| Marie-José of Belgium | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1946 | |||||
| Queen consort of Italy | |||||
| Tenure | 9 May 1946 – 12 June 1946 | ||||
| Born | (1906-08-04)4 August 1906 Ostend, Belgium | ||||
| Died | 27 January 2001(2001-01-27) (aged 94) Thônex, Switzerland | ||||
| Burial | Hautecombe Abbey, France | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
| |||||
| House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1920) Belgium (from 1920) | ||||
| Father | Albert I of Belgium | ||||
| Mother | Elisabeth of Bavaria | ||||
Marie-José of Belgium[a] (Marie-José Charlotte Sophie Amélie Henriette Gabrielle; 4 August 1906 – 27 January 2001) was the lastQueen of Italy as the wife ofUmberto II. Her 34-day tenure asqueen consort earned her the nickname "the May Queen" (Italian:la regina di maggio).
Princess Marie-José was born inOstend, the youngest child ofKing Albert I of the Belgians and his consort,Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria. Through her mother she was a grandniece ofEmpress Elisabeth of Austria and ofMaria Sophie of Bavaria, last queen consort of theKingdom of the Two Sicilies. During theFirst World War, she was evacuated to England where she was aboarding pupil at theBrentwood Ursuline Convent High School in Brentwood, Essex. She later attended theSantissima Annunziata Boarding School inFlorence, Italy, where she first met her future husband.[2] In 1924, Marie-José attended her first court ball. For the occasion she was given an antiquepearl and diamond tiara that had originally been owned byStéphanie de Beauharnais.[3]
During the First World War, the Princess resided mainly in Great Britain but was often escorted by the Belgian King's Messenger,Archibald Alexander Gordon to her parents in Belgium. In 1918, the Princess reprimanded Major Gordon when he called her rabbit Marshal Soult by the name Soult. The princess explained that if she called for "Gordon", no one would be able to understand who she meant. Still, if she addressed him as Major Gordon, everyone would understand her because everyone knew who Major Gordon was.[4]
On 8 January 1930, she marriedCrown Prince Umberto of Italy, from theHouse of Savoy, at theQuirinal Palace in Rome, and so becamePrincess of Piedmont (Italian:Principessa di Piemonte).
Among the wedding gifts was a turquoise and diamondparure, worn by the bride at her pre-wedding reception,[5] and a diamond bow worn as a sash decoration at state occasions.[6]
The couple had four children:[7]
In October 1939, Princess Marie-José was made President of theRed Cross in Italy. ThePrincess andDuchess of Aosta attended the ceremony where Marie-José was installed as President of the Italian Red Cross.
During theSecond World War she was one of the very few diplomatic channels between the German/Italian camp and the other European countries involved in the war, as she was the sister ofLeopold III of Belgium (kept hostage by the German forces) and at the same time, as the wife of the heir to the throne, close to some of the ministers ofBenito Mussolini's cabinet.[2] A British diplomat in Rome recorded that the Princess of Piedmont was the only member of the Italian Royal Family with good political judgment.
Mussolini's mistress,Claretta Petacci, claimed in her diary that in 1937 the then princess and wife of the heir to the throne tried and failed to seduce the dictator at a beach resort near Rome. However, Mussolini's son,Romano, claims that the princess and the dictator entered into a sexual relationship.[8]
In 1943, the Crown Princess involved herself in vain attempts to arrange a separate peace treaty between Italy and the United States; her interlocutor from theVatican wasMonsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, a senior diplomat who later became Pope Paul VI. She also interceded withAdolf Hitler to ask for mercy towards the people of Belgium.[2]
Her attempts were not sponsored by the king and Umberto was not (directly, at least) involved in them. After her failure (she never met the American agents), she was sent with her children toSarre, in theAosta Valley, and isolated from the political life of the Royal House.
She sympathised with the partisans, and while she was a refugee in Switzerland, smuggled weapons, money and food for them.[2] She was nominated for appointment as chief of apartisan brigade, but declined.
| Styles of Queen Marie-José | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | Her Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
Following Italy's defection to theAllied side in the war, her discredited father-in-law,King Victor Emmanuel III, withdrew from government. Her husband became regent under the title ofLieutenant General of the Realm. He and Marie-José toured war torn Italy, where they made a positive impression. However, King Victor Emmanuel III refused to abdicate until only weeks before the referendum.
Upon the eventual abdication on 9 May 1946 of her father-in-law, Marie-José becameQueen consort of Italy, and remained such until themonarchy was abolished by referendum on 2 June 1946, effective 12 June 1946.[2]
Umberto and Marie-José had been widely praised for their performance over the last two years, and it has been argued that had Victor Emmanuel abdicated sooner their relative popularity might have saved the monarchy. Following the monarchy's defeat (54–46%), she and her husband left the country for exile on 13 June 1946.
In exile, the family gathered for a brief time on thePortuguese Riviera, but she and Umberto separated. She and their four children soon left forSwitzerland, where she lived most of the time for the rest of her life, while Umberto remained in Portugal. However, the couple, both of whom were devout Catholics, never divorced. The republican constitution forbade the restoration of the monarchy and also barred all male members of the House of Savoy, as well as former queens consort, from returning to Italian soil.[2]
For some time, she lived in Mexico with her youngest daughter, Princess Maria Beatrice, and her grandchildren.[9]
Queen Marie-José returned to Italy after her husband's death in 1983. She died oflung cancer on 27 January 2001, at the age of 94, in a clinic inThônex nearGeneva. She survived her two brothers and some of her nieces and nephews, includingKing Baudouin of the Belgians.[10]
The funeral was held atHautecombe Abbey, inSavoy in the south of France, and was attended by 2,000 mourners. Among them wereKing Albert II of the Belgians,King Juan Carlos I of Spain andFarah Pahlavi, the last Empress of Iran.[citation needed] She was buried in Hautecombe Abbey alongside her husband.
Like her mother,Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, Marie-José inspired a musical contest. In 1959 she established the Fondation du prix de composition Reine Marie-José. It awarded its biennial prizes for the first time the following year. The first prize at the 1960 Concours was awarded toGiorgio Ferrari for hisQuatuor à cordes avec une voix chantée. Subsequent prize winners have includedWilliam Albright (1968),Georg Katzer (1978), andJavier Torres Maldonado (2000). The 2017 prize was awarded toJaehyuck Choi.[11]
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House of Savoy: Knight Grand Cordon of theOrder of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Holy See: Knight of theOrder of the Golden Spur
Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight Grand Cross ofJustice of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Special Class
Austrian Imperial and Royal Family: Dame of theImperial and Royal Order of the Starry Cross, 1st Class
Greek Royal Family: Dame Grand Cross of theRoyal Order of Saints Olga and Sophia, 1st Class
Clip from the DVDLive in Concert (2004)
Marie-José of Belgium Cadet branch of theHouse of Wettin Born: 4 August 1906 Died: 27 January 2001 | ||
| Italian royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Queen consort of Italy 9 May – 12 June 1946 | Monarchy abolished |
