Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria

Infobox Spanish Royalty|infanta
name = Infanta Margarita
full name = Margarita María de la Victoria Esperanza Jacoba Felicidad Perpetua
title = Duchess of Soria; Duchess of Hernani
succession = Duchess of Hernani
predecessor = Manfredo de Borbón
successor = Alfonso Juan Carlos Zurita y de Borbón
suc-type = Heir-Apparent


spouse = Carlos Emilio Juan Zurita y Delgado
issue = Alfonso Juan Carlos Zurita y de Borbón
María Sofia Emilia Carmen Zurita y de Borbón
titles = "HRH" The Duchess of Hernani and Soria
"HRH" The Duchess of Hernani
"HRH" Infanta Margarita of Spain
royal house = House of Bourbon
royal anthem =
father = Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
mother = Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
date of birth = birth date and age|1939|3|6|df=y
place of birth =

The Infanta Doña Margarita of Spain, 2nd Duchess of Hernani, Duchess of Soria ("Doña de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias") (born March 6, 1939), is the younger daughter of H.R.H. Don Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona and H.R.H. Doña Maria Mercedes de Borbón Dos-Sicilias y Orleans, and younger sister of current reigning King Juan Carlos of Spain and of Infanta Pilar of Spain. Doña Margarita has been blind since birth.

She married Don Carlos Emilio Juan Zurita y Delgado (a medical doctor born in 1943) on October 12, 1972. They have two children:

* His Excellency Don Alfonso Juan Carlos Zurita y de Borbón (born 9 August 1973)
* Her Excellency Doña María Sofia Emilia Carmen Zurita y de Borbón (born 16 September 1975).

Doña Margarita renounced her right of succession upon marriage, but her renunciation took place before the adoption of the Spanish Constitution and was not ratified by the Cortes.On January 6, 1979, the Infanta's cousin, HE Manfredo de Borbón, 1st Duke de Hernani, died and willed his ducal title to be inherited by Doña Margarita. The King granted this request, and on May 27, 1981, she became 2nd Duchess de Hernani. The next month, on June 23, 1981, she was granted her own dukedom for life, and became Duchess of Soria. This title won't be inherited by her son, though he will be Duke of Hernani someday.

In 1989, alongside her husband, they created the Fundación Cultural Duques de Soria (The Duke and Duchess of Soria Cultural Foundation). She's also Honorary President of Madrid's delegation of UNICEF and of the Spanish Heart Foundation.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria
2= 2. Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
3= 3. Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
4= 4. Alfonso XIII of Spain
5= 5. Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
6= 6. Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
7= 7. Princess Louise of Orléans
8= 8. Alfonso XII of Spain
9= 9. Maria Christina of Austria
10= 10. Prince Henry of Battenberg
11= 11. Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
12= 12. Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta
13= 13. Princess Antonietta of the Two Sicilies
14= 14. Prince Philippe, Count of Paris
15= 15. Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans
16= 16. Francis of Spain
17= 17. Isabella II of Spain
18= 18. Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria
19= 19. Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria
20= 20. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
21= 21. Countess Julia von Hauke
22= 22. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
23= 23. Victoria of the United Kingdom
24= 24. Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
25= 25. Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria
26= 26. Prince Francis, Count of Trapani
27= 27. Archduchess Maria Isabella of Austria
28= 28. Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans
29= 29. Duchess Helena Luisa Elizabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
30= 30. Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier
31= 31. Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain