Duke Roberto I of Parma, and his family of 24 children

[britt.25]

Yes, it's strange, but somewhere she has that flair...I have read the Croy are an old noble family originally from the Picardie...so North of France, not very exotic Is that true about the background?

I think the daughters of Maria Anna are mostly Bourbon-Parma in look....

Does anyone know, if this was happy marriage with Archduchess Maria Anna and Elias? Was it a love marriage or out of other reasons???

[Marc]

Yes,she has descended from various families of the German/Austrian side such as:Salm-Salm,Salm-Kyrburg,Sternberg-Manderscheid,Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort,Starhemberg,Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg,Königsegg-Rothenfels,Hohenzollern-Hechingen,Fürstenberg,von der Marck etc. and from the French side:Croy and Ligne(French families-at that time they were already part of German countries),Rochechouart de Mortemart,d'Harcourt,Hornes etc.

[britt.25]

That's interesting about the background....but do you know anything about if it was a happy marriage with Elias and Maria Anna?
I don't know further details, but liked the pictures. It was also interesting to me, because I know a bit personally the daughters of Archduke Albrecht, only brother of Maria Anna....

[YaBB_Jose]

Were the children of Duke Elias normal, bearing in mind the condition that ran in the family with all those of his handicapped siblings.
The problem might have been with their mother as the children from Duke Robert's second marriage were all normal, apart from a deaf princess.

I am asking because, except for Pss. Alice, Ducess of Calabria, neither got married or had a family.

Any info on Duke Robert II ?

I suppose that Pss. Jeanne-Elisabeth should be "normal" or she would not be invited to a hunting party.
I've seen pictures of Pss. Marie-Christinne and nothing seemed wrong with her...

Never saw any pics of Isabelle, Charles-Louis, Jeanne-Françoise or François.

If someone has them, please post them.
Thanks in advance

[britt.25]

I'm also searching for some more pics on the children of the couple. Could you tell, where you found the pictures on Jeanne-Elisabeth and Marie-Christine?

I do not know, if anyone was handicapped??

I post here some I have found:


Their father Elias as young man:




Alice (as we know, she was married and still has many descendants today...)




Marie Christine (has anyone other pictures of her???)




Marie (?) Still have to look, which of the daughters it is...



Ok, she looks a bit strange here and sits in a wheelchair....but well...she's old here...so I don't know, if she was handicapped or if it was just because of her age or anything....

And here Robert (looks quite normal...seems to be a pic from the sixties(?) after the glasses, I would say....



Does anyone have infos on his life...?

[britt.25]

Thank you for this picture! It's a pity, but all pictures that I have found are still very small, that the face is hardly to see. Please, if anybody finds another bigger picture of the couple or of Hedwig, please send a link.
By the way, it was just told me by a grandson of Isabella that Isabella, daughter of Sixtus and Hedwig, is still alive. Interesting! All the Bourbons seem to live quite long. A pity that he did not tell me much more about her, but he said not be close to her....perhaps a pity....

This is the only Isabella picture I know. Are there more recent ones??

[YaBB_Jose]

I have a photo of the lady on the wheelchair listed as Pss. Marie-Christinne, so the very same as the lady in blue.

I've never seen that photo before,

Thanks for posting.

[britt.25]

How strange...on the genealogical site, where I found them both photos were shown as different ladies....very strange, I would not have thought they are the same. They look very differently here, maybe the same in different times? Seems so!

Thank you for the correction!!!

How is your photo of Marie-Christine? Is it the same as the one here or a bit different? Can you post it?

[YaBB_Jose]

My photo is basically the same caption of yours only a bit larger.
One can see the wheelchair and I think it was taken at some weddinh.
There are two ladies in blue one at each side, but unfortunately the phtographer "cut" their heads.

From which site did you get your pics ?

[britt.25]

If you go on the thread on the Habsburgs you will find a link to a genealogical site with pictures under the topic "Habsburg page"

There are the pictures and the dates, if you look a bit.

The Princess in the wheelchair  and the flower dress is called Marie there, but in fact it's Marie Franziska, of whom I posted a child picture here born in 1906, the other Princess in the blue dress shall be Marie Christine, born 1925. So I think they are two different ladies, not one....

Could you send the bigger version of the Marie Christine image...? It would be great....

[Svetabel]

Duchess Alice of Calabria (nee Bourbon-Parma) with her spouse



And here's the wedding of Alice and her spouse Alfonso in 1938.

[britt.25]

Thank you!!!!

I knew the first picture...but not that clear....this is wonderful!

Do you also have pictures of the other children? Especially the sisters of Alice? I think it's hard to find, only the ones I posted....

Do you know, why the others did not marry?

At least I did not find that they were married. Why not? Because often they became very old. Why didn't they marry??

[Svetabel]

Do you also have pictures of the other children? Especially the sisters of Alice? I think it's hard to find, only the ones I posted....

Alas,only pictures of her siblings as children - you definitely know the photos.

Till now I've not found any info on why the other siblings were unmarried...

[britt.25]

I only have seen the photo with Archduchess Maria Anna and all of her children together.

Do you mean that you only have that picture or also single postcards of the children??

I'm still looking for single postcards of them, but only found one of Princess Maria Franziska...

[britt.25]

I've just purchased this nice postcard, which shows the children of Elias and Maria Anna around the year 1910.





I wonder, who they are. The eldest must be Elisabeth, she has defintely her mother's eyes, and those of Archduke Friedrich , the second girl must be Maria Franziska, but about the boy I have doubts. I thought that maybe the little Carlo (or Charles), 1905-1012, but he does rather look younger than Franziska, who was born one year later, but Robert, second son, was born in 1909 and therefore must be much younger than here on the picture...Has anyone an idea?
However this card is very cute, I think.