Margareta Fouché

Margareta Fouché d'Otrante, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (28 March 1909 – 25 August 2005) was the wife of Gustav Albrecht, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and mother of Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, who married Princess Benedikte of Denmark.

The daughter ofCharles Louis Fouché, 6th Duke of Otranto (a descendant of Napoleonic statesman Joseph Fouché) and his first wife, Countess Hedvig Ingeborg Madeleine Douglas (a descendant of Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden), she was born Margareta Fouché d'Otrante in Elghammar, Sweden.

Her husband, Rittmeister Gustav Albrecht, was the head of the mediatized princely house of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. He went missing in action in 1944, during World War II, and was declared legally dead in 1969. From 1944 to 1955, after her husband was reported missing, Margareta, as Princess Dowager, became the guardian for her son, Prince Richard, and managed her late husband's properties. The family went into exile in her native Sweden. Prince Richard later married Princess Benedikte of Denmark.

Titles

• 28 March 1909 - 26 January 1934: Margareta Fouché d'Otrante
• 26 January 1934 - 29 November 1969: Her Serene Highness Princess Margareta, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
• 29 November 1969 - 25 August 2005: Her Serene Highness Princess Margareta, Dowager Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

Honour

•  Denmark: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (3 February 1968).

• Heraldica.org (Napoleonic heraldry)
• GigaCatholic