Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Archduchess Ilona of Austria has died

HI & RH Archduchess Ilona of Austria died today in Freiburg, Germany.  She married Duke Georg Alexander Karl Michael Philipp Ignaz Maria Duke of Mecklenburg on April 30, 1946 at Sigmaringen.  The marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1974 after Ilona left her husband for a musician.
The couple had four children: Duchess Elisabeth (March 22, 1947), Duchess Marie Catherine (November 14, 1949),  Duchess Karoline (April 18, 1952) and Duke Georg Borwin (June 10, 1956.)   Georg died at Mirow on January 26, 1996.
Duke Georg Borwin is the present head of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Ilona was the second of eight children of the late Archduke Josef Franz of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, and his wife, Princess Anna of Saxony, the youngest daughter of King Friedrich August III.   Ilona was born at Budapest on April 20, 1927.  

She is survived by her four children and grandchildren, and by five of her siblings.
http://www.mecklenburg-strelitz.org/news.html

The photo is from the collection of David McIntosh.
It was taken sometime in the 1980s.

Update:  Archduchess Ilona's funeral was held in Ruhpolding, Bavaria, on January 21, 2010.  The mourners included her children, Duke Borwin, Duchess Elisabeth, Duchess Maria Katharina and Duchess Irene, and their spouses,  Archduke Joseph Arpad and Archduchess  Maria of Austria,  Archduke Stefan and Archduchess Maria of Austria, Archduke Geza and Archduchess Elizabeth of Austria, Archduke Michael and Archduchess Christiane of Austria and Archduchess Kynga of Austria.

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