She then settled in

Humanitarian work

While living in West Berlin, after escaping the Hungarian Revolution, Marie-Françoise volunteered with Catholic Relief Services to held Russian refugees who escaped the

. In 1980 she and her family moved to Lebanon, where her husband had been appointed as the ambassador for the

. In Lebanon she became involved in the construction and development of twelve medical-social centers owned by the Order. In 1987 she founded the Malte Liban Association, a Catholic organization which raises money for the medical clinics serving the poor. Marie-Françoise was a member of the Saint-Siège delegation of the

from 1990 to 1995.

Personal life

On 11 December 1959 Marie-Françoise married Prince Edouard de Lobkowicz in a

civil ceremony A civil, or registrar, ceremony is a non-religious legal marriage ceremony performed by a government official or functionary. In the United Kingdom, this person is typically called a registrar. In the United States, civil ceremonies may be performed ...

in Besson, Allier. A religious ceremony was held on 7 January 1960 at Notre-Dame de Paris.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels'', Fürstlicher Häuser Band XVIII, 189. Their wedding was the first Bourbon wedding to take place at the cathedral since the wedding of

, to

in 1816. They had four children: * Prince Marie ''Edouard-Xavier'' Ferdinand Auguste Gaspard (18 October 1960, Paris – 27 April 1984, Ivry-sur-Seine) * Prince Marie ''Robert Emanuel'' Joseph Michel Benoît Melchior (31 December 1961, Paris – 29 October 1988, Bhannes, Lebanon) * Prince Marie ''Charles-Henri'' Hugues Xavier Benoît Michel Edouard Joseph Balthazar (born 17 May 1964, Paris) * Princess ''Marie Gabrielle'' Anita Olga Thérèse Lisieux Gaspara (born 11 June 1967, Paris) Marie-Françoise's oldest son, Edourad-Xavier, was murdered in Paris in 1984. Her second son, Robert Emanuel, died in 1988 from a brain tumor. Her husband died in 2010. Marie-Françoise lives alternating between

and

Later life

Princess Marie-Françoise still participates in some events of the

in France, including visiting the Château de Nérac in August 2014. In September 2015, she attended a garden party in

Souvigny Souvigny () is a commune in the Allier department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. Today the main town of a canton of the Allier department, Souvigny has long been one of the major towns in the Bourbonnais (of which it was once the c ...

for family reunion of the various branches of the House of Bourbon. Her son Charles-Henri,

Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou Louis Alphonse de BourbonHis name is given as "Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon and Martínez-Bordiú, Duke of Anjou" by Olga S. Opfell in ''Royalty who Wait: The 21 Heads of Formerly Regnant Houses of Europe'' (2001), p. 11. ( es, Luis Alfonso ...

and

Marie Marguerite, Duchess of Anjou Marie Marguerite, Duchess of Anjou (''née'' María Margarita Vargas Santaella; born 21 October 1983) is a Venezuelan heiress and wife of Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, Prince Louis, Duke of Anjou, who is considered by Legitimists to be the righ ...

were also attended. Marie-Françoise also attended the wedding of

Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon, Prince of Montfort (birth name: ''Jean-Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Napoléon''; born 11 July 1986, France) is the head of the former Imperial House of France, and heir of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First ...

on 19 October 2019 in

. Marie-Françoise's relations with her brother Prince Carlos Hugo and with her sisters Princess Marie Thérèse, Princess Cécile Marie and Princess Marie des Neiges have always been cold and detached because of their different views on Carlism. Their relationship had deteriorated so much that Marie Françoise did not attend Carlos Hugo's funeral in 2010. However in 2018, Marie-Françoise reconciled with her three younger sisters and the four spent a lot of time together after reconciling. In fact, Marie-Françoise attended the funerals of her sisters Marie Thérèse in April 2020 and Cécile Marie in September 2021, respectively. She arrived, in fact, at the funeral of the latter with her sister Marie des Neiges.

Ancestry

References

External links

Official website of the House of Bourbon-ParmaSecond official website of the House of Bourbon-Parma

Biography of Her Royal Highness Princess Marie Françoise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Françoise, Bourbon-Parma 1928 births 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics Living people Marie-Francoise Carlists Dames of Malta Founders of charities French anti-communists French expatriates in Lebanon French humanitarians French people of Italian descent French people of Spanish descent French refugees French Roman Catholics Lobkowicz family Nobility from Paris People of Vichy France Philanthropists from Paris Princesses of Bourbon-Parma Women humanitarians Women philanthropists