Rest In Peace: Princess Diane of Bourbon-Parma (1932-2020)

Princess Diana of Bourbon-Parma and Prince Franz Joseph of Hohenzollern

Note: Thank you to Alexander Oehmichen, the elder son of the princess, for contacting us to correct the date and place of his mother's passing, as well as to correct the misinformation that was contained at the linked article concerning her cause of death, which was wrongly reported as the coronavirus. 

Princess Diane of Bourbon-Parma passed away at Bad Krozingen on 4 May 2020. She was eighty-seven years-old; she would have celebrated her eighty-eighth birthday later this month.

Princess Margarete of Thurn and Taxis and Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma on their wedding day.

Prince Gaetano and Princess Margarete of Bourbon-Parma.

HRH Princess Diane Margherita (Marguerite) of Bourbon-Parma was born on Sunday, 22 May 1932, at Paris. Diane was the only child of HRH Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma (1905-1958) and HSH Princess Margarete von Thurn und Taxis (1909-2006).

Gaetano and Margarete married in 1931; they obtained an Hungarian divorce in 1940 and a (final) French divorce in 1950. 

Duke Roberto I of Parma

Prince Alessandro della Torre e Tasso, 1st Duke of Castel Duino

Diane was the paternal granddaughter of Duke Roberto I of Parma (1848-1907) and his second wife Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (1862-1959). Her father Gaeten was the final and twenty-fourth child of Duke Roberto. Diane's maternal grandparents were Prince Alexander von Thurn und Taxis (1881-1937), Duca di Castel Duino, and Princess Marie de Ligne (1885-1971).

Prince Franz Joseph of Hohenzollern and Princess Maria Fernanda of Thurn and Taxis in 1950.
Photograph (c) Alamy / Hannes Betzler/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo

Princess Diana of Bourbon-Parma arriving at her civil wedding on the arm of her mother Princess Margarete.

In 1955, Diane married Prince Franz Joseph of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1926-1996). Their civil marriage took place at London on 15 March 1955, and their religious wedding was held at Krauchenwies on 16 April 1955. Franz Joseph was the son of Fürst Friedrich of Hohenzollern (1891-1965) and Princess Margarete of Saxony (1900-1962). Franz Joseph had married Princess Maria Fernanda of Thurn and Taxis on 15 July 1950; the pair were divorced on 30 October 1951 and had their union dissolved by annulment on 7 December 1954. On 2 June 1957, Diane and Franz Joseph welcomed the arrival of a son: Alexander. On 19 January 1961, Diane and Franz Joseph divorced. Over thirty years later, on 11 May 1992, the couple's marriage was annulled. 

On 21 March 1961, Princess Diane married Hans Joachim Oehmichen (Barnitz, Kreis Meissen 4 April 1920 - Bad Krozingen 11 July 1995). Diane and Hans welcomed two further children: Gaetano Oehmichen (b.Naples 1 May 1961) and Maria Oehmichen (b.Freiburg, Breisgau 2 June 1964). Alexander, born during his mother's first marriage, was adopted by Herr Oehmichen, who was his biological father. Diane and Hans Joachim contracted a Roman Catholic union on 6 June 1992.

Princess Diane of Bourbon-Parma is survived by her three children: Dr. Alexander Oehmichen with his wife Anja, Gaetano Oehmichen with his wife Julika, and Maria Oehmichen. The princess is survived by two grandsons: Philip, Robert, and Richard. Diane was a niece of Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary and Prince Felix of Luxembourg; she was a first cousin of Queen Anne of Romania. 

May Princess Diane Rest in Peace.

Source (which contains an incorrect date of death and cause of death): Morta la principessa Diana di Borbone Parma: lutto a Capezzano