Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal

Infanta of Portugal

She was born in exile as the youngest child of her parents in Germany as her father, Infante Miguel,had been banished from Portugal by his brother, Pedro I of Brazil, after usurping and losing the Portuguese throne in the Liberal Wars.

Marriage

On October 15, 1884 at Schloss Fischorn, Maria Antonia married Robert I, Duke of Parma as his second wife. She bore him twelve children. Maria Antonia was widowed when Robert died at Villa Pianore on November 16, 1907. Later on she resided with her daughter Zita while in exile. By 1940, Zita and her family, Maria Antonia and her daughter Isabella were living in reduced circumstances in Quebec. Eventually, after the War's end, Maria Antonia moved to Berg Castle, Luxembourg where she celebrated her 90th birthday. After lingering for many years, she died there in 1959 aged 96. She was the last surviving grandchild of John VI of Portugal. Many of her children and grandchildren have also lived very long lives.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 28 November 1862 - 14 January 1884 Her Royal Highness Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal
• 14 January 1884 - 16 November 1907 Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Parma
• 16 November 1907 - 14 May 1959 Her Royal Highness The Dowager Duchess of Parma

Issue

• Princess Maria della Neve Adelaide (5 August 1885-6 February 1959) she was a Benedictine nun and her religious name of Mother Maria Benedicta of the Benedictine Order of the Sisters of St. Cecile.
• Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma (1 August 1886-14 March 1934) he married Hedwige de La Rochefoucauld on 12 November 1919. They have one daughter, five grandsons and six great-grandchildren.
• Xavier, Duke of Parma (25 May 1889-7 May 1977) he Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset on 12 November 1927. They have six children, eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
• Princess Francesca of Bourbon-Parma (22 April 1890-7 October 1978)
• Zita of Bourbon-Parma (9 May 1892–14 March 1989) she married Charles I of Austria on 21 October 1911. They have eight children and thirty-three grandchildren.
• Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma (28 September 1893-8 April 1970) he married Charlotte of Luxembourg on 6 November 1919. They have six children, twenty-seven grandchildren, seventy-eight great-grandchildren and twenty-seven great-great-grandchildren.
• Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (17 October 1894 – 30 July 1962) he married Princess Margrethe of Denmark on 9 June 1921. They have four children, sixteen grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
• Princess Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Parma (7 November 1895-19 October 1977)
• Princess Isabella of Bourbon-Parma (14 June 1898-28 July 1984)
• Prince Louis of Bourbon-Parma (5 December 1899-4 December 1967) he married Princess Maria Francesca of Savoy on 23 January 1939. They have four children.
• Princess Henrietta Anna of Bourbon-Parma ( 8 March 1903-13 June 1987) she was profoundly deaf.
• Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma (11 June 1905-9 March 1958) he married Princess Margherita della Torre e Tasso on 29 April 1931 and they were divorced on 24 January 1950. They have one daughter, three grandchildren and two great-grandsons:
  • Princess Diane Marguerite of Bourbon-Parma (22 May 1932) she married Prince Franz Joseph of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen on 15 March 1955 and they were divorced on 19 January 1961. She remarried Hans Joachim Oehmichen on 21 March 1961. They have three children and two grandsons:
    • Alexander Oehmichen (2 June 1957) he married Jutta Raiss in 1998. They have one son:
      • Philip Oehmichen (2002)
    • Gaetano Oehmichen (1961) he married Julika Reich in 1995
      • Robert Oehmichen (2001)
    • Maria Oehmichen (1964)

Ancestry