Religion Roman Catholicism Name Maria Grand | Marriage location Luxembourg | |
 | ||
Tenure 7 October 2000 – present Born 22 March 1956 (age 68)
Marianao, Havana, Cuba ( 1956-03-22 ) Issue Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Prince Felix
Prince Louis
Princess Alexandra
Prince Sebastien Father Jose Antonio Mestre y Alvarez Mother Maria Teresa Batista y Falla de Mestre Spouse Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (m. 1981) Children Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg Education Marymount School of New York, University of Geneva, Lycee Francais de New York Similar People Henri - Grand Duke of L, Guillaume - Hereditary Grand Du, Prince Felix of Luxembourg, Princess Alexandra of Luxem, Prince Louis of Luxembourg | ||
Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (born María Teresa Mestre y Batista; on 22 March 1956), is the spouse of Grand Duke Henri.
Contents
- Hrh maria teresa grand duchess of luxembourg
- Early life and education
- Social and humanitarian interests
- Family
- Titles and styles
- National honours
- Foreign honours
- References
Hrh maria teresa grand duchess of luxembourg
Early life and education
Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, was born in 22 March 1956 in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, to José Antonio Mestre y Álvarez (Vedado, Havana, 1926 - 1993) and wife (m. Vedado, Havana, 1951) María Teresa Batista y Falla de Mestre (Vedado, Havana, 1928–1988), both from bourgeois families of Spanish descent.
The Mestre family (descended in the female line from Ferdinand I of León and Castile) have as their patriarch Arnau Mestre, born Landorthe, who married in 1625 in San Pedro de Ribas. One of his descendants, Francisco Mestre y Roig Benaprés (born in 1787 in Sitges) travelled to Cuba in 1830 where he married Josefa Dominguez y Morales (born in 1764, daughter of Andres Domínguez Bencomo and Manuela Morales Ponce de León), being the founder of the Mestre family in Cuba. The Grand Duchess also descends through her father from the Spanish Espinosa de los Monteros noble family.
Her maternal grandparents were Don Agustín Batista y González de Mendoza (Batista family member with possessions in the town of Puerto de Santa María del Príncipe and no family relationship with Fulgencio Batista), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Trust Company of Cuba and Doña María Teresa Falla Bonet, daughter of the Spanish tycoon Laureano Falla Gutierrez, millionaire businessman whose fortune was made up of several sugar mills, two banks (one of which is "The Trust Company of Cuba") and other goods which were confiscated by the government of the Revolution.
In October 1959, at the time of the revolution, Maria Teresa Mestre left Cuba with her parents. The family settled in New York City, where, as a young girl, she was a pupil at Marymount School. From 1961 she carried on her studies at the Lycée Français de New York. In her childhood, Maria Teresa Mestre took ballet and singing courses. She practices skiing, ice-skating and water sports. She lived in New York City, Santander, Spain, and Geneva, where she met her future husband.
In 1980 she graduated from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva with a degree in political sciences. Miss Mestre met Prince Henri at this university. For four years they both pursued similar studies, working sometimes in the same study groups.
Social and humanitarian interests
During the same period she took an interest in social and human problems, following the family tradition which had allegedly brought her grandparents to devote themselves to philanthropy and cultural tasks in Cuba.
Besides her studies, Miss Mestre was a member of a group in Geneva taking interest in the well-being of residents of retirement homes. She also taught children in a Geneva classroom.
As a Cuban, the Grand Duchess's first language is Spanish, but she is fluent in French and English, having been raised in the United States and attended a Lycée Français and also studied in Switzerland. After her marriage she learned Luxembourgish, and she also speaks German and Italian.
In 2006, the Grand Duchess received the Path to Peace Award from a Holy See Foundation for her "relentless contribution to humanitarian causes."
She is the President of the Luxembourg Red Cross.
On 19 April 2007, the Grand Duchess was appointed UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, in which role she has visited Brazil (2007), China (2008), and Burundi (2009).
She is a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.
In October 2016, the Grand Duchess accepted an invitation to join the eminent international Council of Patrons of the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The University, which is the product of east-west foundational partnerships (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundation, IKEA Foundation, etc) and regional cooperation, serves extraordinarily talented women from 15 countries across Asia and the Middle East.
Family
Maria Teresa Mestre married Prince Henri of Luxembourg in a civil ceremony on 4 February 1981 and the religious ceremony on 14 February 1981. The consent of the Grand Duke had been previously given on 7 November 1980.
The couple have five children:
Titles and styles
From her marriage until her husband's accession on 7 October 2000 she was styled Her Royal Highness The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Since then, she has been known as Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.