Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein

Princess Margaretha
Born (1957-05-15) 15 May 1957
Betzdorf, Luxembourg
Spouse Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein (m. 1982)
Issue Prince Leopold
Princess Maria-Anunciata
Princess Marie-Astrid
Prince Josef-Emanuel
Full name
Margaretha Antonia Marie Félicité
House Nassau-Weilburg
Father Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Mother Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium
Religion Roman Catholic
Liechtensteiner Princely Family

HSH The Prince
HSH The Princess

Extended princely family

Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein (born Princess Margaretha Antonia Marie Félicité of Luxembourg on 15 May 1957) is the fourth child and second daughter of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium.[1] As the sister of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and the sister-in-law of Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, she is a princess of two current realms and a member of the Luxembourg and Liechtenstein reigning dynasties.[1][2] The Princess holds similar precedence in both monarchies, as sister and sister-in-law of the Sovereign.

Biography

Princess Margaretha is the twin sister of Prince Jean of Luxembourg.[1] She was educated in the Grand Duchy, where she studied at the Ecole Européenne de Luxembourg, as well as in Belgium (her mother's native land), Great Britain and in the United States.[3] She speaks Luxembourgeois, French, English and German, having spent time in numerous countries as either student or tourist.[3] She has acquired a doctorate in the social sciences.[4]

Princess Margaretha is the patron of Dyslexia International.[5] She is also the Patroness of the Princess Margaretha Luxembourgeois Girl Guides of Leudelange and of the Crèche de Luxembourg.[3] She travels frequently between her home in Liechtenstein, her native Luxembourg, Brussels, where she attends conferences and meetings related to the EU-NGO in which she remains actively involved.[6] Other travel includes visits abroad with her husband, such as their 2011 visit to the University of Dallas where the couple was hosted and interviewed on campus.[6]

Her main recreational interests and sport activities include riding, skiing, tennis, hunting, reading and modern and classical music.[3] Her reading emphasizes historical biographies and spiritual works.[6]

In 2011 Grand Duke Henri decreed that his female descendants would henceforth enjoy the right of succession to the throne without regard to gender, in accordance with absolute primogeniture.[7] Other princesses of the dynasty, descended from prior sovereigns, may still inherit the throne in the event of extinction of all male dynasts and of all dynasts descended from Grand Duke Henri, and in the order stipulated by the 1907 amendment to the 1783 Nassau Family Pact[4][7][8]

Margaretha bears the marital titles Princess of Liechtenstein and Countess Rietberg, as well as those due to her own royal descent, Princess of Luxembourg, of Bourbon-Parma and of Nassau.[1][9] As the issue of a dynastically approved marriage, her children are members of the princely House of Liechtenstein. Her son is in the line of succession to the throne of Liechtenstein, being a fraternal nephew of Prince Hans-Adam II.[1]

Marriage and issue

On 20 March 1982, she married Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein at Notre Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg.[1] He is the third son of Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein.[2] For the time being, this is the last dynastically equal marriage between two sovereign houses currently reigning in Europe.

They have had four children:[1]

Princess Margaretha is the godmother of her nephews Archduke Imre of Austria and Prince Louis of Luxembourg and of her cousin's daughter, Princess Louise of Belgium.

Honours

See also List of honours of the Luxembourgish Grand-Ducal Family by country

National honours

Foreign honours

Ancestry


References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels Band XVIII. Limburg an der Lahn, Germany: C.A. Starke Verlag. 2007. pp. 48, 55, 80, 82. ISBN 978-3-7980-0841-0.
  2. 1 2 3 Beeche, Arturo (2009). The Gotha: Still a Continental Royal Family, Volume 1. US: Eurohistory. pp. 39–40, 50.14, 152. ISBN 978-0-977-19617-3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Autres Membres de la Famille Grand-Ducale: La Princesse Margaretha". Informations et Actualités du Gouvernement Luxembourgeois. Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg: Service information et presse. 1 November 2006. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Enache, Nicolas (1999). La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg, Reine de Hongrie et de Boheme. Paris: L'Intermediaire des Chercheurs et Curieux. pp. 62, 426. ISBN 2-908003-04-X.
  5. ↑ "Dyslexia International launches new site". dyslexia-international.org. 13 October 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  6. 1 2 3 Howard, Christian, ed. (22 November 2011). "Royal Guests, the Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein". The University News (newspaper) (Texas, US: University of Dallas). Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Droits de Succession: Ordre successoral". Cour Grand-Ducale de Luxembourg. Maréchalat de la Cour. 20 June 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 665-666 (French) ISBN 2-9507974-3-1
  9. ↑ de Badts de Cugnac, Chantal. Coutant de Saisseval, Guy. Le Petit Gotha. Nouvelle Imprimerie Laballery, Paris 2002, pp. 632-634, 653, 666-668, 681-682 (French) ISBN 2-9507974-3-1
  10. ↑ Honorary distinctions of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, publication of the government of Luxembourg: Princes and Princesses of the Grand-Ducal House of Luxembourg are Grand Crosses of the Order by birth but the decoration is worn only after they reach their majority (18 years old)
  11. ↑ Belga Pictures, Photo showing Princess Margaretha and her husband Nikolaus of Liechtenstein wearing the order decorations (Gala diner gallery)
  12. ↑ http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/prince-nikolaus-princess-margaretha-prince-lorentz-princess-news-photo/73644825
  13. ↑ Order of Saint Isabel
  14. ↑ Noblesse et Royautes, Order of Saint Isabel awarded to several Gotha personalities
  15. ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado
  16. ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado
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