Empress Zita of Austria

Zita of Bourbon-Parma, princess of Parma, and then, by her marriage, empress-queen of Austria-Hungary, was born on 9 may 1892 in Camaiore, Italy, and died on 14 march 1989 in Zizers, enSuisse. Wife of emperor Charles I, she is the last empress of Austria, queen of Hungary and queen of Bohemia. Ten-the seventh child of the duke Robert I of Parma, deposed of the duchy of Parma and Piacenza after the annexation of the latter by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and of the infanta Maria Antónia of Portugal, his second wife, Zita married archduke Charles of Austria in 1911. He becomes the direct heir of the emperor franz Joseph of Austria in 1914, after the assassination of his uncle archduke franz Ferdinand of Austria. Charles then navigates to the throne in 1916, after the death of the emperor. After the First world War, in 1918, the Habsburgs are deposited while the Empire of Austria-Hungary is divided into several independent nations : Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs mainly. Charles and Zita are forced into exile in Switzerland and in Madeira, where Charles died in 1922. During her widowhood and while she was only 29 years old, Zita and her son Otto became symbols of unity for the dynasty in exile. Catholic devotee, Zita remains faithful to the memory of her husband and raising her eight children in the traditions of the Habsburg monarchy. His beatification process opened on 10 December 2009, is underway.