María Amparo Muñoz, 1st Countess of Vista Alegre

María Amparo Muñoz and Władysław Czartoryski

Doña Maria Amparo Muñoz y Borbón, 1st Countess of Vista Alegre, (November 17, 1834 – August 19, 1864) was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, regent and queen dowager of Spain, and her secret husband Augustín Fernández Muñoz, Duke of Riansares. Her full title was Maria Amparo de los Desamparados Muñoz y de Borbón, condesa de Vista Alegre.

Maria Amparo's mother Maria Christina had been married to King Ferdinand VII of Spain, with whom she had had two daughters as Queen consort. The eldest was Isabella, who was proclaimed Queen Isabella II of Spain at the age of 3 upon the death of her father on September 29, 1833. His widow Maria Christina (now rgent) married a sergeant from the guard a few months later, on December 28, 1833, and Maria Amparo was their first child. In 1840 Maria Amparo went with her parents into exile in France. In 1842 her mother purchased the Château de Malmaison where Maria Amparo and her siblings grew up.

On March 1, 1855, Maria Amparo married Prince Władysław Czartoryski at Malmaison. Her husband was a Polish prince living in exile in France. They lived at the Hôtel Lambert, the base of operations for the Czartoryski family during the Second French Empire. She and Prince Władysław had a son, August Franciszek Czartoryski, on August 2, 1858.

Maria Amparo contracted tuberculosis, which was unfortunately passed to her son when he was six. She died shortly thereafter, on August 19, 1864 at the age of 29 in Paris. Her remains were buried in the tomb of three of her brothers in the cemetery at Rueil-Malmaison. A year later her husband moved them to his family mausoleum in Sieniawa.

References

• Genealogy at thepeerage.com
• August's Vatican biography (as Augusto Czartoryski) (versions also available in French, Italian, Polish, and Spanish).