Princess Margarita de Bourbon de Parme

Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma, Countess of Colorno (Dutch: Margarita Maria Beatrix Prinses de Bourbon de Parme; born 13 October 1972),^[1] is the eldest daughter of Princess Irene of the Netherlands and Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma.^[2] She is a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma as well an extended member of the Dutch royal family. Per a 1996 royal decree issued by Queen Beatrix, she is entitled to the style and title Her Royal Highness Princess Margarita de Bourbon de Parme in The Netherlands as a member of the extended royal family.

Princess Margarita
Countess of Colorno
Princess Margarita in 2016
Born	(1972-10-13) 13 October 1972 (age 52) Nijmegen, Netherlands
Spouse	Edwin de Roy van Zuydewijn ​ ​ (m. 2001; div. 2006)​ Tjalling ten Cate ​ ​ (m. 2008; sep. 2023)​
Issue	Julia ten Cate Paola ten Cate
Names Dutch: Margarita Maria Beatriz de Bourbon de Parme English: Margarita Marie Beatrix of Bourbon-Parma
House	Bourbon-Parma
Father	Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma
Mother	Princess Irene of the Netherlands

Early life

Born in Nijmegen,^[1] she is the twin sister of Prince Jaime. She also has an elder brother, Prince Carlos, and a younger sister, Princess Carolina. Her godparents are Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (maternal aunt) and Prince Sixtus Henry of Bourbon-Parma (paternal uncle). She is the eldest granddaughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard.

In 1981, her parents divorced.^[3] Together with her mother and her siblings she moved from Spain to The Netherlands, to live with her grandparents, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld at Baarn. Later she moved to Wijk bij Duurstede. Margarita studied Cultural Anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam and is an interior decorator. She studied interior architecture in The Hague.

First marriage and controversy

On 19 June 2001, Princess Margarita married the entrepreneur Edwin Karel Willem de Roy van Zuydewijn, member of a Dutch patrician family. The civil marriage of the couple took place in Amsterdam,^[1] and the Roman Catholic marriage was held in Auch Cathedral (France), presided by Ronald Philippe Bär, the former Bishop of Rotterdam, on 22 September 2001. De Roy van Zuydewijn was, however, not trusted by the Dutch Royal Family, whose senior members therefore did not attend the marriage.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, a series of incidents became known as the Margarita-affair.^[4] Margarita and her husband accused the Dutch Royal House and the Dutch secret service of obstructing the affairs of Fincentives, the company of de Roy van Zuydewijn. They also said that their telephone conversations had been secretly tapped.^{[citation needed]} Eventually it was revealed that the Queen's personal Cabinet had indeed ordered an investigation; the right to do so had been legally removed from the Queen.^{[citation needed]}

The couple's home was the Bartas Castle in Saint-Georges, Gers, France, but by 2004 the princess was increasingly seen more often in Amsterdam than there. On 13 August 2004, it was revealed that she was filing for a divorce; the official divorce was signed on 8 November 2006. The marriage did not produce any children.^{[citation needed]}

Because of the quarrels between the princess and the Dutch Royal family during the Margarita-affair, she was not welcome at the marriage of her cousin Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange to Máxima Zorreguieta, or at the funeral of her uncle, Prince Claus of the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]} However, after her divorce from De Roy van Zuydewijn, her relationship with the royal family improved.^{[citation needed]}

Second marriage and family

Princess Margarita with her second husband at the wedding of her brother Jaime, Count of Bardi

On 3 May 2008, she married Tjalling Siebe ten Cate (born 23 December 1975, in Dordrecht), a lawyer at De Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch National Bank), also a member of a Dutch patrician family.^[5] On 20 February 2023, Princess Margarita and Ten Cate announced their divorce.^[6][7] Together they have two daughters:

• Julia Carolina Catharina ten Cate (born 3 September 2008 in Amsterdam)^[8]
• Paola Cecilia Laurentien ten Cate (born 25 February 2011 in The Hague)^[9] Her godmother is Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands.

Margarita currently lives in Wassenaar.

Princess Margarita is godmother to three of her nieces: Princess Cecilia of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of her brother Carlos, Duke of Parma, Princess Zita Clara of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of her twin brother Prince Jaime, Count of Bardi and Alaïa-Maria Brenninkmeijer, daughter of her only sister Princess Carolina, Marchioness of Sala.

Titles, styles and honours

Already a ducal princess from birth, her father bestowed on 2 September 1996 the substantive title Contessa di Colorno (Countess of Colorno) upon her.^[10][11] The same year she was incorporated into the Dutch nobility by her aunt Queen Beatrix, with the highest noble title Prinses de Bourbon de Parme (Princess of Bourbon-Parma)^[12] and styled Hare Koninklijke Hoogheid (Her Royal Highness). She does not belong to the House of Orange-Nassau or the limited Dutch royal house, but as a granddaughter of Queen Juliana, she is officially a member of the more extended Dutch royal family.^[13]

Honours

• Ducal Family of Parma: Knight of the Parmese Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George^[14]
• Ducal Family of Parma: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Louis for Civil Merit
•  Netherlands: Recipient of the King Willem-Alexander Investiture Medal

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Margarita de Bourbon de Parme

8. Robert I, Duke of Parma 4. Xavier, Duke of Parma 9. Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal 2. Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma 10. Georges de Bourbon, Count of Lignières 5. Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset 11. Marie Jeanne de Kerret de Quillien 1. Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma 12. Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld 6. Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld 13. Armgard of Sierstorpff-Cramm 3. Princess Irene of the Netherlands 14. Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 7. Juliana of the Netherlands 15. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands