Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria

Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg Archduchess and Princess Imperial of Austria; Princess Royal Astrid of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia Spouse Archduke Carl Christian of Austria Issue Archduchess Marie Christine Archduke Imre Archduke Christoph Archduke Alexander Archduchess Gabriella Names Marie-Astrid Liliane Charlotte Léopoldine Wilhelmine Ingeborg Antoinette Élisabeth Anne Alberte House House of Habsburg-Lorraine House of Bourbon-Parma Father Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Mother Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium

Styles of Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria Reference style Her Imperial and Royal Highness Spoken style Your Imperial and Royal Highness Alternative style Ma'am

Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria (Marie-Astrid Liliane Charlotte Léopoldine Wilhelmine Ingeborg Antonia/Antoinette Élisabeth/Elisabeth Anne/Anna Alberte/Alberta von Habsburg-Lothringen) (born 17 February 1954 at Castle Betzdorf), is the oldest daughter and the first child of Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte. Her godparents are King Leopold III of Belgium (her maternal grandfather), and Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (her paternal grandmother).

Biography

In her youth, as one of the few eligible royal princesses from European reigning houses, she was considered an ideal candidate by royal watchers for marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. Media reports in the 1970s regularly speculated about the prospects of such a marriage, the Daily Express claiming in June 1977 that the couple's engagement was imminent. (Unconfirmed media reports in the British press claimed that Pope Paul VI had prevented a marriage by refusing under Ne Temere to accept that the children of the couple could not be brought up Roman Catholic.)

It has been since suggested that the marriage rumours were a result of efforts to detect a leaker in the Privy Council. In reality, a marriage between the British heir and the Roman Catholic princess was unlikely, as the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701 would have had to have been repealed or modified.

The Archduchess studied in Luxembourg and also in Belgium. She received her diploma as a registered nurse in 1974, and finished her education in 1977, with a nursing certificate in tropical medicine from the Prince Leopold Institute.

She has been the President of the Red Cross for Luxembourg Youth since 1970.

Marriage

On 6 February 1982 in Luxembourg she married her second cousin Archduke Carl Christian of Austria (born in Belœil, 6 February 1954) also known as Christian, 1,289th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria, younger son of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria (himself the fourth son of Emperor Charles I of Austria) and his wife Princess Yolande of Ligne, of the prominent Belgian noble family, the House of Ligne. They have five children:

• Archduchess Marie Christine Anne Astrid Zita Charlotte of Austria (31 July 1983), Countess of Limburg-Stirum: she married Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum on 6 December, 2008 in Mechelen, Belgium; Paul Theroff's Royal News of 2008
• Archduke Imre Emanuel Simeon Jean Carl Marcus d'Aviano of Austria (8 December 1985)
• Archduke Christoph Henri Alexander Maria Marcus d'Aviano of Austria (2 February 1988)
• Archduke Alexander Hector Marie Karl Leopold Marcus d'Aviano of Austria (26 September 1990)
• Archduchess Gabriella Maria Pilar Yolande Joséphine-Charlotte of Austria (26 March 1994)

Archduchess Marie-Astrid and her family live quietly, occasionally appearing at royal weddings and similar events.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 17 February 1954 - 6 February 1982: Her Royal Highness Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, Princess Marie-Astrid of Nassau, Princess Marie-Astrid of bourbon-Parma
• 6 February 1982 – present: Her Imperial and Royal Highness Archduchess and Princess Imperial Marie-Astrid of Austria; Princess Royal Marie-Astrid of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, Princess of Nassau, Princess of bourbon-Parma

Ancestry

16. Charles III, Duke of Parma

8. Robert I, Duke of Parma

17. Louise Marie Thérèse of France

4. Felix of Bourbon-Parma

18. Miguel of Portugal

9. Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal

19. Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg

2. Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

20. Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

10. William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

21. Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau

5. Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

22. Miguel of Portugal (= 18)

11. Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal

23. Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (= 19)

1. Marie Astrid of Luxembourg

24. Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders

12. Albert I of Belgium

25. Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

6. Leopold III of Belgium

26. Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria

13. Elisabeth of Bavaria

27. Maria Josepha of Portugal

3. Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium

28. Oscar II of Sweden

14. Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland

29. Sofia of Nassau

7. Astrid of Sweden

30. Frederick VIII of Denmark

15. Princess Ingeborg of Denmark

31. Lovisa of Sweden

External links

• Grand-Ducal House of Luxembourg
• Imperial House of Austria