| Infanta Maria Cristina | |
| Countess Marone | |
| Issue: |
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| Full Name: | Spanish; Castilian: María Cristina Teresa Alejandra María de Guadalupe María de la Concepción Ildefonsa Victoria Eugenia de Borbón y Battenberg |
| House: | Bourbon |
| Father: | Alfonso XIII of Spain |
| Mother: | Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg |
| Birth Date: | 12 December 1911 |
| Birth Place: | Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain |
| Death Place: | Villa Giralda, Madrid, Spain |
| Burial Place: | Marone-Cinzano Pantheon, Turin, Italy |
Infanta Maria Cristina of Spain, Countess Marone-Cinzano (María Cristina Teresa Alejandra María de Guadalupe María de la Concepción Ildefonsa Victoria Eugenia de Borbón y Battenberg; 12 December 1911 – 23 December 1996) was the fourth surviving child and youngest daughter of Alfonso XIII of Spain and Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg and paternal aunt of King Juan Carlos I.
Infanta Maria Cristina was born at the Palacio Real in Madrid, Spain. The Spanish royal family left the country in 1931, in the face of Republican demonstrations, settling in Paris, before moving to Fontainebleau.
By 1933 King Alfonso and his daughters, the Infantas Beatriz and Maria Cristina, had moved to Rome. Their father warned would-be suitors of the inherent dangers of hemophilia, from which two of the king's sons, Alfonso and Gonzalo, suffered.
She renounced her succession rights to the throne of the defunct Spanish crown and, on 10 June 1940, morganatically married Conte Enrico Eugenio Marone-Cinzano (15 March 1895 Turin – 23 October 1968 Geneva) in Rome.[1] [2] [3] He had been created 1st Count Marone-Cinzano on 13 May 1940 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. He was the son of Alberto Marone and his wife, Paola Cinzano. Maria Cristina had one step-son, from Enrico's previous marriage to Noemí Rosa de Alcorta y García-Mansilla (1907-1929):
The marriage of Maria Cristina and Enrico Eugenio produced four daughters:
Infanta Maria Cristina returned to Spain and spent periods of time there, but never lived there permanently. She died in Madrid of a heart attack on 23 December 1996 during a Christmas reunion of the royal family at the Villa Giralda, the residence of her cousin and sister-in-law, the Countess of Barcelona. A funeral service for the Infanta was held in the chapel of the Royal Palace of Madrid on 24 December and a burial service was held on 26 December in the Marone-Cinzano Pantheon in Turin.
Spain: 1,112th Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa