On June 20, 1987, Moritz married Countess Fernanda von Oppersdorff, the eldest child of Count Franz von Oppersdorff and Princess Maria Theresia of Thurn und Taxis.
The couple had two children, Edvarda, 20, and Bernhard. Edvarda rides and trains Icelandic horses.
Fernanda's mother, Maria Theresia, who died in 1997, was a first cousin of the late Johannes, Prince of Thurn und Taxis. Fernanda was distantly related to Dom Pedro Luis of Orleans-Braganza, who also died as a result of the Air France crash on June 1. Her maternal grandmother was Infanta Isabel (Elisabeth) of Portugal, the seventh of 11 children of Dom Miguel, Duke of Braganca. (The first three children were by the first wife, Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis, who died several weeks after the birth of a daughter, Maria Teresa, in 1881.
Miguel did not remarry until 1893, and his second wife was Princess Marie Therese of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. They had eight children, including Isabel and Duarte, the Duke of Braganza. Thus, Princess Maria Theresia (Fernanda's mother) and the present Duke of Braganza were first cousins.
The present duke's mother, Princess Maria Francisca, was a member of the Brazilian royal family, although from the non-dynastic branch. She was a daughter of Dom Pedro de Alcantara, whose marriage to Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz was considered unequal, and his line ceased to have dynastic rights. Dom Pedro Luis was a grandson of Pedro's younger brother, Luis, who made a grand dynastic marriage to Princess Maria of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies.
1 comment:
What a sad coincidence...I wonder if they knew of each other being on the same flight...probably not.
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