Margaretha von Österreich-Toskana

Margarita of Austria-Tuscany was born on 8 May 1894 in Lemberg, in Galicia, then part of Austria-Hungary. She was the third of ten children of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria-Tuscany and his wife Blanca, an infanta of Spain. Within the family she was known as “Meg.” She was named after her maternal grandmother, Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma, who had died a year before her birth. Margarita belonged to the Tuscan branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and grew up in a family connected by marriage to several European ruling houses. She spent her childhood with her many siblings at the family’s various properties. In Vienna, the family lived at the Palais Toscana and used Wilhelminenberg Castle as their country residence. They spent their holidays in Italy, where Blanca owned a country estate near Viareggio. The family had a culturally diverse background: Margarita’s paternal ancestors had ruled in Austria, Tuscany, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, while her maternal family was connected with the ruling houses of Spain, Parma, Modena, Portugal, and France. Margarita was educated alongside her sisters Dolores and Inmaculada. The three archduchesses were close in age, shared a strong interest in the arts, and were especially close to one another. Margarita was passionate about dramatic theatre. In addition to her native German, she learned French, Spanish, Hungarian, and Italian. Contemporaries described her as charming, educated, and intelligent, while also modest and uncomplicated. Her youth coincided with the final years of the Austrian monarchy. During the First World War, her father served as inspector general of artillery. Her brother, Archduke Rainer, joined the Austrian army and fought on the Italian front. Margarita and her sister Inmaculada, by contrast, worked for the Austrian Red Cross, helping to care for the victims of the war. The collapse of the monarchy in 1918 fundamentally changed the family’s life. The republican government of Austria confiscated the imperial family’s properties, causing its members to lose their entire fortune. Margarita’s brothers Rainer and Leopold decided to remain in Austria and recognize the new republic. The rest of the family moved to Spain in January 1919. They lived in Barcelona for more than fifteen years under relatively modest conditions. However, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 forced Margarita, her mother, and her unmarried siblings to leave Spain. On 27 November 1937, at the age of 43, Margarita married the Italian diplomat Francisco María Taliani, Marquis of Marchio. The wedding took place at Sonnberg Castle near Vienna, which belonged to her brother, Archduke Antonio, and his wife, Princess Ileana of Romania. The marriage remained childless. After the wedding, the couple moved to Nanking, then the capital of China. From 1938 to 1943, Taliani served there as the Italian ambassador. These years were marked by political and military upheaval. Japanese troops occupied Nanking in December 1937. After Italy joined Germany and Japan in the Second World War in 1940 and surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, Margarita and her husband were arrested by the Japanese. Both were held in a Japanese internment camp until the summer of 1945. The couple returned to Italy at the beginning of 1946. Taliani possessed considerable wealth and was a passionate art collector. Together they acquired a house in Venice. In February 1951, they went to Spain, where Taliani served as the Italian ambassador to Francisco Franco’s government until 1952. After withdrawing from diplomatic service, the couple settled in Rome. Francisco María Taliani died in 1968 at the age of 80, after approximately twenty years of marriage. Following his death, Margarita divided her time between Rome and the Tenuta Reale, the country estate near Viareggio that she shared with her sisters Dolores and Inmaculada. She outlived most of her siblings; at the time of her death, only Antonio and Asunta were still living. Margarita died on 21 June 1986 at the age of 92. She bequeathed the Tenuta Reale to the municipality of Viareggio, intending for it to become a public cultural center. Her nephew, Archduke Dominico, inherited her fortune.