Margherita, Archduchess of Austria-Este (néePrincess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta, 7 April 1930 – 10 January 2022) was an Italian princess, the first-born child ofAmedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, andPrincess Anne d'Orléans.[1]
Margherita, born in the Royal Palace of Capodimonte, Naples on 7 April 1930, is the eldest daughter of Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, and Princess Anne d'Orléans, first cousins married in 1927. She has a younger sister, Marie Christine (born in 1933). The princess was baptised in the chapel of the Capodimonte Palace on 28 May 1930 with the names Margherita Isabella Maria Vittoria Emanuela Elena Gennara. Her godparents were the King of ItalyVictor Emmanuel III and her paternal grandmotherPrincess Hélène d'Orléans.
Her father, the Duke of Aosta, was appointedViceroy of Ethiopia on 21 December 1937, and Margherita spent part of her childhood in Africa. In 1940, she returned to Italy with her mother and her younger sister, Marie Christine, shortly before the outbreak of theSecond World War. Her father, taken prisoner by the British, died prematurely of typhus in captivity in Nairobi on 3 March 1942.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Margherita lived with her sister and mother in a flat in thePitti Palace inFlorence. In 1943, Germany invaded Italy. In July 1944, the Duchess of Aosta and her two daughters were arrested by the Germans and deported to the Hotel Ifen in Hirschegg, Austria, before being released in May 1945 and returning to Italy on 7 July. The fall of the Italian monarchy in June 1946 forced Margherita, her mother and her sister to leave the country and settle inBelgium, where they stayed for just over a year, before moving toSwitzerland.
Margherita's family announced her engagement toRobert, Archduke of Austria-Este, on 20 October 1953.[1] They married on 28 December inBourg-en-Bresse,Ain, France (civilly) and 29 December (religiously), inRoyal Monastery of Brou.[2][3] He was the second son of former EmperorCharles I of Austria andZita of Bourbon-Parma. Robert was 38, and Margherita was 23. As the royal couple arrived for the first ceremony, hundreds of Austrians and Italians stood outside the town hall where the marriage was held.[2] The wedding was also attended by former KingUmberto II of Italy and Robert's older brotherOtto of Habsburg, the claimant to the Austrian throne.[2] At six feet tall, Margherita was, according to some witnesses, an impressive sight. She wore an ivory gown made out of satin with a long train hung from a diamond tiara.[3]
The couple took up residence in Paris, where Robert was a bank clerk.[3] They had five children:
Countess Anna Theresa von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1981) married on 29 September 2018, atNiederaltaich Abbey inBavaria, Colin McKenzie (born 1976).[4][5] They have two children.
Josephine McKenzie (born 2019)
Jasper McKenzie (born 2022)
Countess Margherita von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (born 1983) married on 19 March 2022, inMoos, Bavaria, Charles Douglas Green (born 1981)[6][7]
^US investment strategist Colin McKenzie was born in New York and grew up in Spain, Brazil and England. He received aMA in Mathematics with Philosophy from theUniversity of Oxford in 1998.
^Charles Douglas Green (b.1981) is the son of the late South African businessman Ian Green and Helena Marian Fermor-Hesketh (née Hunt; widow of The HonJohn Fermor-Hesketh). Charles has several siblings from his father and mother's previous marriages. His half-sister, Annabel Green, is the currentDuchess of Roxburghe.
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