Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Royal Death: Infanta Luisa



April 18, 1958


Princess Luisa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infanta of Spain,  died today in Seville, Spain, following an operation for an abdominal cyst, reports the Associated Press.  She was 76 years old.

The Infanta was the mother of Princess Maria de las Mercedes, the Countess of Barcelona, the wife of Infante Don Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona, the pretender to the Spanish throne. 

Luisa was born Princess Louise of Orléans, on February 24, 1882, at Cannes, France, daughter of Philippe, Count of Paris, and Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans, daughter of Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, and Infanta Luisa, Fernanda of Spain.

She married Infante Carlos, Prince of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies, at Wood Norton, Evesham, Worcestershire, on November 16, 1907.   Carlos was the widower of  Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, Alfonso XIII's eldest sister.

The newly married couple settled in Madrid, where they had four children: Carlos (1908-1936), who was killed in the Spanish civil war, fighting for the Nationalists;  Princess Maria de los Dolores (1909),  the wife of Carlos Chia Ossorio (her first husband, Prince August Czartoryski died in 1946);  Princess Maria de las Mercedes (1910), who is married to the Count of Barcelona; and Princess Maria de la Esperanza, the wife of Prince Pedro Gastao of Orleans-Braganza. She is also survived by two stepchildren: Prince Alfonso (1901) and Princess Isabel Alfonso (1904), Countess Jan Zamoyski.

The Countess of Barcelona and Princess Esperanza were at their mother's bedside when she died.

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