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Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy

Maria Gabriella
Princess of Savoy
Maria Gabriella of Savoy 1960.jpg
Maria Gabriella of Savoy in 1960
Born (1940-02-24) 24 February 1940 (age 77)
Naples, Italy
Spouse Robert Zellinger de Balkany
(m. 1969; div. 1990)
Issue Marie Elizabeth Zellinger de Balkany
Full name
Maria Gabriella Giuseppa Aldegonda Adelaide Ludovica Felicità Gennara di Savoia
House Savoy
Father Umberto II of Italy
Mother Marie-José of Belgium
Full name
Maria Gabriella Giuseppa Aldegonda Adelaide Ludovica Felicità Gennara di Savoia

Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy (Maria Gabriella Giuseppa Aldegonda Adelaide Ludovica Felicita Gennara; born 24 February 1940) is the middle daughter of Italy's last king, Umberto II, and Marie José of Belgium, the "May Queen", and a sister of the pretender to their father's throne, Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples. She is an historical writer.

Maria Gabriella di Savoia was the third child of the Prince and Princess of Piedmont, born in Naples, Italy in 1940. Her older siblings were Princess Maria Pia and Prince Vittorio Emanuele, while the younger was Princess Maria Beatrice. Her parents, married since 1930, were unhappy together, as her mother confessed in an interview many years later (On n'a jamais été heureux, "We were never happy"), and separated after the Italian monarchy was abolished following the 1946 referendum. To avoid capture by Nazi troops her mother had fled Italy to neutral Switzerland with Maria Gabriella and her siblings, where they took refuge from September 1943 until their return to Italy in 1945, by which time their father had become lieutenant-general of the kingdom for his father, King Victor Emmanuel III. Exiled after the fall of the monarchy, the family gathered briefly in Portugal, whence she, her sisters and brother soon returned with their mother to Switzerland, while their father remained in Portugal. Being Catholics, her parents never divorced.

Educated in Switzerland, Maria Gabriella also took courses in a school associated with the Louvre in Paris. After her father's death, and with her brother's approval, she launched the King Umberto II Foundation in Lausanne, dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of the House of Savoy. She participated in numerous cultural presentations and organized an exhibit in Albertville during the 1992 Olympics. At the beginning of the 21st century she co-authored a number of books, mostly with Stefano Papi.


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