Reine Marie-José d'Italie. |
Une étude de la Reine de Mai par Théodore Strawinsky. |
Le 27 janvier 2001, la reine Marie-José d'Italie décédait à Genève. Elle avait 94 ans.
De gauche à droite : le prince Léopold, la princesse Marie-José et le prince Charles. Photographie (c) Getty Images/Hutton Archive. |
Le roi Albert Ier et la reine Elisabeth des Belges avec leur fille la princesse Marie-José. |
La princesse Marie-José Charlotte Sophie Amélie Henriette Gabrielle est née le 4 août 1906 à Ostende. Elle était la troisième enfant et la seule fille du roi Albert Ier des Belges (1875-1934) et de son épouse la reine Elisabeth (1876-1965 ; née duchesse en Bavière). Marie-José avait deux frères aînés : le futur roi Léopold III (1901-1983) et le prince Charles, comte de Flandre (1903-1983).
Le prince Umberto et la princesse Marie-José, prince et princesse de Piémont. |
En 1930, la princesse Marie-José de Belgique épousa le prince Humbert de Savoie, prince de Piémont et héritier du trône d'Italie. Humbert était le fils unique du roi Victor-Emmanuel III d'Italie (1869-1947) et de la reine Hélène (1873-1952 ; née princesse du Monténégro). Humbert et Marie-José eurent quatre enfants : la princesse Maria Pia (née en 1934), le prince Victor-Emmanuel (né en 1937), la princesse Maria Gabriella (née en 1940) et la princesse Maria Beatrice (née en 1943). Humbert et Marie-José avaient des tempéraments assez différents et leur mariage n'était pas une union d'amour. En mai 1946, Humbert succéda à son père comme roi d'Italie et Marie-José devint ainsi reine. Leur règne fut de courte durée : il dura trente-quatre jours, du 9 mai au 12 juin 1946.
Le roi et la reine d'Italie arrivent au mariage de la princesse Maria Isabelle de Savoie-Gênes en 1971. |
After the royal family left Italy following the referendum abolishing the monarchy, Umberto and Marie-José settled in Portugal with their children. This cohabitation was of brief duration: Queen Marie-José moved to Switzerland, and King Umberto remained at Cascais. Although informally separated, the last King and Queen of Italy often appeared together at Gotha events over the decades.
Queen Marie-José of Italy at the funeral of her husband King Umberto II with her son Prince Vittorio Emanuele and her daughter-in-law Princess Marina. Photograph (c) Getty Images/Mondadori Portfolio. |
Queen Marie-José of Italy with her niece by marriage Queen Fabiola of the Belgians at the funeral of King Léopold III of the Belgians. |
The year of 1983 brought great loss to Queen Marie-José. In March, her husband of fifty-three years, King Umberto II, died in Geneva at the age of seventy-eight. In June, her brother Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, died at the age of seventy-nine. In September, her last surviving brother King Léopold III of the Belgians, who had abdicated in 1951, died at the age of eighty-one. Thus, in the space of one year, Marie-José lost her husband and both of her siblings.
Queen Marie-José of Italy and Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta arrive at the 1988 wedding of Princess Bianca of Savoy-Aosta and Count Gilberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga. |
Prince Emanuele Filiberto and his grandmother Queen Marie-José on her 93rd birthday in 1999. |
For some years, the queen lived in Mexico with her youngest daughter Princess Maria Beatrice. After the death of her husband, Marie-José returned to Italy for a visit. The May Queen died at a Geneva clinic of lung cancer. Marie-José was survived by her four children.
The burial of Queen Marie-José of Italy took place on 2 February 2001 at Hautecombe, Savoy, France. The queen was buried next to King Umberto II. Besides her children and grandchildren, the attendees included King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Juan Carlos of Spain and his sister Infanta Pilar, Empress Farah of Iran, the Duke and Duchess of Aosta as well as the duke’s children Prince Aimone and Princess Bianca, the Duke and Duchess of Braganza, Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the Duke and Duchess of Calabria, Archduke Carl Christian and Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria, Prince Alexander and Princess Barbara of Yugoslavia, and Prince Michael of Greece. A wreath of flowers was sent by Prince Rainier II of Monaco.
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