María Josepha Sophia de Iturbide

María Josepha Sophia de Iturbide (29 February 1872 – November 1949) was the head of the Imperial House of Mexico from 1925 to 1949. A modest and very religious lady she played no political role whatsoever. She married twice and had two daughters.

María Josepha
Baroness von Aschbrunn und Hohenstadt
Head of the Imperial House of Mexico
Tenure3 March 1925 – November 1949
PredecessorAgustín de Iturbide
SuccessorMaximilian von Götzen-Iturbide
Born(1872-02-29)29 February 1872
Mikosdpuszta, Austria–Hungary
DiedNovember 1949 (aged 77)
Deva, Romania
Spouse
  • Baron Johann Tunkl von Aschbrunn und Hohenstadt
  • Charles de Carriere
Issue
  • María Ana Wilhelmina Adolfina Sofía Tunkl-Iturbide
  • María Gisela Josefa Erna Isabela Tunkl-Iturbide
Full name
Spanish: María Josefa Sofía de Iturbide y Mikos de Tarrodháza
German: Maria Josepha Sophia Iturbide von Mikos e Tarrodhaza
HouseIturbide
FatherSalvador, Prince of Iturbide
MotherBaroness Gizella María Terezia Mikos de Tarrodháza

Biography

Maria Josepha was born at Mikosdpuszta, Austria-Hungary, on 29 February 1872. She is the eldest child of Prince Salvador de Iturbide and Baroness Gizella Maria Terezia Mikos de Tarrõdhàza. Her father was a grandson of Emperor Agustín I of Mexico and an adopted son of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort, Princess Charlotte of Belgium.

In 1881, the Itúrbide family left Hungary and moved to Venice. They settled in Venice, where Maria Josepha lived all her youth, distinguishing herself for her modesty and religiosity. After her father's death in 1895, her mother married secondly Count Emil von Jenison-Walworth in 1900.[1]

Maria Josepha was married to Baron Johann Tunkl von Aschbrunn und Hohenstadt (12 July 1872 – 10 May 1915) in Beszterce on 12 March 1908. Following his death in 1915, she married Charles de Carriere (24 November 1875 – November 1949) on 14 April 1923 in Bistriţa.

Following the death of her childless uncle Prince Agustín de Itúrbide in 1925, Maria Josepha inherited the Iturbide and Habsburg claims to the throne of Mexico but she played no political role. Maria Josepha was a very traditional Lady, and a devout Roman Catholic, and stayed as far away from politics as she could. [2]

Despite her very advanced age, she and her second husband, Charles de Carriere, were interned in 1948 by the Romanian Communist government as class enemies of the people.[2] They died under suspicious circumstances shortly after their internment in Deva in November 1949. In accordance with her will and her daughters' wishes, the claim to the throne passed to her only grandson Count Maximiliano Gustav Albrecht Richard Agustin von Goetzen Iturbide.[2]

Family

Maria Josepha had two daughters from her first marriage:

  • Baroness Maria Anna (1909-1962), childless.
  • Baroness Maria Gizela (1912–1981). She had a son, Count Maximilian von Götzen-Iturbide (b. 1944), who is the current 'Titular Emperor of Mexico' as Maximiliano II.

Her second marriage, to Charles de Carriere, was childless.

Ancestry

References
  1. Casa Imperial de Mexico.
  2. Women in Power 1900-1940
María Josepha Sophia de Iturbide
Titles in pretence
Preceded by
Agustín III		 — TITULAR —
Empress of Mexico
March 3, 1925 – November 1949
Reason for succession failure:
Empire abolished in 1867		 Succeeded by
Maximilian II
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