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Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria
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Archduchess Marie-Astrid, Princess Imperial of Austria, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Luxembourg, Nassau and Parma, Princess of Habsburg-Lorraine (Marie-Astrid Charlotte Léopoldine Wilhelmine Ingeborg Antoinette Elisabeth Anna Alberta von Habsburg-Lothringen) (born 17 February 1954 at Castle Betzdorf), is the oldest daughter and the first child of Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte. Her godparents are King Leopold III of Belgium (her maternal grandfather), and Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (her paternal grandmother).
In her youth, as one of the few royal princesses available from European reigning houses, she was considered an ideal candidate for marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales by royal watchers. Media reports in the 1970s regularly speculated about the prospects of a marriage between the couple, the Daily Express claiming in June 1977 that the couple's engagement was imminent.[1] (Unconfirmed media reports in the British press claimed that Pope Paul VI had prevented a marriage by refusing under Ne Temere to accept that the children of the couple could not be brought up Roman Catholic.) It has been since suggested that the Charles & Marie-Astrid rumours were a result of efforts to detect a leaker in the Privy Council. In reality, a marriage between the British heir and the Roman Catholic Princess was unlikely by the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701 which would have to be repealed or modified.
The Princess studied in Luxembourg and also in Belgium. She received her diploma as a registered nurse in 1974, and finished her education in 1977, with a nursing certificate in tropical medicine from the Prince Leopold Institute.
She has been the President of the Red Cross for Luxembourg Youth since 1970.
On 6 February 1982 she married her second cousin Carl Christian Maria Anna Rudolph Anton Marcus d'Aviano, Archduke of Austria (born 6 February 1954) also known as Christian, younger son of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria (himself fourth son of Karl I, Emperor of Austria) and his wife HH Princesse Yolande de Ligne, of a prominent Belgian noble family. They have five children:
- Marie Christine, Archduchess of Austria (31 July 1983)
- Imre, Archduke of Austria (8 December 1985)
- Christoph, Archduke of Austria (2 February 1988)
- Alexander, Archduke of Austria (26 September 1990)
- Gabriella, Archduchess of Austria (26 March 1994)
The Princess, now Archduchess and her family live quietly, occasionally appearing at royal weddings and similar events.