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Principessa Maria Francesca of Italy
(1914–2001)

Other names: Maria Francesca Anna Romana

Biographical

Dame of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus [Italy]
Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross [Austria]
Dame Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta [Vatican]

Maria Francesca was close to her parents and siblings. She was a patron of many organisations and institutions in Italy, and was held in high regard. After her marriage, she and her husband enjoyed great popular appeal. In 1943, she and her children were arrested by the Germans, and they were sent to a concentration camp near Berlin. The hardship she endured was made worse after receiving news of the death of her sister, Mafalda, at Buchenwald in 1944. After she was liberated, she returned to Italy in 1945. After the referendum that abolished the monarchy, Maria Francesca moved to Mandelieu, on the Cote d'Azur.

Place of birth: Quirinale, Rome
Place of marriage: Pauline Chapel, Quirinale, Rome
Place of death: Mandelieu
Place of burial: Mandelieu

Daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy, and Princess Elena of Montenegro (Petrovic-Njegos). She married Luigi di Borbone-Parma in 1939, and had issue.

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