Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
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Doña María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies & Orleans, Princess of the Two Sicilies, Infanta of Spain, Countess of Barcelona (María de las Mercedes Cristina Genara Isabel Luísa Carolina Victoria) (Madrid, December 23, 1910- Lanzarote, January 2, 2000) was the mother of current King Juan Carlos I of Spain. She was known in Spain as Doña María de las Mercedes de Borbón Dos-Sicilias y Orléans.
Doña María was born in Madrid, daughter of Prince Don Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain, a grandson of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, and his second wife, Princess Louise of France, daughter of the Count of Paris. She was granted, at birth, the rank and precedence of an Infanta of Spain, although not the actual use of the title (she was, after all, technically, a Napolitan princess). Her family moved to Seville, when her father was made Military Captain General of the province. When the Second Spanish Republic forced them to exile, they lived in Cannes and later in Paris, when she studied art at the Louvre. [1]
On January 14th, 1935, she attented the wedding, in Rome, of Infanta Beatriz of Spain, daughter of Alfonso XIII. Here she met her distant cousin and future husband, the brother of the bride, the Infante Don Juan of Spain, fourth son and designated heir of king Alfonso XIII of Spain. They married in Rome on October 12, 1935. When her husband took the royal title of Count of Barcelona in 1942, Doña María gained the title of Countess of Barcelona.
They had four children:
- HRH Infanta Doña Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (born 1936)
- HM Don Juan Carlos I, King of Spain (born 1938)
- HRH Infanta Doña Margarita, Duchess of Soria, 2nd Duchess of Hernani (born 1939)
- HRH Infante Don Alfonso of Spain (Alfonso Cristino Teresa Angelo Francisco de Asis y Todos los Santos) (1941–1956)
They lived in Cannes and Rome, and, with the outbreak of World War II, they moved to Lausanne to live with Queen Ena, the mother of Don Juan. Afterwards, they resided at Estoril, in Portugal.
On 1976, one year after the monarchy was restored in Spain in the person of her son Don Juan Carlos, they returned to Spain. She mediated between her son and her husband, estranged since Don Juan Carlos has been designated heir by Franco. In 1977, Don Juan renounced his rights in favour of their son, who officially allowed him to retain the title of Count of Barcelona.
She broke her hip in 1982 and the left femur in 1985, which forced her to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She became a widow in 1993.
She was a perfervid fan of Bull Fighting and of the Andalusian culture. In 1995, her granddaughter Infanta Elena married in Seville in part because the Countess' love for the city.
She died of a heart attack in the royal residence of La Mareta, in Lanzarote, where the royal family was to celebrate the New Year [2]. She was buried with the honors of a Queen at the Royal Crypt of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial, near Madrid.
