Princess Maria Francesca of Savoy (Maria Francesca Anna Romana; 26 December 1914 – 4 December 2001) was the youngest daughter of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Elena of Montenegro. In 1939, she married Prince Luigi of Bourbon-Parma. She was a sister of Umberto II of Italy and of Tsaritsa Giovanna of Bulgaria.

Biography

Maria Francesca was born in Rome as the fifth and youngest child of her parents. She had three elder sisters, Yolanda, Giovanna, Mafalda, and a brother, Umberto. On 23 January 1939, in the Pauline Chapel of the Quirinal Palace in Rome, Maria Francesca married Prince Luigi of Bourbon-Parma (1899–1967), a younger son of Robert I, Duke of Parma, and Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. Her husband was a brother of Zita, Empress of Austria, the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. The couple moved to Cannes, where all four of their children were born. Maria was interned with her husband and two elder children by the Nazis during World War II. In 1945 the Anglo-Americans freed them and they returned to Italy. After the war, they lived in Italy for a while, then returned to France. She took up permanent residence in Mandelieu, near Cannes, after her husband's death in 1967. They had four children:

Honours

Ancestry