by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015
Photo Credit – Wikipedia
The wife of Franz Josef II, Prince of Liechtenstein, Georgina Norberta Jane Marie Antonie Raphaela, called Gina, was born on October 24, 1921, in Graz, Austria. She was the daughter of Count Ferdinand von Wilczek and Countess Norbertine (Nora) Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau. Her mother Nora founded a hospital in Austria at the outbreak of World War I. She then became a Red Cross nurse working in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp that held captured soldiers from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the German Empire. In 1916, Nora traveled to Siberia with a Russian officer visiting sixteen prisoner-of-war camps and fifteen labor camps to check on human rights violations. In the midst of the Russian Revolution, Nora made a dramatic escape and returned home to Austria in the summer of 1918. She married Count Ferdinand von Wilczek in 1921 and gave birth to Gina two years later. Sadly, Nora died in 1923 during the birth of her second child, who also died.
In 1942, Gina became engaged to Franz Josef II, Prince of Liechtenstein. On March 7, 1943, the wedding took place at St. Florian Cathedral in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. It was the first royal wedding in Liechtenstein’s history that took place in the principality.
The couple had five children:
- Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein (born 1945), married Countess Marie Aglaë von Wchinitz und Tettau, had three sons and one daughter
- Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein (born 1946), married Isabelle de l’Arbre de Malander, had three sons
- Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein (born 1947), married Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, had two sons and two daughters
- Princess Nora of Liechtenstein (born 1950), married Vicente Sartorius y Cabeza de Vaca, 3rd Marqués de Mariño, had one daughter
- Prince Wenzel of Liechtenstein (1962 – 1991), unmarried
Franz and Gina with their four eldest children; Credit – lux-arazzi.blogspot.com
During World War II, Princess Gina, like her mother, had concerns for prisoners of war. On June 22, 1945, she founded the Liechtenstein Red Cross, and was president from 1945 to 1984, when she handed over the position to her daughter-in-law Princess Marie, wife of her eldest son Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein. Princess Marie has since handed over the position of president to her daughter-in-law Hereditary Princess Sophie, wife of her eldest son Hereditary Prince Alois.
Princess Gina died on October 18, 1989, in a hospital in Grabs, Switzerland, six days before her 68th birthday after a long battle with cancer. Her husband Franz Josef died 26 days later. The couple was buried in the Princely Crypt at St. Florian Cathedral in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
Tomb of Princess Gina; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com
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