Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria

Infanta Margarita of Spain
Infanta of Spain; Duchess of Soria and Hernani
The Duchess and Duke of Soria and Hernani
Duchess of Hernani
Predecessor	Manfredo de Borbón
Spouse	Carlos Zurita
Issue	Alfonso Zurita y de Borbón María Zurita y de Borbón
Full name Margarita María de la Victoria Esperanza Jacoba Felicidad Perpetua y Todos los Santos (et omnes sancti)
House	House of Bourbon
Father	Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
Mother	Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Born	(1939-03-06) 6 March 1939 Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Spanish Royal Family
HM The King HM The Queen HRH The Princess of Asturias HRH Infanta Sofía HM King Juan Carlos I HM Queen Sofía HRH The Duchess of Lugo HRH The Duchess of Palma de Mallorca HE The Duke of Palma de Mallorca Extended royal family HRH The Duchess of Badajoz HRH The Duchess of Soria and Hernani HE The Duke of Soria and Hernani HRH The Dowager Duchess of Calabria HRH The Duke of Calabria HRH The Duchess of Calabria

Infanta Margarita of Spain, Duchess of Soria, 2nd Duchess of Hernani (Margarita María de la Victoria Esperanza Jacoba Felicidad Perpetua y Todos los Santos (et omnes Sancti) de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; born 6 March 1939), is the younger sister of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

Infanta Margarita was born in Rome as the younger daughter of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, and Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Margarita has been blind since birth.^[1]

She married the physician Carlos Zurita y Delgado on 12 October 1972 in Estoril. They have two children:

• HE Alfonso Juan Carlos Zurita y de Borbón (b. Madrid, 9 August 1973).
• HE María Sofía Emilia Carmen Zurita y de Borbón (b. Madrid, 16 September 1975).

Margarita renounced her right of succession upon marriage.^[2][3]

On 6 January 1979, the Infanta's cousin, Manfredo de Borbón, 1st Duke of Hernani, died and willed his ducal title to be inherited by Margarita. The King granted this request, and on 27 May 1981, she became 2nd Duchess of Hernani with accompanying dignity Grandee of Spain. The peerage title referres to the town Hernani, Spain. The next month, on 23 June 1981, she was also granted a higher dukedom for life by the king, and became Duchess of Soria (referring to the city Soria in Spain).

In 1989, alongside her husband, they created the Fundación Cultural Duques de Soria (The Duke and Duchess of Soria Cultural Foundation). She's also Honorary President of Madrid's delegation of UNICEF and of the Spanish Heart Foundation.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles

• 6 March 1939 – 27 May 1981: Her Royal Highness Infanta Margarita of Spain
• 27 May – 23 June 1981: Her Royal Highness Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Hernani
• 23 June 1981 – present: Her Royal Highness Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria and Hernani

The Infanta's style and title in full: Her Royal Highness Doña Margarita María de la Victoria Esperanza Jacoba Felicidad Perpetua de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias de Zurita, Infanta of Spain, Duchess of Soria, Grande de España, Duchess of Hernani, Grande de España.

Honours

See also List of honours of the Spanish Royal Family by country

National Orders

• The 1,192nd Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa (06/03/1957).^[4]
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (14/10/1988).^[5]
• Dame Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X (25/04/2003).^[6]

Foreign Orders

•  Kingdom of Greece : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Olga and Sophia (13/05/1962).^[7]
•  Portugal : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (13/10/1988).^[8][9]

Former sovereign families

• House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies : Dame Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (1960).^[10]

Arms

Arms of Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria

Notes The Duchess's personalized coat of arms are the shield of the arms of the monarch in right of Spain. Crest The crown of Infantes of Spain Escutcheon Quarterly 1st gules a castle or, triple-embattled and voided gate and windows, with three towers each triple-turreted, of the field, masoned sable and ajoure azure 2nd argent a lion rampant purpure crowned or, langued and armed 3rd or, four pallets gules and 4th gules a cross, saltire and orle of chains linked together or, a centre point vert Argent enté en point, with a pomegranate proper seeded gules, supported, sculpted and leafed in two leaves vert. Inescutcheon azure bordure gules, three fleurs-de-lys or. The whole differenced by a label of three points argent, the outer points charged with a castle argent, the middle point with the head of King Alfonso VIII of Castille. Orders The Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III ribbon. Symbolism As with the Royal Arms of Spain. The first quarter are the arms of Castile, the second of León, the third of Aragon and the fourth of Navarre. Enté en point, the arms of Granada. Inescutcheon, the arms of Bourbon-Anjou. A castle argent has been the charge of the arms of Hernani, the head of King Alfonso VIII of Castille has been a charge of the arms of Soria.[11]

Ancestry

References

1. ↑ Doña Margot. La Infanta más marchosa
2. ↑ de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal; Coutant de Saisseval, Guy (2002). Le Petit Gotha. Paris: Laballery. pp. 419–420. ISBN 2-9507974-3-1. 
3. ↑ Enache, Nicolas (1999). La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg, Reine de Hongrie et de Boheme. Paris: ICC. pp. 532–534. ISBN 2-908003-04-X. 
4. ↑ Geneall
5. ↑ (Spanish) Universidad de Valladolid, Nota de Prensa 09-01-30 (accessed on 11 December 2009)
6. ↑ (Spanish) Royal Decree 483/2003 The Duchess of Soria and Hernani member of the Spanish Royal Order of Alfonso X. BOE, Spanish Official Journal. (accessed 2 November 2008)
7. ↑ Wedding of Juan Carlos of Spain and Sophia of Greece
8. ↑ Portugal
9. ↑ Portugal State visit to Spain
10. ↑ Membership of the Constantinian Order
11. ↑ "Cadency of the Spanish Royal House" (in Spanish). José Juan Carrión Rangel, Blog de heráldica. Retrieved 2009-11-29.