Infanta Margarita celebrates her 85th birthday

 

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HRH Infanta Doña Margarita María de la Victoria Esperanza Jacoba Felicidad Perpetua de Todos los Santos of Spain was born on March 6, 1939, at the Anglo-American Hotel in Rome, where her parents were living in exile.  She is the youngest child of the late HRH Infante Don Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso of Spain and HRH Princess María de las Mercedes Cristina Genara Isabel Luisa Carolina Victoria y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Orléans.

She is the only surviving sibling of King Juan Carlos II of Spain. 

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The Infanta has two ducal titles.  She is the 2nd Duchess of Hernani, which she received in an inheritance following the death of a distant cousin,  Manfredo de Borbón, who died on January 6, 1979.  He was unmarried and had no children.  He left the title in his will to Margarita.  King Juan Carlos confirmed the inheritance on May 27, 1981.  This title included the dignity of Grandee of Spain.

One month later, King Juan Carlos I created Margarita as Duchess of Soria.  This is a life ducal title that will revert to the Spanish crown when Margarita dies.

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Margarita married Don Carlos Zurita y Delgado on October 12, 1972, at the Church of San Antonio, in Estoril, Portugal.  He is a retired medical doctor who specialized in circulatory and respiratory issues. They spent their honeymoon in Houston, Texas, where Dr. Zurita took part in a heart study program at Texas Medical Center, and in several South American countries. 

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The couple have two children, Don Alfonso Juan Carlos Zurita y de Borbón (1973) and Doña María Sofía Emilia Carmen Zurita y de Borbón (1975).  Neither child has married but Maria Zurita is the mother of a son, Carlos Alfonso Juan Zurita y de Borbón born in 2018.

Margarita, who has been blind since birth, and Don Carlos live with their two children and grandson in the Salamanca neighborhood in Madrid.  She has never allowed her disability to hamper her life.  She learned to play the piano and enjoys different styles of music - from classical to rock.   She is also a linguist and speaks nine languages.  Before her marriage, she took a nursing course in Madrid.

Don Alfonso studied Political Science at the University of Sussex and then moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed a master's degree in International Relations at Johns Hopkins University.  He has worked in finance and has written several books on economics and finance.

He will succeed his mother as 3rd Duke of Hernani.

Doña Maria has a degree in  Translation and Interpreting from Madrid European University,  She speaks, English, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German.  Spanish is her native language. After working for a translation firm for several years, Maria decided to start her own firm.  She launched  Zesauro Traducciones, a translation company in 2002.

https://zesauro.com/en/

A nice note to me from Infanta Margarita and Don Carlos