Princess Margaret of Denmark

For other people of the same name, see Margaret of Denmark (disambiguation).

Princess Margaret
Princess René of Bourbon-Parma
Born	(1895-09-17)17 September 1895 Bernstorff Palace, Gentofte, Denmark
Died	Copenhagen, Denmark
Spouse	Prince René of Bourbon-Parma
Issue	Prince Jacques Anne, Queen of Romania Prince Michel Prince Andre
Father	Prince Valdemar of Denmark
Mother	Princess Marie of Orleans
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Princess Margaret of Denmark (Margrethe Françoise Louise Marie Helene; 17 September 1895, Bernstorff Palace – 18 September 1992, Copenhagen, Denmark) was a princess of Denmark and Iceland by birth and a princess of Bourbon-Parma as the wife of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma

Biography

Her parents were Prince Valdemar of Denmark, youngest son of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), and Princess Marie d'Orleans. Her parents had agreed beforehand that all their sons will be raised Lutheran, their father's creed, and all their daughters Roman Catholic, their mother's faith. She was the first Danish princess since the Reformation born a Roman Catholic.

She married a Catholic prince, her mother's relative, Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (Schwarzau, 17 October 1894 – Hellerup, Copenhagen, 30 July 1962) on 9 June 1921 in Copenhagen. He was the third youngest son (and seventh surviving son) of the many children of Robert I, Duke of Parma. His mother was the Duke's second wife Princess Maria Antonia, daughter of the exiled King Miguel I of Portugal. René was the brother of Empress Zita of Austria and of Felix, the consort of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

René and Margrethe had four children, sixteen grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren;

• Prince Jacques of Bourbon-Parma (9 June 1922 – 5 November 1964) married Birgitte von Holstein-Ledreborg, Countess of Holstein-Ledreborg on 9 June 1947. They have three children and two grandsons:
  • Prince Philippe of Bourbon-Parma (22 January 1949) married Annette Smith on 5 May 1979. They have two sons:
    • Prince Jacques Carl Christian Marie of Bourbon-Parma (3 January 1986)
    • Prince Joseph Axel Alain Erik Marie of Bourbon-Parma (6 June 1989)
  • Princess Lorraine Charlotte of Bourbon-Parma (27 July 1951)
  • Prince Alain Jean of Bourbon-Parma (15 May 1955) married Inge-Birgitte Vedel Andersen on 3 March 2001.
• Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma (18 September 1923) married King Michael I of Romania on 10 June 1948. They have five daughters, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
• Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma (4 March 1926) he married Princess Yolande de Broglie-Revel on 9 June 1951 and they have five children and twelve grandchildren. They divorce in 1966. He remarries Princess Maria Pia of Savoy on 17 May 2003.
• Prince André of Bourbon-Parma (6 March 1928 – 22 October 2011) he married Marina Gacry on 2 May 1960. They have three children and six grandchildren:
  • Princess Tania Sophie of Bourbon-Parma (13 November 1961) she married Gilbert Jacques Marcel Bécaud on 9 August 1988. They have three children:
    • Marguerite Bécaud (3 January 1993)
    • Héléna Bécaud (1998)
    • Dagmar Bécaud (2004)
  • Princess Astrid of Bourbon-Parma (22 September 1964)
  • Prince Axel of Bourbon-Parma (18 September 1967) he married Raphael de Montagnon on 17 August 1996. They have three children:
    • Prince Côme of Bourbon-Parma (7 May 1997)
    • Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (26 March 2000)
    • Princess Cure of Bourbon-Parma (13 December 2004)

In June 1951, Margaret was travelling in a car her husband was driving when they ran over a 22-year-old man, Jaja Sorensen, who died soon after being taken to hospital.

The family was relatively poor. They chiefly resided in France. In 1939 the family fled from the Nazis and escaped to Spain. From there they went to Portugal and then to the United States. She died one day after her 97th birthday, on the 69th birthday of her daughter Anne.

Ancestors

Family of Princess Margaret of Denmark

16. Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck               8. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg                       17. Countess Friederike of Schlieben               4. Christian IX of Denmark                             18. Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel               9. Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Cassel                       19. Princess Louise of Denmark               2. Prince Valdemar of Denmark                                   20. Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Cassel               10. Landgrave William of Hesse-Kassel                       21. Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen               5. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel                             22. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway               11. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark                       23. Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               1. Princess Margaret of Denmark                                         24. Louis-Philippe of France               12. Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans                       25. Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies               6. Robert, Duke of Chartres                             26. Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               13. Duchess Helen of Mecklenburg-Schwerin                       27. Princess Karoline Luise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach               3. Princess Marie of Orléans                                   28. Louis-Philippe of France (= 24)               14. François of Orléans, Prince of Joinville                       29. Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies (= 25)               7. Princess Françoise of Orléans                             30. Pedro I of Brazil               15. Infanta Francisca of Brazil                       31. Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria