Name Archduchess Astrid | ||
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Issue Archduchess Marie ChristineArchduke ImreArchduke ChristophArchduke AlexanderArchduchess Gabriella Children Archduke Imre Emanuel Simeon Jean Carl Marcus d'Aviano of Austria Siblings Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Grandparents Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Astrid of Sweden, Leopold III of Belgium, Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma Similar People Archduke Carl Christian, Jean - Grand Duke of L, Princess Margaretha of Liechte, Henri - Grand Duke of L, Princess Josephine Charlotte | ||
Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria (née Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg; born 17 February 1954 at Castle Betzdorf) is the elder daughter and eldest child of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine- Charlotte of Belgium, and the wife of Archduke Carl Christian of Austria.
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Biography
Her godparents were King Leopold III of Belgium (her maternal grandfather) and Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (her paternal grandmother).
Marie Astrid was named after Virgin Mary, her maternal grandmother, maternal grandfather second wife, paternal grandmother, mother, maternal grandfather, maternal great-grandmother, another maternal great-grandmother, maternal great-grandfather.
In her youth, as one of the few eligible royal princesses from European reigning houses, she was considered an ideal candidate by match makers for marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. Media reports in the 1970s regularly speculated about the prospects of such a marriage, the Daily Express claiming in June 1977 that the couple's engagement was imminent. (Unconfirmed media reports in the British press claimed that Pope Paul VI had prevented a marriage by refusing under Ne Temere to accept that the children of the couple could not be brought up Roman Catholic.)
It has been since suggested that the marriage rumours were a result of efforts to detect a leaker in the Privy Council. In reality, a marriage between the British heir and the Roman Catholic princess was unlikely, as the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701 would have had to have been repealed or modified.
The archduchess studied in Luxembourg and also in Belgium. She received her diploma as a registered nurse in 1974, and finished her education in 1977, with a nursing certificate in tropical medicine from the Prince Leopold Institute.
She has been the President of the Red Cross for Luxembourg Youth since 1970.
Marriage
On 6 February 1982 in Luxembourg she married her second cousin Archduke Carl Christian of Austria (born in Belœil, 6 February 1954) also known as Christian, 1,289th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria, younger son of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria (himself the fourth son of Emperor Charles I of Austria) and his wife Princess Yolande of Ligne, of the prominent Belgian noble family, the House of Ligne.
They have five children and seven grandchildren:
Marie-Astrid is also godmother to Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Archduke Joseph of Austria and Anna Maria von Auersperg-Trautson.
Archduchess Marie-Astrid and her family live quietly, occasionally appearing at royal weddings and similar events.
Titles and styles
National honours
As Princess of Luxembourg, at 18 years old :