Predecessor Prince Agustin Successor Prince Maximilian | Name Maria Sophia | |
 | ||
Reign 3 March 1925 – November 1949 Born 29 February 1872
Mikosdpuszta, Austria–Hungary ( 1872-02-29 ) Died November 1949 (aged 77)
Deva, Romania Spouse Baron Johann Tunkl von Aschbrunn und Hohenstadt
Charles de Carriere Issue Maria Anna
Maria Gizela | ||
Princess María Josepha Sophia de Iturbide (29 February 1872 – November 1949) was the head of the Imperial House of Mexico from 1925 to 1949.
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Biography
Maria Josepha was born at Mikosdpuszta, Austria-Hungary, on 29 February 1872. She is the eldest child of Prince Salvador de Iturbide and Baroness Gizella Maria Terezia Mikos de Tarrõdhàza. Her father was a grandson of Emperor Agustín I of Mexico and an adopted son of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort, Princess Charlotte of Belgium.
In 1881, the Itúrbide family left Hungary and moved to Venice. Maria Josepha spent her teenage years in this city. After her father's death in 1895, her mother married secondly Count Emil von Jenison-Walworth in 1900.
Maria Josepha was married to Baron Johann Tunkl von Aschbrunn und Hohenstadt (12 July 1872 – 10 May 1915) in Beszterce on 12 March 1908. Following his death in 1915, she married Charles de Carriere (24 November 1875 – November 1949) on 14 April 1923 in Bistriţa.
Following the death of her childless uncle Prince Agustín de Itúrbide in 1925, Maria Josepha inherited the Iturbide and Habsburg claims to the throne of Mexico but she played no political role.
Despite her very advanced age, she and her second husband, Charles de Carriere, were interned in 1948 by the Romanian Communist government as class enemies of the people. They died under suspicious circumstances shortly after their internment in Deva in November 1949. In accordance with her will and her daughters' wishes, the claim to the throne passed to her only grandson Count Maximiliano Gustav Albrecht Richard Agustin von Goetzen Iturbid.
Family
Maria Josepha had two daughters from her first marriage:
Baroness Maria Gizela had a son, Count Maximilian von Götzen-Iturbide who is the current 'Titular Emperor of Mexico' as Maximiliano II.
Her second marriage, to Charles de Carriere, was childless. Her daughter, Baroness Maria Gizela, was the mother of the current heir to the titles of Maria Josepha.