Royal Musings: Remembering Princess Mafalda of Savoy (1902-1944)

all images but one Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection.

Eighty years ago - on August 28, 1944, Princess Mafalda of Savoy died in Buchenwald, a German concentration camp. She was 41 years old.

The princess died as a result of injuries suffered in an Allied bombing of the camp. One of her arms was amputated in the camp's brothel. Without proper medical care, the princess was unable to survive the hemorrhaging that led to her death. At Buchenwald, she was known as Frau von Weber as Hitler wanted to keep her imprisonment a secret.

https://www.buchenwald.de/en/geschichte/biografien/bag-ausstellung/mafalda-savoyen

Princess Mafalda's death was confirmed on May 2, 1945.

HRH Princess Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana of Savoy was the second daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III and Princess Elena of Montenegro. She was born in Rome on November 19, 1902.

Mafalda had three sisters, Princess Jolanda, Countess Calvi di Bergolo (1901-1986), Princess Giovanna, Queen of Bulgaria. (1907-2000),Princess Maria, Princess of Bourbon-Parma (1914-2000), and one brother King Umberto (1904-1983).

On September 23, 1925, Princess Mafalda married Prince Philipp of Hesse (1896-1980), who became the Landgrave of Hesse, following his father's death, Friedrich Wilhelm in 1940. They had four children: Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse (1926-2013), Prince Heinrich (1927-1999), Prince Otto (1937-1998_, and Princess Elisabeth, Countess Friedrich von Oppersdorff (1940).