Princess Marie-Marguerite of Bourbon, Duchess of Anjou[1] (néeMaría Margarita Vargas Santaella; born 21 October 1983) is a Venezuelan-born heiress and wife of Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou, who is considered by Legitimists to be the rightful king of France, which would make her the queen consort of France and Navarre.
María Margarita Vargas Santaella was born on 21 October 1983 in Caracas. Her father, Víctor José Vargas Irausquín, is the owner of Banco BOD or Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD Bank or Western Bank of Discount - WBD). Her mother is Carmen Leonor Santaella Tellería. She has a sister, María Victoria, who is married to Francisco Javier d'Agostino Casado. She also had a brother, Víctor José, who died young. She studied at the Colegio Merici de las Madres Ursulinas in Caracas and did her degree on pedagogy at the Universidad Metropolitana de Caracas.
Personal life
She married Prince Louis, Duke of Anjou in a civil ceremony in Caracas on 5 November 2004 and in a religious ceremony the following day at La Romana, Dominican Republic. The couple have a daughter, Eugénie, Madame Royale (born 5 March 2007) at Mount Sinai Hospital, Miami, Florida. She also gave birth to twin boys, Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy and Alphonse, Duke of Berry (Spanish: Luis and Alfonso), on 28 May 2010.[2] They currently live in Madrid, Spain. The couple had their fourth child, Henri, Duke of Touraine, on 1 February 2019 in New York.
The Princess obtained French nationality in 2012.[3]
Heraldry
Arms of Marie Marguerite, as titular queen of France and Navarre
As the current titular queen of France and Navarre, Marie Marguerite had her arms remade by French heraldists Hervé, Baron Pinoteau and Xavier d'Andeville in 2016.[4] Her arms include, as heraldic tradition expects, a parti (per pale) of her husband's arms (in this case the full arms of France) and her father's (here the remade arms of the Vargas family); surmounted by the royal crown of France.
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