Marie José of Belgium (1906-2001), consort of the last King of Italy, Umberto II. Youngest child of Albert I, King of the Belgians and Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, a niece of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Became Princess of Piedmont upon marriage in 1930 and had four children. An anti-fascist who plotted against Mussolini’s regime and made contact with the Allies through the future Pope Paul VI, but also pleaded with Hitler to be merciful towards the starving Belgians and her brother King Leopold III. Spent most of her life in exile in Switzerland after the abolition of the Italian monarchy in 1946, which closed out her brief tenure as Queen consort.
Figure 2.1. Luigi Grassi, Portrait of Queen Maria José, between 1929 and 1937 or 1946, oil on canvas, collezione della Provincia di Cosenza, source: Wikimedia Commons.
Her-storic Royal Dress 
