Emmanuelle de Dampierre

Emmanuelle de Dampierre (Italian: Vittoria Emanuela; Spanish: Victoria Emanuela; 8 November 1913 – 3 May 2012) was a French-Italian aristocrat, a member of the Spanish royal family and the consort of the Legitimist pretender to the French throne from 28 February 1941 until 20 March 1975 as the wife of Infante Jaime, Duke of Anjou and Segovia, the second son of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie. She was the mother of Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz and Gonzalo, Duke of Aquitaine.

Daughter of the 2nd Duke of San Lorenzo Nuovo, Emmanuelle was born a few months before the start of the First World War. She grew up between France and Italy, where her mother decided to live after her divorce. As a young woman, she joined the Italian Red Cross, in 1931. In Rome, she was received by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, at whose house she met the Duke of Segovia, Jaime. The two seems to became friends and Jaime’s father, the ex-king Alfonso XIII of Spain quickly presented his marriage proposal to Emmanuelle's mother, who accepted it. Jaime and Emmanuelle married a year after there first meeting. In the years that followed, she gave birth to two children, Alfonso in 1936 and Gonzalo in 1937.

During the Second World War, Italy was occupied by the Allies. The Spanish royal family left the country and they settled in Lausanne, Switzerland from 1943 until 1945. After the end of the war, the family moved back in Rome, and two years later, Emmanuelle divorced from Jaime in Romania. Their divorce was never legally recognised in Spain nor France. After the restoration of the Spanish monarchy in 1947, Emmanuelle’s children started their university in Madrid, in 1954. Some years later, in 1967, Emmanuelle divorced from her second husband, Antonio Sozzani, and her eldest son Alfonso married Franco’s granddaughter in 1972.

After the death of Jaime in 1975, the dowager Duchess of Anjou and Segovia came back in Spain for supporting her sons with their difficult marriages (Alfonso divorced Carmen in 1982 and Gonzalo married two times during the 1980s). In 1984, Emmanuelle’s eldest grandson, Francisco, died in a car crash. She was the sister-in-law of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and thus the paternal aunt-in-law of Juan Carlos I. as well as the last daughter-in-law of King Alfonso XIII.

Early life Emmanuelle de Dampierre with her mother, brother and sister in the 1920s.Donna Victoire Jeanne Emmanuelle Joséphine Pierre Marie de Dampierre was born on 8 November 1913 at the Palazzo Ruspoli, her maternal family's palace on the Via del Corso in Rome. She was the eldest daughter of the French nobleman Roger de Dampierre, 2nd Duke of San Lorenzo Nuovo, Vicomte de Dampierre and his first wife, the Italian noblewoman and painter Princess Vittoria Ruspoli, a daughter of Emanuele Ruspoli, 1st Prince of Poggio Suasa. Both her maternal and paternal families were part of the Papal nobility. Through her uncle, Mario Ruspoli, 2nd Prince of Poggio Suasa, she was also connected to the Italian actress Esmeralda Ruspoli. It was at a dinner at Princess Radziwill's home that she met her future father-in-law. They were married on 4 March 1935, during a great ceremony, at the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome. Although Jaime had to relinquish his rights to the Spanish throne, close to King Alfonso XIII. In 1947, Emanuelle and Infante Jaime divorced in Bucharest. Emmanuelle, called Madame, was considered by Legitimists as the French Queen Mother, and after the death of her eldest son Alfonso, as the Queen Dowager. Many guests were present, including Jean Foyer, former French Minister of Justice, the Duchess of Franco, the Duke of Bauffremont.

Emmanuelle died following a long-term illness at Palazzo Massimo di Pirro on 3 May 2012, aged 98 years.

France (Legitimists) 8 November 1913 - 3 March 1935: Mademoiselle Emmanuelle de Dampierre 4 March 1935 - 29 September 1936: Her Serene Highness The Duchess of Segovia 29 September 1936 - 6 September 1938: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Segovia 6 September 1938 - 28 February 1941: Her Royal Highness The Dauphine of France 28 February 1941 - 20 March 1975: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Anjou and Segovia 20 March 1975 - 3 May 2012: Her Royal Highness The Dowager Duchess of Anjou and Segovia

Honours National Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa, 1935 Dame of the Decoration of the Royal Cavalry Armory of Seville, 1938 Dame of the Italian Red Cross, 1931 Dame of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus

Foreign Bailiff Dame of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Arms