Maria Antonia von Österreich-Toskana

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria-Tuscany was born on 13 July 1899 in Zagreb, then part of Austria-Hungary. She was the sixth of ten children of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria and his wife, Blanca de Borbón, a Spanish infanta. Her full baptismal names were Maria Antonia Roberta Blanka Leopoldina Karole Josepha Raphaela Michaela Ignatia Aurelia, but her family called her Mimi. By birth, she belonged to the Tuscan branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and held the titles of Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Tuscany. Maria Antonia grew up with her many siblings during the final era of the Habsburg monarchy. In Vienna, the family lived at the Palais Toskana and used Schloss Wilhelminenberg as their country residence. She often spent her holidays in Italy, where her mother owned a rural estate near Viareggio. Her family background was shaped by several European ruling houses: her father’s ancestors had ruled Austria, Tuscany, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, while her mother’s family was connected to the former dynasties of Spain, Parma, Modena, Portugal, and France. Maria Antonia was the fourth of five sisters and was raised particularly closely with her younger sister Assunta. The First World War and the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy fundamentally changed her life. When the monarchy ended in 1918, Maria Antonia was nineteen years old. The republican government of Austria confiscated the Habsburgs’ property, leaving the family without their fortune. Her elder brothers Rainer and Leopold remained in Austria and recognized the new republic. The rest of the family went to Spain in January 1919. In Barcelona, they now lived simply and with very limited financial means. During this period, Maria Antonia became increasingly devoted to religion. She considered becoming a nun, but her mother doubted that she had the necessary vocation or the temperament for religious life. Maria Antonia’s sister Assunta was also influenced by her religious enthusiasm, which increased their parents’ concerns. To encourage her to reflect on her future, the family took her to Mallorca. There, Maria Antonia’s parents also hoped they might be able to claim property belonging to a deceased relative, but this hope was not fulfilled. Maria Antonia soon abandoned her plan to become a nun. On Mallorca, she fell in love with Ramón de Orlandis y Villalonga, a member of the Spanish minor nobility. Like Maria Antonia, he had no personal fortune. His father had lost his title because he was unable to pay the required nobility taxes. Maria Antonia and Ramón married in Barcelona on 16 July 1924. They subsequently lived in Mallorca and started a family. Their five children bore the name Orlandis y Habsburgo: Blanca Maria, Juan, Maria Antonia, Isabel, and Alfonsina. The eldest daughter, Blanca Maria, married Raúl Ereñu in 1948, and they had five children. Juan, who later held the title Baron de Pinopar, married Hildegarde Bragagnolo in 1951, and they had eight children. Maria Antonia never married. Isabel married Fausto Morell, Marqués de Sollerich, in 1954, and they had six children. The youngest daughter, Alfonsina, married Joaquín Zaforteza in 1981; the couple had no children. Family life was shaken by the Spanish Civil War. Ramón de Orlandis died during the conflict in 1936. Maria Antonia was left responsible for five children as a widow. Using the name of her late family, as the widow de Orlandis, she left Spain and emigrated to South America. In 1942, she married again in Uruguay. Her second husband was Don Luis Perez Sucre, who was born in Argentina. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1950. Maria Antonia spent the final years of her life in South America. She died in Brazil on 22 October 1977, at the age of 78. Her life thus carried her from the declining Habsburg monarchy through the loss of her homeland and fortune, to life in Spanish exile and finally in South America. As the daughter of an Austrian archduke and a Spanish infanta, she belonged to the remnants of a European dynastic world, yet she repeatedly had to adapt to political upheaval, financial losses, and personal tragedies.