Marâia Cristina de Bourbon Battenberg, 4th child. Obit. The Times 30th dec 1996 "INFANTA MARâIA CRISTINA DE BORBâON Y BATTENBERG The Infanta Marâia Cristina de Borbâon y Battenberg died in Madrid on December 23 aged 85. She was born on December 12, 1911. A WOMAN richly endowed with poise of bearing, with handsome features and an imperious build, the Infanta Marâia Cristina de Borbâon y Battenberg was a living bridge to another, older age. Yet she was blessed with a sunny disposition which enabled her to surmount the misfortunes which overtook her family in the early part of her life, and she was able to adapt to family life in another country, once it became clear that life for her and her family would no longer be tenable in her own. The great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she was the fourth issue of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Queen Victoria Eugenia. The aunt of the present Spanish King, Juan Carlos, she was the younger sister of his father, Don Juan, Count of Barcelona, a man who was never to sit on the throne to which he was heir. Tumultuous political events in Spain early in the life of the young Infanta sent her, along with the rest of her family, into exile in Italy. The proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic on April 14, 1931, led her father, King Alfonso, to believe that a departure from his kingdom was the most prudent course to take for the safety of his family. Sections within the Republican alliance, fuelled by such publications as Alfonso XIII Unmasked , by Vicente Blasco Ibâaänez, had made of him a bogeyman for what was regarded by his political enemies as a corrupt system, and the King was anxious to avoid an outbreak of bloodshed among his subjects. Aged only 20, Marâia Cristina began life afresh in a new, but not inhospitable, land. She was a considerable beauty, and seldom failed to cause a stir at social gatherings with her fair hair, stylishly worn, her limpid blue eyes, and her vivacious conversation. Nine years later, at 29, she married Enrique Eugenio Marone Cinzano, the Count of Marone, whose family owned the Cinzano distilleries. While the Spanish Royal Family continued to live in Rome, the Infanta moved to her matrimonial home in Turin. The marriage, always comfortable, was to last for 28 years. In 1968, the Count succumbed to an inflammation of some serious injuries he had sustained while on safari in Mozambique some years earlier. Four daughters were, however, born to the couple, and Marâia Cristina always took pride in the fact that they were equally at home in Italy and in Spain. Her pride, of course, always lay firmly embedded in her limitless discretion. It was under her influence, for example, that her husband refused the title of "Duke", offered to him by the Italian Royal Household, on the ground that the title of "Count" was more "circumspect". In such matters she was seldom wrong. Marâia Cristina devoted her life to a variety of charitable works, and she was particularly tireless in her contributions to associations for the support of cancer research. Two days before Christmas, however, on the occasion of the birthday of the Countess of Barcelona her brother Don Juan's wife she died in Madrid of a heart attack, but was buried at her husband's family crypt in Turin, with the entire Spanish Royal Family in attendance. She is survived by her four daughters. Copyright 1996. "
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