Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Infanta Maria Ana of Portugal (or of Beja or Braganza), Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, (French: Marie Anne; English: Maria Anna) (Schloss Bronnbach 13 July 1861 – New York, USA, 31 July 1942) was a Portuguese infanta and Grand Duchess consort of Luxembourg and its Regent. She was a House of Braganza member.
Born as the fifth and second-youngest daughter of the deposed king Miguel I of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Maria Ana was a titular Infanta of Portugal. Her father had been exiled, and the family lived as guests in Austria.
Despite their exiled and relatively-poor circumstances, the daughters of Miguel I made good marriages, some to reigning petty monarchs and deposed heads of Roman Catholic European dynasties.
Infanta Maria Ana was married on 21 June 1893 at Schloss Fischhorn, Zell am See to the Protestant Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1852-1912), Hereditary Prince of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the eldest child and heir of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, head of the House of Nassau. It was agreed that the children would be raised in their mother's Catholic faith, because that was the religion of the overwhelming majority of Luxembourg's population.
The couple had six daughters and no sons.
- Marie-Adélaïde (1894-1924) who remained unmarried and childless
- Charlotte (1896-1985) who married her first cousin Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma, a son of Marie Anne's younger sister.
- Hilda (1897-1979), who married Adolf, Prince of Schwarzenberg
- Antoinette (1899-1954), who married Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria as his second wife
- Elisabeth (1901-1950), who married Prince Ludwig Philipp of Thurn and Taxis
- Sophie (1902-1941), who married Prince Ernst of Saxony, youngest son of king Frederick Augustus III of Saxony
Guillaume became the reigning Grand Duke on the death of his father on 17 November 1905, and Maria Ana became the Grand Duchess, under the French version of her name, Marie Anne.
Because Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg was the last agnate of the House of Nassau, he declared his daughters as his successors, and Marie-Adelaide was confirmed and proclaimed Heir Apparent on 10 July 1907. Upon her father's death, she became the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Following her abdication on 14 January 1919, her sister, the second daughter, Charlotte of Luxembourg, succeeded her on the throne.
Grand Duchess Marie Anne was Regent for her husband during his terminal illness from 19 November 1908 to 15 February 1912, and then Regent for her daughter, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde, during her minority from 25 February 1912 to 18 June 1912.
Dowager Grand Duchess Marie Anne died in exile in New York on 31 July 1942, the family having fled Germans because of World War II.
This biographical article on a member of the Luxembourgian nobility is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This biography of a member of a European royal house is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
