Born on 26 December 1914, Maria Francesca was born in Rome as the fifth and youngest child of her parents. She had three elder sisters,
Yolanda,
Giovanna,
Mafalda, and a brother,
Umberto. On 23 January 1939, in the Pauline Chapel of the
Quirinal Palace in Rome, Maria Francesca married Prince Luigi of Bourbon-Parma (1899–1967), a younger son of
Robert I, Duke of Parma, and
Infanta Maria Antónia of Portugal. Her husband was a brother of
Zita, Empress of Austria, In 1945 the Anglo-Americans freed them and they returned to Italy. After the war, they lived in Italy for a while, then returned to France. She took up permanent residence in
Mandelieu, near Cannes, after her husband's death in 1967. They had four children: • Prince Guy of Bourbon-Parma (7 August 1940,
Cannes – 10 March 1991,
Paris); married Brigitte Peu-Duvallon on 11 November 1964, divorced on 17 September 1981, with issue. • Prince Rémy of Bourbon-Parma (born 14 July 1942, Cannes); married firstly Laurence Dufresne d'Arganchy 10 February 1973, divorced 1983, with issue. He married secondly Elisabeth Tardif on 5 July 2003. • Princess Chantal of Bourbon-Parma (born 24 November 1946, Cannes); married firstly Panayotis Skinas on 1 July 1977, divorced in 1987, with issue. She married secondly Francois-Henri Georges on 24 September 1988. • Prince Jean of Bourbon-Parma (born 15 October 1961, Cannes); married Virginia Roatta on 26 March 1988, with issue. Jean is the youngest grandchild of
Robert I, Duke of Parma. ==Honours==